Mamquam and Furry Creek FSR's

Today being the last Saturday of January and my first trip of the year, I felt compelled to get out and see something despite the likelihood of rain. When Geoff arrived at 8:30 the sky was quite dull and the clouds were getting thicker, so we didn’t know what we would discover and weren’t sure the light would be good enough for photos. But we loaded up the truck and set off for our first stop – coffee in Cloverdale! Geoff wanted to stop at the Wired Monk on 168th as it was in an old heritage building with some historical stories posted on its walls. I found the place quite interesting and the coffee good. After a short look around, we left for West Vancouver where we picked up lunch supplies.

Soon we were barreling down the Sea-to-sky to Squamish. The road improvements for the Olympics made the drive go quick and before long we were at Porteau Cove where we stopped to look over the parking area for the Deek’s Trail hikes. The road work closed off the south access to the trail, a real shame, and for some time I have wanted to look over the replacement they built as a peace offering. The parking facility wasn’t bad and provides for a number of hikers. I’ll need to try it as an early warm up hike for the season. Once done with the review, we zipped to Squamish for fuel and then we were on the Mamquam after a few years absence.

The last time we explored here they were building a run-of-the-river hydro project and we had to avoid many construction vehicles. Now the project is complete and power is pouring into the grid! The work was generally well hidden and only a string of power lines for a couple kilometers and a large surge tank reminded one of the project. A small lake could be seen through the trees just upstream of the intake but it also was not that visible from the road. The initial section of road was bare and wet so we made good time to the fork where the Indian River FSR branches off south. As the gate was open we decided to head down it to see what we could discover. 

The road slowly climbed in elevation and we soon encountered heavy snow, but there were ruts to follow so we decided to put on the chains and continue in. The chains went on easily and we were on our way. Unfortunately we got only around a quarter kilometer before the snow got too deep for us and we were not only stopped but stuck! After a quick survey, we decided that since the tires were out of the ruts we felt that the fastest way to get out was to winch ourselves over a bit to get back in the rut and then back down to a wide section where we could turn around. The winching went smoothly though getting the cable placed proved interesting as we had to make our way through waist deep snow to get to a suitable tree. Once the truck had traction we backed it down the slope to the turn around spot. Geoff had to rock the truck repeatedly as he slowly managed to reverse the truck’s direction. It was a test of patience as he made very slows gains, but he didn’t get stuck again and we were back moving once again. Once past the place where we put on the chains we stopped and quickly removed them before returning to the main Mamquam road.

As we made our way in we tried a number of side roads until stopped by snow, they all offer some good driving opportunities come the thaw. On one of the side roads Geoff spotted a skeleton hanging off a tree branch! It was quite strange seeing it there – someone’s idea of a joke. Soon we were well down the mainline and at the bridge that crosses the Mamquam River. There we stopped for lunch and decided to not push on as the snow was rapidly approaching the depth where we got stuck earlier. While we ate the weather turned and it started snowing on us hiding any further photo ops. Now fed, we started to head out while exploring a few more short side branches, unfortunately we were back to the highway far to too early to head home. So we decided to check out a road off the highway that I spotted on the way here.