Capturing the Art of Nature
North Mission
An easy drive to North Mission for a short hike and a visit to Stave Lake
Category
Serendipitous Discoveries
2010
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Last year I visited the area north of the city of Mission. There we found a number of logging roads that continue on after the end of the paved road. They were locked when I was here before due to the winter conditions. So I made plans to return and explore them in the nice weather but it just never seemed to happen. Today, my regular drivers were all unavailable, but my third son - Nick - was on holiday and he could go with me. As he is not an experienced FSR driver, this was my chance to return to these easier roads. So we set off for the roads north of Mission. Alas the gates were still locked. It looks like I will need to get a key to access them. Our second destination was a hike leading to a viewpoint overlooking Miracle Valley.
The hike wasn’t too long nor did it involve any steep climbs, it followed along a logging road so the grade was reasonable for its entire length. The direction seemed generally right according to the map but it seemed to be taking a few wrong turns and descending a bit much. I was starting to get concerned that we may have missed a turn but after hiking for 3.25 km we reached the viewpoint. It was a nice view of the south end of the valley but was now over-grown which partially obscured the view. It was still a lovely day and we enjoyed the easy hike even without a clear view of the valley. Once back to the truck we decided to try a few more FSR’s that are in the immediate area, but they also were gated.
I wanted Nick to enjoy some FSR driving so I had him drive the Stave Lake road up to the mud flats where 4x4’s go to drive through mud pits. The lake level was high and most of the mud flats were covered so we didn’t see very many out there working the mud though a few intrepid drivers were doing their thing. We drove out onto the flats but stayed to the harder travel routes as I really didn’t feel like getting stuck in mud. The sun was at a good angle for gathering some shots of the lake and various beach angles. With the warm breeze and general fresh air it was a lovely spot to enjoy for a while.
Once done with gathering some photos we returned to the main road and picked our way along the FSR until we got back to the Dewdney Trunk Road. We detoured to the Hayward Park beach area to use the facilities before heading south to the Ruskin Dam and another small recreational area just below it. Here I gathered a few more photos of the lower Stave River. It was a short lazy sort of visit but we were both a bit tired at this point and so we didn’t want to wander too far along
After our visit to the Ruskin park site we continued back to Mission and set off for a leisurely drive home. Nick did very well on the drive and handled the gravel quite well. He said he enjoyed the driving. Perhaps I will have a new back-up driver available for my explorations in the hills.