Capturing the Art of Nature
North Mission, Hayward lake
I noticed some logging roads north of mission that needed exploring, but the snow blocked them off so I ended up at Hayward lake.
Category
Serendipitous Discoveries
2009
Click on image to view gallery
I noticed on my map a few logging roads north of the town of Mission that seemed to offer some views of Stave lake. After reviewing the possible views through Google Earth I was determined to get there and see them for myself. So we set off for the area, it wasn't a bad day, partly cloudy and cool but not overly cold which was nice for February. We didn't have much trouble finding the final road leading to the FSR but once we got on it we noticed that there was deep snow piled up along the sides, so I was quite apprehensive about our chances of getting very far along the road. Alas when we finally did arrive at the start of the road we found it blocked by ice and a locked gate. It did look promising however for a follow up visit in May, I hope the gate is unlocked by then.
As that was blocked, we tried a second road not far away and discovered that it has been permanently closed and converted to a hike which leads to a viewpoint of Hatzic Prairie. So we will need to return once it is clear of snow. Since our main target was unavailable we moved onto the Stave Lake area. As we approached the dam I noticed Hayward lake to the south which I had never explored so we started off there. It was a lovely find. The lake is managed by BC Hydro and as such is kept quite clean and available. We parked the truck in a large paved area and took a brief stop in the facilities which were actually open. Then we walked along the lake for a bit gathering some photos. There were a number of groups out walking and enjoying the nice day. We met a large Dane/Mastiff cross dog which was bigger than my own Danes. He seemed to have much the same personality as a Dane.
After exploring the lake we stopped near the truck for a bit of lunch then we continued north along the river on towards the dam. We learned that the river flow and lake level was lower than normal for some maintenance. This gave us a few different sights of the river which would normally be submerged and not visible. There was still ice covering a large section of the river and an old tug boat was frozen in its midst. While walking we came to a hydro exhibition area where they had samples of transmission towers, transformers and other power related items with some explanatory commentary. It was quite interesting and offered a few unique photo ops. We then made our way to the dam/generating station which we discovered was a museum and actually open. The person on duty encouraged us to buy a ticket and view the exhibits but as it was getting late we took a rain check so we could get out and capture a few more images before the light was lost.
We walked back to the truck and set out for the Stave Lake mud flats where 4x4s go to run in the mud. The area was still quite hard and frozen but there were numerous determined groups out there camping and enjoying a camp fire. It was getting later and we wanted to see more of Hayward Lake, so we didn't stay long. We drove back to the main road and made our way to the south end of Hayward lake. There we found a second dam and generating station. This one was quite interesting as it had a one lane bridge along the top of the dam which forced cars to take turns as to which direction was active. While there I noticed that there was a fair amount of traffic crossing the dam and all without problems or electronic control devices. I got a few interest shots of the dam and area before we continued south to head home.
We drove past the south Stave River area which is a large area of wetlands which look like they would have a lot of birds during the warmer parts of the year. This section looked moderately accessible and will need its own return visit some day. Once past the wetlands we arrived at Highway 7 and quickly made our way back across the Fraser river and on to home. The weather had definitely worsened by this point and so I was glad that we were done for the day. We stopped at Tim Horton's in Abbotsford to warm up a bit before continuing home. Though we didn't see much of our primary objective we did discover Hayward Lake which neither of us had seen before. It was well worth the time to visit and will be worth returning to. So all told, I ended up with several more places to visit again, it seems one cannot exhaust the number of areas to explore even within the small Fraser valley region, and there is a whole province to explore!