Return to Brohm Ridge

It was only a few weeks ago that we drove up to the ridge with the hope of seeing the sights. Unfortunately on that trip the clouds were blowing through and we didn’t see any views of the valley below. We also didn’t get to the end of the road due to snow blocking our way. So this being a week without a hike planned we decided to give the ridge a second attempt. Our day began a bit earlier than our regular departure but not as early as the outrageous time we go hiking. We grabbed a few items in Cloverdale and then made for the highway and our destination – Squamish.

After arriving in Squamish we filled up the truck and I called John a local Ham radio friend. He answered back that he was heading up a ridge just a bit past where we were going so we agreed to listen for any calls from each other. Fueled up, we quickly reached the start of the FSR and made our way along the Cheekye Creek FSR. It really is a miserably rough road and the heavy traffic it gets just makes it worse. As we gained some serious elevation we started to enjoy the views of the valley and Howe Sound that we missed last trip. The view along the Sound is truly remarkable and I really enjoyed the look of the three major islands stacked up in a neat row. 

Geoff stopped at the small wooden platform I discovered with Ethan last trip. He immediately saw it as a mountain bike jump and pointed out the landing ramp which we didn’t notice in the over-growth last time. We continued up to ever better views and soon came by an old concrete structure that caught our eye and so we had to stop and check it out to see if we could figure out what it might have been in its better days. After some time and looking it over from all angles we still couldn’t decide what it was and so we continued on our drive up the road.

We quickly reached the point of the upper gate and the snow level that stopped us last trip. Well this time the snow was gone but the gate was locked! Now this was very annoying and we were not at all impressed. After a few minutes of anger and gathering a few photos we backed up the short drop in the road to where two other pickups were parked and we then drove a side road to a boggy area where there was one more pickup. They were all empty and we wondered where the occupants were off exploring. The alpine bog was quite interesting but we were soon back on our way to the main road with plans to continue our drive.

Driving back down the initial section of the road exposed even nicer views of the valley and Sound below and we stopped a number of times to gather up more photos. Rather than head back down we elected to take the cross-over route to the Brohm FSR and there we explored the area Ethan and I started out on last time. We could see better views and the bugs were a bit less intense. We drove up two side spurs to get close looks at two small lookouts that had been built. I would say that at one time they likely had a good view of the valley far below but today the view is quite limited and consequently the structures are falling into disrepair. The road to the second lookout was quite long and narrow and we had trouble trying to turn around. After a vigorous attempt at the start we gave up and backed out half the distance before we could find a wide enough spot to turn around. We then continued up the remaining short distance and once at the far end of the road we stopped to eat lunch. It was a decent spot with a fair view and the bugs weren’t too bad – at least not at first.