Shannon Falls and Squamish River Valley

This past week we had a good dump of snow throughout the valley and though it had started to rain a bit along the coast, inland and higher up it was still a frozen wonderland. This left us with a dilemma, where could we go where we could actually get some distance into the hills and not be stopped at the start of the logging road. After thinking through a number of possibilities we decided on the Squamish River Valley. This is a long road with little elevation gain. So we felt that if we could get past the first bit, the rest of the road would not get much worse. Destination decided, we set off for the start of the road but first a few stops for fuel and food items.

As we approached Squamish, we decided to make a quick detour to view Shannon Falls. This proved to be a lovely visit despite the rain which started half way through our time there. The main channel of the falls was surrounded with beautiful ice sculptures which added some amazing contrasts to the already spectacular sight. If it hadn’t started to downpour I would have tried a number of additional shots but by the time I had captured a few I needed to get out of the rain.

Done with Shannon, we continued up the road and soon were driving along the paved section in the First Nations area. The trees with their mossy coats covered by snow and ice were quite interesting to look at and quite changed the feel of the drive. When we finally arrived at the start of the FSR we came upon two parked trucks. The first had stopped to unload some ATV’s the second had slid nose first into the ditch and there it sat seemingly abandoned. There before us was the deep snow covered road with two deep ruts that led up the road. I almost called it quits at that sight but we decided to give it a try. So we found a slightly drier spot and put on the snow chains right at the start.

Chains on, we entered the FSR and started down the ruts. The road despite its deep snow cover was still as bumpy as ever as we made our way over the deeply potholed early section of the road. Glad to be past the worst of it we soon approached the bridge over the Squamish River leading to the Ashlu valley. The deepest ruts continued on over the bridge but that was not where we wanted to go. We did stop on the rise to the bridge so we could get out and look around. I walked a ways along the bridge and gathered a few shots of the river and mountain scenes. We noticed that there was a campsite setup on the far side of the bridge, with a chap busy working on his campfire! A bit too wet and cold for me.

Once done with the views from the bridge we resumed our drive up the valley. The snow depth dropped a bit and we were able to continue on with little problem. There were some ruts leading us on but they were two narrow for our truck – obviously left by the ATV’s that we had noted earlier. Soon we were past the fenced equipment yard and then the small power station, enjoying the quietness of the area. The rain had stopped by now and we actually were able to enjoy a pleasant drive along this early part of the road. Soon we came by the B200 fork and noticed that the ATV’s had set off up this branch. It looked a bit steep for us to do but the mainline ahead of us offered lovely virgin snow so we continued along.

A ways further the slope between us and the river broadened out and offered a nice flat area. It was along this stretch of road that we had our first major treat of the drive. Looking down towards the river we spotted a herd of Elk travelling along the river. As we caught up to them they stopped to look us over. There were around 10 animals. We stopped to enjoy watching them and soon they decided that we were too interested in them so they set off directly away from us towards the river. In very short time and distance they were well hidden from our view, and so we resumed our drive up the valley.