Capturing the Art of Nature
Tsileuh Creek FSR & Alexandra Bridge
It had been 6 months since our last visit to the canyon and we still had much to see so I was looking forward to today's adventure and hoped the weather would not get in the way.
Category
Serendipitous Discoveries
2010
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Our last trip up the Fraser canyon was back in September, so it was about time we returned and resumed our exploration further up the canyon. Though it was still early in the season, the low snow falls made me hopeful we would be able to explore the full extent of the roads we would find. On our previous trip up the canyon we explored the Spuzzum FSR. Today we would try the next one - Tsileuh Creek FSR which leaves the highway at Spuzzum and skirts the northern slope of Spuzzum Mountain before heading west along Tsileuh Creek.
We arrived at Spuzzum in good time having stopped only twice along the canyon to capture a few shots of the Fraser. It being a dull day with a touch of drizzle, the images were not popping out like they would have on a brighter day. Once in Spuzzum we quickly located the entrance to the FSR and made our way up the fairly well traveled early section of the road. As the road was still actively used for logging it was in decent shape though there were definite signs of being ignored over the winter. As we gained elevation we were soon into snow and the prospects of making to the end of the road seemed unlikely but we continued along.
As we came to our first turn we were presented with a lovely view of the Alexandra Bridge. This old bridge built in the early 1900's is a single lane suspension bridge. It was the only means of crossing the Fraser in the canyon with a vehicle in those days and the private builders were able to charge a sizable toll for the privilege. Continuing along we soon came the our first obstacle.
There in front of us blocking the road was a recent rock slide, not many rocks but as it was off season and the loggers were not around the rocks remained on the road. We looked over the situation and saw that only the two largest rocks were in the way. They were not overly large so we hauled out our recovery straps and hooked up the first of the rocks and pulled it to the side of the road. Once clear we went after the second and soon the way was open enough for us to pass. As we continued along, the road slowly gained elevation with increasing snow depth. It wasn't all that much further that we came to another rock slide but this one was buried in snow and we couldn't safely determine how to cross it so we decided to stop at this point. But there seemed to be something of interest not much further up the road and as it had only a slide grade and we had our snow shoes - we decided to give it a hike.
So it we backed up a bit, parked the truck in a wide section, strapped on our snow shoes and set off up the road. After about a half kilometer we came to the area we had spotted, but didn't find anything of interest. The road switched back at this point and start up a steep incline, but as it was starting to snow, we opted to return to the truck. It was a fun excuse to get out the snow shoes and trek along the road. The snow was quite heavy which packed easily and made our going fairly fast, so we were back at the truck quite quickly.
We ate a bit of lunch and then returned along the road - we took a branch that forked off near the start of the FSR and explored some logged areas unfortunately the views from this area were not that inspiring so we didn't remain here very long. As it was too early to head home we decided to explore the Alexandra bridge close up. So we zipped up the highway a ways, crossing the replacement bridge for the old single laner and soon were making our way down the old road leading to the bridge. Near the bottom a tree had fallen across the road blocking access to the final 150m so Geoff took the opportunity to use his chain saw on it and clear the way.
We parked the truck close to the end of the road and organized our camera equipment. I setup the cross-band repeater but we weren't getting into the Hope repeater that well from here and I didn't feel like putting up the larger antenna so we mainly just chatted simplex between us as we explored the bridge area. The bridge is quite interesting and offers some good insight into the engineering capabilities of the early 1900's. It's a shame that the bridge has been neglected for many years and is rapidly deteriorating. If they don't do some basic stabilization on some of the cables and the western support pillar it will soon be unsafe to walk across. That would be a shame as it is a neat experience to stand over the river and stare down through the metal grating to look at the water flowing past.
I gathered a number of shots of the various poses of the bridge and then switched to my close-up lens to get some detail of the cables and decking. The close-up shots were rich in patterns and detail but a few of them did expose the decay creeping into the bridge structures. While we were exploring the bridge another couple came by and took a number of shots as well. They had been here many years previously and commented on how much it had degraded since then. We both got interested in the numerous graffiti writings that had been scratched into the paint all along the bridge. There were some with repeat visits - each marked with the date. Another was listing lovers when they visited together and again years later stating they were still together! I thought it would make an interesting study to come back and shoot all of the graffiti and put them together in a book of some kind.
Once done with the bridge we hiked back to the truck and set off for Hope and a coffee at the Blue Moose Bistro. Though a bit wet and dull, the day was fun and I quite enjoyed exploring the bridge. I definitely will be back to reshoot it and try to collect some of the graffiti though I think it would be a fairly long task to get it all!