Capturing the Art of Nature
Tsileuh Creek Revisited
Our first trip was in March when we were stopped by deep snow, today we hoped to explore much further and see the far end of the road, alas, plans often get unfulfilled.
Category
Serendipitous Discoveries
2010
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We hadn’t done much exploration up the Fraser Canyon before our previous trip to the Tsileuh, so the area was constantly presenting new adventures for us. In March we drove the road in increasingly deep snow until we finally reached the point we needed to stop. So now that the snow was gone we decided to try the road again and see what adventures were to be had further up the road.
After re-loading the tank and getting some lunch in the town of Hope we made our way to Spuzzum in short order where we left the highway and started up the FSR. It wasn’t long before we were stopped by an excavator replacing a culvert that crossed the road. We got out to chat with the operator for a few minutes, he was friendly and curious about our adventures. He quickly moved the old pipe that was in our way and we zipped past him while he finished that section and set out for the next obstruction on the road.
Soon we reached the place we were stopped at last time and the road looked good. So we continued along and soon came to a stream crossing. The stream used to flow under the road but due to debree, the pipe had gotten blocked and now the flow runs across the road. It was flowing fairly fast and I was thinking that at this rate it won’t be long before the water has cut a deep enough trench that the road will no longer be passable. Last March we had snow-shoed to this point but the water was well hidden by the snow.
Just past the stream the road starts a steeper climb up and around a bend and as we followed it we very soon came to a slide area where there were a number of large rocks blocking the way. After carefully surveying the possibilities, we decided that it would take too much time and effort to get past this section of road. This was very disappointing. I decided to head back to the water crossing and gather a few stream pictures of the water flow above the road. Once done taking the photos I grabbed my tripod and slipped it over my shoulder only to hear my camera go sailing to the ground lens first. Then I heard the crinkling of glass as it hit the gravel road! I was not very happy at this moment as I had my 70-200mm lens on the camera.
I picked up the camera and turned it over, the broken glass was all from the lens filter, and the actual front glass of the lens was unmarked. That was a huge relief; the filter would be a cheap easy fix. I took a number of wild flower photos with the lens and confirmed that it was undamaged. It was back to the truck and back down the road. We had to fight our way getting turned around on the road and squeezing back through a narrow passage, but it was a fun challenge. We then drove up another side branch where we were stopped by a single boulder. We decided to pull it out of the way and attached a recovery strap to it and gave it a drag. Unfortunately the rock flipped over onto the strap and the dragging frayed the strap quite badly.
Once past the rock we drove the road until we reached a blue pickup where the driver was busy sawing firewood. We stopped to chat with him for a few minutes before continuing on up. We didn’t go all that much further before we stopped and ate our lunch. On our way back down we chatted with the firewood chap a bit more and then watch the excavator casually pick up the rock we had dragged and drop it off the road! He made it look so easy. Another quick chat with the operator and we were driving back down and exploring another short side road – this one Geoff and I had travelled before. I wanted to try one spur that snow blocked us on last time. It seems that the snow hadn’t prevented us from seeing much, so we were done quite soon.
We decided to head back to the highway and do a few stops on the way back to Hope. But soon we were having trouble with the engine and not getting any power to move on the hills. We slowly made our way into Hope and a garage where we reset the error codes and replaced the fuel filter. The engine was not getting the fuel pressure it needed and had switched to limp mode. I hoped changing the filter would help, but later when I got it into the dealership we determined that it was the fuel pump that had to be replaced. It was not a nice ending to the day. The drive home along the highway was full of anxiety but otherwise un-eventful. Soon we were home and able to rest after a long day. Though the road was a bit of a disappointment, we enjoyed our chat with the two we met who were working on the road, and the views of the back country were still as lovely as always.