Capturing the Art of Nature
West Harrison - Southern Area
The West Harrison area has so much to see, every trip seems to open up even more to explore. Today we returned to one very scenic spot and also travelled some newly formed roads.
Category
Serendipitous Discoveries
2011
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The planned destination for the day was up in the air until this morning as the weather was uncertain and I wanted to visit the spot with the best chance of sun. So after I climbed out of my comfy warm bed to explore the cold realities of life, I determined that east was the way to go for today. Once Ethan arrived to drive, we started off for our coffee stop in Abbotsford and by the time the first few ounces of caffeine had their effect, we determined that the West Harrison was where we would spend the day. We continued along the highway to Agassiz where we picked up lunch and topped off the fuel.
As we approached Mt Woodside we considered heading up there first but as it was socked in with cloud we continued on past and soon were making our way up the start of the West Harrison FSR. Shortly we encountered some very rough road and delays due to road construction! Now I really hate road construction on the roads around home but to be bothered by it in the backcountry! Now that is just plain irritating. But hey, they have straightened and leveled the road in this early section and though it still has some ways to go, it will be nice once done – so nice that even small BMW’s could make the drive – oops sorry, one already was inching along this very rough road much to the humour of the watching construction workers.
Once past the construction, we continued to the first lake view where we turned off onto the side road which follows the transmission towers south to the Harrison River. Ethan and I followed this road a few years back when we had to push our way through snow to reach the end. Today we were later in the season and the snow was gone, but now a logging company was active on the road and they were busy improving some of the road sections. They had a security trailer set up at the start of the area but no one was home when we drove past. We continued down the road as it snaked its way along the line. At the far end where the line crosses the Harrison River we stopped to admire the view we had come for. It is an amazing place to enjoy the scenery. We noticed that the river was very high; flooding areas of the shoreline across from us and the colour of the water was a milky green – very pretty for the camera. Once we had soaked in our share of the view and watched a few boats make their way up the river, we returned to the truck and started back.
Half way back to the West Harrison, Ethan spotted a side branch that he wanted to try. Unfortunately just as he entered the road he dropped down off of a hidden boulder and pushed in the right front panel of the truck. This prevented me from opening the truck door fully so we had to stop and see what we could do to fix it. A good crow bar comes in really handy at time like this and we just happened to have one. So after some trials I was eventually able to find a spot where I could leverage the panel support and pry it back in place. It is still a bit tighter than before but the door is fine and it doesn’t look damaged, so we packed away our repair tools and continued back to the mainline. I figured that side road was not worth the bother. Upon reaching the security station however we found our way blocked by a pickup truck.
As we approached the driver got out and came over to me, after he determined that we posed no threat he stood down and we had a lovely chat about their logging work. They are a small firm with a license for a few small lots down slope of the transmission line road. He said how they were taking extra precautions so as to not expose the cleared area to sunbathers at the Harrison Hot Springs beach area. They won’t see a thing from the town he prided himself in saying. I said it was a shame that they had to take such measures just for PR. After a short chat he encouraged us to explore some of their other newly minted roads where there were some great lake views. So we said our good byes and continued on to the mainline and then off at the next side road leading to Francis Lake and some viewpoints just before the small lake.
This road has some deep cross-ditches which played with our rear bumper some more but we reached the end of the highest road and there we stopped for lunch. I gathered a few shots heading SW up the Harrison River Valley. Unfortunately the sightlines were the best so I didn’t get as many photos from up here as I thought I would. While there a small ATV zipped up to us and turned back at the end – it sure makes quick time over these roads compared to us. Done with lunch, we started back down and stopped in at Francis Lake for a quick visit. I didn’t really feel that inspired at the little lake though the few people fishing on it seemed to be enjoying the place quite well. We turned back down the Weaver FSR and started up the Hemlock Valley FSR. This section was freshly used by the logging company and was in great shape for driving. Last time here with Geoff we got stuck on a sandy creek crossing but today there was a culvert across the creek and we almost missed noticing the spot.
We continued up the Hemlock FSR through several active logging sites and eventually stopped where they had dropped a few trees across the road. We could have pushed on but the road became overgrown not much past the spot so I decided to turn back – call me a wus maybe but after the body bending of earlier I didn’t want any more for today. Part ways back were some of the new roads the chap had mentioned so we started up the first and soon came to a very steep section. Ethan wasn’t so sure about this spot but the truck struggled up it and once the road leveled a bit we were stopped by a large tree harvester. While I took a few photos, Ethan went to look over the machine. Then he had to turn the truck around – on the steep slope. Heading up or down wasn’t too scary but being on it sideways did elicit a bit of anxiety for both of us. Fortunately the u-turn went smoothly and we were making our way back down the steep slope to a fork. The other branch led to a lovely clear view of Harrison Lake.
Once done with the view we saw that we were at the end of the road and so we returned all the way to the West Harrison mainline where we continued north to 10 mile bay. The first thing we noticed down in the camping area was a huge mound of trash! Why people leave their crap behind still eludes me. Garbage was strewn across the area. The individual spots people we occupying were reasonably clear of trash, I guess they had picked up the close stuff and dropped it in the big pile – better than nothing I suppose. While we were there we noticed a fire warden making his way to each campsite telling people of the half meter size restriction on campfires. No tickets today but perhaps later.
Done with the filth of the campsite we returned back to the mainline and started back home. There was one more road I noticed on the way here that I wanted to try before we stopped for the day. When we found the side road we set off up it and eventually found a decent view but I determined this wasn’t the road I had seen earlier, so we returned the mainline and continued along to the correct side road. Unfortunately it had a very solid locked gate across it a couple hundred meters in. A disappointment but the day had been quite enjoyable and so this wasn’t too big a let down. It being late we started for home. As we arrived at the construction site, we watched with growing humour and amazement at the cars making their way back across the construction area. I have to believe that they wouldn’t have driven it if they had know what to expect. All too soon, we were back to the pavement and done with the day’s adventure, there I put a call in on the repeater to Carolyn. A nice area to see and not even very far up the road!