Saturday, February 9, 2002

I had an appointment cancellation this afternoon, so I went for a drive up the Fraser Canyon. I also got my camera back from Canon today, so I figured I'd take a few shots to test it out. The images are a bit dark because the sun was disappearing behind the mountains by the time I got to Yale. This isn't a 'wheeling trip; there's still too much snow to go anywhere that requires a climb in elevation, which is everywhere.

I left New Westminster where Terry and a friend of his met me for lunch, and hit Hwy 1 heading east at around 14:00h. Gas was 58.9 in North Van, 53.9 in Chilliwack, and 46.5 in Hope and Yale! I went for a hike in Yale along a section of the old highway as it paralleled the Fraser River. I followed the old telegraph line until the wires ended at a cool fishing perch on a cliff. The telegraph poles still had the old glass insulators on the wooden cross-pieces; most were damaged but some still looked like they were in good shape. A rock outcropping across the river sported a few hardy trees growing in a thin layer of sediment, and a jumble of boulders at the water's edge were covered with dark green moss. Snow-covered mountains towered above in the background, an awesome view which will become this week's Windows desktop at work (gotta change it every week!). I found a train tunnel that was built in 1909; if you look carefully at the top row of stones immediately above the keystone, you can just make out the year. I found another tunnel that was built in 1951, where the old road disappeared beneath the new highway. I heard a crackling sound, and turned to watch a hundred pounds of ice falling down the cliff to the road surface about 100 feet behind me. I followed the train tracks for a while, then turned back when I started to get tired.

Back to the truck, and back out to Hwy 1. I stopped at a pull-out just past Saddle Rock; I was going to shoot a photo of the river but there wasn't enough light. Climbing down the steep slope, I lost my footing on a slippery rock and almost did a header 50 feet down to the railway tracks, but I managed to grab hold of a handy tree right at the cliff edge (at least I wouldn't have landed in the river! LOL). As I hung on to the tree, I watched pebbles and moss fall through the air to the tracks below. First hike of the year, what can I say! I actually have a slight pain in the right side of my chest as I type this, possibly from over-exertion or maybe from grabbing the tree. Note to self: buy new boots, with better tread.

The little waterfalls at the side of the highway near Hell's Gate were all frozen; they looked pretty neat so I might head back for some photos in the sunlight. I was almost in Boston Bar, so I decided to see how the logging mainlines looked. They still had snow; I got about 5km in on Uztlius Crk FSR when I started sliding towards the edge of the cliff (what is it with me and cliffs today??), so I carefully backed up and turned around since I was solo. There were no more tire tracks in the new snow past the point where I turned around. The snow had a hard crust over an ice base; it wasn't deep but it was fairly slippery. This was without airing down; I just wanted to check it out.

I fueled up in Hope on the way home; the Shell gas station attendant looked at the stickers on the truck and asked, "Are you a member of all those clubs?" I explained to him that I was a member of the Lionsgaters, and that the Lionsgaters are a member club of United Four Wheel Drive Associations. I informed him that I was also an individual member of the Four Wheel Drive Association of BC, to which he replied "I didn't even know we had one!".

Great way to spend an afternoon.

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