Thursday, April 30, 1998

This is not an actual trip report in the usual sense, but is merely a quick write-up. Brad and I wanted to get away from the city for the day, so we decided to explore the Squamish River Valley. It is mostly easy 'wheeling, but offers some nice scenery and views.

We started in Brackendale, and went out along a twisty, tree-lined paved road into the Squamish River Valley (where the houses had addresses like "10.6 Mile" instead of regular street numbers). We eventually arrived at the Squamish River FSR (very dusty!), and turned off at Buck Mtn Road, which follows Ashlu Creek (check out the white sand on the beach under the first bridge). Watch for logging trucks during weekdays, as this is an active logging area. We explored it for a while, encountered some fairly rough side-roads that switch-backed high into the mountains, and watched the helicopter logging taking place across the valley.

Northern view of the valley from the top of a logged cut

Found a promising, rough, rocky trail leading south, but we were stopped by snow. Took some pics of the mountains extending up from the valley road. It was HOT! Brad's thermometer said 31°C outside. We stopped on the bridges of several creeks and let the cold wind blow through the trucks... I even splashed around in one of the clear creeks to cool down! We encountered about 60 cm of snow on the main road at the "Mile 35" point. It was kinda weird baking in the sun, and getting stopped by snow.

Snow at Mile 35; too lazy to air down to go further

Northern view of the valley road, coming back from Mile 35

After we finished exploring the Buck Mtn Road, we drove back to the Squamish River FSR and went a bit further in. Right after the fenced Interfor compound, we spotted a road heading up the mountain to the right; we took this and explored most of the branches, which all ended at logged cuts.

Crossing a drainage ditch in a logged cut

Awesome view of the Squamish River threading through the flat land of the valley far below, with snow-covered mountains towering up on both sides!

Squamish River meandering between the mountains, as the sun begins to set

The sun was beginning to set over the mountains by then, so we called it a day and headed towards Squamish for a dinner at White Spot. All in all, a nice, relaxing day in the warm Spring sun.

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