Submitted by mudrunner on 27 October, 2011 - 08:21.
Nothing like a deadline & the threat of showing up at a banquet empty-handed (or empty-peaked) to get my motivation going.
I managed to bag SLY with Jackie M. We trudged onward toward the Needles. Using my memory as a time-guide, we expected to bag the middle Needle in another 15 minutes. You know how it goes....just a little bit further.....OK....next climb. Argh! Had to get home, so we turned around just after the Middle Needle flagging & seeing that the next peak was a good 30 minutes further away.
Anyway....a fantastic day on the trails & I'm gonna have to get back to see those prayer flags on the Needle sometime soon....even if it's out of Baggin' season.
My last bags for the season: Liddell and Gambier last Sunday.
Left the car at the Whyte Lake parking lot (start of BP) and walked down to the ferry terminal to catch the 7:20 ferry to Langdale ($13.45) . Then caught the 8:10 Stormaway to New Brighton ($7.15). Headed up the road towards Gambier Lake and then took the Muskeg Lake turnoff on the old route to Liddell. The goal was to attempt a traverse of Liddell and then follow that with Killam.
Shortly after Muskeg Lake the road became very overgrown and was little more than a complete bushwack over an old roadbed now covered in conifers up to 6' high. It was slow going but I reached the old bridge at 11:15 which is shown on the Conservancy map as closed. All that's left of it is a couple of huge logs over a 50' gorge, a very dramatic scene. I was able to climb down into the gorge and then cross about 75m below the bridge and back up on the other side to regain the overgrown roadbed.Another kilometer or so and the road started to open up. Passed a junction with a road heading north (left) with an old "Peak" sign pointing uphill on the right fork. I followed this road to its end and then headed cross country and slightly uphill to reach the rocky knoll which leads to the top of Liddell. Summitted at 1:15. Then headed over to Gambier.
From there I dropped straight down to the road I had come up and then took the north fork at the "Peak" sign. I soon passed a Liddell sign and starting seeing large amounts of long pink flagging. I tried following it but quickly found myself going in circles through heavy bush. After almost an hour of thrashing I decided to just drop down to Damsoon Lake following a track I'd placed on the GPS. I occasionally ran into trail markers but generally just thrashed downhill to the lake where I intersected with the road to Gambier lake. Reached it at 16:30.
At this point I thought I was home free and started following the road towards Gambier lake. Having never been in the area I had no sense of what to expect but the Conservancy map seemed to indicate a road all the way to Gambier lake. Well it quickly became overgrown and pretty soon I lost it. Not sure if I missed a switchback or what happened but I knew I was running out of time so just headed straight downhill. About halfway down to the lake things started getting quite steep and bluffy. I continued on slowly but didn't reached Gambier Lake until 17:30.
I knew I had to run like the wind to have any hope of catching the ferry. I laced up the runners and went for it. Ran the whole way to New Brighton feeling motivated by the sense of urgency and strong after a hard season of bagging. The light was fading as I came downhill into New Brighton. Arrived at the dock at 18:50 just 10 minutes after the last trip of the Stormaway.
Called the Gambier water taxi and organized a ride to Langdale. The price is $67 for the boat which can hold 4 to 6 passengers. While waiting for John to arrive I realized I hadn't had a drink of water all day. Maybe time to crack open the water bottle. Drank most of a liter in a few minutes. John had me in Langdale by 19:30.
Caught the last ferry back and noticed that my trusty bagger shoes had done their last run. Now completely blown apart at the sole they have served me well for the last 2 seasons of climbing, hiking, and running.
It would be nice to do the full traverse of Gambier (5 summits) next year in a day but I don't think its feasible without more trail work. Maybe plan a weekend spending all day Saturday trail clearing and flagging, light fastpack camping on Saturday night in Fircom and then go for it with a 6:00am start at first light on Sunday morning. I'm very keen to tame this island. It's still bucking a lot.
Submitted by Craig Moore on 26 October, 2011 - 16:53.
Bill, it seems you fell into the same parallel universe that Jackson and I encountered on our first attempt at Killam and Liddell way back in '09 - including the ferry/taxi bit at the end. We accomplished Liddell with a creative route as well but with a completely different approach. And in the end we ran out of time to do Killam but had oh so much fun hanging off the cliffs.
Congratulations on a fine year of Bagging to you and everyone. See you Friday I hope.
Anyone interested in doing Lidell, Gambier, and Killam tomorrow? The weather forecast is looking good. Plan is to catch the 7:20 ferry to Langdale from Horseshoe Bay and the 8:10 ferry to New Brighton returning no later than 6:10 pm from New Brighton. A good chance to add 3 final summits to your 2011 bagger list.
Christine and I caught the Cormorant water taxi over to Fircom on Saturday morning with friends Jane and Ian. The hike was underway by 9:30, a bit later than ideal. Cost was $25 / head. Great comfortable 12 passenger boat and a good sunny day. We headed up the road following signs to the Artaban trailhead. It was a well established trail to the top which we reached in 1.25 hours. Nice views with remnants of the cement blocks where the older fire lookout stood. Dropped down the trail on the north side to Brigade Bay which took another hour. We initially missed the Burt's Bluff trailhead following Mt Artaban road too far north. We doubled back and were eventually climbing our way up the steep slope to the col between Burt's Bluff and Burt's peak. We found the flagging left by the earlier CFA party and headed up the peak but still fumbled around a bit near the summit which we topped out on 2 hours after Brigade Bay at 1:45. A quick stop for lunch and we started looking for the trail to the north. After circling around the summit area, we realized that it most likely headed for lost lake from the col so we headed back down there and sure enough found the northbound flagging there. We reached Lost Lake at 2:30. We initially found ourselves on the trail going SW back to Brigade Bay before turning around and heading NE. We then missed the turnoff to Gambier Lake and found ourselves headed towards Douglas Bay. By the time we corrected again we'd probably wasted about an hour route finding. We were now on the correct route to Gambier Lake following yellow markers. There was a much larger than expected uphill to gain the bench on which the lake sits at almost 400m. It was 4:15 by the time we arrived. With the last ferry leaving New Brighton at 6:10 it was clear that there would be no more peak bagging on this day. There was good runnable road (other than a few flooded areas near the lake) all the way first up and then down to New Brighton. A combination of fast walking and running saw the last of our party reach the ferry just 1 minute before departure time. It cost $7.50 each for the crossing to Langdale with a direct connection to the Horseshoe Bay ferry. We just had to walk up a ramp, take a passenger voucher at the machines there, and get on board the Queen of Surrey. No charge for the return trip. We arrived in Horseshoe Bay at 7:15 and headed straight to Troll's for Seafood and Beer. A full enjoyable day but probably require at least 12 hours to do a full sweep of the island.
Is that what I was hearing? Did Gotha and Coburg yesterday. Impressed by your bagging of Hanover. Looks like there's a bit of snow up there. I had planned to try and do a traverse from Coburg but given that it was already around 3:30, all I could see was cliffs, and snow near the top of Hanover, I thought it would be best to head back. Gotta leave something for next year!
He's written dozens of excellent trip reports on Club Tread. His route went up the South side of Coburg from Hanover lake. A very good potential exit route for a traverse from Gotha if Hanover turns out to be too much of a bear.
I propose a grand Deeks sweep on the first sunny weekend day of the 2012 Bagger season when there is still plenty of snow on these ridges making the steeper slopes far easier to ascend / descend. This would be with ice axes, crampons, and hiking boots. I think it would be desirable to start the challenge on June 1 so that there are more days of long daylight. The plan would be to ascend via Kallagne lake over Deeks, Windsor, Gotha, Coburg, Hanover, and then down via Brunswick lake and HSCT. Expect 12+ hours at high speed. Anyone interested?
Submitted by David Crerar on 17 October, 2011 - 19:50.
Every Baggers' Banquet we run a slideshow of bagging photos. There is a great paucity of bagger photos this year: please put them on the CFA flickr website!
2. Tag your photos: ClubFatAss ClubFatAssEvents ClubFatAssEvents2011 BaggerChallenge2011 BaggerChallenge (with a space separating each tag on the flickr template)
Submitted by reaganwhite on 16 October, 2011 - 21:53.
Isaac and I bagged Black today. Isaac was thrilled and entertained by the gregarious Whisky Jacks and a few (cautious) ravens at the Black lookout and at the Yew Lake lookout a little higher up and to the North. We climbed up what appeared to be the highest rock in the Black mtn area near the Yew Lake lookout, pictured below, and enjoyed a beautiful northerly view.
I finally got a chance to go to Burwell on Friday. I kept putting it off in the hopes I'd be able to do Cathedral as well. The days are too short and I'm not fast enough. It's just not in the cards this year. Of course, the flip-side of that was I got to enjoy myself alot more and take my time. The strange day I had can best be summed up by the following:
- Cycled within about 3 feet of a deer while he just stood there and watched me
- Kept hearing a dog barking on the way to Coliseum, but never ran into it/its owner
- Saw something bright blue (a tent or tarp most likely) down by Cornet Lakes
- Watched a helicopter circle Cathedral for the better part of an hour. When it finished, it made a b-line right over me on the Burwell summit and then touched down on the Burwell/Coliseum ridge briefly before taking off again. Strange.
- Slipped a chain so badly on the way back that I basically had to lift up the entire bike by the chain and shake it until it came loose (sidenot: I hate bikes...alot).
- Lost my car key somewhere along the way. If anyone finds a Toyota key on that route I will be forever in your debt.
Today I took on Hanover. What a monster. At 20.5km and somewhere around 2000m of vertical (made a little higher by having to park at the school in Lions Bay), it's a doozie. I'll probably post a trip report on Clubtread at some point in the next few days, but if anyone is interested in conditions or beta just let me know.
Baggermeister: HOL, STR, MAR for Mike Palichuk and me.
We parked at Cypress Bowl Alpine ski area on a bright and cold fall Sunday morning.
Took Baden-Powell east for 5 minutes, crossed Cypress creek, then took a left and up on an unmarked trail that eventually joined the Old Strachan trail. The ground was hard, icy at places with frosty sprinkles, signaling that summer doesn't live here anymore.
Another 10 minutes or so brought us to a col/junction between Strachan and Hollyburn. Took right and resumed climbing to the peak of Hollyburn from its north face. Had the peak - bug free! - to ourselves, and threw a stone to break the first of several frozen ponds we encountered throughout the day.
Went back down the way we came to the same col, and continued north west, joining the single track through the meadow leading up to Strachan.
Passing the large debris of the 1963 plane crash site, we paid our respects to the 2 pilots killed that day, and pressed on up to the south peak of Strachan, down to the col, and up to its northern peak with spectacular views to the Lions and the various Garibaldi peaks in the distance.
Back down to the col, and now down and west along Christmas Gully. This was a slow and slippery affair, as the path was mostly an icy river until the trail re-entered the woods, and popped us out at the two small wooden bridges of Howe Sound Crest Trail.
Took a right and made our way uneventfully north to St Mark's summit, with good views west to Bowen and the Sunshine Coast.
From here we turned around and made our way back to Cypress Bowl along HSCT, with another small detour for the Bowen lookout, returning to the car happy after ~3:45 hours.
Submitted by Ean Jackson on 14 October, 2011 - 07:25.
The rain abated. The clouds parted. A bagger-to-be was visiting from Toronto, so we pounced on the opportunity to snag a peak before breakfast. Baggermeister Crerar, please add Tom McLelland to the elite list of flatlanders to have bagged a BC peak in 2011 and add STR to my miserable count.
Highlights of our trip include:
- we did not get lost
- we did not see a bear
- we did pass through snow
- got great views of Bowen and the Sunshine coast from the Bowen Lookout, but only partial views from the peak
- went by the airplane crash site
- had a memorable morning
- have a convert to the Bagger Challenge who will no longer feel as high off the ground the next time he sumits the Niagara escarpment!
Yes, there was an excavator on the east side building what appeared to be a connecting path from said bridge to the east spur road. They've been talking about this for years. Hopefully, it'll be ready by spring.
Headed for Furry Creek yesterday morning with Christine, Jane, and 3 mountain bikes. Parked at the gate at the bottom of the gravel road leading to Capilano Mtn near the highway. Cycled up the road for about 1.5 hours until the bush closed in and walking became faster. We took a wrong turn at one point and ended up in an area being actively helicopter logged on the west side of Phyllis Creek, even on Saturday. The forecast called for rain in the afternoon and there was a pretty constant high cloud cover. We walked the final kilometer to Beth Creek and the start of the Beth Lake trail. The trail was very well marked to Beth Lake and up to the ridge above. The actual summit is some distance behind the peak that is visible above the lake. The trail traverses around this over a long stretch of picturesque tarns and mountain lakes. It would be very difficult finding one's way through this area without a gps track to go by in white out conditions. We climbed the final section to the top amidst increasing cloud, mist, and wind. There were no views to speak of on this day and we quickly ate our lunch in a sheltered spot just below the summit. The fresh snow reported by Matt on Tuesday has melted and the rocks were mostly dry, if somewhat mossy. There are still small snowfields here that didn't melt over the summer so we may have experienced a year of glacial advance. We beat a hasty retreat and were thankful to drop below the fog and mist just 100m lower down. Back at the bikes in under 3 hours for the thrill ride back to the cars. Total round trip time was 8 hours, a relatively relaxed bagging day for us.
Submitted by David Crerar on 8 October, 2011 - 19:51.
The schemers and dreamers had long speculated that Dickens, the northern and most elusive peak in the Bagger Challenge, could be more readily conquered from the water than by the land (which requires a conquest of almost the entire Fannin Range). The hypothesis proved true.
Boat to the Wigwam Creek washout point on Indian Arm, just north of the Wigwam Inn. Walk up along the creek (an alder-strewn but flat path on the south side of the creek) until the creek becomes more boxlike and canyonish. At that point, cut over the creek and into the forest north of the creek. One can avoid cliffs and vegetation for most of the journey up, and even follow what is a clear but rarely-trod trail running up parallel to the creek, and past the falls. We had fully expected a dismal west coast bush-whack from the start; happily, it was not to arrive until 3/4 of the way up. As one approaches the ridge the trail becomes more vegetal but is still a relatively gentle bush-whack. You pop out of the underbrush and can see Indian Arm through the trees.
Turn south. At this point the hike does get a bit nasty and woolly. Head generally south and up. The blueberry bushes abate as you punch out to the very clearly-marked Indian Arm Trial. Thence, head south and up along the IAT to the Dickens Summit. An obligatory consumption of whisky, tea, and shortbread, and a read from Hard Times.
Return to Indian Arm, for a celebration of good friends, indulgent spouses, and the glorious kingdom in which we pass our corporeal existance.
LEFT: behind Ken, the point where one cuts into the forest for ascent up to Dickens.
Very cool route. Just checking the map and wondering whether the creek you climbed was Wigwam Creek? This is a huge potential shortcut to the Indian Arm Trail circuit. What was the descent like? Does anyone have a track of the days activities? Nice pics. Did you run into any fresh snow on the summit?
Submitted by Ean Jackson on 9 October, 2011 - 08:01.
as I cooked the Thanksgiving turkey.
Your route sounds a lot more appealing than the overland route from Bishop! I was relieved to hear that you didn't make it all of the way to Brokeback Peak (noted on the bagger map, but not an "official" bagger peak in the North Shore Bagger Challenge) for personal reasons. Wonder if the tops of the pine trees where the helicopter landed have grown back? Looks like we'll have to wait till next year to find out, eh?
Sounds like a wonderful adventure was had by all. By flagging the route, you guys completed one of my long-standing ToDos.
Popped up to Deeks Peak today. There's snow above 1200m! By the time I left the summit, it was ankle deep and wasn't stopping anytime soon. Winter is definitely on its way in the mountains.
Set off from the end of Riverside Drive at 8:30 by mountain bike yesterday with friends Jane and Ian. Headed over twin bridges, along fisherman's trail, over to the east spur road to .5km before the gate. A flagged trail heads steeply uphill to the east to Vicar Lakes. Followed this over the boggy lake section and up through the forest on the Bishop trail. Weather was overcast but dry and clear at the summit of Bishop. Dropped back down and crossed over to Deacon and Presbyter following old markers and trail clearing activity likely left by Don McPherson. Saw my first view of Fannin Lake with the forested Dickens ridge way off in the distance and decided to leave that for another year. Headed back down to east spur road and arrived back at Riverside 9.5 hours later.
Short notice I know, but I'm planning to head out from Cypress tomorrow morning, going at least as far as Harvey and hopefully all the way to Porteau Cove. Anyone else interested? Word of warning though - I'm slow. Hoping for 9 hours but planning on 10-12.
Submitted by Matt K on 28 September, 2011 - 15:26.
Baggermeister, MNE & NNE s'il vous plait?
Did the Needles today from Hydraulic Creek. It was slick, and I entrusted my life to blueberry bushes way to many times to count, but I done it. I doubt I will ever go back. Oh, and the Victory candy is still on North Needle.
Sorry Ean, time constraints meant I had no choice but to go today. Okay, so technically I did have a choice, but the thought of slogging up to Deeks Peak was depressing. If you do decide to go for North Needle just do it the sane way - from the South.
Submitted by Ean Jackson on 28 September, 2011 - 18:37.
Hey Matt,
Thanks for the love. You do know I was with you in spirit the whole way, don't you?
Funny how I called Baggermeister Ken today just before noon. I needed to bemoan my fate to someone who would understand how bad it felt to be stuck in an office doing confernece calls on such a wonderful day. Should you have called from the peak of MNEor NNE, I would have cursed you... but I would then have pulled out the (girly) quaich, filled it with Macallan 18 year, and toasted your accomplishments.
Good on 'ya, bro. I'm praying for nice weather this weekend. No chance you flagged your route, eh? Did you pull those bushes out by the roots during freefall? Any berries left up there?
Submitted by Matt K on 28 September, 2011 - 19:29.
I'll add the photos to the flikr stream at some point, but the col between South and Middle Needle is covered with bushes 5 feet tall. The rule of thumb for me was to stay in areas where there were blueberries and lower myself by those. There's a sopping wet slab covered in moss coming off SNE where I was praying for roots. On a dry day it's probably manageable, but when wet it's scary. The blueberry bushes held great. Didn't have a single one tear out. Other shrubs were hit and miss.
Parked at Porteau road and headed up to Deeks lake. Followed HSCT to SOUTH side of Deeks Lake as per CFA website instructions and realized that trail to Deeks / Windsor col had to start from the NORTH side. First time in the area so didn't have any familiarity with the trails here. Headed back to the north end and found the trail this time. It is quite well marked and signposted up to the col. We proceeded to the top of Windsor. It was a nice clear warm fall day after a week of rain but we could see clouds building behind Brunswick. Rain was in the forecast overnight. We dropped back down to the col and followed a flagged trail up to the summit of Deeks. It was about 2pm. The route mentioned in 103 Hikes comes up from Kallahne Lake to the north. I hadn't brought that route description with me, but it looked fairly tame down to the lake on the 1:50,0000 topo and would make a nice traverse. We decided to descend by that route.
On the descent we quickly lost the route and decided to head straight down to Kallahne Lake. Bad move. We were soon lowering ourselves down steep slopes holding onto bushes and the valley we were heading for seemed to be falling away even more quickly. Cliffs were forcing us to the east and the slopes below looked steeper than what we'd already come down. Two hours had passed since we'd left Deeks and we were less than half way to Kallahne lake. With little to no route information on this side of the mountain we began getting fearful about getting caught out. The decision was made to head back up to the ridge. We could see flagging from a trail heading down the ridge but had difficulty following, were unsure of the route below, and it was now nearing 5:30. After some more discussion, and darkness quickly approaching, we decided to go back up over Deeks peak and head down the way we had come up.
I was quite concerned that it would be easy to lose our way if we didn't get back to the HSCT before dark. Luck was on our side and we arrived back at Deeks Lake at 6:45, just as the final light of the day was disappearing. A couple more hours got us back to the car at 8:45. Our 8 hour planned trip had turned into a 13 hour epic.
All in all, a character building day, with a lot of lessons learned. Our bagger kit would have left us very cold and wet if we'd have been caught out. Kudos to Christine for staying strong in the face of much adversity. A "thank god we're here" dinner was celebrated at the Queen's Cross on our arrival back on the Shore.
Baggermeister: Please put Christine and I down for DEE and WIN and correct the "Deeks Lake to Alpine" section of the trail descriptions for DEE, WIN, GOT, and COB to say "follow trail along north end of the lake past a few campsites..."
We both got into a pickle by following the ridge from Deeks back toward the ocean and our car. Yes, there was tape! Ended up in the next valley. Very late for din-din. Got a spanking. (Better that than a night under a piece of tin foil with Cubbon.) Cubbon won't go bagging with me anymore. Will Christine still venture out with you?
The 2nd way we tried to descend on the ridge was definitely the top of the Deeks Peak route mentioned in 103 Hikes (#35 p80). The problem is that it threads its way through steps in the ridge. We could see a heli-pad and structure on the ridge about 100m below us but we were standing on top of cliffs and had lost the flagged route yet again. Being less than 2 hours from complete darkness, it was not a good time to be trying to descend a faint unknown track.
Looking forward to doing the Deeks traverse in 2012. I'll ascend from the north via Kallahne lake connecting with this year's track on the way up and then descend via Deeks Lake.
Submitted by cmoric on 27 September, 2011 - 20:46.
Ean, that is the second bagging partner in as many posts that I have heard will no longer go bagging with you...what is up with that? Are there others?
Will I still venture out with Bill? Hell, yes. But let's just say we have different interpretations of what it means to be cliff hung...
Submitted by Ean Jackson on 28 September, 2011 - 18:44.
You would not enjoy being stuck on a peak in late September under a space blanket with me, Cmoric. Trust me. I kick, I hog the blanket, I snore, I pass wind and I tell off-color jokes all night long. There are others, yes... but some things must remain on the trails
Submitted by Matt K on 25 September, 2011 - 21:34.
Baggermeister, chalk me down for CFA, HAT & WET please.
"Saturday's only got a 30% chance of rain?! Better get outside." I got up with the intention of either summiting Hanover or doing a Fat Ass/Hat/Wettin three-bagger. I guess the potential for rain scared people off, as there was plenty of parking at the top of Lions Bay. Started at 7:20 and made quick work (for me) of the Brunswick trail and then turned North on the HSCT into Hat Pass. At 9:45, I reached Hat Pass . The clouds were whipping by the summit of Brunswick one after another. Absolutely gorgeous. For a few minutes I just stood there looking longingly at Hanover. It looked so close. The thought of descending either one of the twin gullies in bad weather made the decision for me though. Hanover will have to wait.
100m past the col viewpoint the Hat trail starts off to the left marked by flagging. By the time I got to the top of Fat Ass the wind had picked up and blown most of the clouds away. Brilliantly sunny! It was even nicer by the time I got to Hat. Somehow, I knew my luck couldn't hold out. 2 minutes later I stabbed myself in the hand trying to catch the pencil from the Hat summit register.
Looking off Hat, the ridge to Wettin looked pretty straightforward... if I could get to it. The North face of Hat looked a bit sketchy, so the plan was to follow the dedicated Hat trail down to a junction at 1450m and gain the ridge from there.
The West side looked even worse and I couldn't find the trail, so I went back to the North to try my luck. Just past a big boulder, there's a ledge with a notch in it that seems to fall off into oblivion. On second inspection, it was possible to carfully lower myself down a series of ledges into simpler terrain. Then a slippery descent into the col which utilized a fairly broad gully towards the Deeks/Brunswick Lakes. Somewhere in all of this I started following a trail. What's more, it was going the same direction I was. Woo-hoo! Once I hit the col, it became a quite pleasant walk through inoffensive scrub. Halfway to Wettin, while distractedly looking at my GPS, something quite unexpected occurred. I ran into another human being! It was hard to tell which on of us was more surprised. Turns out, this guy had popped come up from the HSCT in the Deeks/Brunswick L. area and was planning on going over Hat on his way to Brunswick. Right on.
Carried on to Wettin peak and rebuilt what looked to be a very small cairn on the mostly bushed-in summit. Possibly a remnant of Mr. Ean Jackson's previous visits? Then made my way back to Hat. Much easier going up than down. By the time I got back to Buck Rogers' spaceship, the weather was looking ominous so I got back down as quickly as I could.
There was no cairn when I first made it to Wettin. All snow. I needed something to pee on, so I made a small pyrimid of rocks. Not sure if it's in the right spot, even, as my GPS was broken. Glad to see I made a positive contribution to the world and that you found it. Did you pee on it, too?
Max new trails and bag a peak or two - take #2 - took place this Sat, with a plan of a counter-clockwise outskirting of Seymour park boundaries.
Started at the Indian River road - BP junction, at ~200m elevation. Headed up and north on the diminutive Fred's trail, which soon joined Three Chop trail. The previous day's rain caused the overgrown shrubbery to completely drench me. Coming out to the wider Perimeter trail was a welcome relief, and the various small but very active waterfalls were easy on the eyes.
At ~900m elevation I came to a signpost some 250 m before Goldie Lake; took a north-easterly muddy route sign-posted as "Dead End trail", and started outskirting the eastern border of the park, through a quiet, desolated but beautiful trail, over several blow-downs. The trail turned over-grown and soaking again, but after some more climbing reached a meadow and an easily missed right/east turn to the final climb to De-Pencier bluffs. Great views but windy up top.
Back down to the diminutive junction, across the meadow and a quick up and down to the Mystery Peak chair lift area, the main trail coming up from the Seymour parking lot, and groups of hikers. Ran the regular trail to the 3 Seymour peaks, catching the tail end of Liza's bagging crew as they descended the col between the 2nd and 3rd peaks on their way to Runner.
Had Seymour peak all to myself, eating breakfast overlooking Runner peak, contemplating the various approaches for next time.
Back down Seymour, against the hikers rush hour direction, taking a right at an unmarked and muddy junction by a small tarn, which was the start of the Suicide Bluffs trail. Again, a beautiful, desolated, single track outskirting the north-western park boundary. This trail goes up and down various bluffs and viewpoints, and is highly recommended. It was longer then I expected, and at the south-western end of it reaching the popular Dog Mountain lookout, and people. Soaked the views for a few minutes, and started heading back along the First lake trail to the Seymour parking lot, through a muddy and rooty trail - such a contrast to its winter snow-shoe version.
From the parking lot took a combination of cabin-trails and road to the CBC mountain bike trail-head, and enjoyed the technical downhill chasing a group of mountain bikers. CBC spitted me out on the road, just on top of the Mushroom/Vancouver lookout parking lot. Took the nice trail heading east from there, then a right/south turn down Old Buck, and back along BP to the start.
~5:45 hours of surprisingly technical, wet and slippery terrain, on possibly the last weekend of warm and clear weather.
Comments
Finally...I'm on the Bagger Map!
Nothing like a deadline & the threat of showing up at a banquet empty-handed (or empty-peaked) to get my motivation going.
I managed to bag SLY with Jackie M. We trudged onward toward the Needles. Using my memory as a time-guide, we expected to bag the middle Needle in another 15 minutes. You know how it goes....just a little bit further.....OK....next climb. Argh! Had to get home, so we turned around just after the Middle Needle flagging & seeing that the next peak was a good 30 minutes further away.
Anyway....a fantastic day on the trails & I'm gonna have to get back to see those prayer flags on the Needle sometime soon....even if it's out of Baggin' season.
See you Friday
Liddell, Gambier
My last bags for the season: Liddell and Gambier last Sunday.
Left the car at the Whyte Lake parking lot (start of BP) and walked down to the ferry terminal to catch the 7:20 ferry to Langdale ($13.45) . Then caught the 8:10 Stormaway to New Brighton ($7.15). Headed up the road towards Gambier Lake and then took the Muskeg Lake turnoff on the old route to Liddell. The goal was to attempt a traverse of Liddell and then follow that with Killam.
Shortly after Muskeg Lake the road became very overgrown and was little more than a complete bushwack over an old roadbed now covered in conifers up to 6' high. It was slow going but I reached the old bridge at 11:15 which is shown on the Conservancy map as closed. All that's left of it is a couple of huge logs over a 50' gorge, a very dramatic scene. I was able to climb down into the gorge and then cross about 75m below the bridge and back up on the other side to regain the overgrown roadbed.Another kilometer or so and the road started to open up. Passed a junction with a road heading north (left) with an old "Peak" sign pointing uphill on the right fork. I followed this road to its end and then headed cross country and slightly uphill to reach the rocky knoll which leads to the top of Liddell. Summitted at 1:15. Then headed over to Gambier.
From there I dropped straight down to the road I had come up and then took the north fork at the "Peak" sign. I soon passed a Liddell sign and starting seeing large amounts of long pink flagging. I tried following it but quickly found myself going in circles through heavy bush. After almost an hour of thrashing I decided to just drop down to Damsoon Lake following a track I'd placed on the GPS. I occasionally ran into trail markers but generally just thrashed downhill to the lake where I intersected with the road to Gambier lake. Reached it at 16:30.
At this point I thought I was home free and started following the road towards Gambier lake. Having never been in the area I had no sense of what to expect but the Conservancy map seemed to indicate a road all the way to Gambier lake. Well it quickly became overgrown and pretty soon I lost it. Not sure if I missed a switchback or what happened but I knew I was running out of time so just headed straight downhill. About halfway down to the lake things started getting quite steep and bluffy. I continued on slowly but didn't reached Gambier Lake until 17:30.
I knew I had to run like the wind to have any hope of catching the ferry. I laced up the runners and went for it. Ran the whole way to New Brighton feeling motivated by the sense of urgency and strong after a hard season of bagging. The light was fading as I came downhill into New Brighton. Arrived at the dock at 18:50 just 10 minutes after the last trip of the Stormaway.
Called the Gambier water taxi and organized a ride to Langdale. The price is $67 for the boat which can hold 4 to 6 passengers. While waiting for John to arrive I realized I hadn't had a drink of water all day. Maybe time to crack open the water bottle. Drank most of a liter in a few minutes. John had me in Langdale by 19:30.
Caught the last ferry back and noticed that my trusty bagger shoes had done their last run. Now completely blown apart at the sole they have served me well for the last 2 seasons of climbing, hiking, and running.
It would be nice to do the full traverse of Gambier (5 summits) next year in a day but I don't think its feasible without more trail work. Maybe plan a weekend spending all day Saturday trail clearing and flagging, light fastpack camping on Saturday night in Fircom and then go for it with a 6:00am start at first light on Sunday morning. I'm very keen to tame this island. It's still bucking a lot.
parallel universe
Bill, it seems you fell into the same parallel universe that Jackson and I encountered on our first attempt at Killam and Liddell way back in '09 - including the ferry/taxi bit at the end. We accomplished Liddell with a creative route as well but with a completely different approach. And in the end we ran out of time to do Killam but had oh so much fun hanging off the cliffs.
Congratulations on a fine year of Bagging to you and everyone. See you Friday I hope.
Twisted Moore
p.s. a 'full traverse' you say ... hmmm.
updated all-time bagger list
Took a very rough stab at updating the all-time bagging list.
For bucket-lists and schemes and chat at the Bagger Banquet, send in your remaining peaks!
Add Hanover to my remaining
Add Hanover to my remaining list and remove Liddell and Gambier. I'm at 50 for this year.
Last Hoorah - Gambier West
Anyone interested in doing Lidell, Gambier, and Killam tomorrow? The weather forecast is looking good. Plan is to catch the 7:20 ferry to Langdale from Horseshoe Bay and the 8:10 ferry to New Brighton returning no later than 6:10 pm from New Brighton. A good chance to add 3 final summits to your 2011 bagger list.
Gambier East (ART, GBU)
Christine and I caught the Cormorant water taxi over to Fircom on Saturday morning with friends Jane and Ian. The hike was underway by 9:30, a bit later than ideal. Cost was $25 / head. Great comfortable 12 passenger boat and a good sunny day. We headed up the road following signs to the Artaban trailhead. It was a well established trail to the top which we reached in 1.25 hours. Nice views with remnants of the cement blocks where the older fire lookout stood. Dropped down the trail on the north side to Brigade Bay which took another hour. We initially missed the Burt's Bluff trailhead following Mt Artaban road too far north. We doubled back and were eventually climbing our way up the steep slope to the col between Burt's Bluff and Burt's peak. We found the flagging left by the earlier CFA party and headed up the peak but still fumbled around a bit near the summit which we topped out on 2 hours after Brigade Bay at 1:45. A quick stop for lunch and we started looking for the trail to the north. After circling around the summit area, we realized that it most likely headed for lost lake from the col so we headed back down there and sure enough found the northbound flagging there. We reached Lost Lake at 2:30. We initially found ourselves on the trail going SW back to Brigade Bay before turning around and heading NE. We then missed the turnoff to Gambier Lake and found ourselves headed towards Douglas Bay. By the time we corrected again we'd probably wasted about an hour route finding. We were now on the correct route to Gambier Lake following yellow markers. There was a much larger than expected uphill to gain the bench on which the lake sits at almost 400m. It was 4:15 by the time we arrived. With the last ferry leaving New Brighton at 6:10 it was clear that there would be no more peak bagging on this day. There was good runnable road (other than a few flooded areas near the lake) all the way first up and then down to New Brighton. A combination of fast walking and running saw the last of our party reach the ferry just 1 minute before departure time. It cost $7.50 each for the crossing to Langdale with a direct connection to the Horseshoe Bay ferry. We just had to walk up a ramp, take a passenger voucher at the machines there, and get on board the Queen of Surrey. No charge for the return trip. We arrived in Horseshoe Bay at 7:15 and headed straight to Troll's for Seafood and Beer. A full enjoyable day but probably require at least 12 hours to do a full sweep of the island.
Hey Bill,
can you hear that swishing sound? It's me frantically waving a white flag.
Swishing sound
Is that what I was hearing? Did Gotha and Coburg yesterday. Impressed by your bagging of Hanover. Looks like there's a bit of snow up there. I had planned to try and do a traverse from Coburg but given that it was already around 3:30, all I could see was cliffs, and snow near the top of Hanover, I thought it would be best to head back. Gotta leave something for next year!
Cheers
Coburg from the South
Here's a very good trip that Simonc (is this Simon Cowell former CFA member?):
http://www.clubtread.com/sforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=33134
and his route:
http://www.clubtread.com/sforum/imagePreview.asp?image=/forumPix/233000/233560.jpg&x=631&y=800&t=33134
He's written dozens of excellent trip reports on Club Tread. His route went up the South side of Coburg from Hanover lake. A very good potential exit route for a traverse from Gotha if Hanover turns out to be too much of a bear.
I propose a grand Deeks sweep on the first sunny weekend day of the 2012 Bagger season when there is still plenty of snow on these ridges making the steeper slopes far easier to ascend / descend. This would be with ice axes, crampons, and hiking boots. I think it would be desirable to start the challenge on June 1 so that there are more days of long daylight. The plan would be to ascend via Kallagne lake over Deeks, Windsor, Gotha, Coburg, Hanover, and then down via Brunswick lake and HSCT. Expect 12+ hours at high speed. Anyone interested?
I've seen Simon's Trip Report
but I was hoping the ridge from Gotha would provide less class 4 than the South ridge.
Coburg to Hannover
You go first. Remember what happended to Mallory...
How is the approach to Coburg from that side?
I didn't get a chance to explore when I did Gotha.
This thread has some info on the ridge to Hanover. http://www.clubtread.com/sforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=35436&whichpage=1&SearchTerms=coburg,hanover
BAGGER PHOTOS
Every Baggers' Banquet we run a slideshow of bagging photos. There is a great paucity of bagger photos this year: please put them on the CFA flickr website!
1. Upload the photos to Flickr (instructions here. It's easy!)
2. Tag your photos: ClubFatAss ClubFatAssEvents ClubFatAssEvents2011 BaggerChallenge2011 BaggerChallenge (with a space separating each tag on the flickr template)
3. Add to the CFA Flickr Group
A reminder that one of the tiebreaker mechanisms is to the person who loads the most photos and posts the most trip reports.
BLA kidbag
Isaac and I bagged Black today. Isaac was thrilled and entertained by the gregarious Whisky Jacks and a few (cautious) ravens at the Black lookout and at the Yew Lake lookout a little higher up and to the North. We climbed up what appeared to be the highest rock in the Black mtn area near the Yew Lake lookout, pictured below, and enjoyed a beautiful northerly view.
BAGGERS' BANQUET 2011
To celebrate the bagging season, we will be hosting a barbeque for all bagger participants and their significant others.
The Bagger Quaiches will be awarded.
Date: Friday, October 28rd. From 6pm - 10pm.
Place: 1368 West 21st Street (near Capilano Elementary School, in Pemberton Heights).
RSVP jeldac "at" shaw "dot" ca
A Three-bag Plus One [PAT/COL/BUR, HAN*]
I finally got a chance to go to Burwell on Friday. I kept putting it off in the hopes I'd be able to do Cathedral as well. The days are too short and I'm not fast enough. It's just not in the cards this year. Of course, the flip-side of that was I got to enjoy myself alot more and take my time. The strange day I had can best be summed up by the following:
- Cycled within about 3 feet of a deer while he just stood there and watched me
- Kept hearing a dog barking on the way to Coliseum, but never ran into it/its owner
- Saw something bright blue (a tent or tarp most likely) down by Cornet Lakes
- Watched a helicopter circle Cathedral for the better part of an hour. When it finished, it made a b-line right over me on the Burwell summit and then touched down on the Burwell/Coliseum ridge briefly before taking off again. Strange.
- Slipped a chain so badly on the way back that I basically had to lift up the entire bike by the chain and shake it until it came loose (sidenot: I hate bikes...alot).
- Lost my car key somewhere along the way. If anyone finds a Toyota key on that route I will be forever in your debt.
Today I took on Hanover. What a monster. At 20.5km and somewhere around 2000m of vertical (made a little higher by having to park at the school in Lions Bay), it's a doozie. I'll probably post a trip report on Clubtread at some point in the next few days, but if anyone is interested in conditions or beta just let me know.
Cypress ice bags
Baggermeister: HOL, STR, MAR for Mike Palichuk and me.
We parked at Cypress Bowl Alpine ski area on a bright and cold fall Sunday morning.
Took Baden-Powell east for 5 minutes, crossed Cypress creek, then took a left and up on an unmarked trail that eventually joined the Old Strachan trail. The ground was hard, icy at places with frosty sprinkles, signaling that summer doesn't live here anymore.
Another 10 minutes or so brought us to a col/junction between Strachan and Hollyburn. Took right and resumed climbing to the peak of Hollyburn from its north face. Had the peak - bug free! - to ourselves, and threw a stone to break the first of several frozen ponds we encountered throughout the day.
Went back down the way we came to the same col, and continued north west, joining the single track through the meadow leading up to Strachan.
Passing the large debris of the 1963 plane crash site, we paid our respects to the 2 pilots killed that day, and pressed on up to the south peak of Strachan, down to the col, and up to its northern peak with spectacular views to the Lions and the various Garibaldi peaks in the distance.
Back down to the col, and now down and west along Christmas Gully. This was a slow and slippery affair, as the path was mostly an icy river until the trail re-entered the woods, and popped us out at the two small wooden bridges of Howe Sound Crest Trail.
Took a right and made our way uneventfully north to St Mark's summit, with good views west to Bowen and the Sunshine Coast.
From here we turned around and made our way back to Cypress Bowl along HSCT, with another small detour for the Bowen lookout, returning to the car happy after ~3:45 hours.
Back in the saddle again... McLelland and Jackson do Strachan
The rain abated. The clouds parted. A bagger-to-be was visiting from Toronto, so we pounced on the opportunity to snag a peak before breakfast. Baggermeister Crerar, please add Tom McLelland to the elite list of flatlanders to have bagged a BC peak in 2011 and add STR to my miserable count.
Highlights of our trip include:
- we did not get lost
- we did not see a bear
- we did pass through snow
- got great views of Bowen and the Sunshine coast from the Bowen Lookout, but only partial views from the peak
- went by the airplane crash site
- had a memorable morning
- have a convert to the Bagger Challenge who will no longer feel as high off the ground the next time he sumits the Niagara escarpment!
Easier access to Vicar Lakes/Mt Bishop
I haven't scoped it out yet, but there appears to be a new bridge, soon opening, to cross the Seymour River just below the dam.
East side
Yes, there was an excavator on the east side building what appeared to be a connecting path from said bridge to the east spur road. They've been talking about this for years. Hopefully, it'll be ready by spring.
Capilano Mountain
Headed for Furry Creek yesterday morning with Christine, Jane, and 3 mountain bikes. Parked at the gate at the bottom of the gravel road leading to Capilano Mtn near the highway. Cycled up the road for about 1.5 hours until the bush closed in and walking became faster. We took a wrong turn at one point and ended up in an area being actively helicopter logged on the west side of Phyllis Creek, even on Saturday. The forecast called for rain in the afternoon and there was a pretty constant high cloud cover. We walked the final kilometer to Beth Creek and the start of the Beth Lake trail. The trail was very well marked to Beth Lake and up to the ridge above. The actual summit is some distance behind the peak that is visible above the lake. The trail traverses around this over a long stretch of picturesque tarns and mountain lakes. It would be very difficult finding one's way through this area without a gps track to go by in white out conditions. We climbed the final section to the top amidst increasing cloud, mist, and wind. There were no views to speak of on this day and we quickly ate our lunch in a sheltered spot just below the summit. The fresh snow reported by Matt on Tuesday has melted and the rocks were mostly dry, if somewhat mossy. There are still small snowfields here that didn't melt over the summer so we may have experienced a year of glacial advance. We beat a hasty retreat and were thankful to drop below the fog and mist just 100m lower down. Back at the bikes in under 3 hours for the thrill ride back to the cars. Total round trip time was 8 hours, a relatively relaxed bagging day for us.
Dickens the easy way
Boat to the Wigwam Creek washout point on Indian Arm, just north of the Wigwam Inn. Walk up along the creek (an alder-strewn but flat path on the south side of the creek) until the creek becomes more boxlike and canyonish. At that point, cut over the creek and into the forest north of the creek. One can avoid cliffs and vegetation for most of the journey up, and even follow what is a clear but rarely-trod trail running up parallel to the creek, and past the falls. We had fully expected a dismal west coast bush-whack from the start; happily, it was not to arrive until 3/4 of the way up. As one approaches the ridge the trail becomes more vegetal but is still a relatively gentle bush-whack. You pop out of the underbrush and can see Indian Arm through the trees.
Turn south. At this point the hike does get a bit nasty and woolly. Head generally south and up. The blueberry bushes abate as you punch out to the very clearly-marked Indian Arm Trial. Thence, head south and up along the IAT to the Dickens Summit. An obligatory consumption of whisky, tea, and shortbread, and a read from Hard Times.
Return to Indian Arm, for a celebration of good friends, indulgent spouses, and the glorious kingdom in which we pass our corporeal existance.
LEFT: behind Ken, the point where one cuts into the forest for ascent up to Dickens.
Cool route
Very cool route. Just checking the map and wondering whether the creek you climbed was Wigwam Creek? This is a huge potential shortcut to the Indian Arm Trail circuit. What was the descent like? Does anyone have a track of the days activities? Nice pics. Did you run into any fresh snow on the summit?
Wigwam Creek: correct
The route goes up the north side of Wigwam Creek. The falls themselves, which are in fact a long series of falls, are Spray of Pearls Falls.
Thought about you guys
as I cooked the Thanksgiving turkey.
Your route sounds a lot more appealing than the overland route from Bishop! I was relieved to hear that you didn't make it all of the way to Brokeback Peak (noted on the bagger map, but not an "official" bagger peak in the North Shore Bagger Challenge) for personal reasons. Wonder if the tops of the pine trees where the helicopter landed have grown back? Looks like we'll have to wait till next year to find out, eh?
Sounds like a wonderful adventure was had by all. By flagging the route, you guys completed one of my long-standing ToDos.
Deeks
Popped up to Deeks Peak today. There's snow above 1200m! By the time I left the summit, it was ankle deep and wasn't stopping anytime soon. Winter is definitely on its way in the mountains.
Dho!
45 peaks to go before the deadline... better get the pickle out!
Felt it in my bones today
Felt it in my bones today ;-)
Nooooooooooooooooo!
Nooooooooooooooooo!
Indeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed!
Echoing the nooooooooo that was heard around the woooooooooorld... And this from someone who freezes at 1m elevation.
Bishop, Deacon, Presbyter
Set off from the end of Riverside Drive at 8:30 by mountain bike yesterday with friends Jane and Ian. Headed over twin bridges, along fisherman's trail, over to the east spur road to .5km before the gate. A flagged trail heads steeply uphill to the east to Vicar Lakes. Followed this over the boggy lake section and up through the forest on the Bishop trail. Weather was overcast but dry and clear at the summit of Bishop. Dropped back down and crossed over to Deacon and Presbyter following old markers and trail clearing activity likely left by Don McPherson. Saw my first view of Fannin Lake with the forested Dickens ridge way off in the distance and decided to leave that for another year. Headed back down to east spur road and arrived back at Riverside 9.5 hours later.
Put me down for BIS, DEA, PRE.
Howe Sound Crest Trail Anyone?
Short notice I know, but I'm planning to head out from Cypress tomorrow morning, going at least as far as Harvey and hopefully all the way to Porteau Cove. Anyone else interested? Word of warning though - I'm slow. Hoping for 9 hours but planning on 10-12.
Blueberry Fields Forever: A Needles Tale
Baggermeister, MNE & NNE s'il vous plait?
Did the Needles today from Hydraulic Creek. It was slick, and I entrusted my life to blueberry bushes way to many times to count, but I done it. I doubt I will ever go back. Oh, and the Victory candy is still on North Needle.
Sorry Ean, time constraints meant I had no choice but to go today. Okay, so technically I did have a choice, but the thought of slogging up to Deeks Peak was depressing. If you do decide to go for North Needle just do it the sane way - from the South.
Snooze, ya lose
Hey Matt,
Thanks for the love. You do know I was with you in spirit the whole way, don't you?
Funny how I called Baggermeister Ken today just before noon. I needed to bemoan my fate to someone who would understand how bad it felt to be stuck in an office doing confernece calls on such a wonderful day. Should you have called from the peak of MNEor NNE, I would have cursed you... but I would then have pulled out the (girly) quaich, filled it with Macallan 18 year, and toasted your accomplishments.
Good on 'ya, bro. I'm praying for nice weather this weekend. No chance you flagged your route, eh? Did you pull those bushes out by the roots during freefall? Any berries left up there?
There's plenty of berries for all
I'll add the photos to the flikr stream at some point, but the col between South and Middle Needle is covered with bushes 5 feet tall. The rule of thumb for me was to stay in areas where there were blueberries and lower myself by those. There's a sopping wet slab covered in moss coming off SNE where I was praying for roots. On a dry day it's probably manageable, but when wet it's scary. The blueberry bushes held great. Didn't have a single one tear out. Other shrubs were hit and miss.
There's flagging from previous trips, and you're bound to run into various paths of people thrashing through the deadfall. I pretty much just headed straight up the gut for the most part, doing what looked good and referring Ryan Conroy's trip report if I got lost. http://www.clubfatass.com/blog/ryan-conroy/first-bagger-rights-complete-traverse-needles-lynn-ridge-lynn-peak-coliseum-mountain
You're welcome to my GPS track if you like.
Deaks Peak traverse, NOT!!!
Parked at Porteau road and headed up to Deeks lake. Followed HSCT to SOUTH side of Deeks Lake as per CFA website instructions and realized that trail to Deeks / Windsor col had to start from the NORTH side. First time in the area so didn't have any familiarity with the trails here. Headed back to the north end and found the trail this time. It is quite well marked and signposted up to the col. We proceeded to the top of Windsor. It was a nice clear warm fall day after a week of rain but we could see clouds building behind Brunswick. Rain was in the forecast overnight. We dropped back down to the col and followed a flagged trail up to the summit of Deeks. It was about 2pm. The route mentioned in 103 Hikes comes up from Kallahne Lake to the north. I hadn't brought that route description with me, but it looked fairly tame down to the lake on the 1:50,0000 topo and would make a nice traverse. We decided to descend by that route.
On the descent we quickly lost the route and decided to head straight down to Kallahne Lake. Bad move. We were soon lowering ourselves down steep slopes holding onto bushes and the valley we were heading for seemed to be falling away even more quickly. Cliffs were forcing us to the east and the slopes below looked steeper than what we'd already come down. Two hours had passed since we'd left Deeks and we were less than half way to Kallahne lake. With little to no route information on this side of the mountain we began getting fearful about getting caught out. The decision was made to head back up to the ridge. We could see flagging from a trail heading down the ridge but had difficulty following, were unsure of the route below, and it was now nearing 5:30. After some more discussion, and darkness quickly approaching, we decided to go back up over Deeks peak and head down the way we had come up.
I was quite concerned that it would be easy to lose our way if we didn't get back to the HSCT before dark. Luck was on our side and we arrived back at Deeks Lake at 6:45, just as the final light of the day was disappearing. A couple more hours got us back to the car at 8:45. Our 8 hour planned trip had turned into a 13 hour epic.
All in all, a character building day, with a lot of lessons learned. Our bagger kit would have left us very cold and wet if we'd have been caught out. Kudos to Christine for staying strong in the face of much adversity. A "thank god we're here" dinner was celebrated at the Queen's Cross on our arrival back on the Shore.
Baggermeister: Please put Christine and I down for DEE and WIN and correct the "Deeks Lake to Alpine" section of the trail descriptions for DEE, WIN, GOT, and COB to say "follow trail along north end of the lake past a few campsites..."
Sounds like...
you followed in Cubbon's and my footsteps. See http://www.clubfatass.com/events/bagger-challenge-2009#comment-3602
We both got into a pickle by following the ridge from Deeks back toward the ocean and our car. Yes, there was tape! Ended up in the next valley. Very late for din-din. Got a spanking. (Better that than a night under a piece of tin foil with Cubbon.) Cubbon won't go bagging with me anymore. Will Christine still venture out with you?
deeks traverse
The 2nd way we tried to descend on the ridge was definitely the top of the Deeks Peak route mentioned in 103 Hikes (#35 p80). The problem is that it threads its way through steps in the ridge. We could see a heli-pad and structure on the ridge about 100m below us but we were standing on top of cliffs and had lost the flagged route yet again. Being less than 2 hours from complete darkness, it was not a good time to be trying to descend a faint unknown track.
Looking forward to doing the Deeks traverse in 2012. I'll ascend from the north via Kallahne lake connecting with this year's track on the way up and then descend via Deeks Lake.
Thankfully, I still have a bagging partner.
transformation through suffering
Ean, that is the second bagging partner in as many posts that I have heard will no longer go bagging with you...what is up with that? Are there others?
Will I still venture out with Bill? Hell, yes. But let's just say we have different interpretations of what it means to be cliff hung...
Yo
You would not enjoy being stuck on a peak in late September under a space blanket with me, Cmoric. Trust me. I kick, I hog the blanket, I snore, I pass wind and I tell off-color jokes all night long. There are others, yes... but some things must remain on the trails
I'm noticing a pattern...
How worried should I be about the prospect of doing a Needles traverse with Ean? Ideally, I'd like to come back alive missing no more than one finger.
Hats Off to Wettin
Baggermeister, chalk me down for CFA, HAT & WET please.
"Saturday's only got a 30% chance of rain?! Better get outside." I got up with the intention of either summiting Hanover or doing a Fat Ass/Hat/Wettin three-bagger. I guess the potential for rain scared people off, as there was plenty of parking at the top of Lions Bay. Started at 7:20 and made quick work (for me) of the Brunswick trail and then turned North on the HSCT into Hat Pass. At 9:45, I reached Hat Pass . The clouds were whipping by the summit of Brunswick one after another. Absolutely gorgeous. For a few minutes I just stood there looking longingly at Hanover. It looked so close. The thought of descending either one of the twin gullies in bad weather made the decision for me though. Hanover will have to wait.
100m past the col viewpoint the Hat trail starts off to the left marked by flagging. By the time I got to the top of Fat Ass the wind had picked up and blown most of the clouds away. Brilliantly sunny! It was even nicer by the time I got to Hat. Somehow, I knew my luck couldn't hold out. 2 minutes later I stabbed myself in the hand trying to catch the pencil from the Hat summit register.
Looking off Hat, the ridge to Wettin looked pretty straightforward... if I could get to it. The North face of Hat looked a bit sketchy, so the plan was to follow the dedicated Hat trail down to a junction at 1450m and gain the ridge from there.
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=210314219268580317340.000455b341ee42822d94f&msa=0&ll=49.493915,-123.208365&spn=0.018091,0.033088
The West side looked even worse and I couldn't find the trail, so I went back to the North to try my luck. Just past a big boulder, there's a ledge with a notch in it that seems to fall off into oblivion. On second inspection, it was possible to carfully lower myself down a series of ledges into simpler terrain. Then a slippery descent into the col which utilized a fairly broad gully towards the Deeks/Brunswick Lakes. Somewhere in all of this I started following a trail. What's more, it was going the same direction I was. Woo-hoo! Once I hit the col, it became a quite pleasant walk through inoffensive scrub. Halfway to Wettin, while distractedly looking at my GPS, something quite unexpected occurred. I ran into another human being! It was hard to tell which on of us was more surprised. Turns out, this guy had popped come up from the HSCT in the Deeks/Brunswick L. area and was planning on going over Hat on his way to Brunswick. Right on.
Carried on to Wettin peak and rebuilt what looked to be a very small cairn on the mostly bushed-in summit. Possibly a remnant of Mr. Ean Jackson's previous visits? Then made my way back to Hat. Much easier going up than down. By the time I got back to Buck Rogers' spaceship, the weather was looking ominous so I got back down as quickly as I could.
Jackson's Cairn
Poor bastard who bushwhacked his way up from the cabin. That route almost killed me and was the last time Wendy Montgomery ever went bagging with me!
http://www.youtube.com/user/ClubFatAss#p/u/14/N4STkqbQ0tU
There was no cairn when I first made it to Wettin. All snow. I needed something to pee on, so I made a small pyrimid of rocks. Not sure if it's in the right spot, even, as my GPS was broken. Glad to see I made a positive contribution to the world and that you found it. Did you pee on it, too?
Last time...
...that I celebrate a bag by kissing a cairn.
You should have known
As it originates from the same individual that legitimized kissing fire hydrants.
qUESTION for all urban baggers
is it normal to kiss a fire hydrant if it at the end of a long and ardious run? Even if dogs have pee'd on it?
What if the fire hydrant is on a trail in the middle of nowhere? (as in the trail on the east side of Mosquito Creek)
qUESTION for all urban baggers
is it normal to kiss a fire hydrant if it at the end of a long and ardious run? Even if dogs have pee'd on it?
What if the fire hydrant is on a trail in the middle of nowhere? (as in the trail on the east side of Mosquito Creek)
Hey Mike...
....look in front of you....
Seymour - the long way round
Baggermeister: DEP and SEY please.
Max new trails and bag a peak or two - take #2 - took place this Sat, with a plan of a counter-clockwise outskirting of Seymour park boundaries.
Started at the Indian River road - BP junction, at ~200m elevation. Headed up and north on the diminutive Fred's trail, which soon joined Three Chop trail. The previous day's rain caused the overgrown shrubbery to completely drench me. Coming out to the wider Perimeter trail was a welcome relief, and the various small but very active waterfalls were easy on the eyes.
At ~900m elevation I came to a signpost some 250 m before Goldie Lake; took a north-easterly muddy route sign-posted as "Dead End trail", and started outskirting the eastern border of the park, through a quiet, desolated but beautiful trail, over several blow-downs. The trail turned over-grown and soaking again, but after some more climbing reached a meadow and an easily missed right/east turn to the final climb to De-Pencier bluffs. Great views but windy up top.
Back down to the diminutive junction, across the meadow and a quick up and down to the Mystery Peak chair lift area, the main trail coming up from the Seymour parking lot, and groups of hikers. Ran the regular trail to the 3 Seymour peaks, catching the tail end of Liza's bagging crew as they descended the col between the 2nd and 3rd peaks on their way to Runner.
Had Seymour peak all to myself, eating breakfast overlooking Runner peak, contemplating the various approaches for next time.
Back down Seymour, against the hikers rush hour direction, taking a right at an unmarked and muddy junction by a small tarn, which was the start of the Suicide Bluffs trail. Again, a beautiful, desolated, single track outskirting the north-western park boundary. This trail goes up and down various bluffs and viewpoints, and is highly recommended. It was longer then I expected, and at the south-western end of it reaching the popular Dog Mountain lookout, and people. Soaked the views for a few minutes, and started heading back along the First lake trail to the Seymour parking lot, through a muddy and rooty trail - such a contrast to its winter snow-shoe version.
From the parking lot took a combination of cabin-trails and road to the CBC mountain bike trail-head, and enjoyed the technical downhill chasing a group of mountain bikers. CBC spitted me out on the road, just on top of the Mushroom/Vancouver lookout parking lot. Took the nice trail heading east from there, then a right/south turn down Old Buck, and back along BP to the start.
~5:45 hours of surprisingly technical, wet and slippery terrain, on possibly the last weekend of warm and clear weather.