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 Mysterious, pop can stove stashin', gps totin', overnighter virgin, wannabe tentmaker and foul weather wuss who rides a thumper to the trailhead with wonderdog Max to hike the Chilliwack Valley
Chwk
Canada
4910 Posts |
Posted - 05/21/2007 : 9:02 PM
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Since we didn't leave town this weekend, my wife and I decided to check out how the new "law" (pertaining to camping below Tamihi creek) worked out over this LONG weekend.
On the positive side, the lower CRV was relatively clean and trouble-free. Unfortunately, the Chipmunk Creek Bench did not fare as well.
I will never understand the mindset of some...why would anyone think it was OK to simply LEAVE your garbage and drive away? We saw many "campsites" along this road that were deserted, yet they still looked occupied; chairs, tarps, burning fires, beer cans everywhere...what pigs!
It was a sad site to behold, that's for sure!
Along the way, I managed to take a few pics...none of the garbage, I didn't think it would make anybody's day to see it. I realize this isn't much of a Trip Report per se, but I couldn't figure out where else to place it, and there IS some hiking related information as you will see...
 - First stop, just past the Tamihi bridge. The rains have helped raise the level of the Chilliwack River! I've seen it MUCH higher than this!
 - A Salmonberry macro attempt. I have to work on this I think! A few more miles up the road and we take a minor detour to the road to Mt. McGuire.
 - Here is the pile 'o rocks that someone mentioned the other day...
 - And here is the reason for said rocks...the bridge has collapsed at one end! It is still passable for small quads and bikes, but don't bother trying to drive anything heavy across!
We doubled back and continued along Chilliwack Lake Road until we reach the Foley turnoff. I wanted to get a look at the damage that had been done to that road, this past winter.
 - A nice little waterfall along the way. The road itself has been repaired, don't know why I didn't take any pictures of it! I guess that unless you KNOW the road and the area, it wouldn't make much sense, but by the looks of things, this must have been one BIG washout!
 - Along the way back, my wife taps me on the shoulder and says: "Look at the deer!" Two nice BIG deer taking a drink out of the creek. By the time I get my gloves off and the camera out, they have turned tail (literally) and are disappearing into the forest.
We carry on along the Chipmunk Bench, alternately marvelling at the glory of Spring and then repulsing at the crap and litter left by those who obviously don't live around here! The weather was on again/off again so we decided to find a nice open, sunny spur to warm our bones!
 - Just a km or so up the road to Mt. Mercer, we took a fork and followed it.
 - Ah...Sunshine!
 - Hello...What's this?
 - We decide to investigate...drove a bit closer! It appears to be a "ramp" of sorts that encircles this huge rock-in-the-middle-of-nowhere! We traipsed up through the remnants of the clearcut to the base of this boulder.
An impressive bit of engineering, indeed...and some of the welds were obviously done in situ. Wonder who brought all this stuff up here? Beautiful checker-plate aluminum. Hopefully, the local crack-heads haven't heard about it or they'll be up here to dismantle it to get $30 from a scrap-dealer!
 - From the summit of this boulder, I can see this across the valley. Ford Mountain camp, perhaps?
 - Mrs. Shadow is afraid of heights and won't join me. I thought that the trail around this thing started here, but in facxt in continues on well into the clearcut. I guess there's some mountain-biking website somewhere with full details.
 - Along the back side! Once I climb down and rejoin the Mrs...we take off back towards home.
 - Along the way, we stop near the summit of the ElkView bench to take this pic of Mt. McGuire's clearcut across the valley. I like this ZOOOOM thing! 
As it turns out, we put in almost 90km of trail recon today...
 - Later this evening, we drove down to Ballam road to get a look at the Fraser. I've seen it MUCH higher than this....
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Edited by - TheShadow on 05/21/2007 9:03 PM
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canine loving, machete-toting bushwhacking lake seeker, Indiana Jones hat-wearing off-road 4x4 guru
Surrey Hole, BC
Canada
6789 Posts |
Posted - 05/21/2007 : 9:11 PM
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| She rode double on the bike with you? or she has her own? |
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North Vancouver
262 Posts |
Posted - 05/21/2007 : 9:15 PM
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THIS IS THIMBLEBERRY!!! NOTA BENE !!!
Hey, not to sound snarky but this is the second or third time I've seen people mistake salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis) for thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus).
If it has pink flowers and orange then red berries, it's salmonberry; if it has white flowers and velvety red berries, it's thimbleberry.
BTW, thimbleberry is the most delicious native berry on the coast (IMHO), but it sure doesn't last long when it's ripe (goes mouldy in a day). Oh, and thimbleberry leaves are the softest substitute for the shit tickets you forgot at home.
Here endeth today's plant taxonomy lesson... |
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Mountain Grammar Police
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Sardonic sandbagging scoundrel, Cascade Climbers lobotomized spraymeister, space blanket flyer, new millennium vulgarian betaboy and friend to all squids
Climbing, a mountain
Canada
∞ Posts |
Posted - 05/21/2007 : 9:42 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Biffybee
BTW, thimbleberry is the most delicious native berry on the coast (IMHO), but it sure doesn't last long when it's ripe
That's why you should bake a pie with them as soon as you pick a bucketful. And then invite me over to help eat the pie. |
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Happy go lucky, plaid wearin, postholin, safeway gaitor sportin, old-school film shootin, giver of many regards
Abbotsford, B.C.
Canada
13467 Posts |
Posted - 05/21/2007 : 10:24 PM
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Great exploration trip. That is one very interesting piece of ramp around that boulder, neat how that things looks so out of place.
Regards, |
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Mysterious, pop can stove stashin', gps totin', overnighter virgin, wannabe tentmaker and foul weather wuss who rides a thumper to the trailhead with wonderdog Max to hike the Chilliwack Valley
Chwk
Canada
4910 Posts |
Posted - 05/21/2007 : 10:35 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Aqua Terra
She rode double on the bike with you? or she has her own?
There IS another one at home that she can drive, but we had an "experience" on Mt. Woodside last year and now she prefers to ride shotgun on the back!
As for BiffyBee, sorry...I KNOW it's a Thimbleberry (I have often corrected the kids on this)...don't know why I called it otherwise!
Salmonberries look like wild raspberries.
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Popkum, BC
Canada
5887 Posts |
Posted - 05/22/2007 : 12:32 PM
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Nice TR and pictures Shadow, great you got out.
Happy trails,
Lynn |
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Hope, BC
Canada
7098 Posts |
Posted - 05/22/2007 : 12:42 PM
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| Thanks 4 sharin... Strange ramp around the rock (Wheelchair access maybe?) Strange! |
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Utah's canyon trekking,deck chair packing desert explorer who dreams of visiting Canada someday
3988 Posts |
Posted - 05/22/2007 : 6:52 PM
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Nice outing! Fun bike! You see so much that way. Nice pictures.
I guess people just feel confident that one of those "groups" will soon be out there to clean it up on one of their organized community do good cleanup days. We like to have cleanup and hide money in envelopes along the way for people to find as a reward. "There's a fifty dollar bill out here in this cleanup area, today in an envelope." Great and fun motivation for people who come out. Especially if a kid finds the envelope. yes!
I have found some keepers on cleanups. A salt shaker, a screwdriver,
a couple of sockets, dried up money curled up and stuck in a fence mesh that blew in there. a watch. Saw a pair of panties in a tumbleweed, once. (uh...left those there...)  
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Mysterious, pop can stove stashin', gps totin', overnighter virgin, wannabe tentmaker and foul weather wuss who rides a thumper to the trailhead with wonderdog Max to hike the Chilliwack Valley
Chwk
Canada
4910 Posts |
Posted - 05/22/2007 : 6:57 PM
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Unfortunately RM, next long weekend the same pigs will be back and their mess will have been magically cleaned up (through the tireless efforts of concerned groups and/or individuals), so there is no incentive for them to clean up after themselves.
And AFTER the next long weekend, there will be just as big a mess left behind for "someone else" to clean up.
Short of installing a gate-house at the entrance to this park, I'd say LEAVE the mess there to keep them away! Or start handing out $1000 fines - would help to pay for staffing!
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Afternoon in the valley
