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 Trail running, bike hucking, fast packing, beer drinking collector of pine cones on a day pass
AKA
Dances with Trees
Forest Gnome Cabin
Canada
13034 Posts |
Posted - 10/04/2004 : 9:30 PM
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On the wooded slopes of the Seymour Valley,between Mackenzie Creek at 5km and Hydraulic Creek before 6km,an amazing grove of ancient Douglas firs survived the chainsaws of the last century.Accessible from the Seymour Valley Trailway in less than an hour's walk,they were discovered in the late 1980s by tree hunter Ralf Kelman,whose tireless work helped to save them.As many would know,he has blazed many trails to the North Shore's remaining giant trees.The area is a bit technical for footing,with quite a bit of deadfall,but the trails are still there,and the LSCR will be reblazing some of them....
My thanks to Seawall for the now out of print WCWC map which is a great guide to the area.I chose to begin at 280m on the Hydraulic Trail,cross the creek,head up to the Paul George Giant(where I've been before)then head down to the grove.This route is rougher,and if you start from the new flagging from the road it's an even easier hike....
  
Though there is flagging to follow,there is plenty in the area to see,and if you happen to lose your way,the road is downhill...
 
From the Paul George Giant,you work your way across and down ,cross a gully,then cross the dry creek bed of Krisby Creek,which brings you to the grove.You'll want to pay attention to the shoe eating bark pits that line the trail as you go.....
  
There are some fairly large cedars as well,and the first big fir is just before the Krisby Creek crossing
I'll update this report later,as there's lots more
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Edited by - mick range on 10/17/2006 12:01 AM
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canine loving, machete-toting bushwhacking lake seeker, Indiana Jones hat-wearing off-road 4x4 guru
Surrey Hole, BC
Canada
6770 Posts |
Posted - 10/04/2004 : 9:50 PM
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Ahh yes Mick...Next time I get to the north shore,I will ask you to be my guide and show me through some of these fine ancient trails.Of course you cant have your shreddies or coffee in the morning,so you can slow to a human pace.. .and you have to carry my pack |
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 Buntzen roving stealthy beer mule and artist, aspiring weird image findmaster who loves BC
lower mainland
Canada
1647 Posts |
Posted - 10/04/2004 : 10:00 PM
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Sounds cool Mick! As usual, you're taking some very interesting pics. Some uhh.....'faces' just jumped out at me (I outlined them). Must be Lord of the Rings on CBC right now.
Can anyone find any more or is it just me?? |
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 | Dru
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 - 10/04/2004 : 10:06 PM
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omg the one on the left is really good! |
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Trail running, bike hucking, fast packing, beer drinking collector of pine cones on a day pass
AKA
Dances with Trees
Forest Gnome Cabin
Canada
13034 Posts |
Posted - 10/04/2004 : 11:42 PM
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Andy,you must have some animation talent
It never ceases to amaze me how you are able to do that.When I was first viewing that pic,I only saw the face on the left.The craggy bark of many of these trees can be almost a foot thick,I'm told,btw.
To continue on ,the trail now traverses a hillside for awhile,then heads slightly down.The trees are all in a 200m square area,and are all 250'-300'tall,and eight to ten feet in diameter.Estimated age would be 650-800 years old,I'd say...
   
The forest is dark,so photography is a challenge.You really have to battle the shadows,or just go with them
    
Here are some pics of the trail itself,it's a true walk in the woods,but no devil's club,at least
  
This winter,I'm going to bushwhack some of the gullies to see if Ralf missed anything.Who knows what you could find there...
   
A nice short excursion(for me,since I live closeby)which I'll be repeating more often |
Edited by - mick range on 10/13/2006 7:57 PM |
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Simpson quoting tree hunter and canyon rapping rockhound who longs for the return of his trapped Toyota
Salt Lake City, UT
USA
2268 Posts |
Posted - 10/05/2004 : 07:52 AM
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Hi Mick
That's the first complete map for that area that I've seen! Now I can figure out where the mysterious "row of three" (big firs) are. I'm a North Shore-ite as well and will probably bash around in there a few times this winter. Drop me a line if you want some (probably slower and definitely not bike-supported)company in your explorations. |
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double-double seeking, snow-chasing, short-cutting, vertical feet collector
4523 Posts |
Posted - 10/05/2004 : 4:52 PM
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speaking of seeing faces in the woods, I always liked this image
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Outdoors addicted flyfishing, skiing, snowshoeing, hiking car crooner and resident motormouth
Da'Wack, BC
Canada
5368 Posts |
Posted - 10/05/2004 : 7:00 PM
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Yeah, Bev Dolittle is great.
OMG That is one creepy "spirit tree" I wonder Mick... that didn't happen to be the Tolkien Giant was it? |
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Trail running, bike hucking, fast packing, beer drinking collector of pine cones on a day pass
AKA
Dances with Trees
Forest Gnome Cabin
Canada
13034 Posts |
Posted - 10/05/2004 : 8:39 PM
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| You know,I'm not totally sure if it was seeing as how I only looked at the map later.Wait until you see them,they are all sraight out of Tolkien-I'll try to figure that out....Cool,Seawall,I'm a big fan of Bev Dolittle too! |
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Herbal tea drinkin, tree huggin, view seeking, tortoise paced, ultralite wannabe
Vancouver, BC
Canada
2847 Posts |
Posted - 10/06/2004 : 10:10 AM
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Great Report, Mick, as always. We'll get up there together in the near future. It looks like a good trip for the off season, not too high up, not too far down the road and lots of good trees to see.
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HikeOn,
Rich
Only 2 things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former-Einstein |
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Trail running, bike hucking, fast packing, beer drinking collector of pine cones on a day pass
AKA
Dances with Trees
Forest Gnome Cabin
Canada
13034 Posts |
Posted - 10/31/2004 : 3:51 PM
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Yesterday,NS Explorer and I found a few giant stumps near the Mackenzie Creek Bridge.Just look down towards the old Seymour Mainline and you'll spot them.I didn't measure,but one has got to be 16' in diameter.Now I'm really stoked to go find the stand in Lynn Headwaters Ralf Kelman told me of,where some of the trees are similar in stature.
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Trail running, bike hucking, fast packing, beer drinking collector of pine cones on a day pass
AKA
Dances with Trees
Forest Gnome Cabin
Canada
13034 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2006 : 7:50 PM
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Last Wednesday, October 4, Matt and I took a bike ride up the valley to tour these trees again. Like me, he'd had a little difficulty finding the main grove earlier this year. I blame his reading my TRs ! 
Here above is the old WCWC map, which doesn't show the new trailway road that runs above the old Mainline, now off limits. This time we managed to ID a few more of the trees, starting with the Hobbit Tree, a gnarled, burled old cedar, about 7-8' in diameter.It is well named.
 
Then we punched uphill to what I now think is the Hidden Giant, an impressive Douglas Fir a good 7' in diameter. It's accented by the maples growing in front of it which serve to hide it, thus the name.
  
Little known fact- on a tree like this the bark can often be up to a foot thick .
The tall spires of these firs are quite inspiring. Reminds me of Oriana's recent thread about unique places of the world, in that there are so many places I feel that way about. 
This is the Paul George Giant, pic taken by Eco_Matt. It's the grove's second largest, at around 9' in diameter and pushing 300' in height. It is at least 500 years old.
 
A little bushwhacking toward dried out Krisby Creek brings you to the Rosebush Giant, with its impressive deeply channeled bark.
  
Next we decided to check out two tall firs on a really steep hillside which are not on the map. The things I (we) do to hunt down trees sometimes.
On our way back down, Matt makes a discovery. Who can identify the creature feature of the day ?
  
Obviously , he's a frog of some sort, my guess 
From there the route gets sketchier as it traverses downward, meandering to the next group of trees
  
Matt checks out the Chittenden Giant here, I believe, though
I'm not 100 % certain on that. It's location is perfect for catching the sunshine we enjoyed that day.
Low elevation succession forest process in action, as this hemlock dies of natural causes
 
Here would be the Hundal Giant or the Nick Cuff Giant, possibly
" Whoa, look at the size of that one !"
Soon after we found the second of the two big cedars of the grove. The Tolkien Giant is a massive tree whose roots have imprisoned a huge rock forever
  
Last, but far from least, stands the Temple Fir. 10' plus in diameter, 300 feet tall, and the biggest tree in the area.
  
Soon after we were gone, weaving our bikes through throngs of high school students on a field trip on the Trailway Road, but a fine day nevertheless. I'll leave it to Matt to add his fine collection of photos to the thread.
( My apologies mate for taking so long to write this TR up ) |
Edited by - mick range on 10/13/2006 7:56 PM |
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Grouse Grinding, GPS carrying, lawn chair packing, bike riding North Shore tech addict who stares at Crown Mountain from his office window all day
North Vancouver
Canada
1905 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2006 : 9:47 PM
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| Thanks Mick, A couple of those trees look familiar but I don't think I've seen them all yet. A good destination for this time of year! |
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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
13442 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2006 : 11:47 PM
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Amazing we still have these giants around. Would love to see them.
Regards, |
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881 Posts |
Posted - 10/14/2006 : 12:11 AM
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Cool Mick.
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Edited by - Dirt Diggler on 10/14/2006 12:18 AM |
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Vancouver, BC
Canada
159 Posts |
Posted - 10/16/2006 : 2:24 PM
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I love the way the roots `flow' over the rock Some grand trees up there for sure.
Hiking in BC has completely changed my view of trees from annoying view-blockers to things of intrinsic beauty which can be the focus of a hike themselves.
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Surrey, BC
Canada
405 Posts |
Posted - 10/16/2006 : 3:45 PM
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mick,
your reports really have me craving the sight of those big old beauts! i've only ever visited one ancient forest - the redwoods - and the experience gives me the everlasting wish to see more, more, more. since then, i occasinally bump into a biggie or 2, or 10.
although more slick underfoot, don't you find these forested scenes to have even more impact after lots of wet precip?
thanks for revealing these secreted alcoves to us. |
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Trail running, bike hucking, fast packing, beer drinking collector of pine cones on a day pass
AKA
Dances with Trees
Forest Gnome Cabin
Canada
13034 Posts |
Posted - 10/16/2006 : 5:30 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Turandot
although more slick underfoot, don't you find these forested scenes to have even more impact after lots of wet precip?
thanks for revealing these secreted alcoves to us.
Best photo opps just after a rain, it gives the forest that primal quality, I agree |
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Herbal tea drinkin, tree huggin, view seeking, tortoise paced, ultralite wannabe
Vancouver, BC
Canada
2847 Posts |
Posted - 10/17/2006 : 11:28 AM
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| Another goodie, Mick. Looks like I'll have to get up there sometime soon. Some great photos there, too. |
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Temples of Time-A Walk Among the Giants-update!
