Placer Mountain and the Ashnola Traverse
Nearing the end of August the threat of Fall was looming ever closer, but a few stalwart adventures refused to believe that summer was coming to an end. The pull to get out there and explore was, as always, just too great.
The objective this time Placer Mountain and the Ashnola Traverse, finishing up exploring Headley Mines near Keremeos. At that time the news was filled with images of the Keremeos Creek Wildfire burning out of control and I know that I was worried that the trip may be a no go from the start but as we got closer to our departure date, it was clear that the fire was heading away and that we were a go!
The weather this morning was cloudy with actually a few showers. After meeting up with Coop, Chris and Morgan in Hope we all started to head the Eastgate of Manning Park to meet up with the rest of the crew. After the meet and greet we all followed Coop to the Placer Mountain FSR. Once we were all on dirt we aired down and carried on toward our first destination, Placer Mountain summit.
As we winded up the trail we ran into quite a few downed trees and we able to but the battery powered chainsaws to work. After seeing how they made quick work of the logs I decided then and there that I definitely want one! ;)
As I said earlier, we were planning to make it to the top of Placer mountain to take in the incredible view from top but just below the trail head to the summit we saw a sign stating that motorized travel further up was prohibited in order to preserve and help restore the natural habitat in the area. Disappointed not to be going to the top for sure but with that new intel we changed the plan, skipped the road up and continued straight heading on to where we were planning to camp.
The campsite was a wooded area with enough open spaces between the trees for about half a dozen or so spots to setup camp. A few steps from there took us out to a cliff top with an amazing view, even with a cloudy sky we could see the peaks in Manning Park in the distance. After we all setup camp we all brought out our chairs to soak in the spectacular scenery.
The next morning we woke to much clearer skies and we were all looking forward to our journey through the forest along the Ashnola Traverse making our way down to Keremeos. The trail is not overly technical at all in the beginning section of the trail but there were a number of downed trees that we had to cut out of the way.
Eventually the trail opened up in to a burnt-out section of forest. The fire that burned these trees swept through here a few years ago so smaller shrubs and beautiful wild flowers were already beginning their comeback.
The fun part of this trail is a series of switchbacks that are comprised of loose rock that need more attention. I was hearing stories of adventures past when other members of our crew had to winch out friends who had slipped off the trail! There were definitely a few “Pucker moments” but we all made it down the trail with relative ease.
We then carried on across the big red bridge to end the trail and after a quick fuel and snack stop in Keremeos we made our way back to the Hedley area. It was getting toward the end of the afternoon so after a quick stop at a beautiful lookout we all headed straight to where we were planning to camp.
Tonight’s spot was an open field just down a short side road off of Nickelplate rd. More than a few of the cows that were grazing seemed to be very curious at our presence. An interesting side note about this spot is that there is an abandoned cabin along a stream nearby and Finbar, who is local to the area, remembers running into the gentleman who use to live there before he passed and had some very interesting stories about those interactions!
The rest of the evening was spent relaxing with food and beverages while talking about the plans for tomorrow and our visit to the Hedley Mine.
We woke up to another beautiful day and after a slow and relaxing start we made our way to the Upper French Mine. The French Mine is located on the steep eastern slopes of the Similkameen Valley. I believe it was originally a gold mine in the early 1900’s but after not producing significant amounts of gold and due to the presence of other minerals the focus of the mine turned towards copper instead. Although the section we visited is no longer active there are still numerous active mines in the area.
As I mentioned todays target was the Upper French Mine, after turning off of Nickelplate road we carried on down a progressively narrowing road through the trees. As we reaching the final section just before the mine Chris parked his big Ram and walked down the rest of the way. Morgan and I, with narrower vehicles continued on until we reached the opening to the mine shaft. The very cool thing about this spot is that with some expert spotting you can actually drive your vehicle partway into the mineshaft and the view of the valley below was absolutely amazing!!
After we took the appropriate amount of glory shots we all made our way back to Nickelplate road and as it was now nearing noon on Sunday we decided to start the journey towards home. Morgan and I made a quick stop in Princeton for some food and bevi’s at the Copper Pit before carrying on west towards home.
This was absolutely a spectacular trip that I definitely recommend doing! Thank you to all the crew for making it such an awesome time! Can’t wait to get out with you all again!!