Early Summer 2010

During early summer I spent a lot of time up at the ranch building cabins and taking folks out on day rides around the area.  Ranch work filled most of my time and was a nice way to live.  I was able to get out for a few hikes with Tracey and had an enjoyable visit with our friends from Germany: Lars and Christine.  While scouting out the road into Downton creek I spied an access to climb an unnamed peak.  This turned out to be a bit of a nightmare hike... alder 8ft tall and really not much of a summit.  Still it was a nice trip for Yoho and I who had not climbed a random peak since the year before.

 Tracey at the headwaters of Downton Creek

 Captain Chainsaw clearing Downton Creek Forestry Service Road

 View from unnamed peak in the the Downton drainage.

 Yoho on the unnamed peak.

 Lars and Christine on a Canadian Mountain Adventure

 Mid-way on our day ride around the ranch.

Parking the horses at the end of the ride.

Downton Creek Guided Trip

Aug. 28, 2008 - Hike to explore the Alpine
l-r Kaleb, Luke, Cody, and Alan

Aug 29: Horrible weather gets even worse on an unnamed summit attempt - 50 ft short of the summit.

Aug 30: Hike to 8400 ft summit north of Camp.
Top to Bottom: Misty Morning, Cody looking off the edge of the summit, a giant scree slope descent, four very happy hikers.

Aug 31: Flying out. Nice weather when we awoke that deteriorated as the morning carried on.
Top to bottom: Looking NE down the valley, Dalton's Pond with unnamed mountain reflection, me hooking up the long-line to the cargo net, the group flying out with Scott.

I had agreed to guide one trip this year; a trip for Alan and his friends. Alan took part on the Athabasca Pass trip I guided last year. This year he brought along Cody (also present last year), Kaleb, and Luke. I was glad to guide for Alan again; he and the boys know how to have a great time in the mountains, and were game for just about any terrain I threw at them. They kept their spirits up despite the cold weather... they also ate my food with glowing praise!

The Party was flown in by Helicopter from Lillooet, the helicopter (piloted by Scott Taylor - great guy and pilot) also slung gear in for our base camp.

Between August 27 and 31st we experienced some pretty foul weather, but at times, amazing scenery. This basin, including Dalton's Pond, was a hiker's heaven, with accessible peaks and vast alpine meadows. Out of the many places I have seen and guided in Western Canada, this is definitely one of the most beautiful places to date. This was a great place to set up a base camp, given better weather we would have reached at least one more summit. I don't know if you could ever run out of things to do in this area, so much that is so accessible... I can't wait to return! Already I'm planning for the groups return... however, this time it will be in late July.

Lillooet Rocks

Oh, one of the locals!

Tracey says, 'this area rocks!'

Looking back to the tarn and Downton Creek valley.

Glacier not found on the topo. Peak is unnamed.

Looking back on the way out... in 30 minutes we're back home.

Tracey and I did a recon. into the Downton Creek area where I will be guiding at the end of this month. A lot easier access than I ever thought, this is going to be a great area to guide in and I can't wait to explore the many other areas around Lillooet. This is only the tip of the iceberg (sorry for the cliche). I can't see myself missing Jasper anytime soon.