Merritt Day Tripping

Back roads and a Jeep - they were made for each other,.and the Merritt BC area has plenty of back roads to explore.

I had a few days of holidays to use up so I picked a week in September, kept my fingers crossed that the rains would hold off and planned on spending one of those days on a solo day trip to Merritt. Well, that trip happened and I had a blast !

I printed off a few caches in the south Merritt area and a bit more to the north around Nicola Lake; these two areas would provide a start and a finish to a side road that I had been wanting to do for a couple of years. Seems like when ever we come to Merritt we are always hitting the main areas and main accumulation of geocaches - today it was just me and a chance to wander where ever I wanted.

TIP: click on any picture to make them full size for better viewing

I pulled in to Merritt around lunch time after having a slow start to the day (hey! I'm on holidays) and turned into the Merritt tourist centre right at the end of the Coquihalla Highway. Right beside the tourist bureau was the start of my aforementioned back road.

The road heads east along the Connector and follows the new road uphill for a mile or so; it quickly became apparent that this small two lane road was the original highway before they built the newer four lane freeway. Gravel was replaced by blacktop as the road curved and wound it's way up the hill...it occurred to me that I had driven on this road many years before but that was so long ago I think I was a kid back then..

 After finding three geocaches along the old highway it was time for the main attraction of the day - the "Princeton Cutoff Road" so named as it bypasses the town of Merritt by running south - north ending at the south end of Nicola Lake.

These ranch roads always hold such promise of hidden scenery that they are irresistible to me - look at the picture above...doesn't it make you want to see what's down that road?

The road wound through a wash as it followed the topography of the creek in and out of small stands of trees and then into open areas. Each twist of the road brought a new sight line to enjoy.

 Each time you thought you had a wide open view of the ranch land you would take one more turn and.........

.....a new vista would open up that would tease you to stop and savor the view...which I did, that's why it took me so long to go just a mile or two. Plus, there were two geocaches along this ranch road that was a added bonus to the scenery.

As I got closer to the north end of the road Chutter Ranch appeared below looking as idyllic as it could be. Crops are all done for the year other than some small hay fields going late into the season
.

 The road took a narrow path down the side of a bluff, only enough space here for one vehicle so you better hope no one is coming towards you.

Eventually the road dumps you at the southern end of Nicola Lake...not wanting to miss a good photo op for a Jeep-like commercial I had to do some Jeep "vouge-ing"

I headed north along Nicola Lake to pick up a few new caches that were not here last time I came through; these were simple stop and grab me caches. One of them was a Gold Rush cache highlighting the Quilchena Ranch that had it's start in 1882. The ranch still operates today, although on a smaller scale than in it's glory days.

 The show case these days is the Quilchena Hotel; built in 1908, it was originally used as a stage coach house but now operates as a boutique hotel with 16 rooms available with fine dining for the palette and a golf course next door for those times your are in between fishing.

 Just down the road back towards Merrit is Upper Nicola, a small village that was booming in the late 1800s and early 1900s.The area is now a museum of sorts and several buildings have been renovated and highlighted for what the were back in the day.

I don't think you ever wanted to end up in the court house back then; in the early days Judge Matthew Begbie was known as "the Hanging Judge" for sending half a dozen men to the gallows for their crimes.

I love the way the geographic locations were named for exactly what they were...it's all in the name.
Hope you enjoyed day tripping with me to Merritt...much more to see in the area so I'll be back in the near future!

These pictures and more of the same trip can be viewed on my Flickr web site here....
PSSSST...right click on the link and say "open in a new window

Cruising the Cascade Mountains

ABOVE: Hot air balloon taking off in Snohomish

On Saturday we had the pleasure of meeting up with the Backroad Drivers Northwest group in Everett for a pleasant Fall tour through small towns like Granite Falls, Verlot and Silverton before we took Barlow Pass north to the Darrington area. The road through the Barlow Pass is known as the Mountain Loop Scenic Byway.

Rather than me try to remember all the highlights of the trip, I'll instead post the trip report done by Jerry Horn. Jerry has a wonderful writing style, as well as a wonderful radio voice. When you watch the video....video you say? Why yes, I did do a video.....when you watch the video that deep, warm voice you'll hear over the C.B. is Jerry himself.

_________________________________________________________________

Trip Report Mountain Loop Tenth Year Celebration October 25, 2008

This run was a celebration of ten years of Backroad Drivers Northwest tours. We followed the same route as our very first tour and we enjoyed ourselves just as much this time as we did almost 200 trips and a decade ago.

We couldn't have had better weather as we met at Dennys Restaurant in south Everett, Washington. Joining in on the fun were Ed & Annette from Maple Ridge, BC; Rich & Jan from Beaverton, OR; Jim & Kerry and Jim's brother Ron from Lakewood, WA; Dave & Roberta from Edmonds and their daughter Cathy from Everett; Doug & Kathy from Lynnwood; Gary from Olympia; Mark from Lyman, WA; Sid & Mary from Renton; Phil & Laurel from Newcastle, WA with passenger Lizanne; Tom & Robbin with Tina riding; Jon & Melody; Alan; Fred; and us, Jerry & Evelyn fromYakima. I apologize to anyone I missed. I know we had 29 people for lunch and that was a bunch.

Our trek started by driving a busy county road from the restaurant near the freeway in Everett to the Seattle Hill Road where we finally got away from the congestion. We meandered down a curvy hillside into the Snohomish River Valley and crossed farmland to the town of Snohomish where we watched a hot air balloon take off. We drove county roads north of Snohomish including the Machias Road, the OK Mill Road, and the Newburg Road, around Lake Bosworth and into the town of Granite Falls where we made our first rest stop.

ABOVE: Granite Falls where there is a fish ladder that enables the fish to move upriver past the falls

Just out of town we stopped again to check out the falls and fish ladder then began our jaunt up the Mountain Loop Highway, now known as the Mountain Loop Scenic Byway. The road was paved and smooth, the weather was sunny, the leaves were all shades of yellows and greens, the twisty Stillaguamish River was beautiful and our group was busy commenting about various subjects over the C.B. radio as we enjoyed the drive.

After passing the community of Silverton and then the entrance to the Big Four Ice Caves we started feeling like we were in the mountains. When we reached Barlow Pass the pavement ended and an improved gravel road took us close to a majestic section of the Sauk River where huge boulders had been arranged by roaring currents with giant tree trunks wedged into the rocks like toothpicks.

The river was only a trickle today, but we could imagine how powerful it must be certain times of the year.

ABOVE: We turned the road into a parking lot!

Our road was just wide enough to pass on coming traffic and with the exception of a few potholes it was in pretty good shape. We drove slowly along the river and stopped at a wide spot in the river called Monte Cristo Lake. It was more of a pond, but the setting was scenic and we enjoyed the stop. The road continued through a heavy forest of firs, hemlocks and hardwoods. Leaves had turned and the colors were beautiful. At one point the evergreens all but disappeared only to be replaced by deciduous trees with falling leaves sashaying back and forth on their way to the partially covered roadway. It was very pretty indeed.

ABOVE: Monte Cristo Lake on the Mountain Loop Highway

We made another stop at the Whitechuck Mountain Rest Area where we managed to find a place for all thirteen of our vehicles and take advantage of the primitive facilities. It was a little foggy at the higher elevations so we could not see the mountain, but it was still a nice place for a rest. Within a short distance of the rest area we hit pavement and followed it intothe mountain town of Darrington where we stopped for lunch. The restaurant had a room set up for us and we filled it, all twenty-nine of us! I don't know about the rest of them, but my burger was great.

After lunch we continued following the Sauk River on Hwy 530 until we turned off on the Concrete-Sauk Valley Road. We were still on pavement, but on the opposite side of the river. It was the same road, but the name changed to the South Skagit Highway soon after the confluence of the Sauk and Skagit Rivers. We followed the Skagit River until we reached civilization on the outskirts of Sedro Woolley.

We were only a few miles from Interstate 5 via Burlington or Mount Vernon where we gathered at a park-and-ride to say our goodbyes. Evelyn and I really enjoyed seeing everyone. We had a great day and we sincerely thank you for coming.

Jerry________________________________BACKROAD DRIVERS NORTHWEST