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.

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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

Caching in the BC Interior

ABOVE: Old truck we came across in Chilliwack

Had a week off from work and decided that the best way to spend it was to have a caching week. But what to do....hmmmm.....I know. Two of my brothers are retired, may be they would want to do a road trip!

And that's just what we did: from Vancouver to Kamloops, through to Vernon, on to Kelowna and back down to Vancouver, all done over the course of 4 days.

The complete set of pictures can be viewed here on my Flickr site

It was a "boy's" weekend away, no wives allowed! Just 3 addicted male cachers spending the entire day, and some of the night, driving and caching.

We left the Vancouver area late morning and drove up to the Agassiz area where we stopped occasionally to find caches in the area. Not a lot, just enough to wet our appetite for the drive up to Kamloops.ABOVE: Mile Marker 97

One of the more memorable caches we found was, well, memorable! It was a piece of history from the 30's or 40's, back when the main road east from Vancouver was not a main freeway, but a succession of roads where Mile Zero is at the main Vancouver Post Office in downtown Vancouver. Along Main street to Kingsway, then into Burnaby and over the old bridge to Surrey, then out along the Fraser Highway into the Fraser Valley.

100 Miles from Vancouver to Hope, and at every mile was a stone cairn with the mile number engraved on it. This time we were at Mile marker 97, it stands on what was a busy Old Yale Road which itself starts at the shore of the Fraser River in Surrey and runs all the way to Hope.

Now the road is covered over by other streets or in sections a mere shadow of what it once was; here on the outskirts of Hope, Old Yale Road is a quiet residential street and the cairn is on a neighbour's boulevard.

We quickly found the small container with the log book inside, signed the book, and enjoyed this little piece of history resting comfortably on the shoulders of an old highway companion.

Back in the truck we headed up the Coquihalla Highway picking up a drive up cache at a truck rest stop, then continued on to a threesome of caches along a road that acted as a byway around the toll booths.ABOVE: The start of the bypass road at the south end

This road is suited only for vehicles with high ground clearance like a truck; we did it in Al's pick up but even so we bottomed out in one area. As we were heading south to north, the road headed down into the valley north of the Coquihalla Summit. The road was rough and broken in places; south to north is the easy way. If I was coming from the north and had to climb the worn out section of forest road, I think I would want to have a 4X4 rather than a two wheel truck. But we made it, found all three caches; one at the south end, one in the middle, and one at the north end.

We pulled into Merritt and made the usual stop at Tim Hortons for a coffee and a quick snack; phone calls were made to the home fronts to let the loved ones know we were still alive and well, then we pushed on north through Merritt taking the old Hwy #5A out of town.

We were into a different part of BC; this was one of rolling hills, bunch grass, arid hills with barely a tree to be seen. We were now in cowboy country! Gone was the West Coast forest consisting of giant cedars and firs; we left that behind when we took the bypass around the Coquihalla Summit.

We had left the main highway in the Coquihalla Valley surrounded by lush vegetation supported by 110 inches of rain a year. Just 24K up the valley and beyond the bypass road, the rain shadow effect from the mountains kicked in. Now we where in a semi-arid biozone where the average rainfall was less than 30 inches.

As a matter of fact, much of our trip would be through this very same biozone; hot in summer, cold in winter, and little precipitation year round made for a land that only supported small trees and plants, at least compared to the coast.

ABOVE: Nicola Cemetery

We stopped at caches along Hwy 5A, the first exciting one being the old Nicola Cemetery on the south shores of Nicola Lake. We wandered around the old graves as we wondered what it was like in the early days.

The name "Nicola" was given to the famous chieftain Hwistesmetxque by the early fur traders, as they could not pronounce the chieftain's name properly. When they tried to say it phonetically it sounded like "Nicolas" or "Nicola", and the incorrect pronunciation became the name of the valley, the lake, and the surrounding area still used today.
ABOVE: Historic marker on Old Kamloops Road

Further along the highway we stopped on the east side of Stump Lake on the Old Kamloops Road for a cache placed at a historic marker. Just being on the Old Kamloops Road (the main road from Merritt to Kamloops long before the coming of the modern highway, and long before the 4 lane Highway #5 that now carries most of the traffic headed for points north) was cool enough, but this cache was placed at a point on the lake where one of the original Hudson Bay Brigade trails skirted the lake.

In use from 1849 to 1860, this trail was an important byway for the bringing of furs from Fort Kamloops to Fort Vancouver. The brigades consisted of over 400 horses and 100 men; each of the horses was laden with a bulging sacks filled with furs from animals trapped in the Interior.ABOVE: "Once the grass was as high as a horse's belly"

As we continued on the road we had excellent views of what were once rolling fields of grass as high as a horse's belly; this area was one of the places where ranches sprung up and the miners turned their eyes from gold in the form of nuggets to gold in the form of horses and cattle. Sad to say the grass is no where near what it was then, a result of over grazing.

We continued further up Hwy 5A and were surprised when we reached the far outskirts of Kamloops, only to see the the term "far outskirts" no longer applied. The city had expanded south up the hills away from the Kamloops Valley and was now claiming land in the form of sub divisions.

By now it was dinner time and we were behind our projected schedule, so we opted to cache until dark, then grab a motel to ensure a room for the night. Once that was secured, we went back out into the night and picked up another 8 caches, then grabbed a late dinner and went back to the motel to crash.

Up in the morning to a steady down pour.....ewww..doesn't sound too nice out there! But we were in luck; by the time we had finished breakfast and checked out of the room, the rain had all but stopped and the skies were brightening. The rest of the day we spent caching in the Kamloops area, working our way east out of town headed for the highway that would take us down through Falkland and Westwold as we aimed towards Vernon.ABOVE: East of Kamloops the ancient bench of the Thompson River is plainly evident

Many of the caches on this side of town were located high on the ancient benches of the Thompson River. 10,000 years ago, when the mighty glaciers were melting, the Thompson River was hundreds of feet deeper and reached the tops of the surrounding hills, and across the width of the valley. Many of the provinces rivers were giants compared to now, carving deep valleys as they scoured the earth beneath their waters, only to leave a river a fraction of their true size at the bottom of large valleys.

How big where the rivers 10,000 years ago as they carried away the frigid ice waters of the continental ice sheets? Picture this... stand at the top of Grouse Mountain on the North Shore of Burrard Inlet in Vancouver. Now get in your car, drive over the border, past Blaine, past Bellingham and stop on the highest peak in the moutain range south of Bellingham. You have just defined the north and south shores of Glacial Fraser River that carried such a volume of meltwater and suspended ground material that it layed down a layer of sediment 1 mile deep 100 miles inland from the ocean. This fertile land created from the sediment of what once was eroded mountains and scoured upland Interior plains is what we now know as the Fraser Valley. Try to imagine, that as you drive through Abbotsford and Chilliwack on your way to Hope, that the actual bed rock of the land is one mile beneath your feet!ABOVE: Old Chevy truck

We rolled through Monte Creek, Monte Lake, Westwold and into Falkland where we spotted a used car lot with many vintage cars. Most of these cars were restored to running shape but they still needed a lot of work to call them restored. We stopped in for a look see and ended up talking to the owner for a while. Al and Ken created a new customer for their business; they have a business called KAR Books and sell old car manuals, along with other type of repair manuals, online, at car swap meets, etc.

As they talked shop, I wandered around the lot snapping off pictures of a dozen or so old vehicles for sale. Not that I'm all that into vintage cars, but it's still nice to see them being saved all the same.ABOVE: Falkland Valley

Just out of Falkland, we turned up a side road and headed for a forest road that would take us up the side of a mountain for a cache that had been out for a month but only had two vistors. In the city, there would have been 20-30 visitors to the cache already We nearly tripled the number of visits to this cache just by the three of us signing the log book. The cache was located just off an old skid road about 7K up the main FSR; the cache location gave us an wonderful view of the Falkland Valley which emphasized the fact we had transitioned biozones again.

We had moved from the dry Interior zone to the Wet Interior zone; gone were the sweeping open lands of grass and rolling hills; instead we were now into mountains complete with forests and logging trucks.

But that wouldn't last long; as we travelled the highway we crested a mountain pass and began our descent down into the north part of the Okanagan Valley, down to the shores of Okanagan Lake. While we did this, we traversed back into the Dry Interior Zone and once again the forests were replaced by Ponderosa Pines and aspens. There were more trees here than the Merritt area, and more green areas, but it was still a dry environment.ABOVE: Okanagan Landing, site of the terminus of the CPR line and the terminus of the Okanagan Lake paddle wheeler service

Once again we did a last few caches as night fell, then went in search of a room for the night. After that, we made our way to the south side of Vernon to Okanagan Landing to visit our brother Wayne and his wife Inga. Okanagan Landing is an historic site in itself; is was the landing site for the stern wheelers that plied Okanagan Lake. Paddlewheel Park now occupies the site where the CPR had a ship building operation and a major terminus where steam ships met trains that took passengers further south on their voyage to places like Penticton. There the passengers could continue their train travels on the Kettle Valley Railway east to Midway or south to Kelowna.

The new day found us still in Vernon while we finshed up our list of caches; some of the interesting locations we found was the old BX ranch where they raised horses for the stage coach company that ran a route into the Caribou region and another from Priest's Valley (Vernon area) to Cache Creek and Okanagan Mission (present day Kelowna). Francis Barnard, founder of the B.C. Express and Stage Line, commonly known as the Barnard Express, sent his men to Mexico in 1868 and drove back 400 horses that he had bought as breeding stock for the stage lines. The ranch he founded 5 miles east of present day Vernon became known as the BX ranch.ABOVE: Plane on the roof of the Vernon legion

We also found a cache at the local legion; doesn't sound too interesting you say? Well, this legion has an old airplane mounted on it's roof! Now that's something you don't see every day...

The next day found us in Kelowna with still a whole whack of caches on our list; as usual I had printed off way more than we would be able to do. But by doing so I had ensured we would not run out of caches, plus if we had to change plans we had some spare caches to search for. Those that were not found would go back on the pile to be found next time we come this way.

In Kelowna one of the areas we spent some time in was the Mission Creek area; this is a linear park that follows Mission Creek as it flows through the suburbs of town. The park has something for every one; in areas there are playgrounds and open grass areas for playing on; another area has a small fish hatchery incorporated into the creek for the benefit of the local community to enjoy the wonders of the natural cycle of salmon.

Other areas are left in a more natural state and good walking trails take advantage of the stillness of the dry forest land. We found 7 or 8 caches all together along the length of the park, and we enjoyed each area we visited. ABOVE: Sibell Maude-Roxby Bird Sanctuary on the shores of Okanagan Lake in Kelowna

A few more caches in town brought us right to the heart of Kelowna on the shore of Okanagan Lake. One of the caches was in a bird sanctuary where an elevated boardwalk built over a marsh adjoining the lake let you enjoy the area with out disturbing the environment. Another cache brought us into a wet lands area a few hundred feet from the lake. The wetlands are no doubt affected by the rise and fall of the water table at the lake as the whole area is basically at lake level.

It was getting late in the day and we wanted to do a few more caches on the way home, so we skipped the other caches on the pile and started the long trek towards Vancouver. We did a couple of caches along the Connector that runs from Westbank to Merritt, but these were mostly stop and grab caches, nothing exciting here other than a chance to stretch your legs. ABOVE: Small family cemetery in Merritt

In Merritt we did a cache that turned into a combination rest stop and history lesson. This cache was at an old grave yard just on the eastern edge of town; the grave markers here were all made of wood which indicated that most of the people buried here were poor. It is a family cemetery were 6 or 7 of the Moses family are buried; they died during a smallpox epidemic.

After finding the cache we took a look around the small cemetery, so rich in history, and then piled into the truck for the long drive home.

We put approx 700K on the truck over the 4 days, and found approx 100 or so caches; we could have found a lot more in two days if we stayed in Vancouver, but there is so much history and beautiful land to see in B.C. that you do yourself an injustice by staying in town. Over the 4 days we did many caches that I did not mention, as that would be too ponderous for me to write and for you to read. I incorporated the ones that stood out from the others, the ones were the cache owners brought us to a beautiful view or shared a piece of history with us. For that we say thank you!

Driving the KVR With Scruffster Riding Shotgun

ABOVE: Engineers Road in Manning Park


Last Saturday I did one of my favourites drives in this corner of B.C., and as an added bonus I had Scruffster (Stu) along riding in the shotgun seat.


Stu is basically a city boy who doesn't often get the chance to experience the wonders that B.C. has to offer, so it was with great pleasure that I was able to offer him a ride for the day to enjoy the scenery.



The goal today was to follow the route of the old Kettle Valley Railway (KVR) from Princeton north through the Otter Valley, then hang a left approx 30 miles up the valley and head west to the old railway stop of Brooksmere.



The four part video may be viewed on my YouTube channel here. Look for the videos titled "Princeton-Coalmont-Tulameen With Scruffster" and start with Part One

We started off in Maple Ridge at 7.00 AM where Stu dropped off his car and climbed into the Jeep with just a bit of a buzz happening with the expectation of things to come. Stu had been out just the other weekend with me as we did the Harrison West FSR Geocaching tour, so he had some idea of the sights we would be seeing and the roads we would be travelling. Even so I think by the end of the day he was awed by the scenery, and just a wee bit over whelmed by the amount of territory we covered.

We drove the 90 minutes to Hope with no stops along the way as we wanted to keep to the agenda, knowing that the day would be turning dark on us at some point earlier then we wanted it to.

Our first stop was just east of Hope on Hwy#3 at a camping spot called Nicola River Campsite. It was a campsite that I had used way back in 1980 with my brand new truck and camper as a shake down sleep over. While the rain poured down, I was having a cup of tea reading the local newspaper while the furnace kept it nice and toasty in the camper. This was a far cry from the days of sleeping in a sleeping bag out in the open at Garibaldi Lake and waking up to ice on the sleeping bag.

ABOVE: The Hope Slide

Next up were 3 caches at the Hope Slide further east on Hwy#3. The Hope Slide is one of the biggest slides in to happen in Canada; it was triggered by rain water loosening the slopes which first created a minor mud slide that blocked the highway. Then, approx three hours later, a minor earthquake triggered the larger slide that broke away half the mountain. This happened on Jan 9, 1965 and 2 people in two cars are still missing. Four people in all were killed.


At the slide the 3 caches consisted of 2 real caches and one Earth cache; the Earth cache is a virtual cache where you go to a location and find out some information about the unusual earth fomation, in this case the slide. Real caches found and the necessary information collected for the virtual cache, we moved on down the road.

ABOVE: Westgate of Manning Park

The next 8 caches were all inside Manning Park; the caches highlighted some of the natural beauty of the area. The cache locations took us from the old Dewdney Trail to it's succesor, the Engineer's Road, from rare large rhodendrons to swift flowing creeks, with highlights of beaver and mule deer environments thrown in for good measure.


Manning Park consists of over 70,844 hectares of rugged forest-clad mountains, deep valleys, alpine meadows, lakes and rivers. There are numerous campsites in the park, most drive in along with some alpine areas. There is a downhill ski area, a lodge, a full service cafeteria and store and public washrooms for the weary road travellers.

Manning Park also straddles several bioclimate zones; at it's western entrance the park is west coast rain forest with green trees and plants every where you look. Creeks, rivers, and waterfalls are the norm on this side of the park. As you move towards the centre of the park you climb into Allison Pass and lose the west coast feel; it is replaced with smaller trees and less ground cover due to the harsher winter environment.




By the time you get to the lodge and store area, you are in the midst of a high altitude environment; the winters bring heavy snow and it is reflected in the types of structures here. All of the buildings have steep pitch roof lines to minimize snow build up and you notice that many of the signs are placed at a height where they will still be visible even when the winter's snows come.



Moving east you cross from the west coast zone to the dryer Interior climate zone. Here the ground is dryer and the trees have changed from firs and evergreens to lodgepole pines and birch. Dry brownish grazing grass fills the voids between the trees and the deer population explodes in the area. Where you had to be lucky to see a deer to the west, now when you drive this section at night you have to be lucky not to hit a deer.

We exited the east side of the park, got half a mile away when Stu noticed a moose at the river's edge. "A moose"? I said, here in the dry semi-arid Interior? Well, yes there was one right there!


Moose generally prefer wet marsh areas to arid environments, so we could only surmise that this moose was at the edge of it's territory.



On we went towards Princeton picking up a couple of caches along the way. By now we were fully into the dry lands, and sage brush grew in the fields instead of shrubs; we also noticed in this environment every plant seemed to have thorns or prickles that clung to your clothing as you walked past.

Into Princeton we went searching out the caches planted in this small city; an added bonus was grabbing an FTF in the Tulameen Turtles region. The Turtles are very dedicated cachers who think nothing of driving all night down forest roads searching for an FTF at a distant cache. Their fleet includes 4X4's and ATVs, augmented with a quaff of the finest wines avilable to geocachers on low budgets. To get the jump on them is tough to do; to do so in their own back yard was particularly sweet!

ABOVE: Old building in Granite City

Out of Princeton we went to Coalmont, where the treat for the day was the old ghost town of Granite City. History buff Stu had a field day here, savoring every nuance of the old buildings and the open area that was once a town of two thousand people and two hundred buildings, of which 13 were saloons.

We wandered around the old city for a while, then went up the hill to look at the old Granite City cemetery with head stones so old some of them were unreadable.

Back on the road to the town of Tulameen and home of the Tulameen Turtles which we hoped to surprise. But alas our timing was off as Mrs. Turtles had dropped by my house with some CDs of a recent trip we were on, and found out that I was headed to their territory. Mr Turtles was not home either, but had left a note for us to make our selves at home.


We wandered around the yard for a few minutes thinking how lucky they were to have the cabin to escape to on the weekends.


ABOVE: Old Kettle Valley Railroad trestle at the south end of Otter Lake

We did a few more caches in the Tulameen area, the best of which was the old train trestle from the days of the KVR. The trestle is at the southern end of Otter Lake and you have an excellent views of the lake from the old train bed and the bridge.

ABOVE: Old barn in the Otter Valley

Back on the road we headed north up the Otter Valley stopping at many viewpoints to admire the view and capture it on film and video. We had also changed bioclimate zones again; we had left the dry Interior area and where now in a wetter grass lands area as we travelled the valley bottom. Tracts of cattle ranches were the norm now as we climbed into onto the Nicola Plateau. This was home to historical ranch names like the Nicola Ranch and the Douglas Lake Ranch; these ranches made their fortune on feeding the hungry men who laid the steel rails of the railways and selling horses in Western Canada to the growing population.


By now it was early evening and we were beginning to run out of light; we made the run up the Otter Valley as far as the turn off for the Brookmere Road, which took us west towards the old railway town of Brookmere near the Coquihalla Highway. As we cruised along the old rail bed turned-back road we couldn't help but think of the old whistle stops along here and the pioneer men and women who lived on isolated ranches far from one another; the only way to town was a very long and bumpy wagon ride, or the luxury of the KVR trains.

Our last stop was at Brookmere, where a cache was placed at the only remaining water tower still standing from the KVR line. These water towers were unique in that they were multi-sided and not round like the other train lines built.


We exited the KVR route back onto the Coquihalla Highway and once again we were in another bioclimate zone. Now we were back into the high passes of the mountains were winter comes early, stays late, and dares you to drive the highway any time of the year. This is one of those mountain highways were it's not unheard of to have snow in August!


By now we were in the dark, we were way past our allotted day light hours, and we made the drive back to Vancouver in the dark accompanied by a steady mountain downpour. We had managed to miss the rains that enveloped the coast during the day by the fact we were on the other side of the Coast Mountain Range. Once we reached the Coquihalla Summit and started down the mountain pass, we ran smack dab into the bad weather that Vancouver had been experiencing in our abscence.


We arrived back in Maple Ridge at Stu's car around 10.00 PM, meaning we had been on the road for 15 hours, all of which flew by in what seemed like minutes.


Stu headed home to crash, I headed home to clean up the Jeep and pack for a 4 day geocaching road trip that started at 6.00 AM the next morning!


Thanks Stu for riding shotgun for the day and being such good company!

Caching Along Harrison Lake West FSR

On Saturday Sept 13 I had the pleasure of hosting a geocaching event for some of the local members of the BCGA. I lead a group of people in five 4X4s as we cached north along the west side of Harrison Lake.

We met at the Tim Hortons in Mission in the central Fraser Valley where we all enjoyed a large morning cup of coffee to help wake us up; the breakfast sandwiches were pretty good too!

After ensuring we were all the folks that were going to show up, we picked a rendezvous point at Weaver Creek Fish Hatchery where we would drop off some of the cars, move the ride alongs over to the 4X4s, and find our first cache!

A total of 14 caches were found on the trip today that stretched more than 50 miles from Harrison Mills in the south, to the Tipella logging camp at the north end of Harrison Lake. By my total we were on gravel roads for approx 110 miles; roads that were at times good graded gravel that you could only curse due to the dust, to no road at all as the road was washed away by the water running down the old road bed. At times we struggled to see over the hoods as the front end was pointed decidedly uphill towards the sky!


Rather than go into all the caches we found explaining their names, locations, etc, I can show you! This time out I took my new cam corder for it's inaugural outing, and I put it to good use. I shot off 45 minutes of film, which I have edited down to about 30 minutes.

You can view the videos here on YouTube; look for the three part Harrison Lake FSR Tour videos. Or you can search Youtube for tjguy98 to find my channel.

Start with Part 1 (of course), then Part 2 and Part 3 to keep the story line in order.

Enjoy the videos and hope it makes you feel like you were right there with us......minus the dust....and the heat.....and the bumping around in the washed out sections of road.....and the crashing through the bush to find the caches getting all scratched up with what I'm sure is poison ivy!!!!!

Other than those little differences, you'll feel like you were there!

PS For those of you who really wanted to come along but didn't, read the write up right after you have dumped the bag from the vacuum cleaner all over your hair. THEN you'll get the idea of how we felt at the end of those 110 miles of FSR travelling.

Messing About in Maple Ridge

ABOVE: Trailhead for the Canyon Trail in Kanaka Creek Park

I made time for myself this week end to get out and do a little caching.; only the second time in months that I've been out playing.

As usual I fired off a few pictures, (you're lucky this time, only 20 or so) and I've put them up on my Flickr page to view. Click here to be magically swept away to Eddie's World.....

Maple Ridge and Richmond

ABOVE: Golden Ears Bridge under construction

Haven't made a post in a while as I've been working in the back yard most of the summer, that is after coming home from Paris! And after having pneumonia knock me down as well..sheesh.

Annette and I went for a leisurely drive out to Richmond and I snapped off a few shots of the Golden Ears Bridge under construction, as well as a couple of pictures of float planes.

Have a look here ........

Eddie's Theme Song

Every body has a travelling song and I guess I should have one too! Click on the sound bar to start the song and sing along as you watch the slide show.

The Family in Paris

ABOVE: View of the Place de Trocadero from the top of the Eiffel Tower

All pictures can be viewed on my Flickr site here; (right click on the link and select "Open in New Window". Then you can view the pictures while you read the story). You can also start up the slide show option and then click on the "i" in the centre of the first picture to view the captions so you know what you are looking at.

We had the great opportunity to go to Paris this year, and to make the trip even better we took along the girls! Our girls are now 22 and 24, and speak fluent French. So not only did we get to share a wonderful part of the world with them, we even had our own translators!

To be truthful, every one in Paris speaks English or speaks enough English to converse with you, so travellers should not worry about the language issue.

On the first day we got to the hotel late in the afternoon, and we were all tired from the plane trip. Even so, we dropped off the bags, freshened up, and went out on the street for a short walk and grab dinner.

To see the street our hotel was on, click here and select the Vaugiard camera from the list. This web cam was right outside our balcony doors. We could actually reach out and touch it. We should have put a sign in front of it saying "Hello from Paris"! LOL

ABOVE: View of the Seine River from the top of the Eiffel Tower

Second day, which was Saturday, we visited the Eiffel Tower, took the tour on the Red Bus, (one of the double decker tour buses that have a hop on-hop off policy), visited Notre Dame Cathedral, walked down the Avenue de Champs Elysees, and visted the Arc de Triomphe.

ABOVE: the Arc de Triomphe de l'Etolie

Did you know there are two Arc de Triomphe? The better known, and larger one, is actually called the Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile. The matching, but smaller arc, is located at the climax of a vista seen the length of the Champs Elysees ending at the Tuileries Gardens, where the second arc is located. This arc is called the Arc de Triomphe Carousel. They were built at the same time in 1836; the arcs are dedicated to the glory of Napoleon's armies.
ABOVE: View of the Eiffel Tower from the top of the Arc de Triomphe
(No it's not leaning, my angle was slightly off)

Sunday was a day spent at the Louvre Museum, and you need way more than just one day to see it all. The Louvre was created as a rampart in 1190 to protect the city of Paris from Anglo-Saxon attacks. It later became home to various Kings; in 1882 the palace ceased to become the seat of power, and it was devoted almost entirely to culture.

The Louvre is fantastic!! No other way to put it; each and every painting, statue or bust in the museum is a classic work of art unto itself. We spent 5 hours at the museum, covered about two-thirds of the floor space, and probably only really seen 25 per cent of the art in the museum.

ABOVE: Inside the Louvre Museum

Highlights for us were the Venus de Milo statue, the Mona Lisa, the Egyptian area, (as they had some rare artifacts that other museums don't have), and the great halls of modern statues that were awesome alone to view.

After the Louvre, we were all pooped out, so a sit down was in order. Part of our tour package entitled us to a one hour tour on the Seine River in an open top boat. We took advantage of the good weather and sat outside along the side railings and enjoyed the summer breeze as we cruised along the historic river past places from the past.

ABOVE: The Isle de Citie, the island which was the birth place of Paris

One of the areas we went past was the Isle de Citie, the island that the Parisii tribe lived on until they were conquered by the Romans in 52 AD. On this island is located the Notre Dame Cathedral.

Monday was a day spent entirely at Euro Disneyland located 30 miles east of Paris. Every one has been to a Disney land some where, so not much new to tell you there....

ABOVE: Jim Morrison's grave

Tuesday was more sightseeing in Paris; first up was the Cemetery du Pere-Lachaise. This is the largest cemetery in Paris; it covers 48 hectares, (118 acres) and contains over 300,000 graves. We were here to visit contemporary celebrities, namely Jim Morrison of the Doors, who died of an overdose in a Paris hotel; Oscar Wilde, the famous play write, author and poet; and Frederic Chopin, the famous Polish composer. Chopin's heart is is entombed in a pillar in the Holy Cross church in Warsaw Poland.

Many other famous French folks are buried here as well; names like Marcel Marceau, the mime, and Sarah Bernhardt, stage and film actress, top the list. It's also the last resting places of various royalty like the last king of Cicilian Armenia and the Countess of Castiglione, a famous Italian courtesan.

ABOVE: The Sacre Couer church

Also on tap today was a visit to the Sacre Couer church located on the highest hill in Paris in the Montmarte district. Further down Boulevard de Rochequart, the main street in the area, was the red light district with all the peep shows and girlie shows. No, that's not why we were here!

ABOVE: The Moulin Rouge, (the Red Windmill)

Located in this area is the famous Moulin Rouge. We just had to see it, but we didn't go inside to see the show, none of us were interested.

ABOVE: Versailles Palace viewed from the Gardens

Wednesday was another day spent entirely at a famous place that was a must on our list of sites to see, and it should be on every ones list; that is Versailles Palace. Offically it's called the Chateau de Versailles. It's incredible!

The palace is the largest palace in Europe, if not the world. The art work is something to see, as is the actual architecture and construction of the chateau. Originally started in 1664, the chateau underwent many growth periods over the next 50 years of so.

ABOVE: The Gardens of Versailles

The gardens are another must see, although the word "gardens" doesn't really justify them. The size of scale is immense, it must stretch for 2 miles from front to back and be a mile wide. It contains a 1.8 k crucifix shaped canal, as well as Marie Antoinette's palace.

Thursday was a day of recovery, and for some a long awaited day; we went shopping! We headed downtown to the Galeries Lafayette, a major upscale shopping centre. It is 7 floors tall, and has another 3 floors in an adjoining building, with another 2 floors in yet another building.

This is all one store, not many stores like a mall as we know them. This store has all the high end fashion names like Channel, Dior, Armani, and any other line common folks can't afford :)

The building itself looks like it's built around an old church, as the first five floors of the store are open in the centre and look up into a large dome reminiscent of a church. We bought a few trinkets here, how ever some of the nice looking dresses that the ladies liked had price tags like 1200 euros, kinda out of our league.

ABOVE: Replica of the flame held by the Statue of Liberty in New York
The Eiffel Tower is in the back ground

We also visted a few other stores in the area, then headed for two other land marks side by side. One was an identical replica of the flame held by the Statue of Liberty in New York. If you recall, the Statue of Liberty was given to the Americans by the French as a gift of friendship in 1886.

ABOVE: The tunnel where Princess Diana died in a car crash

It's also the site of a more tragic scene; directly below the flame is the tunnel where Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed died in the car crash. The low retaining wall at the top of the tunnel holds graffiti dedicated to Princess Diana with people from all over the world pouring out their love for her.



ABOVE: Video of light show at Eiffel Tower; sorry, it's on an angle

Thursday night was our last night in Paris, so we caught the Metro to the Eiffel Tower for the light show. At night the tower is lit up with orange lights, but on the hour starting at 9.00 PM and going to midnight, for ten minutes, thousands of strobe lights burst on the tower lighting the sky with a dazzling array of flashes too fast for the eye to follow and way too many to try to pick out just one. We spent the time on the grass lined mall late at night with many other tourists and Parisians all enjoying a warm summer eve.

Friday was a short day, as we were to be picked up from the hotel at 11.30 AM for the trip back to Charles De Gaul airport.

We spent a couple of hours walking the streets around the hotel and doing some last minute shopping in the small boutique stores.

Before you knew it we were back on the plane home ward bound, with many great memories burned into our brains.

I booked our trip to Paris with some reservations, and incorrect perceptions based on past comments made to me. Some of the comments I heard were "it's a dirty city", "lots of dog poop on the sidewalk as they just don't care", "they won't speak english if you can't speak french', "they're rude".

Well, I was very pleased to find out none of these comments are true; if they were at one time they are not now. We found the people to be very polite, they were willing to speak english if you had trouble in french, the city was clean and almost no dog poop in site! No more than what I see walking around my neighbourhood. It was a very enjoyable place to visit.

We are definitely going back some time, probably spending a week in Paris and the second week on a return trip to London. That is, when we get this trip paid off! :)

North Vancouver Caching

ABOVE: Princess Park in North Vancouver

Spent the day in North Vancouver on Sunday caching with Ken and Alan; we picked up 25 caches on the day. Pretty good day in all, weather was great and the caches were all found.

As you'll notice the blog entry is kinda slim; that's for two reasons.

#1 A lot of the caches we found were ordinary, not much to excite the senses. We did find a couple of good ones, one most excellent one! But I can't write about it without spoiling the find.

I will tell you the cache though; it is the cache called "The Mostly Jazz cache..By Swimming Hole" hidden by Chief Fakawee, GC13AGE

That one is worthy of mention, just a great great hide!

Oh, another one is called "Creekside Stumper" by Wackoang GC16HJG. Again, another great cache hide where the cache owner spent a lot of time making the cache container blend into the natural surroundings. Great job!!

#2 A lot of the scenery that I would have taken pictures of looks very much like pictures I have taken before. Getting out and about as much as I do, and taking as many photos as I do, after a while the forests around the Lower mainland all begin to look alike, especially through the lens.

While we seen some great scenery, I already have tons of "those" pictures on my web site for you to see.....

ABOVE: Deep Cove

I've posted a couple of pictures here on the blog, the rest can be seen on my Flickr site here

Short post this time, most of the day was routine.......or maybe I just didn't have the creative juices flowing....

Another Fine Day Caching in South Surrey

ABOVE: Old 1950'sh car in Cougar Creek Ravine

Had another great day geocaching with my brother Daryl and my other brother Daryl, AKA Ken and Alan. In the caching world they are known as MrTJ and Bowser98.

In tow with us today was Bowser98junior (Chris), trwfan (Cam) and Brent, a friend of Chris and Cam. Brent came up with some of the best finds of the day, we gotta keep that kid around!

All pictures can be viewed here at my Flickr site.

We spent the entire day in the South Surrey - North Delta area mostly visiting city parks and small neighbourhood green belts. That's something I've come to really appreciate about Surrey: they have done an excellent job of retaining green belts whether it be small house lot size kid's parks or large parks conisiting of many acres. Unfortunately, as much as I enjoy the trails through the forested areas, they start to look all the same on the camera and in one's mind after you have visited quite a few of them in one day. Hence, I do not have that many pictures from this caching trip.

We did visit a couple of places worthy of mention; one was North Delta Watershed Park and the other was Cougar Creek Ravine.

ABOVE: South entrance to Watershed Park

North Delta Watershed Park is exactly that, a watershed area comprised of a large artesian water supply from where North Delta draws its drinking water. The park is 153 hectares in size and is open to walkers, joggers, horse back riders and mountain bikers alike. The forest is dominated by a second growth coniferous forest; 11 kilometers of gravel trails wind their way through the forest.

The other noteworthy location we visted was Cougar Creek Park; we visted two locations here. The first was the west side where it is relatively level ground with minimal elevation drop. Here there is no sign of the canyon as the creek is almost at zero elevation; a short jaunt under the road and the creek empties into Burns Bog.

ABOVE: Lower stretch of Cougar Creek

As you walk up the trail you parallel the creek along a small soon to be overgrown trail in the flood zone. Except for the odd muddy spot the trail was in good shape as it had not rained significantly for a few days. The cache location is in the vicinity of a huge old stump from the turn of the century. That's one thing I love about the Lower Mainland; the huge old redwood cedar stumps that are still visible in many of the area's parks.

ABOVE: Way huge stump in Cougar Creek Ravine Park

The second cache in Cougar Creek Park was 3\4 of a mile to the east, in the infamous ravine area. The creek has cut through the soft clay of the surrounding hill side and carved a 100' deep wide ravine through the heart of suburbia.

While there is something you could almost call a trail down the hill, basically it's "point your nose down the hill and look for a nice sturdy tree to stop you if you become a run away" type of trail!

ABOVE: Cam carefully walks the trail along the edge of the ravine; One little slip of the foot and you're tumbling down 30 feet to the creek below

In the dry it's still a bit slippery; when the clay banks are wet and slippery it's almost as bad as being on ice!

ABOVE: Dumping ground for shopping carts, old cars, and anything that can be picked up and thrown over the edge.

Down in the ravine we found old shopping carts, an old wringer washer washer, numerous types of metal containers, and 4 old cars circa 1950s. It was kind of fun trying to guess the make of the car by the flattened shape of the body and the odd grill still visible.

Have a look at my Flickr site for all the pictures....click here

ANNOUCEMENT !!!! Sound the trumpets !!

There is a new geocaching blog on the scene, this one hosted by the Tulameen Turtles. Have a look at their blog here.

They've got a great looking blog home page already populated with a couple of caching stories, some YouTube videos and a slide show of pictures. An excellent start indeed!!

Way to go guys!!

Planting Seeds Up Harrison Way

ABOVE: My Jeep perched above Harrison Lake

All pictures in this set can be seen here on my Flickr site

Laara , AKA "MsChief Gps_y" and I did a run up the west side of Harrison Lake planting half a dozen caches as part of the British Columbia Geocaching Association (BCGA) 2008 Spring Blitz.

This is a month long mass planting of quality caches to kick off the spring geocaching season. The month culminates in a get together for a afternoon of fun, renewing old aquaintances, and making new ones. Prizes are also awarded for the best caches in various categories.

Our first stop was in the Mission area where we stopped to allow Laara snatch a cache that she had not been to yet, and seeing as how we were going right past it it was an easy stop and grab.

ABOVE: Silverdale Wetlands

The cache is located in a new wetlands conservation area called Silverdale Wetlands; in the marsh area the river has been enhanced by adding spawning channels and ponds for the young fry to hide in. As well, song birds are encouraged to nest here with the addition of bird houses on stilts above the ponds.

ABOVE: Salmon carving at Silverdale Wetlands

There is even a neat carved salmon statue to highlight the salmon habitat in the park.

ABOVE: Lake Errock

Stop #2 of the day was at Lake Errock to pick up a cache called "Just Because"; the cacher owner placed this cache here "just because" he liked the spot. It is a small community of summer cabins and full time homes that have resisted the hordes of outside people by posting "No Parking" signs anywhere near the lake, as well as prominently placing signs stating that the facilities are "private; members only".

Still, it's a very scenic spot with the old elbow of the Fraser River long ago cut off from the river, and it is now a small fresh water lake set amid surrounding tall hills more reminiscent of mountains that hills.

OK, on to the main event.................

ABOVE: Signboard for the Weaver Creek facility

Our first cache plant was at the Weaver Creek Spawning Channel, an artificial channel on the banks of Weaver Creek built to enhance the survival ratio of Sockeye salmon, and to a lesser extent, Chum and Pink Salmon. From the early 1940s to the late 1950s the Sockeye runs where around 20,000; in the early 60s extensive logging in the watershed exacerbated a natural tendency for the river to flood, resulting in runs in the 12,000 mark.

ABOVE: Weaver Creek Spawning Channel

The International Pacific Salmon Fisheries Commission, a joint U.S. - Canada commission created to enhance the Fraser River salmon fisheries, decided to build numerous fish hatcheries and salmon enhancement channels. Weaver Creek is the most succesful of them, first being run by Fisheries and Oceans - Canada, and for the past many years it has been staffed and run by the local Chehalis First Nation. This is historical Sts'a'itles land; Chehalis knew this as "running aground on a sandbar (with the chest of the canoe)" in the Sto:lo tonque. The Halq'emeylem language is spoken from the mouth of the Fraser River as far upriver as Yale, with different dialects spoken between the "upriver" and "down river" peoples.

The Scowlitz peoples inhabit the area around Harrison Bay, while the Chehalis occupy the territory at the mouth of the Chehalis River where it empties into the Harrison River; the Chehalis are the peoples furthest away from the Sto'lo, "the river", or as we know it, the Fraser River.

ABOVE: Parked on the side of a forest road on a wet day in a coastal rain forest

Cache hid in an out of the way spot, we continued up the road looking for another good spot, and it wasn't long before we found it. An old beaver pond, no longer a viable habitat, was overgrown with cottonwoods and birches which love the water environment. The marsh is reclaiming the land slowly, and you can see the various types of trees and plants creating a new forest where once it was a pond.

We found a good spot here as well, typical location in a rain forest with every thing covered in different types of moss. Ever tried to count the many shades of green in a forest? I tried once and I got lost after 20-something, it's just remarkable all the slight colour variations.

ABOVE: The View Point

Further up the road at mile marker 5 we came to one of my favorite places, a scenic viewpoint overlooking Harrison Lake with a good view to the south down the lake. There are better view points that come and go dependent on the active logging, but this viewpoint is always here waiting for me. Here's the routine; break out the cache, find a good spot to stash the cache, mark the waypoint, and continue on, and that's just what we did

ABOVE: A healthy beaver pond

Next on the list, a beaver pond in good health. I picked this one to contrast with the previous pond that was no longer in use and being reclaimed by nature. This new pond had vibrant colours and clear water, it just looks healthy!

ABOVE: Sandy hill just right to play on

Further up the road is another one my favourite places, I just had to hide a cache here. I named this cache "PlayTime"! That's because this location is an old sand hill that was once used as a source for surface fill on teh forest road, now it is a mild play area for city folks who have an SUV and don't often have the chance to play in it.
The hillside is not very big and you can't make a mistake on the hill, its a safe environment for beginners!




ABOVE: Short video of me playing on the hill




ABOVE: Second video of me playing on the hill

The two videos are courtesy of Laara, who defied "death by raging Jeep" to film the videos

The videos are deceiving in that they make the hill look much smaller than it is. Plus the Jeep is so sure footed that it made climbing the soft, sandy hill look easy. Well, I'm sure the driver had a lot to do with it! :)

ABOVE: Snow stop; good name for a cache!

I was aiming to plant the last cache at 20 Mile Bay Recreation area, but Mother Nature had other plans. At the 17 mile marker we hit snow on the road on an uphill section of the FSR. We were far enough north and just high enough that we were at the snow line on the shadow side of the mountains. Here amidst the trees the shadows linger longer, and so does the snow; not willing to risk powering up hill through the snow just to run off the side of the road into a ditch, we decided to turn around and look for one last good spot.

ABOVE: Small waterfall on side of Harrison West FSR

Just 100 yards or so down the road we came across a small creek that had a good size waterfall coming off the hillside and continuing under the road to the opposite side. This was a great little area, lots of moss growing on everything from the forest floor to the tree limbs of the older second growth forest. I found a good hiding spot that is easy to spot from the road, ensuring the cacher of a find. If you come this far looking for the cache, you should at least find it!!

ABOVE: Good reminder why you shouldn't try to act like Mario Andretti on these roads

The last of the six ammo cans hid, we turned around and started the long drive back down to mile zero. 45 minutes later and we were back at the Sasquatch Inn, wondering if the Sasquatches had as much fun as we did today.

Thanks to Laara for helping me hide the caches and ensuring we got as accurate readings as we could on the hides. And of course thanks for the good company!