Three of us, YT, Jamie and David set out on an intrepid quest yesterday (monsoon day) to try to prove the route cross country from Gold River to Campbell River (and vice versa).
The less said about the torrential rain on Friday the better, but as we sat in the diner in CR waiting for the climate or the season to change, we reconsidered our plans…
The crux of this route is the middle bit between the 1st, 2nd and 3rd lakes on the CR side (where Menzies Main joins Memekay Salmon hookup) and White River Main/West Rd south to Gold River.
We agreed if we were going to get a soaking, it would be better getting soaked while we tested the difficult bit, so in the absence of Global Warming or the onset of summer, we transposed to Sayward Junction to attempt to ride south to Gold River.
On this picture, Sayward Junction is top/centre and Gold River is bottom/centre.
White River main is open and passable (watch for logging trucks). The bridge over the White River at Victoria Main is open and impressive. The views of Victoria Peak (2163m) are very intimidating…
The White River main turns into the WR700, which is also clear if a little steep and loose.
The road then becomes West Road where the troubles began...
A little snow. Fallen saplings, perhaps a dozen in eight places that your heroic team were able to push through/around/under/over…
Until, after overcoming patches of snow and fallen “saplings”, we came across two mature and very large trees blocking our way:
The further tree appeared to have already received the attention of a chainsaw. I presumed the size of the tree dissuaded the trail fairies from further work for the sake of their safety.
Turn Around! West Road in the vicinity of Twaddle Lake remains blocked until the trail fairies can wave their magic wands…
So, on the return trip north, after having crashed through the bushes again, we had the opportunity to take a close look at the western end of what is shown on the map as Menzies Main. Runs from the south end of Memekay Salmon hookup, becomes John Fraser main, past Stewart Lake recreation site then becomes Stewart Main before joining White River main.
Well, that is impassable too! Not because of any dramatic winter ravage but simply neglect. Neglect and non-use. Overgrown as a Hairy Toad! A thicket! No herrings to hand with which to chop down the mightiest tree in the forest! The road ends in a bush, of indeterminate length. If we had had a drone we could have gone spotting for Ukrainian artillery looking for Russian tanks, but we didn’t.
So…
On the way back we stopped to take some photos of some really big tree trunks that hadn’t quite wiped out an earlier bridge.
Some Winter!
So, until West Road out of Gold River is cleared (trail fairies trial…) there are only two routes into Gold River, the tarmac Rt28 and the gravel road from Woss, which the GoldRiver200 team rode at Easter and can verify it’s open status…
Entries remain open for the GoldRiver200, see the Shop tab on www.gr200.com
Regards
Jonathan.
Commentaires