Trip – stopped by snow but fun anyway

This past weekend my wife and I headed off for a quick overnight trip. We didn’t plan a destination, but ended up, again, in the area north of Port Renfrew. Snow level was much higher than it was back in January, and we managed to get up Grierson main and we had hopes of getting to the viewpoint we visited last May.

But the combo of thick crusty snow and a steep final approach thwarted us.

No really, it was steep.

We really wanted to get to the end of this spur, but no way. Just above that steep section the road flattens out.

What it looked like last May.

And this time.

And the spur we wanted to camp at, as it was last May.

And this time.

Our fire pit was still there.

So we went back down the road about 200 metres.

Wasn’t too bad, sunshine and a nice view.

Walked down the road a ways and looked at the desolation after logging.

If you look closely you might be able to see the yellow shoots of Skunk Cabbage poking up at edge of the water.

Pretty little oasis amongst the logging.

One of our dogs, loves the snow.

Cape Flattery, Olympic Peninsula, Wash. State.

We had the Go-Westy rainfly up, and the Westy pop top insulation blanket installed inside. We also brought along the Olympian Plat Cat heater (not used when sleeping). The set up worked very well, and with the pop top vent cracked overnight, we have very little condensation on the windows in the morning. Must have had some sort of chimney effect going.

A little bit of snow falling next morning.

Breakfast, and the tell-tale sign that someone in the family is a Molecular Biologist.

The old “Excelsior” at work again.

The dogs taking up space.

Then off we drove to explore more of the area. The weather cleared a little, if it wasn’t for the wind it could almost be described as mild.

Nice little lake, second growth forest.

Edinburgh Mt. in the background, steep logging in the foreground.

And wouldn’t you know it, we even checked out the Camper Creek area campsite that we spent so much time at last summer.

Ooh, kindling!

Notice how the mirrors take a bit of a lashing on these trips?

Came back home via Gordon River and Cowichan Lake (a round trip we have done many times before). Saw signs of kayakers along the Gordon – crazy folk who paddle down the canyons.