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“Spirit Rocks,” what images do you see?
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For the most part, roads are quite tame and suitable for stock 4WD’s.
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The Jeep Wrangler was small enough for narrow roads, not quite small enough for the drainage piping though.
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Geocaching and off-roading go hand in hand.
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An abandoned camp, with clean and kept surroundings.
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The view out over the Ashnola river valley.
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Core samples left by prospectors.
Story and photos by Kristina Wheeler
The southern BC interior is an area full of natural wonders, vibrant wildlife and scenic views. Along the backside of the Cascade mountain range, I ventured up the back roads of Copper and Placer Mountains. It started out as an adventure with the anticipation of using some of the sights I found for my annual geocaching event. What I found were memories that were long forgotten, memories that would also take me back some years ago through the photos of time in an album in my mind.
Many years ago I roamed these streets of no name at the tender age of two, the roads were different but many of the places are the same. It seems that time changes nothing and everything at the same time.
I woke up early on the Saturday morning with one goal in mind - adventure. I had taken a good look at the map book and had an idea of where I would go, so I headed down to Princeton, British Columbia, and then west on the Crowsnest to the Placer Forest Service Road turnoff about 23 km or 21-minutes south of the Copper Mountain Mine. Here you will find two roads, one that steers towards Copper Mountain and another to Placer Mountain. The one that winds towards Copper Mountain offers some of the most beautiful camping locations. However, Placer Mountain was on the agenda today, as it traverses across to Ashnola. Based upon the Backroad Mapbook, I had several options on the roads I would take, I was hoping that the map book was fairly accurate, but I was up for the adventure should it not be.
The roads through most of the area are very “stock vehicle” friendly, I even know of several fellow geocachers who would be more than willing to take their Honda Civics’ on a good portion of them. For the first part of the trip, I did not encounter much scenery or much of anything worth mentioning, other than a fair amount of clear-cut. However, if you take just the right turns, you will soon find yourself back amongst the beautiful forest trees that smell so amazing, and some of the more scenic views.
This is where you can find "Spirit Rocks" (rock faces said to resemble the shape of certain people or animals), I had almost passed by the rocks, but they had called out to me and I had heard them. I took the opportunity to explore the side road and what greeted me was absolutely breathtaking and in some ways it is reminiscent of Easter Island. I never finished finding all the faces, but someone thinks they saw a cougar in it, not sure if he referred to a real one, or one in the rocks. I also identified a few hidden animal boroughs; along with a trail, that I believe that will lead you to the top of the mountain. I didn't have the time to explore it but will be back to see the peak.
A little further down the road is a make shift camp that contains a bit of a shelter, happily I can report none of this area has been abused of late, but there is a great view, not quite as awe inspiring as the Spirit Mountains but still worth stopping.
Continuing on towards my goal I zigged and zagged through the mountain trails looking for the road that pushed through, at one point something caught my eye but I opted to check it out on the way back or on the next trip through, little did I know what that surprise would hold for me later.
I found the road that would lead me down to my next stop, a sketchy trail with close cliffs and loose shale making me very glad I was in a Jeep and not a larger vehicle. I made my way down the switchbacks and at one point was required to do a three-point turn in the shale. I could not imagine the size of the panic attack I would be having if I had been in a larger vehicle.
I safely made it down through the nerve-racking experience and found my way to Ashnola. I think all told the transverse is about 17 km, which if you do the math and you have the tires to do that section, you will cut your gas bill by about 2/3rds of what it would have been.
I stopped in the beautiful August weather at a small spot along Ashnola. The temperature was just right and it was great to sit back (getting eaten alive by mosquitos!) and watch the river running through the valley. After my little relaxing stop I continued up the Ashnola River Road for a bit as I wanted to find out if the Backroad Mapbook was still accurate and the access road that went through to Placer Lake could still be completed. To my knowledge and explorations it cannot, the only option is to take the transverse back up. However that is not to say that it is not worth the exploration time to see where the road will lead you.
Many of the bridges have been pulled out here, along with the culverts. The culverts can be found on the "flat ground" and I contemplated trying to drive right through one of them but I still appear to have a bit too much common sense for that. These roads are so much fun, a few were a bit nerve racking as the edge seemed to be much closer to my side of the vehicle and the state of repair is poor. However, many of the roads were perfectly fine. I must also offer our apologies to the cows that were forced to move and the ground squirrels that were wondering just who in the world was driving over their home.
I continued on to each mountain along the route, looking at every view and even finding a road named "Lusted", but alas they all kept coming to a dead end, so I opted to start back and take that daring transverse. At least I would be able to take a closer look at what I had seen out of the corner of my eye earlier.
I headed back up the snaking, sharp shale road again, doing the three-point turn in the Jeep to the top, and then took the first right to see what was there. To my surprise, I found a treasure trove that made my day - an old abandoned mining camp with structures, left over cans, core samples galore and more. I love finding these kinds of treasures in the wilderness; it puts a smile on my face like a kid in a candy store. Exploring the site I’m sure I was mumbling, "what was that used for, and look at that, and oooohhhh." It's like this magical energy that just wafts into me and comes alive like pop rocks when they land on your tongue.
I also found I had a flat tire, which I changed, then headed out as the day was over and I couldn't chance losing another tire.
On the way home, I reflected back on how lucky I was as a child to have shared this with my brothers 35 years ago. They treated me like precious cargo, putting me in a backpack, rappelling off cliffs, or attaching me to a tree so not to lose me to the bears. I truly was a lucky kid and they were the best brothers anyone could have asked for.