April 4, 2023 - in the Fraser Canyon by Yale.
Stats: 6.95 km / 623m gain / 640m high / 3:25 hours MT
We all agreed today, that we were done with the snowshoe season. Time to start looking for those first spring flowers and smell the budding forest coming back to life.
We parked at the Pioneer gravesite on the right side of Hwy 1, after a pit stop at the restrooms. Its easy to miss this sign, driving east bound.
Thus began our relentlessly steep climb.
These rocks were very slippery. Heather & I both ended up getting a wet foot.
Much of the ground was covered in a thick carpet of moss.
Once we were at the viewpoint, we had most of the elevation gain behind us (444m). Thanks Don for bushwhacking to this spot and posing for us in your red shirt. But next time don't go so close to the edge!
The mighty Fraser River and the town of Yale -- southwest.
It was pleasantly warm in the sun.
Traversing the mossy bowl.
Not too much past the viewpoint were the Spirit Caves. The first time I did this hike we couldn't find them. Now there's ample flagging tapes there. Don't look for real caves in the earth. These caves are actually gaps between huge moss covered boulders.
There were two caverns in particular, that when you peered into their deep dark depths, you could barely see the bottom. It tugged at our curiousity and played with our imagination. Where would they go? Would they interconnect with other tunnels or chambers?
That upper hole is the largest but also the shallowest. Judy said she once went into one of the holes but had trouble getting out.
An interesting long fissure.
Basking in the sun on a soft spongy bed of moss.
Group shot: Don T, Heather F, Mark S, Peter F, Michelle K, Judy P, Charlotte H + me.
We carried on for about 20 minutes after lunch, through a boulder field, to a clearing on a knoll. The trees obstructed the view. This is where we turned back. I knew there wasn't much to see beyond this point.
This tree was probably planted when this person died in 1809. Now its only about a foot from the tombstone.
There were a two tombstones here where the persons had lived for over 100 years.
Judy knew some of the people buried here. She says its only the last 25 years or so that the community got together and cleaned up the cemetery. It was totally overgrown.
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