Smallwood Creek area, BeaselyMonday June 22, 2020

Due to the Covid situation, only a small group of hikers gathered at the Bigwood/Smallwood parking area on Smallwood FSR early on June 22, a sunny Monday. We were: Marilyn Miller, Heather Myers, Flora Wong, Sophia Siegel, Kelly Campbell and Alison Etter. We started by celebrating Sophia’s inaugural hike with the KMC. Welcome Sophia!

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T h e K o o t e n a y M o u n t a i n e e r

The newsletter for people with year-round pursuits.2020 Autumn

Contents

Trip Reports 1.......................................................................

Smallwood Creek 1.......................................................

The Vein 2.....................................................................

Slocan Valley Cycle 3...................................................

Pulpit Rock 3.................................................................

Unnecessary Ridge 4...................................................

Old Glory 4....................................................................

Delorentiis Bluffs 5........................................................

Mount Grohman 6.........................................................

Wakefield Trail 7...........................................................

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Trip Reports

I led the group along a number of bike trails, creating an 11 kilometre loop. We started out along Bigwood, through dense cedar forest with armies of swarming mosquitoes. Then Crowsnest, along Smallwood Creek. This was a pleasant walk on what appeared to be an old overgrown logging road, open enough for a large number of wildflowers to thrive. It was relentless up, but at a very easy grade. For fully an hour, we could hear the tinkling of Smallwood Creek off to our right, catching occasional glimpses.

At the end of that trail, we walked back along a logging road for a few minutes, joining up with Antler Trail. This is a biker’s paradise, with rolling switchbacks through an open birch forest with lots of boxwood and huckleberry bushes. The general slope there was downward. We enjoyed some great conversations and stopped frequently to admire and try to identify the myriad wildflowers that graced the path, while maintaining a steady slowish/moderate pace. After crossing the road, we started up the spine of the ridge section of Smallwood, passing through cedar forest and then rocky bluffs where the views opened up. Finally, right around noon, we came to the ‘bench’ – with expansive panoramic views along the Kootenay River from Nelson to the East, to the highway 6 junction and towards Castlegar to the West. The rest and replenishments were very welcome.

It was downhill all the way from there, the way a KMC hike should be, and we arrived back at the cars within 2 minutes of Alison’s estimated return time. A merry band of happy hikers.

Alison Etter

The VeinSix of us were thrilled when it was announced that KMC could resume organized outings using safety precautions. For this hike, we chose to go simple and use existing mountain biking trails. The fearless trip leader had already done the route or parts of it over the last couple of months, always being stymied by too much snow half way up, then at the top, then massive blowdowns blocking the trail. Lo, on June 15, though, wonderful members of the Nelson Cycling Club had been through the route and not a single twig crossed our unencumbered path. We started at the base, being the Burlington Northern rail trail and the trail head called 9 Point Cowbell. We ascended, staying on Cowbell, then catching Lower Dosser, Upper Dosser, Eli Sim to Evening Ridge Rd. Each of these mountain biking trails is pretty much perpendicular to the contour lines. No worries, we’re in good shape. And, how do those mountain bikers come down these single track, double diamond, boulder infested, rootbound trails anyway? At ER Rd, there was some discussion about whether to take the red line Space Junk straight up or take the easier blue line Skirt almost as straight up. Skirt won out, a route the fearless leader had not yet taken. Half way up that section of our route, we were stunned to come across an old miner’s cabin that gave pause for all kinds of speculation on how old it might be, has anyone lived in it recently, will it fall down if we go in,

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and does it have a bathroom? After pictures, explorations, wows! and whews! we carried on to the top of Skirt where we had no choice but to get onto Space Junk where we continued crossing contour lines until the trail levelled off at about 1350 metres (we had started at 700 metres).

At that point, the trail follows a contour line and is pretty level. There is a nice spot called The Doobie Bench, where there really is a bench to have a rest, take more photos, check out the view, and then ultimately connect up with The Vein as our hiking downtrack, which we descended with no difficulty, until we reached the rail trail to make for a sweet circular route. Our weather that day was cool and overcast, with the occasional sprinkle. The conversation was lively, despite staying two metres apart. In all, it took only 5.5 hours, just in time to have lunch on a real veranda, make sure we didn’t take any tics home, and fully appreciate that we can once again hike together under the auspices of KMC. And with much thanks to the Nelson Cycling Club for sharing their trails. To see our route, check out: https://www.trailforks.com/trails/vein/

We were: Laura Ringer, Michelle Daoust, Richard Epton, Frances Steacy, Doug Orr, and P’nina Shames.

Slocan Valley CycleThe yearly Slocan Valley Cycling Loop was enjoyed on Friday, July 10.It was postponed from a rainy July 7. The road riding was smooth, with very little traffic. The rail trail offered a ravaging horde of mosquitos to keep us all pedalling on, at a speed of MOS1. Many helpful KMC members warned us of the mosquitos so we were well-prepared with insect repellant.

Pictured KMC members from the left: Nancy Noiles(new member), Alison Etter, Marilyn Miller

(leader), Richard Epton, Laurie Helyer

Pulpit RockA fun uneventful hike On Friday July 10, 2020, six of us assembled at the trail head for Pulpit Rock and the Flagpole. The weather was spectacular and views on the way up were some of the best. Three folks had not done this hike before, despite the Pulpit Rock portion being a virtual human highway, with dogs, bodies, babies, runners going up and down continuously. One of the most popular hikes in the West Kootenays.

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We had heard there was a bear and cub in the area, but we never saw any evidence of same, not even scat. Sadly, the bison head that has been suspended on a tree trunk at the beginning of this hike for years, which would’ve made a great treasure hunt, is no longer there. Once at Pulpit Rock, and rested, we proceeded to the Flagpole. The plan was to take the more difficult “black diamond” route up and the easy blue square route down. And that’s just what we did.

Arriving at the Flagpole afforded more spectacular views. We didn’t see any more bodies, though, after leaving Pulpit rock. We were at our destination by 10:30 in the morning—too early to eat lunch. There was no amount of persuasion that would convince folks to carry on to the CBC radio towers, only another couple of hours up the mountain. Oh well - save it for another day. Our route down, being much more gentle than our ascent, afforded more views down the river. We were back at our vehicles by a little after noon.

We were P’nina Shames, Sharon Henderson, Laura Ringer, Doug Orr, Michelle Daoust, Peter Martyn and

Laura Ringer (photographer extrodinaire)

Unnecessary Ridge6 members went, the trip was as planned :) Unnecessary Ridge makes a scenic 12km loop with a long ridge-walk in the middle. Of course it's worthwhile to hike further up to Old Glory, but it's also nice to take an extra long lunch break on the ridge and enjoy some painting, poetry, and photography! And that's just what we did.

The flowers were just starting along the ridge, but it was a beautiful sunny day with enough of a breeze to keep the bugs away.

We were: Abby Wilson, Amy Allcock, Chelsea Pomar, Zuzie Zach, Tracey Mozel, and Vivian Lenardon

Photos from Amy Allcock

Old GloryAfter having way too many cloudy, showery days in Junuary and Julember, 6 of us woke up on the morning on July 14 to blue skies and actual warmth and sunshine. Let the summer hiking season begin! And why not begin it at Old Glory? We met at the trailhead at 9.30 and buzzed off up the Old Glory trail, which used to be a bit of a shwack through alder but is now a super fast and easy way to get to the 7 Summits Trail leading to Unnecessary Ridge.

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I’ve always found this a delightful way to tackle Old Glory: perhaps longer than going up Plewman, but it does offer a fine ridge walk with terrific views of the mountain the entire way.

We had a delightful day of it, expecting snow but crossing only the tiniest patch along the way. The flowers were out in full bloom and the breeze kept the bugs away. How could it be more perfect? Well, Chris sang songs now and then – so we even had entertainment of sorts.

We scrambled to the top and then sat just below it for a socially distanced lunch break before heading back down. Well, I say “down” advisedly because there’s always that darn “unnecessary” up back to the ridge.

Then we zipped down the Plewman Trail. Huge shout-out here to the angels who came up with chainsaws and cleared blowdown. I swear, this trail gets better every year. We decided that yes, the Old Glory/Plewman trail choice makes a very nice circuit – and a wonderful hiking day with KMC.

We were Gail Curry, Chris Cowan, Richard Epton, Cameron Carter, Tom Kline, Goody Niosi.

Delaurentiis bluffs hikeAug 8, 2020This hike is a cute, short and sweet quickie that most folks can do in about 1.5 hours in each direction. The Delaurentiis Bluffs trails are new, and were put in by the Salmo Valley Trails Society. Two groups of KMC (and guest) hikers set out on a sunny perfect day for hiking, maintaining social distancing. We ascended the lower loop on the west side, to connect with the more challenging Bluffs lookout trail. At several points, there are stunning views in two directions down the Salmo Valley, and also out towards Fruitvale. The photos show the Fruitvale view.

The total elevation gain is about 500 metres, and total distance is approximately 5-6 km round trip. There are many ways to hike this system of new trails. We chose to do a circuit to cover as much distance and variety as we could. A luscious huckleberry patch just below our highest viewpoint added to the enjoyment of this lovely hike. The trail ends abruptly at a view point, and it appears that only about an hour and a half further (bushwacking), one could reach the ridge of the mountain, but no one wanted to try it. We did run into Peter Tchir (long time KMC member) who had a hand in laying out the trail, and he advises that with future

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funding, a trail to the ridge is being considered. All in all, a great day, with two groups of six, followed by treats at Dragon Fly Café. What could be better? Group one: P’nina Shames (trip leader), Laura Ringer,

Richard Epton, Gladie Handley, Page Wasson, Heather Myers. Group two 15 minutes later: Peter

Martyn(trip leader), Amy Veale(guest), Kelly Campbell, Al and Pat Sheppard, Marilyn Nelson.

Mount GrohmanMount Grohman is a fantastic ridge-line hike surrounded by familiar landmarks. However, as ridges go, this is a tough one with a lot of steep ups and downs off trail. We gathered at 8:30am to convoy up to Baldface Lodge. When we reached the lodge, we found fuel trucks blocking the main area and had to do an awkward vehicle shuffle down a rougher road to get everyone parked. By 10am we hit the trail and began to feel the heat. Vivian didn't believe me when I said it would take 3 hours to hike 4km, but as we left the cat-track, the pace slowed right now. We took a detour to visit the sculpture on one of the subpeaks and found ourselves

swarmed with flying ants. Then we carried on to the summit with big ups and downs as we picked our way along the ridge.

At 1pm, exactly 3 hours after we started, we were shambling up to the Grohman summit which was covered in ladybugs. The heat was out in full force and we had a short lunch after digging out the summit register. Then all the way back down. Or up. And sometimes down. This ridge is relentless! There are at least 9 bumps depending on the route you pick, and some are short and some are big climbs! By 4:15 we were back at the cars and one of the Baldface employees invited us to refill our water bottles- it was a kind gesture! Most of us had gone through all of our water in the heat.

We were: Abby Wilson, Laura Ringer, P'nina Shames, Richard Epton, Vivian Lenardon, Janet Henderson,

Sess Sakamoto, Fran Steacy

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Wakefield Trail to Idaho PeakBy Goody NiosiOn a Sunday morning in September, about 10 or so members of the North Slocan Trails Society met in Silverton and, with the help of shuttle drivers and permission from the mine in Sandon, drove up to the parking lot at Idaho Peak. After a day of chain-sawing, weed-whacking, clipping, pruning and raking, the Wakefield Trail was looking better than it had in years. At the same time, the access road to the trailhead was being repaired. That done, who wouldn’t be eager to give the trail a shot? So, on September 12, our group of 6 happy hikers, headed on up.

That was the day the smoke rolled in – but not too too badly (yet). We hoofed if up, stopping at an old mine tailings site for the great view and some snacks – then onwards and upwards. Yes, I admit that every now and then I couldn’t resist pointing out a particularly large tree that had been removed from our track, or how beautifully the rocks had been raked off the path. Because the main Idaho Peak Road is still washed out, we encountered only one couple coming back down and, later in the day, one lone hiker making his way up.

At the top we enjoyed the company of two ptarmigans who seemed way more curious than nervous and, after a lovely lunch in the sunshine, headed back down.

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Super day with a great group of people. Once again, a huge shout-out to the North Slocan Trails Society, who do such a good job of maintaining the local trails.

We were: Tina Herman, Alison Etter, Chuck Cram, Abigail Steel, Simon Lindley, and Goody Niosi.

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