Day #1: Semaphore Lakes/Locomotive Mountain We set off on a sunny August Thursday from Lillooet around 0730. We drove through Pemberton and stopped only briefly to get some tasty summit food at Mount Currie Coffee. We headed up through Pemberton Meadows, crossed the bridge onto Lillooet FSR, and took a right up the long, winding, gravel Hurley FSR towards Gold Bridge. About 14kms up the Hurley we pulled over on the lefthand side of the road with a few other vehicles and parked. Here there was a well flagged and booted path up to Semaphore Lakes. We left the truck at about 1040. The trail started off quite boggy, weaving through a subalpine forest. We took off at a good pace doing a light jog and hopping over mud and streams. We each got a mud soaker or two, but nothing too extreme. The trail quickly started to gain some elevation through the forest. At this point we inherited someone's dog that seemed to like us a great deal. We had started hiking at the same time and of course he thought he should be with the speedier group. It took much coaxing to get him to return to his owner. Even with some wasted time trying to deter the dog and snap some pictures, we ended up at the first lake after just under 40 minutes. It was absolutely stunning. Turquoise waters with a beautiful backdrop of Locomotive Mountain and Face Mountain, and a glorious waterfall flowing in-between the two. Here there were two tents camped snug along the lake. |
It didn't take us long to reach the first good uphill section from the lakes towards Locomotive. Here we watched for flagging and cairns which seemed to guide us fairly easily up. We had to navigate one slippery section on some rock where a small creek trickled down, but nothing major. Eventually we ended up on another bench containing a few more small alpine lakes.
We hopped over boulders and snow patches until we were directly below the summit block. Here the trail became well booted once again and we followed the loose shale trail to the top. The views in all directions were grand. Pemberton Meadows to the South, the Tantalus Range to the West, Face Mountain and the Train Glacier to the North, and Tenquille Lakes area to the East. We could see the glacier joining Locomotive and Face Mountain across from us and the Semaphore Lakes glistening down below. We had a quick snack, snapped some photos, and headed down.
About half way off the summit block we ran into a solo girl and the dog that was following us to start. We said a quick hello and carried on. We took a slightly more technical way down, but shaved off a little bit of time. We ran into another couple at some of the higher alpine lakes. Gradually we picked up speed as we hit the plateau containing the first couple Semaphore Lakes and began a quick shuffle/jog. When we arrived back at the Hurley Road I noticed my phone was missing. Luckily I had just checked it only a few minutes before to see our distance. Darryl made a quick jog back to grab it for me. It fell from my pack when I had tried to stuff it back in I guess. |
The next day we decided to take a bit of a break and do some easy rides around Gun Lake close to where we were staying. The first trail was called Stelly's on the north east side of Gun Lake. It was a decent 3km downhill ride that we shuttled, but would also be a good ride up and down to make it more of something. It had very scenic views of Gun Lake all the way down. There were some loose sandy sections, but nothing too frightening.
Later in the afternoon we rode a trail called Zolapalooza and branched onto extra crispy. This one included an uphill ride on an old logging road with a nice easy climbing grade. The trail started at the very top of the road and also provided some wicked views of Anderson Lake before we dropped down. Here we took a branch called Extra Crispy. It was another fun downhill rip with a couple fun loose technical sections. |
The final day was certainly the most epic. We awoke at around 0730 after having too many beers the night before and started the process of packing up and preparing for the day. With 12 people and three vehicles to shuttle and coordinate we didn't reach the Taylor Creek Trail and start on our way until almost 1045. It was already quite warm and I was happy to start the long climb in the trees. The start of the trail is an old mining road the climbs at a steady, but easy grade for about 11.5kms to an old trapper cabin. Including a number of stops to wait for everyone to regroup we arrived at the cabin at 1245. the cabin was certainly interesting and we were finally in the alpine with stunning views of the Chilcotin Mountains all around. Here half of our group took off ahead to do a longer ride in another direction. The rest of us proceeded up to Camel Pass behind them headed for Ridge-O-Rama and the Cinnabar Creek Trail.
The riding on the ridge was nothing spectacular, but the views certainly were. I was happy as could be just taking it all in. We tried to wait a bit longer for the girls, but they seemed to be lingering on the summit of the ridge, and I could understand why. The views were too good to leave behind. I eyed the GPS and we dropped off the ridge down into the Cinnabar Creek Trail. Here we ended up in quite a boggy meadow full of old downed trees. It was a bit of a trek, but a beautiful meadow nonetheless. Eventually the trail reached along to the right side of the bowl and climbed up some steep switchbacks. We were not very happy at this point, pretty much done with going up for the day. However, we persisted on and eventually starting going down again. The last leg of the trail was a steep descent down some fun, weaving switchbacks. There were some loose spots at the top, but for the most part it was a ripping fast descent down to Tyaughton Lake Road. The whole way down I eyed the GPS and hoped that I knew where we were going. To our success at the bottom of the trail we came out right at our truck at 1700 and 27.5kms from the start. It was a great feeling of success. We pulled down the tailgate, gorged on food, and sipped a nice cold beer waiting to see if the girls would catch us. After about 30mins we decided to head back to Gun Lake and get our dog and the rest of our stuff. We said our goodbyes and made our way back to Lillooet not long after this. It was a weekend I won't easily forget. |