A Canadian Adventure - Day 18

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday 20 August 2017

Brandywine Mountain (aka mosquito hill)

Two missed items from yesterday:
• our walk involved ascent of about 500 metres - quite a feat for many of the tourists
• on our return journey to Pemberton the traffic suddenly stopped. We thought it was an accident, until we saw the black bear, chewing nonchalantly on something in the drainage ditch. It looked a bit hot

Richard, Diana and Joe had recommended today's outing. So they are to blame for today.

We set off on a short drive down Highway 99, which is a road between Vancouver and Whistler a bit like the A9 north of Perth, and found the correct Brandywine turn off (not the one to the falls) without too much difficulty.

Soon after leaving the tarmac a wolf was spotted, wandering confidently around an area of wasteland. Then began a rather long and tedious drive for 5-6 km up a dirt road. Charlie wasn't happy. Nor were Martin and Sue. After a long drive at near walking pace we eventually managed to deposit Charlie in a relatively save spot a good 500 metres and a steep climb before the lower trailhead for Brandywine Mountain. Everything there looked a bit dilapidated. We started walking around 10 am. My boots were deployed for the first time this trip. A mountain chicken guided us up the road.

The trail thrutched relentlessly steeply up a forest - apart from a short boardwalking interlude - for an hour and a half, before reaching an alpine meadow. We paused for elevenses. There were lots of orchids and gentians as well as pretty yellow and blue leopardsbane type flowers. 

Another feature of today's walk was the mosquitoes. It was alright if you kept moving, but as soon as I stopped they always found me, despite the spray.

Above the tree line we soon joined a grotesquely engineered motorway of a path from the nearby Upper Trailhead, only accessible by 4WD. This path was busy with hikers and dog walkers. It came to an end about a kilometre up the valley, where we stopped for lunch with good mountain views.

An easy river crossing led to another thrutch upwards through heather. I was going very slowly. And I didn't fancy the scramble ahead that was promised by our guidebook. So Sue went ahead and we agreed to meet in the bowl of a small amphitheatre later. It was 1.30. Sue hoped to be back by 4 pm.

A group of four soon arrived at where I'd  stopped and I followed them up to a point where it got too steep for them. They were wearing trainers that they realised were unsuitable for the terrain. I went a little higher, but turned round at about 1850 metres as I couldn't be sure which way Sue had gone from there. The terrain was complex. The bottom picture was taken from my high point. A view that I enjoyed all afternoon whilst pacing around a small flattish area as if in a prison cell full of mosquitoes but suspended over a sublime view.

Several people came past whilst I was waiting. Most of them were carrying skis. Apparently there's a bowl of snow higher up where you can ski. "It's not the best skiing experience, but it has to be done" commented one of them.

Sue turned up again at 3.45, having successfully reached the 2213 metre summit. By now the weather had improved into a lovely sunny afternoon. We ambled our way down to the car, reaching it at 6 o'clock. Then the battle with the rough track recommenced, the first 5 km taking us 35 minutes. At one point a chipmunk played chicken with one of our front wheels.

It was a late meal of pasta and sausage back at base. Thankfully (unlike Richard, Diana and Joe), we hadn't booked a posh restaurant.

Today's Pictures:

• the start of the trail
• a boardwalk interlude
• the Brandywine meadow (2)
• the view from my high point

13 km hike with 1000 metres ascent, in 8 hours. An extra 3 km and 400 metres ascent for Sue.