Field trips 2.0

Monday at 03:19 AM

Looks like you had better weather than I did, a 100km or so WNW of you. I saw a few sunny breaks, but mostly drizzle all day, with a bit of fresh snow showing higher in the mountains, when I could see them.

I heard earlier in the week that the Ross Lake road system had finally re-opened after being severely damaged in the major flood event we had in Nov. of '21, so of course I had to go check it out. There were several sections of a km or more that had been completely obliterated by the Silver Creek, in the north section, and the Skagit River in the southern stretch. They've done a good job of rebuilding the damaged sections, raising and realigning the roadbed and putting huge box culverts under the cross creeks, with lots of boulder riprap to reinforce the banks. Hopefully it will withstand future 100 year rainfall events.

The gravel surface was in excellent shape, making it easy to maintain the 60km/hr speed limit, with only very minor washboards in a few sections. Most of the side trails were still accessible, so I explored as many as I had time for, as far as conditions allowed, getting stopped by washouts, deadfalls and landslides on all of them eventually. One of our group's favourite camp spots is still in good shape, so we'll probably do our usual summer outing there this year.

As far as wildlife goes, I was disappointed to see only 1 grouse, and no larger game at all, though that valley is known to have deer, bear, cougar, bobcat, and moose, as well as several Sasquatch sightings that we've followed up on in the past. The valley bottom is prime game habitat, with many small creeks flowing down from the mountains on each side, and willow swamps and cattail bogs adjacent to the rivers and creeks.