BC witness Posted March 31 Author Posted March 31 After days of heavy rain, we finally got a nice sunny weekend, so my son Steve and I headed out for the high country. I wanted to go to a waterfall that I'd never seen before, about 4 hours from home. We set off at 11am after fueling up the Hummer and drove about 2 hours up the Fraser Canyon to Boston Bar, where we turned off Hwy 1 onto the Nahatlatch River FSR, and continued for another40 km to Grizzly Falls. The road had been severely washed out in our 2021 "atmospheric river" floods and landslides, but has since been made passable, though still a bit sketchy in places. Along the way we passed through a very large stretch of the valley that was burned out 2 years ago, but eventually got past that into the forest again, with nice views of the Nahatlatch River and lake, finally reaching the falls we were seeking. The sight and the sound made the bouncing on the potholed road worth while, and we had lunch in the cool windblown spray from the cascade. We saw no large animals along the 80 km run up and down the logging road, but did see some grouse and a beautiful red tailed hawk in flight right beside us for about 30 seconds. 1 1
Trogluddite Posted April 13 Posted April 13 Question from an amateur - any recommendation for the better satellite emergency communicator, Garmin or Spot or "other"? My wife and I are planning our first hiking trip where I'm concerned about being out of cell service and needing comms in an emergency. (NOTE: This isn't the first trip where I should have had one of these things; it's just the first trip where I'm being a little less dumber than normal.) The two main brands on REI are Garmin and Spot; there seems to be the same options as to range, cost of subscription, etc. Just wondering has practical advice based on usage. As always, much obliged for any thoughts on the matter.
norseman Posted April 13 Admin Posted April 13 1 hour ago, Trogluddite said: Question from an amateur - any recommendation for the better satellite emergency communicator, Garmin or Spot or "other"? My wife and I are planning our first hiking trip where I'm concerned about being out of cell service and needing comms in an emergency. (NOTE: This isn't the first trip where I should have had one of these things; it's just the first trip where I'm being a little less dumber than normal.) The two main brands on REI are Garmin and Spot; there seems to be the same options as to range, cost of subscription, etc. Just wondering has practical advice based on usage. As always, much obliged for any thoughts on the matter. I have an older Garmin Inreach. The device itself is archaic. It’s like a late 90s cell phone. Takes forever to type anything. But when Bluetooth to my cell phone. It will send a txt message in a decent time frame. Just have to have a clear view of the sky.
Trogluddite Posted April 14 Posted April 14 Thanks. I was surprised at how infrequently this topic came up on the Forums.
BC witness Posted April 14 Author Posted April 14 (edited) I use the Zoleo device, which works much like the others, paired to your cellphone for texting. I got mine a few years ago when it was on sale at Cabela's with a free subscription to Gaia Premium Maps. I've had to use it once when I was foolish enough to get stuck in deep crusted snow on a mountain top in Feb. a couple of years ago. As the sun set, the temp dropped to -10C plus wind chill, and I could only work outside of the truck for 10 minutes at a time before having to jump back in and run the heater to warm up again. It took a couple of hours for help to arrive, but it beat risking a potentially deadly 16 km hike out in the dark. It really doesn't matter which one you get, just get it!! Edited April 14 by BC witness
BC witness Posted April 14 Author Posted April 14 After another week of nasty wet weather, the weekend turned sunny and warm, so my son and I headed out to the mountains in search of sasquatch sign, as well as having bear and cougar tags for the spring season, just in case. We chose to check out the Hunter Creek watershed, SW of Hope, BC, which climbs very steeply from the floor of the Fraser Valley into a system of old logging roads that extend over 30km or so into the various branches of Hunter Creek. The scenery was great, but we couldn't reach the ends of any of the roads due to heavy wet snow drifts at the higher elevations wherever the track was shaded. There were lots of birds, but the only mammals spotted were a pair of marmots sunning on a rockpile at about 1500' elevation. 1
Trogluddite Posted April 14 Posted April 14 Beautiful pics! Looking forward to our first trip to Banff (other side from you?) this fall.
Trogluddite Posted April 14 Posted April 14 2 hours ago, BC witness said: I use the Zoleo device, which works much like the others, paired to your cellphone for texting. I got mine a few years ago when it was on sale at Cabela's with a free subscription to Gaia Premium Maps. I've had to use it once when I was foolish enough to get stuck in deep crusted snow on a mountain top in Feb. a couple of years ago. As the sun set, the temp dropped to -10C plus wind chill, and I could only work outside of the truck for 10 minutes at a time before having to jump back in and run the heater to warm up again. It took a couple of hours for help to arrive, but it beat risking a potentially deadly 16 km hike out in the dark. It really doesn't matter which one you get, just get it!! Thank you! In hindsight, there were at least two other trips where we should have had an emergency locator. Although, if we had one on the first trip, I would have wimped out and pushed the button rather than set my broken arm and hike out two miles for my wife to drive me to the hospital.
BC witness Posted April 14 Author Posted April 14 Yes, Trogluddite, the other side of the Rockies from me, about a 10 hour drive east from my home. It's a great area, you'll love it. 1
Trogluddite Posted April 14 Posted April 14 Yeah, I knew Banff had been mentioned on here so I searched the Forums. Seems like bear like to eat hikers there.
norseman Posted Wednesday at 03:47 AM Admin Posted Wednesday at 03:47 AM Tried to get from Bayview Idaho to Clark Fork Idaho. Snow was too deep about 8 miles from Hwy 2. When we turned around I spotted a weird looking hand print thingy. But no corresponding foot prints. Saw tons of elk and deer! The one picture of the barge in the water is the Navy sub base on Lake Pend Oreille
norseman Posted Wednesday at 05:39 AM Admin Posted Wednesday at 05:39 AM This is where I found the “handprint”. I got out to scout the snow berm and it was right there at my feet. Dumb luck. There was traffic on the road in the mud and snow and people were getting stuck from probably a day or two before. But part of the print in the mud went under the snow or it appeared too. 🤷♂️ Not saying anything, but it was interesting. 1
Recommended Posts