Field trips 2.0

[BC witness]

@JustCurious, I checked under that bridge before crossing, and found nice deep steel I beam girders, well trussed. Oddly enough I heard last week that BC Forest Service has just removed the bridge, girders and all, and about 2 km before there dug 3 10' deep tank traps across the only road in. That's really strange, as there's a Provincial recreation site at that lake. Why are they blocking access?

[JustCurious]

BC Witness, I would hope it's to replace the crumbling bridge that was there!  Does seem like a bit of overkill to put tank traps in tho...

[wiiawiwb]

16 hours ago, MIB said:

After a break we hiked the last half mile to the junction with the Blue Canyon Lake trail.    

 

At that junction, the fun ended and the work began.   Trails within the basin were fairly level and more or less maintained.    The Blue Canyon Lake trail was neither.    The lake is about 2/3 of the way up the trail to the ridge but off a few hundred yards through some gnarly brush.    There had been some maintenance attempted as far as the lake.   It ended there.    Also the yellowjackets, which had been noticeably absent, began there.    We stopped about where we figured lake level should be and I bushwhacked to the lake.    It was not a fun bushwhack.    The lake was pretty gross.   The water looked clear but the lake bottom seemed coated with a bright yellow-green plant layer.   There were no obvious camping spots.   I decided we should move on. 

 

The last 1/3 of the trail to the ridge, along with the Cat Hill Way trail which ran along the ridge 2.5 miles or so back to my truck, was littered with fallen logs and had a lot of impinging brush .. mostly huckleberry.     That whole section was overrun with yellowjackets as well.    I almost stepped in one ground nest.   No stings, but .. close.  

 

From the trailhead, we drove back to where we had cell service, phoned home / checked in with Bill's wife and my GF, then drove to where he usually parks his trailer in hunting season and camped one more night to finish off the mountain house, etc.   

 

Good trip.   No bigfoot.   No tracks.   No vocalizations (though I have not reviewed the audio recording from the night yet).    No heavy "vibe" as the research area gets when they are around.    

 

Time to start figuring out something for next year ...

 

 

Glad the smoke cleared because that is a beautiful place to hunker down for the night.  I don't know anything about that area but it looks like a good place to return to. Have there been any sasquatch reports from that general area?

 

Interesting about the  potential issues with bees. That's nothing I've ever thought about much less had a concern.

 

Thanks for sharing.

[MIB]

1 hour ago, wiiawiwb said:

Have there been any sasquatch reports from that general area?

 

General area ... in general terms, yes.    Not that basin that I know of, but we're talking about the crest of the Cascades ... absolutely there are reports.    

 

1 hour ago, wiiawiwb said:

Interesting about the  potential issues with bees. That's nothing I've ever thought about much less had a concern.

 

They can potentially be life-threatening.   Even for someone who is not allergic, disturbing a next and receiving hundreds to thousands of stings is a lot of poison to absorb.   That's an unusual, unlikely worst case.    The real "pain" is more of a hassle .. trying to cook a meal.    It draws th' varmints in and they swarm your food.    Sometimes they'll nest pretty near trails and you can disturb them just passing by.    Bill and I have each been victim of a bee swarm at least once  hiking.

 

In the southern Oregon Cascades, the mosquitoes arrive with the snow melt and continue through late summer.     The numbers are high through mid July, typically start downwards about then, but are still really bad through mid August and they're essentially gone by Labor Day.    Usually the yellowjackets show up somewhere mid-late July and pick up through Labor Day.   First hard frost is usually the end of the bugs but that can be late September.   

 

MIB

 

[Huntster]

13 minutes ago, MIB said:

.......They can potentially be life-threatening.   Even for someone who is not allergic, disturbing a next and receiving hundreds to thousands of stings is a lot of poison to absorb.   That's an unusual, unlikely worst case.    The real "pain" is more of a hassle .. trying to cook a meal.    It draws th' varmints in and they swarm your food.    Sometimes they'll nest pretty near trails and you can disturb them just passing by.........

 

No snakes in Alaska, but we definitely have yellowjackets in hot, dry years as well as paper wasps. The yellowjackets are definitely worse and more aggressive. I've heard them called "meat bees", because in bad years if you have a moose down, they'll be all over as you're trying to get the meat bagged. It's common to get stung a couple times on the hands as you're working on the meat. They're attracted to meat, blood, AND sweets. They'll crawl down into your beer bottle or can, then sting you on/in the mouth as you take another swig. They aren't as prolific during cold, wet summers (like this year), and I never see them above treeline (@ 3,200' elevation). Disturbing a nest is the most dangerous encounter. They're like African killer bees, except they won't chase you as far. A quick burst of running to and beyond 25 yards, and you tend to be safe.

[MIB]

30 minutes ago, Huntster said:

No snakes in Alaska

 

That is one plus to my research area.   Though we definitely have snakes, including rattlesnakes, in Oregon, in my general area they are mostly found below 3500 feet give or take.    I'm doing most of my research between 5500 and 7000 feet.   

 

Yellowjackets, on the other hand ... I ran into swarming yellowjackets on the summit of Mt McLoughlin, 9495 feet above sea level.   It seems like when all else fails, they go uphill to address obstacles.    The butte where I believe the "roar" I recorded in 2012 is often thick with yellowjackets this time of year as well seemingly because it is the highest spot for a mile or so.

 

MIB

[Huntster]

1 hour ago, MIB said:

........Though we definitely have snakes, including rattlesnakes, in Oregon, in my general area they are mostly found below 3500 feet give or take.    I'm doing most of my research between 5500 and 7000 feet.........

 

If I remember correctly, treeline in Southern California was at nearly 10,000'. Here in Alaska it's at a much lower altitude.......@ 3,200'.

 

Quote

......Yellowjackets, on the other hand ... I ran into swarming yellowjackets on the summit of Mt McLoughlin, 9495 feet above sea level.........

 

Were you still into trees? Yellowjackets nest even in the grounds, but they also love nesting in dead tree stumps. I had a nest in the yard a couple years ago in an old stump.

 

Killing them in the wee hours of the morning with wasp killer is key. They're ALL in the nest at night.

[MIB]

8 hours ago, Huntster said:

Were you still into trees?

 

Tree line is a bit vague.    The trail to the top (it's a rubble pile, andesite / composite cone, not a technical climb, but more of a relentless scramble up a dirt pile) leaves the trees at about 8200 feet.    Some of the other ridges have trees up nearer 9000 feet but some of the valleys in between those ridges run out of trees by 7500 feet.    Hit or miss.   The highest year around water source that I know of is around 6200 feet.

[Madison5716]

Beautiful photos, @MIB!

 

Looks like an awesome adventure!

[wiiawiwb]

Found a new general location that I'm absolutely thrilled with. I've been north and east of this location before but never there. Headed out early today and finally arrived at a place to park my car. It is very desolate and from the first step it just felt like a sasquatch could be anywhere. I'll be moving my trail cams here and getting more acquainted with the area so I can do an overnight.  

 

My goal was to get to a pond that is about a mile, or so, from here. Never got there today as the trek through a very large cedar swamp was slow and tedious. I was going left, then right, and then left...all to somehow weave my way through the swamp.  I finally got through the cedar swanp then decided to head back and regroup for another day.

 

Here are a few pictures of today's journey and hopefully I'll get a few more of the destination pond once I finally get there.

 

This is my kind of place!

 

 

Edited November 2, 2021 by wiiawiwb

[Madison5716]

46 minutes ago, wiiawiwb said:

Found a new general location that I'm absolutely thrilled with. I've been north and east of this location before but never there. Headed out early today and finally arrived at a place to park my car. It is very desolate and from the first step it just felt like a sasquatch could be anywhere.

 

Cool! I hope it pans out for you. Looks like superb territory and BEAUTIFUL. 

[Kiwakwe]

@wiiawiwbLooks like the kinda places I skulk around in. Good luck!

 

[Doug]

I spend a lot of time such areas. I simply love this area you have found.

[wiiawiwb]

Just returned from scouting out a new area first visited a week ago. I left very early this morning so there would be plenty of time once through the cedar swamp (4 posts above) to poke around the pond area. It feels like it will produce and I will begin doing overnights. It was gorgeous all day and I was able to put up two trailcams along the way. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 2, 2021 by wiiawiwb

[gigantor]

Looks great!