Tetrahedron Park

We headed up to the Tetrahedron Provincial Park on Tuesday February 20, 2007 for a romp in the snow and an evening in one of the four backcountry cabins located in the park. We got packed up and moving around 9:30am.


Truck is packed and ready to go! Sorry boys...no dogs allowed (we think it sucks too!)


We arrived at the Gray Creek trailhead by about 10:30am and got loaded up and set to go. Another couple was heading up to Mount Steele cabin and were kind enough to snap this picture.


The fearsome four


The entrance to the park is 1.5km up an old logging road (straight up -- elevation gain). We were rewarded with some nice peaks of the Pacific Range that skirts Salmon Inlet (an Inlet off of Sechelt Inlet).


James captures the view



The group was all smiles, enjoying each other and the outdoors


We were still debating what cabin to stay in. The couple in the parking lot were planning on going to Mount Steele cabin and we weren't in the mood to go that far, so it was between Edwards Lake cabin and Bachelor Lake cabin. We had noticed a large van with the sign school on it and wondered where the group of school kids went (wanting to avoid that crowd), so we decided to let the snow tracks lead the way. As we got to the junction we noticed that the path to Bachelor Lake was untouched. We decided to break trail and head to privacy. I had the largest snowshoes, so I volunteered to break trail.


Yes, that's a little scruff!


It was only 1.7km to Bachelor Lake cabin, but, breaking 2 feet of fresh snow makes it tough work. At about the half way point James took over and lead us to the cabin.


There was much excitment about reaching our destination


We set up our sleeping pads and bags, unpacked, started a fire in the wood stove and had some lunch. While we warmed by the fire we dried off some of our clothes by the fire and then decided to go for an early evening exploration of Bachelor Lake and Tanis Lake.


Was very nice to be snowshoeing without the packs


We follwed the creeks that connected the two Lakes and explored the mountains that towered to the east of the two lakes. Below are some pics of our evening fun,


Untouched snow


To the top!


The aftermath of a snowball fight


Erika Jumping


Heather's leap


Heather caught this picture just before we returned to the cabin


We returned to the cabin and warmed up by the wood stove. We changed into some dry clothes and hung our wet clothes on the rack above the wood stove. We sat and chatted, made dinner and settled in for a fairly low key evening of cards and Boggle.


A little food, a little wine and the warmth of the stove


Settling in for bed (only we will know the nature of Heather's laugh/grimace)

It snowed quite hard all evening and we noticed about 3-4 inches of new snow when we went to the outhouse before bed. When we woke up in the morning (12:20am, right James?) we noticed that we had had about another 4-6 inches through the night. When day brightened James, Erika and I played crazy 8's and 3-person war while Heather grabbed a little more shut-eye. When Heather got up we all had breakfast, cleaned up, packed up and headed out. Heather broke trail and we were amazed at how the snow was still coming down!


Notice James admiring that fine piece of rope!


Snowy Return


The way back was much easier as it was all downhill. We got to our truck in about half the time it took us to get to the cabin and we were greeted by a snow covered truck.


James and Erika at the trailhead


We had a great time and all enjoyed to snow covered wilderness and mountains despite the huffing and puffing.


Heather breaking trail


Like all outdoor adventures, our fun was filled with definative ups and downs...


Not fair to single out Erika -- trust me we have pics with all of us face first!


It was extremely nice to get together with people that we consider great friends! Hanging out with James and Erika is always so easy -- the way it should be.


Sis and Bro


Erika and James


While this is far from all we did it was the centre piece of our week-long get together. We did multiple day hikes during the rest of their stay -- I will be sure to post them in the coming days.

~Cheers

Few More Pics

Hello All,

Didn't do much today, took the dogs for a hike up the Sechelt-Crucil FSR (Forest Service Road), with Chapman Creek to our right. Didn't take any pics, but thought I would share some from this past fall.

This picture is from the top of Mount Daniel, found in Pender Harbour. This is the first BC mountain that Heather and I have climbed and is a modest mountain standing only 449 meters high, however it is straight up. It took us about 45 minutes and we were rewarded with some beautiful views of Pender Harbour and a smattering of islands and peninsulas.



This next and last picture for today is from a hike I did with the dogs in October. I decided to venture into the Caren Range which is on the north-west side of Sechelt Inlet. There is a FSR called Trout Lake Road that drives into the Caren Range and ends up in Spipyus Provincial Park. This park is home to Spipyus Peak (1250m) and Mount Hallowell (1251m), the hike to Mount Hallowell is found in many of the hiking/trekking guides for southwestern BC (we have yet to do it, but it is on our list!). On this day I did not take the dogs into the park as there were too many tempting spurs off Trout Lake Road that lead to old bush roads and cart paths with promises of beautiful views of the inlet.

This picture below is looking right down Salmon Inlet, which runs into Sechelt Inlet.

Tetrahedron - Bachelor Cabin

So, I decided to run a little reconnaissance hike up to Bachelor Cabin in the Tetrahedron Provincial Park. James (brother James a.k.a. Jimbo) and Erika are coming to visit next week and we are going to spend one night in one of the backcountry cabins. Dogs are not allowed in the "tet" so I have not spent any time in the park, so I figured it would be a good idea to scope out the cabin and route.

Arrived with weapons in hand...



It is only a 3.2 km hike to Bachelor cabin and 4.5km to Edwards cabin. When James and Erika are here I figure we will go to Bachelor cabin. If we aren't tired we can do some exploring without packs on, or we can just relax and play cards, play games. The only difficult section is the beginning in which the first 1.5km is straight up. Not a serious grade, but a good quad-burner. After the 1.5km it plateau's and it is great trekking country!



I ran into a couple of park rangers and they said that Bachelor Cabin is more hidden in the trees and that Edwards cabin is up on a knoll with views of Panther Peak (over 1700 meters). I was greeted at the cabin by a group of teenagers that had hiked in and spent the last night in the cabin. They were cleaning up from what appeared to be a blast! I checked out the cabin and took a few pics.

As you approach the cabin...



From the front...



Bunk in the attic (right above the wood stove)...



The bottom floor has a large table, workstation (for cooking etc.) and a sink (no water and drains into a bucket -- sweet set-up).

There were some nice sights along the way (lots of bird sightings and animal signs). It was a little foggy and overcast -- didn't make for great shots...

This is the creek that runs from Bachelor Lake to Tanis Lake (one of the many creek crossings).



View of one of the many wooded peaks, not nearly as big the big three (Steele, Tetrahedron and Panther), but they are not visible on this hike...



~Happy Days!

Mount Richardson

Heather and I decided to take the boys for a run at Mount Richardson on Thursday. We couldn't make it to the park entrance parking lot as there were many blown over trees about 3/4 of the way up, so we decided to start our hike there. The snow was fairly packed so no problems. We had many seasonal creeks to cross with our first being our largest (remember I said they're only seasonal creeks -- no serious fording here.



Heather felt inspired to play with the camera and take pictures all the way up. She was mesmerized by her all-time favorite subject...


He does love the snow.









How about Oli in the mist (beautiful shot!)...



Yet another "he's so handsome and alert" as Heather would say...



As we worked our way up the mountain, we were having more and more difficulty. We were in knee-deep snow and just made it to the entrance. Might have to look into snoeshoes! We decided to head back at this point as we will have another opportunity to enjoy the park -- with snowshoes!

Heather was intrigued by another fella too....




~Take Care.