terrace mountain, the long way around, and up, and down

star date nov 9th, 2009. just kidding, i think star trek is lame. but it was nov 9th. once again, kris and i decided to go somewhere cool. armed only with a general sense of direction but a good knowledge of coolness, we set out in the mighty truck. we decided to try and make our way up terrace mountain. thats where the biggest fire was this summer. i also heard of an abandoned mine that was in the area. that was all we knew, but we brought headlamps just in case we found the mine.


The mission began just off bear creek road. we saw lots of guys/ladies (its hard to tell when everyone has helmets on) ripping it up on dirtbikes. we checked out some of the trails on foot, and just when we were about to give up looking for the mine on the lower part of the mountain, we found it. We suited up (aka, turned on out flashlights) and began to adventure in. the welcoming party was a puddle of calf deep stinky mine water. then a big rat. we took a few pictures in the mine, then busted out of there. thinking there might be a bear or something worse. maybe an angry troll.



anyway... after the mine we continued up and up and up. into the land of ice and snow and dreams of winter tires. we took the long way around when we made one of those accidental on purpose decisions. the road was primo. until we got to the huge dead end. it was a dead end to rival all others. the road should have kept going, but didn't. our choices were to return and go up a different way, but it was a long drive back and we might not make the top before the darkness came. so we decided to follow a small dotted line on the map. clearly not a road, but our will power changed it into one! and after a medium size detour and 1 or 2 more dead ends, we were reunited with the correct road.


Then we saw the fires. we knew that the area had been badly burned during the great summer fire of '09, but we saw some big fires on the mountain across fintry valley. they were absolutely no threat to us, and we assumed that they were controlled fires set to burn off dry fuel/pine beetle kill. we left them alone and they left us alone.


so, we were back on the road, almost to the top. we spun up and down a few sketchy hills and the rocky summit was in sight. so was the steep switchback road that we couldn't believe was a road. even from a distance, it looked steep and very very sketchy. It was.

we made it part way up the road, which had about 20 cm of snow. There were tire tracks, but when they became quad tracks we got out of the truck. it was WAY too not drivable. even for us. having come this far, we obviously couldn't just turn around. so we hiked the last 2 km to the top. it was cold. there was snow. lots. the top felt like a blasted waste land, but with a crappy metal shack. we hung out there long enough to take some pictures and to say that we had been there.



then we walked back to the truck and drove back down.



The way down was uneventful (by our standards) and every road we took was the right one. or close at least. we saw some deer, some mountain goats and some very crazy tracks that must have belonged to a liger or something.


sadly, this adventure has taught me that adventures must be more mellow until i have tires more equipped to deal with the inevitable snow. but then... watch out. stay tuned for more adventures, even mellow ones can be sweet. trust me, i know adventures.