beaverdell mines and goat mountain lookout. and a bit of driving

Sunday.  what to do...  how about pester louie until he agrees to go on a random drive far away to a place that we don't even know for sure exists and certainly don;t know how to get there.

sounds good.  I had been to the mines at beaverdell before, but there is also the rumor of a sweet old fire lookout on goat mountain.  off louie and i go to find it, and check out some mines as well.  we also brought a bbq.

It was raining a bit as we headed out of kelowna, but soon it wasn't.  it stopped raining as soon as we left the pavement.  obviously a sign.

our first stop was this mine.  we went in.  alllll the way in.  tons of old railway tracks inside.  pretty cool.  we came to what was to us, a dead end, but could have been further explored with coveralls and better flashlights, but some common sense stopped us from climbing through a small hole in a tunnel that was 80% caved in.  we could see through and could have climbed through, but we didn't.  it was too early in the day to get that muddy on the 1st stop.

pretty cool

Next stop was this mine.  a bit of a different feel.  a little ways above it was a vertical shaft that was mostly caved in.  pretty cool in this area.

Across the road was another mine site.  the remnants of some old buildings were pretty obvious.  like and old processing area or something.

this musta been a busy place at some time

We continued up a "road" and came across this random cabin.  the "road" i speak of was crazy rutted and i had to get out of the truck every lots to move a tree or lots of them so louie could masterfully maneuver the truck through a very narrow spot.  sorry about the mudflap.  the trip would have been a lot different with a chainsaw.  can't believe i forgot it.

we said hello to the rat family living here.

old cabin roof next door.

Then, we kept driving, but not for long.  we got to a log we couldn't move, couldn't drive around and couldn't saw (since i forgot it).  we got out and continued on foot for about 500m and saw another road join up past the fallen blockage.  where did that road come from and how do we get onto it?  it was not on the map.

we went back to the truck and off we went again, back the way we came until a little side road.  we followed it in the absolute wrong direction for about 2 hours, or 20 km, if that tells you the speed we could drive on the road.  soon, we were on a road that was not on the map, but quite far away from the place we thought existed but couldn't even be sure of that.

a part of the road without fallen trees or crazy ruts. 

a crazy down valley view towards rock creek (the town)

Finally, after driving on a road that was not a road in reality or on the map, goat mountain came into view.  we had somehow miraculously connected with the road we saw just after the big log.  we gave each other sweet high fives and collected 400xp for successful wilderness navigation.

finally, the goal.

Now, through experience i have learned that just because you can see something does not mean it is going to be easy to get to.  we could see it, but we weren't there yet.

getting closer.

Finally, 5 hours and 50km after we left the pavement, we were parked at the bottom of the trail leading up to the top.  my hands were covered in mud and sap, louie's truck was missing a mud flap and we were ready to not be sitting for a bit.

ready for the climb

As we were climbing, the view got better and better.  soon we could see big white in the distance to the north.

its big white.

Then, finally, we came over a ridge and there was the fire tower.  6 hours after putting it into 4wd were were finally there.  the climb was steep but not too long.  maybe 25 minutes or so.

goat mountain fire lookout,

The views all around were obviously pretty good, so we chilled out and soaked it all in.

south?

Then the moment of truth... was the door unlocked?  why yes, yes it was.  this is what's inside a fire watch station.  this one is clearly still very much used, although nobody was home when we got there, maybe too early in the season.

the fire spotting looky thing

the library

What does the person living in a fire tower read?  sadly, lots and lots of readers digest condensed books.  with so much time, why not read the full version?

the cool old radio

louie chilling on the bed.

Lets enjoy the view...

The rain sheets moving past us, not over us :)

The sun came out and it was all good.  i mean ALL good.  We chilled out, drank a beer and just enjoyed awesome.

looking off the edge.  louie's truck is down there.

Inevitably, it was time to go.  a few more pictures and then the walk down began.

Once back at the truck, it was bbq and pellet gun time.  the sun came to check us out.

bbq time

we were up there. and what is that yellow stuff?

louie snipering a beer can

Then, at about 6:45 it was back in the truck to head back down. we saw another major road that should take us down to the highway, so off we went.  it was away from the normal way we took up, which wasn't that normal.  then, 500m from the highway the road became not a road at all.  we could see the highway, and we could have walked to it easily in 5 minutes, but there was NO WAY the truck could make it.  the road really really was no longer a road.  so, back all the way we came and back down the original way.  more adventure, but not what were were expecting.  par for the day.

on the road again.  time to update the maps.

last stop before the highway.  for real this time.

back into kelowna.

This was a most epic adventure.  our main missions; go into a mine, explore the roads, and verify and, if possible, check out the fire lookout.  all were hugely successful.

there are a few other fire lookouts i for sure want to check out.  whats stopping you?