A party of five, we staged this seven-day backcountry hike in the Southern Chilcotin Mountains of British Columbia, Canada from the small community of Lillooet which, on this occasion lived up to its reputation as Canada's hot spot. We hiked in with full packs containing a week’s provisions in 37 degree Celsius (~100 F) temperatures. I stayed pleasantly cool by repeatedly soaking my cotton shirt in the creek that we were climbing alongside. The evaporative cooling that this provides is a highly effective temperature regulation strategy in hot climates with low humidity, such as in this part of B.C. and in the U.S. Southwest.
After rendezvousing in Lillooet, we camped overnight at a small lake north of Carpenter Lake before continuing along the forest/mining road north to Tyaughton Creek. Our original plan had been to hike in along the Tyaughton Creek Trail, but we were earlier advised by someone at the Forest Service office in Lillooet that there were many deadfalls on that trail and that we might find easier access to the high alpine by going around to the Relay Creek drainage to the north, and bushwhacking in from a recent forestry cut block. This turned out to be questionable advice, as we learned later that the Tyaughton Creek Trail wasn't in that bad condition after all; plus the bushwhack approach from the north required two days instead of one, and took us through prime grizzly bear habitat and into direct conflict with a large bear in a lush hanging valley on the north side of Fortress Ridge.
We found ourselves retreating by bushwhack climbing away from our intended route, with heavy packs, in very hot conditions, right through the bear's day bed and in full sight of the disturbed animal that suddenly found itself between us and the head wall. This was not a good situation to be in, and the large, probably male grizzly appeared to be in longer-term possession of this idyllic place. We were, in fact, very cognizant of its likely continued presence as, for the next six days, our base camp was just over the ridge on the south side, not much more than a kilometre as the proverbial crow flies. The encounter also caused us a bit of a dilemma for our eventual hike out as it had occurred between our base camp and the vehicles; and as a consequence, we later took a different return path.
It’s always a good idea to seek local knowledge when heading into unfamiliar backcountry, but this should be balanced with one’s own knowledge and experience. In this case, I think we were too quick in allowing ourselves to be warned off the regular route. However, it did at least afford us with another memorable bear encounter adventure on the first day.
After climbing away from the bear and diverting eastwards, we soon reached treeline and gained the east end of Fortress Ridge after a hard scramble. Tired after a long, hot bushwhack climb with heavy packs, and with the aftermath of the adrenaline rush, we camped early and high on the ridgetop near a remnant snow patch which we could melt for water. From that vantage we looked south down into Tyaughton Creek valley at our originally planned access route, and southwest to the popular Spruce Lake, only nine air kilometres away. The next day we moved west below the ridgeline before descending to a beautiful but shallow alpine tarn where we set up camp for the next five days.
Succeeding days saw continued clear weather, which the area is known for, and we hiked around the surrounding peaks and ridges, notably the very distinctive Castle Peak and the nearby Cardtable Mountain. We saw magnificent alpine flower displays (around 100 species identified), more grizzly tracks going over a pass, fossils, and on the last night of our trip, a pack of wolves ran howling right past our camp as we ate supper, for an awesome finale to a wonderful week.
Some of the distinctive peaks in the area are:
Eldorado Mountain 2,450 m (8,038 ft) – south of our camp across the Tyaughton Creek Valley
Castle Peak 2,492 m (8,176 ft) – immediately west of our camp
Cardtable Mountain 2,526 m (8,287 ft) – northwest of our camp and north of Castle Peak
Relay Mountain 2,709 m (8,888 ft) – west of Castle Peak and Cardtable Mountain
Fortress Ridge 2,430 m (7,972 ft) – directly above camp
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