Mud lakes - Poison Mountain - China Head - July 20-21

[ANDYD]

The RL calendar tells me we have the Mud Lakes - China Mountain - Poison Mountain run coming up next weekend.
Typically we have camped out at the south end of Carpenter lake on the Friday night to get a fresh start on Saturday morning, (it is possible to drive up and meet the group on Saturday morning but it will make a long day of driving on Saturday).
Let me know who's planning on coming out, I will post more details in the week.

Cheers,
Andy
Ps if you are not familiar with this area check out the photos of last years run in the 2012 gallery folder

[Crs]

Hi Andy!

I'm planning to attend. :D When I know the plans, I'll see about Friday. Sat/Sun -I'm in!

I'd like to preload maps into the GPS. (My continuing attempts not to ALWAYS be lost! :mrgreen: ) What area are the Mud Lakes/Poison Mtn in?

Thanks again for the organising! :mi5:

[DBrands]

I am in for a Friday evening meet up.

[justin_carlson]

Hey Andy, the pix from last years run look great! Question for you though, how family friendly is this run? I'd like to bring my wife and 2 kids (3 & 5) with me, but if it resembles the type of run Fossil Beach was, my wife will have my head on a platter! :roll:

[chrismac]

I'm in. I'll be going up Friday.

[justin_carlson]

I'm in too. The family is staying at home and I'll be coming up with my dad instead. Like Chris, I'll have to meetup with you guys on Saturday morning, so once the schedule is posted we'll plan to meet you all before you leave.

[ANDYD]

Hi All,

Good to see some interest and a group building ... the views and scenery on this trip are spectacular! :shock:

Craig, The south end of Carpenter Lake is about 20km NW of the town of Lillooet. You should allow a minimum of 4hrs from Vancouver.
Our plan is for a 10am Saturday morning departure from the rec site at the South end of Carpenter Lake, so it would mean a 05:30am departure from Vancouver on Saturday morning. Much better idea to get up there on Friday evening and have a nice slow relaxing start to the day at the camp (if possible). The preferred route is up the Sea to Sky to Pemberton, Lillooet then just after Lillooet take the road that heads NW towards Carpenter Lake. For those who live out in the Valley it may make more sense to head up Highway #1 to Lilloet instead.

Justin, there isn't anything your Discovery cannot handle on this run. I dont remember any sections that are worse than the run you did down to Fossil Beach. There are some steep (but smooth) sections which shouldn''t give you any problems if taken slow and steady. Same as above for you, if you area heading out Saturday morning allow plenty of time to get to Carpenter Lake.

It looks like it will be HOT in the day but it will still get cold at night, come prepared with extra clothes, water, sunscreen, bugspray etc .. Dont forget your cameras .....

For those heading up on Friday afternoon, how about a meeting in Squamish and / or Pemberton? What time is everyone off work and on the road?

Cheers, Andy

[chrismac]

So, due to an illness in my family, I need to be the dutiful son his weekend and be of service to my parents. I'd rather be going with you gents for sure! I hope you all have a great weekend!

[DBrands]

I am hoping to leave Abbotsford at 4pm. I think I will head up Hwy 1 to avoid any potential traffic heading into Vancouver.

I can meet up in Lillooet, but at that point we might as well just meet at the campsite.

Campsite co-ords? Or is there only one, and I can't miss it?

[Crs]

I'm up for Friday camping. :D I'm flexible as to leaving time. Convoying is nice: I can wait for the diesels to make it up the hills, and y'all can wait while I stop at EVERY gas station. :mrgreen:

I think either direction is fine with me. The GPS had a preference for the valley.

Chris - condolences. I hope everything works out.

[chrismac]

The campsite is at the dam, at the beginning of carpenter lake. If you pass the tunnel on your left, you've gone past it. Thanks Cris.

[justin_carlson]

Is this the spot you're talking about?
http://goo.gl/maps/NEfz5

+50° 47' 7.83", -122° 13' 23.39"

[ANDYD]

Hi Justin,
Yes thats the spot, you can see the little dead-end road slightly to the right of your co-ords, that is the rec site for Friday night. As Chris mentioned there is a big dam at the end of the lake so you cant miss it.
David, yes not much point meeting you in Lillooet, we will see you at the rec site around 9pm.
Craig, we are heading up the Sea to Sky, so we can meet at the Squamish Tim Hortons at 5pm if that works for you?
If anyone else is coming out, let us know so we can look out for you?

Cheers, Andy

[justin_carlson]

Sounds good Andy. I'll be leaving South Surrey at 4am on Saturday morning and look to meet up with you guys between 9-9:30. Cheers.

[Russell N.]

I'm leaving Friday at 3:30. See you in Squamish for 5:00

[ANDYD]

Good to hear you are coming along Russ, see you at 5pm at TIms,

Just a reminder to all those coming up, the last chance to get fuel is Lillooet, so fill up when passing through,

Cheers,
Andy

[Russell N.]

Thanks to everyone for making this trip so great.

[ANDYD]

Wow ... did we ever get some great weather! Seven trucks came out and met up at the Mission Dam at Carpenter Lake on Friday evening.
It was warm with clear blue skies as we headed up to scout along and around the meadows of Mud Lakes. Then up to the top of Poison Mountain peak at about 7500ft, (the road goes straight up, no switch backs on this one!) just spectacular views of countless mountain ranges all around. Later we camped out in the meadows at Davey Jones Creek, great bunch of Rover-Landers to share the camp fire with. We followed the green valley on a beautiful little "grassy goat trail" that eventually took us to the China Head mountain range crossing. Again spoilt with fantastic 360 deg views on a perfect day, warm with a nice breeze. Next we dropped down to the Big Bar Ferry in Fraser River Valley, which if you haven't been there is BC's version of the Grand Canyon! When finaly down the 5000ft of switch backs and arriving at the rivers edge the Ferry man yelled accross to us that the Ferry was "out of service" (I later learned it had some Mechanical problems). Hey, we are Land Rover owners so we can relate to that!
We didn't hang around long as the tempurture in the valley bottom was up in the 40's, back up the 5000ft of switch backs and opted for the west side valley route (West Pavillion FSR) all the way down to Lillooet.

Really enjoyed this one, thanks everyone for making it a great weekend.

Photos will be posted in the gallery soon, if you have any to share, please send them in to me and I will post them up in the Gallery,

Cheers, Andy

[Crs]

Great trip! :D thanks to all!

Andy, will send photos as soon as I can.

[justin_carlson]

Had a GREAT time the last weekend. Just emailed Andy my photos so they should be up soon... in the meantime, here's a video of us making the final push to the top of Poison Mountain.

http://youtu.be/NuvEWxffHWA

[ANDYD]

Justin, love the video, I gotta get one of those Go Pros for Christmas!

Thanks for sending in the awesome photos, now posted in the Gallery;

http://roverlanders.bc.ca/gallery/view_ ... e=album442

Cheers,
Andy

[justin_carlson]

Hey all... here's my little write up about our trip of up Poison Mountain two weeks ago.
http://overlandrover.ca/poison-mountain ... mud-lakes/

Also... if you just want to see the final summit of the 2 different peaks, you can start the video at the 4:25 mark... here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vkw-Vcws ... be&t=4m25s

... really looking forward to Texas Creek / Ochi Basin now. I even talked my brother into flying up from California for the 14th & 15th so he can experience it too. It'll be a great trip!