Capturing the Art of Nature
Vedder Mountain
Next up, the Vedder Mountain First Time Activation
Category
Serendipitous Discoveries
Summits on the Air
2016
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New on the Summits-on-the-air list of peaks is Vedder Mountain. It isn’t a very high mountain but being the southern flank of the Fraser valley it looms above us and offers some excellent outdoor activities. The mountain is easy access and as such has many trails for hikers, atv’s and mountain bikers. On an average summer week-end it is full of users. I knew that it would be an easy target for SOTA hikers so if I wanted to achieve the first activation I needed to hike it soon after its arrival on the official SOTA list. So to that end I selected the hike for today, it also was short enough and tree covered that the hike would work in the heat.
Our day began at 8am when Geoff arrived at my place. Joining us on this hike was Bruce Prior. He is a fellow SOTA hiker and I was looking forward to meeting him. He lives across the border in Blaine which from my house is actually very close by. He arrived around 7:40 only to discover he left his hiking poles at home and he always uses them. So he zipped back across the line and picked them up. As expected the line was delayed and he didn’t get back until around 8:30. We set off and gathered some coffee and fuel and then made for the mountain.
The forestry road was undergoing improvement and so there were a lot of cleared logs alongside the road and it had a much rougher and looser surface due to the work. It was no problem for our truck but poor Bruce was in the back seat getting some serious bounces. We followed the mainline to the designated fork and turned up it for a short distance and reached the marked spot for the start of the trail. The road was seriously dug out here, designed to stop all motorized vehicles. They did a very thorough job, even a motor bike would have second thoughts of continuing!
We got our gear on and started up the rest of the road carefully picking our way across the dugout. The trail continues along the road for a short ways to the official trailhead. Here there were steel cable covered logs and cables strung across the trail with signs stating it was a foot trail only. These guys are really serious up here. We made it past that barrier and started up the trail. It was a very pleasant hike as the trail was soft for the feet, well-marked and worn and the trees provided constant shade to keep the heat down. The three of us followed the trail easily and found it a very pleasant one to hike. It added a number of rises and dips to the slow elevation gain we were making. About half way there is a short side trail to a lovely viewpoint to the north. Here we stopped to enjoy the valley view and eat a few morsels before continuing to the summit.
The trail now started getting a bit more serious and we had some steeper climbs and descents as we continued to the summit. There was one long descent to a small lake near the summit. This of course meant there would be a long ascent on our way home. Geoff was in front of me as I started the descent along the south side of the small lake. I suddenly hear a loud splash below me and looked through the trees to see good sized waves in the lake. Geoff stopped and confirmed that something big had jumped in it. He got his defender shotgun unholstered as a precaution. Then we continued our descent to the edge of the lake. Bruce was a bit behind me at this point and when he came into view we warned him of the fun.
The trail made its way around the east side of the lake before heading back towards the summit. There was a lovely wooden causeway built here which made walking across the marshy ground a breeze. There were a number of such improvements to the trail which made it easy to walk. Now the trail reached some more challenging slopes as we neared the summit. The trail actually takes one across a rock face via a nice bridge followed by a short rope section. It looked intimidating from below but was actually fairly easy. The final steep section was endowed with a notched tree and rope so one could climb it very simply. Now we wer on the top ridge and in the sun and heat!
A short distance further and we were at the designated summit. I was able to put out a quick call to club member Ralph who had been waiting and calling me throughout the morning. We logged the first contact from the summit and the mountain became officially activated! It was 2:17! Much later than expected but the hike took longer than planned in the heat. I then set up my 2m yagi and proceeded to make 5 more contacts between mouthfuls of lunch. Bruce soon was also on the summit and getting his KX2 radio set up, he tossed a line in one of the convenient trees and pulled up his wire antenna. He soon was making a few Morse code contacts and getting his needed four contacts. The bands were not cooperating and it took some time to get them.
Well we were eventually done with radio and ready for the trek back down. The descent had a few challenges, Bruce had a bit of a stumble on the rope section but Geoff was able to guide his foot placement from beneath, so that didn’t hold us back too much. As we neared the lake Geoff spotted some fresh bear scat to the side of the trail, so we stayed extra aware of any sounds along the trail for the next section. We never did see any bears or other hikers for that matter. It struck us as odd that no one else was out here today. We made much better time on the way back and before long we were back to the north view point gathering a few more photos before the final walk along the trail.
It was a long hot day on the hike but the trees kept us from overheating and the trail improvements made for a good experience. I would like to do it again next year for a second activation. It was fun chatting with Bruce as we made our way along the route. I was a bit surprised at the length of the trail as it was significantly longer on my GPS than the posted length. But it was fun and we all had a good time completing the trek.