A Change of Plans cont...
So I cannot show you much on the Bralorne townsite.
I crossed the Black Bird River on the Bralorne-Hurley Cutoff road and
noticed a new, large mining compound has been built. There is definitely
a renewed interest in precious minerals for sure. Further down I
noticed a new tailings pond in the works.
Along the way I had a handful of water crossings as the heat was melting the late fall snow fast.
The picture quality is low as I took it off my video. But you get the idea.
I stopped several times to enjoy the beauty of this connector route.
The route follows along the base of Mt Noel until it spits out on the Hurley Forest Service Road proper.
I started on the Hurley Forest Service road with the intention of going
to Pemberton and then over to Seton Portage via D’Arcy. I stopped in the
shade to have a snack and enjoy some shade. Is was still in the 90’s F
and humid. I was feeling a bit fatigued. I looked at my watch and it was
4:30. Google estimated 4+ hours to Seton Portage. It looks like
sleeping in this morning finally caught up to me. I decided to turn
around and go over to the Gun Creek Campground and see if I had time to
explore the ghost town of Minto.
I arrived at the Bralorne-Hurley connector road and said to myself,
“what the hell”, let’s ride this again back to Bralorne. So that’s what I
did. Looking or Grizzlies.
I didn’t see any Grizzlies, but I did take a picture of my license plate J
I arrived at Gun Creek and decided that I had time to take a self-guided tour of the old Minto Town site.
Minto was an old mining town built in the 1930’s and is located at the
confluence of Gun Creek and the Bridge River (Now Carpenter lake). The
mining settlement was later used as a Japanese-Canadian internment
center. It was destroy by a flood in 1949, just before it was buried
under water from the Carpenter Lake reservoir. Lots and lots of
artifcats can be found out here. In my short vist, I found a vehicle
chassis, multiple building foundations, a 6 cylinder engine block, fire
hydrant, old shoes, conduit and piping strewn across the old townsite.
It is a pretty cool place to visit just for artifact finding alone.
There is beauty here as well.
Afterwards, I went and made camp at the Gun Creek Campground. It was
still hot and Gun Creek was overflowing the banks a bit with all the
snow melt. It was running so high and fast, tha the campsites near the
creek were roped off so that folks wouldn’t be heading to the creek
(river?) and possibly get swept away. This is a real danger as for
someone like me, as I had to draw water and pump it from there as I
didn’t have any water with me. I found a safe place near the bridge
along teh Carpenter lake Rd
After I set up my tent and cooled off with a nice cool toweling from the
icy river water, I made my dinner. Actually, I boiled water and had
some icy lemonade with my dehydrated mountain house meal. I spent the
evening walking around the campground and reading my book. I then
drifted off to sleep, never putting my rain fly on my tent and using my
sleeping bag as a light blanket. It stayed very warm all through the
night.
Next up, my last day and the ride home...
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