Gate Access to Old Settler

[adrianburke]

We are taking Don Serl's advice on excellent routes in BC and are going to tackle the West Ridge of the South Peak of Old Settler this Friday, July 16. The Alpine Select guide mentions that there is a gate shortly after the 2wd parking lot that is "occasionally locked". We could cut off 5km of walking if we take the 4wd past this gate.

 

Does anyone know if this gate is closed currently/recently? Is the road above Bear Creek Logging Camp an active logging road?

 

I also looked in the guide to find the appropriate number to call for the key, but could not find it -- anyone have any beta on that?

 

Adrian

[Dru]

Call Lakeside Pacific Forest Products office. The correct number is in the guide somewhere. If not in the peak beta check the approach page or vice versa, or the contacts section at the front. Or try the mytelus.com phone book.

 

Now for the bad news - the bridge over Talc Creek reportedly washed out in the October 2003 storms. As of mid-June I know that the bridge had not been rebuilt. More like 10km than 5km of walking or mtn biking await you if the bridge has not been rebuilt, after you wade the creek that is.

 

Please post here whatever info about the road LP tells you. Last I heard they were replanning to rebuild the bridge sometime this summer but I don't know if they've done it yet

[specialed]

Is not the Old Settle approach roughly similar to the Bardeen approach, except you hike over the ridge to the north and into another drainage? Or do you take a completely different "road?"

 

Either way, be warry of any 4wd HC roads in the Chehalis Range. Pretty much need a 4 Wheeler to make it up through the fuckin tank traps.

[adrianburke]

Thanks Dru... the correct number was on page 15, not 13 as the description of the climb said. Lakeside --> 604-793-9340.

 

I spoke to the Engineering Dept at Lakeside. The bridge over Talc Creek is still out. They are not planning on repairing the bridge until August -- which is apparently when the "fish window" is -- at least they are being environmentally conscious.

 

As I understand it, walking from the Talc Creek bridge would add 5km each way to where one would normally park a 4wd-hc vehicle. Making the approach to Daiphy Lake 4 hours instead of 2.

 

Maybe we'll do Harvey's Pub instead.

 

Adrian

[dberdinka]

That would be a long friggin walk from the lake. 4hrs at least. A great climb but maybe not worth that much logging-road hiking.

[Dru]

Yeah, a 4 hour approach hike to a climb that you can solo in an hour, then 4 hours back out!

 

Aaah the famous fish window. Guess that means a late-August or September Settler trip this year

 

Pete - the Settler is like 30km away from Bardean on the other side of Harrison Lake not even in the Chehalis. About like mistakenly placing Liberty Bell in the Picket Range.

[adrianburke]

Hi All...

 

Another update on the Old Settler approach. I called Lakeside this morning. They do not expect the bridge to be put back in until the end of August. At that point, they will be sending in the heavy machinery to repair the road, as far up as 6 to 7km from the bridge. They plan on resuming logging up there. Road repair might not be done until end of Sept?

 

So either accept a long hike in or wait until late Sept.

 

Adrian

[Dru]

You can still make a 2WD approach to the Old Settler Pub

[Don_Serl]

awww, come on, ya wussies!

 

walk or mtn bike the effing road - it isn't that far.

 

living proof: first time i climbed old settler, the road was gated at the very bottom (cogburn creek). we mtn biked the road (and, believe me, i'm NOT a keen mtn biker!); walked in from the end of the logging spur (which was twice as far out, back then); fzkced up on the approach by going too high and right above daiphy lake; got confused and climbed the W ridge of the subsidiary tower right of the "true" west buttress (2 belayed pitches at the bottom, and a rap off the top - see: shadowed notch, centre-foreground, at about half-height; Alpine Select pg 330); wandered out the angling ledge above and finished up the west buttress; completed the traverse over the centre and north peak (one short rap somewhere); descended the NW "gulch" on the N peak; walked the high meadows way out west, then dropped thru bush directly to the end of the logging road; and rode the bikes out, having to push for the final 2km-3km cuz of a flat.

 

all this took about 11 hrs, car-to-car. we did not get an early start, and it was still light enuf to see at the end of the day, without headlamps, on august 29th. not the longest day of the year...

 

enuf of the moaning, eh? if ya wanna climb it, just go climb it!

 

cheers,

[Mer]

if ya wanna climb it, just go climb it!

 

I think this is the best advice I've ever seen on this board. I'm taking it to heart

[Dru]

believe me, i'm NOT a keen mtn biker

 

see p.142 alpine select

 

[chestbeat]Having climbed Old Settler 5x now (7x if you count climbing 2 routes over 2 days as 2 climbs)[/chestbeat]

I can say that it is much more enjoyable the more road you can drive. It's worth it to wait for them to rebuild the bridge.

 

If you can't wait till then you can go in via Settler Creek and climb Watchman's Ridge (the NE ridge, Gr. III 5.8), NW ridge (Gr. II 5.5) or have a go at the unclimbed 950m north face.

 

BUT the bugs on the Settler are hideous beyond belief in August. September is a much nicer month to climb it. I will see you up there in late September.

[Don_Serl]

believe me, i'm NOT a keen mtn biker

 

see p.142 alpine select

 

...my wife's bike, but my sore ass!

 

cheers,

[adrianburke]

Feel stupid admiting this, but.....

 

We actually DID mountain bike in way back when I first started this thread. Started from the gate at 8AM or so. We ended up dropping the bikes off after 6KM, THEN discovered we had photocopied the approach map to the Andersons (page AFTER the Settler approach in Alpine Select). Then hiking another 6km, but up a wrong turn left on the way. Ended up high on the ridge, too early for Settler. Tried a few more roads, but soon got sick of wandering aimlessly on FSRs and went home.

 

So I already feel like I had that great dusty, hot walk in, but without actually getting on any rock. The bitch of it is we would have gotten there (now that I look at the map) if we had kept going on the last "aimless road" we tried right before giving up.

 

We did get to see bears up close on 4 separate occasions that day - including scaring the crap out of one 20 feet from us. Bear bells might have been a good idea.

 

 

Adrian

[adrianburke]

And print outs from the BC Basemap Viewer map show every last FSR back there. That will help!

 

http://maps.gov.bc.ca/imf406/imf.jsp?site=lrdw_catalog_ext

 

Thanks for pointing that out!

Adrian