I moved out here last fall, but only last week did I manage to actually get on top of something. It isn't much of a mountain; its contours never break through the green in the NTS map, it is unnamed, and it has a spot elevation of 3719'. However my home is at its base, and its summit block punches above the trees to afford a great 360 degree view of the surroundings, so I have some photos worth sharing.

The east side of this peak is the Ubedam Creek drainage. The obvious access is via the Extravagant Main, which is in good shape, but is unfortunately gated. I can get to the point where it passes above my house faster by hiking straight up beside the creek than I can by biking, so that is what I did. I brought two hiking companians, Maggie and Charlie. Maggie has been with us for nine years. She is around eleven years old and still going strong, but she appreciates help getting over the bigger obstacles. She often looks concerned. Charlie is probably around a year old and has spaztic energy. We've had him for about three months, but I was away for two of them. He is amused by everything. He grew up in Bella Bella.

A cool thing about Ubedam Creek is that at this time of year it disappears underground for around half a kilometre between the Extravagant Main and the townsite. There is a lot of this kind of thing around here because of all the limestone.

We left the house at 8am. I was expecting to be back in the early afternoon, but it ended up being a full day outing. We left the Extravagant Main where a spur road heads south from a switchback. This spur immediately crosses Ubedam Creek, and we went up the creekbed a few dozen metres before entering the forest to the south of the creek. In this way we were able to avoid the cutblock that extends up from the spur road on this side, but we did have to deal with the associated windfall. It was slow going initially, but things opened up fairly quickly for pleasant travel in the old-growth forest.

The terrain steepened, and eventually it became too much for Maggie; she refused to continue even though it was still mostly dirt and roots. So we backed down a ways and then traversed south under bluffs that became more and more prominent. The going was slow, with lots of huge windfall and salmonberry, and by the time we started climbing again, I realised we were in the old cutblock that drapes over the southeast shoulder of the mountain. I knew that this cutblock existed, but I hadn't realised that we had drifted this far south.

We pushed through thickets of dense 12' high hemlock, broken by equally dense patches of salmonberry. This is obviously the wrong way up the mountain. Whenever I backed off to get around an obstacle, Maggie would enthusiastically show the way back down. But we pushed on and eventually emerged at the top of the cutblock. I climbed up on the last stump and got a good view to the east. According to the timestamp on the photos it was already almost noon.

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Looking east over Tahsis at the Leiner estuary. The Leiner valley is to the left, and the lower Perry River Valley, which hosts the Head Bay FSR goes to the right. Malaspina Peak is the snowy one on the right. If there is any other named peak in the photo, it is probably the one in the centre distance. That might be Mount Bate. The peak just left of centre, with the snowfield on the left, is the 4748' at GR763314 with a couple of little lakes (not visible) to its southeast.

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We had a break in the cool forest above the cutblock, and the dogs
drank almost all the water I had brought for them. Fortunately we soon
encountered snow and tarns. From here we negotiated some bluffs with
easy weaknesses, and transitioned into subalpine vegetation. I found
myself following a route that was well-flagged with pink tape. I guess
this came up from the road system on the south side. Anyway, from here
the going was easy as we followed the broad southeast ridge. I lost
track of the flagging, but crossed it enough times that I am pretty
sure it was indicating a route to the summit.

The summit block was the final obstacle. We found benches to take us up most of the way, but I had to give the dogs a lift up one exposed ramp near the top. Anyway we all finally made it to the broad flat summit.

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The summit block is visible from the part of the village that was built on the Tahsis estuary, that is why I knew it was there.


The Leiner estuary is relatively healthy, not having a town built on top of it.


Looking south down the Tahsis Inlet. Santiago Mountain is on the left, and the cluster of peaks left of that is Tahsis Mountain.


Looking south of west we see Nuchatlitz. I hope to get out there this summer, but so far the only lovin' my kayak has seen is from the overgrown grass and dandelions in the back yard.



Looking northwest, there is the remenants of a cairn on the summit I am on, and right of that there is another summit, about the same height, approximately one kilometre away. By this time, we didn't even consider trying for the other summit. I guess those peaks behind it are just east of Zeballos, like Beano Mountain, and the cluster around GR589396 ("Bryde Peak" on Bivouac), but I have no idea about that pair in the far right distance on the first photo, zoomed in on the third.




Looking north, to the right of the rebuilt cairn, is a cutblock that I think is still easily accessible at the end of the Extravagant Main. Above that is the 4325' peak at GR655365 (Nomash Peak on Bivouac), and behind that is the Haihte range, I guess it is Rugged Mountain itself just to the right of Nomash Peak. Above, and just to the right of the cairn is a 4400' peak at GR643386 ("Baleen Peak" on Bivouac). From the map, it looks to be accessible via a ridge from Nomash Peak. The peak in the distance directly above the cairn might be Zeballos Peak. The following 3 photos are closer looks at these peaks.





The real show is to the east, looking over the inlet at the Tlupana Range. Here Charlie's head is interfering with the view of Mount McKelvie.


Since CT is limiting the number of photos I can put in a post, I'll put the Tlupanna Range shots in a second post.

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I guess we were on the summit for about an hour and a half and it was close to 3pm when we started down. I decided to try to descend by the ridge on the north side of Ubedam Creek. I knew that it would eventually squeeze against a cutblock, but I hoped I could mostly avoid it. Anyway, as we were working our way down I changed my mind and we headed straight down the east side. It was very steep, but it seemed like it was going to go. But I was wrong. We were corralled by impressive cliffs below us and deep gulleys to the north and south. We had to claw back up at least 200 metres and continue with the original plan. But that didn't work either. When we got to the north side of the east face we descended on snow ramps only to be bluffed out again. (Studying the basemap online after the fact I realise that we weren't as far north as I had thought when we attempted to descend the second time.) The terrain seems a lot more complicated than it looks from below. We eventually succeeded with a descending traverse to the south, crossing two impressive gulleys on the way. It took some negotiating to get the dogs to drop into the gulleys, but other than that things went well. We arrived home about 11 hours after we left.

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A panorama from my camera that I still don't really know how to use, with the Haihte Range on the far left, all the way to Santiago on the right.


A standard overview shot of the southern part, from Mount Leiner on the left, to Malaspina Peak on the right.


Looking at Mount McKelvie; it has three distinct peaks, the peak on the left being a few hundred feet lower. I think the middle peak is the highest. The rightmost peak has a spot elevation of 5350'. The map shows a pocket glacier on the north side. The McKelvie Creek drainage is to the right. Until this year it supplied the water for the village, but now we are on a well system. People often refer to the "pristine" wilderness around here, which is usually the wrong word. The wilderness is dominant and mostly healthy, but the McKelvie Creek drainage, unmolested by industry as far as I know, is one of the few places that could reasonably be considered pristine. Unfortunately that is likely to change very soon, now that it is no longer the village water supply. I haven't been in there yet. Apparently there is an impressive stand of spruce somewhere up that valley. The mountain to the left of McKelvie is unnamed, as is the peak to the right, at the far end of the McKelvie Creek Valley. To the right of that is Mount Leiner.







To the right of Mount Leiner we see a few unnamed peaks to the east, all over 5000'. There is more of the same immediately to the south, but I apparently neglected to take a close-up.


So I think this must be the 5150' peak at the east edge of the map at GR793342.


Here we are looking over the top of the 4748' peak mentioned in the first photo (it is in the right foreground here) presumably at Mount Grattan and Thumb Peak, but I don't really know.


And this must be Mounts Bate and Alva.


Finally we have Malaspina Peak. I guess that might be Stevens Peak on the left. There is also a mountain on the right in the far distance. That might be Big Baldy, near Gold River.

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About time you got exploring (and posting) in your new and beautiful looking area. Plenty of exploring and remote mountains to aim for.

Isn't that sharp double summit Victoria and Warden?

I don't think it can be Dru. From this vantage Victoria would be behind the Tlupana Range I think. Somewhere to the northeast. But the peak in the distance that I have no idea about is to the northwest, somewhere north of Zeballos. There is not much very big up there that I can see. I guess Pinder Peak could be a candidate.

Hmm. Pinder does have two summits but I don't remember the lower one being that impressive. What does the Wild Isle guide say?

...could it be Bonanza and Ashwwod?

You've got some rough territory right out the backyard. Interesting to see some new peaks, those are all new names for me.

Dru, I think Bonanza and Ashwood are too far east to be these ones. The only Wild Isle Guide I have is Island Alpine Select, which at least has these three (Bonanza/Ashwood, and Pinder). There are photos of Pinder (and the "Province Range"), but from the north. I now think it is probably Pinder in my photo.

That is a great TR, Shrubhugger. Fine writeup and lots of beauty shots of the landscapes make this a very enjoyable read.

K