The Slesse Memorial hike was considered for Plan B, in case the Illusions hike did not work out. Which was the case.

So after the Illusion Attempt, Aaron and I headed over to the Neskawatch Valley, which is one valley further west of Center Creek. Hence this became the second hike of the day.

The road is passable to 4 wheel drive and SUV vehicles, road is a bit rough as prior debris lides had been flattened somewhat and shaved off. Cars can not approach any closer than 3 or 4 km from the trailhead.

The two great improvements since my last visit, is the parking lot for three vehicles in place by the trailhead, and the extension of the trail on the near side of the creek, and a complete new bridge based on a felled cedar tree makes it much easier and safer to cross the creek.

Stats:
3-1/2 hours return including 1/2 hour lunch 9 km distance with about 450 meters net elevation gain. Snow appeared on and around the trail within about 400 meters of the memorial. Huge load and great of snow debris from past avalanches have accumulated in the bowl. Any guesses how long this snow will last into the summer.

Trailhead & Parking Spaces




The old creek crossing, old bridge has big log cut into chunks


New Bridge, various perspectives> Creek upstream, and downstream.







Trail in good shape..


Great Views of Mt. Rexford, and other side of valley from where we stand.




In the last curve of the trail, northside slope... significant snow on road.





At the Slesse Memorial, snow debris in bowl..




Scenery just beyond the plaque & bowl area







Heading back down...




Large tree, fallen log by trail..


The new bridge on our way back....




K

That is awesome. Great pics, thank you. Was waiting for someone to report back on the road conditions and I am happy to see the bridge was replaced.

You are most welcome, pdomansky. Glad this helps.

K

great update on the area

We did this past sunday, here are some of our pics to add:

That's such good information on the trail. Quite a fancy bit of new bridge work! Whomever did that deserves some major kudos.

Did any of you use microspikes or yaktrax etc in the snowy areas?

No need for microspikes/yaktrax. I was up there today, and trail was snow free all the way up to the memorial plaque.

Great hike, haven't been up there in about 15 years. Road hasn't changed either. Still a bumpy nasty mess. Needed 4x4 in a couple of spots to get through the washouts. Low clearance vehicles would definitely have a problem. Saw a Subaru that didn't go past the 1st washout.

Thanks to the volunteers we ran into doing trail clearing on the way up. Great job, and I sincerely appreciate the effort you put in so everyone else can enjoy such a beautiful place.

** Note: The volunteers were saying getting up to the propeller/cairn is not recommended at this time due to amount of deadfall, thickets of bushes, and high avalanche risk.

Great thanks for all the updates and pictures everyone. Wonderful

Thank You

K