I had already hiked a bit in the area exploring to find my new boondocking spot. There was so much more around here to explore. I was going to have no problem walking a new road everyday for the next few days. The weather was setting up for an unusually clear but chilly at night spell. Good thing I’d been able to fill my propane! The days made those cool nights worth it, lots of pretty pictures with the sun and the fog and blue sky to point my camera at.
Morning view looking to the back of the RV
The view out of my RV was great here. Some may find the logging scars ugly, but I appreciated the opening of the views and the greenery of the new trees that were not quite big enough to start blocking views yet. If I were to return here in even three years, the background here would be just a wall of green young trees, another three to five feet taller than they are now. That is not the worst thing to look at, but it only is a green wall in a photograph.
If you wonder why I let you see where the photos are taken if you click through to my Flickr account, this is why. I won’t be back here again to the same view anyways, but perhaps someone else will enjoy the area in the next year or two while it is still open enough to give you the expansive view. In five years I expect a lot of the dead ends you can camp in now will be too over grown to drive into – you will be relegated to the sidings off the main Varney 100 that get kept open for the occasional hunting party in here.
Heading up the Varney 100 towards my camp in the more recently cleared area
The vegetation varied from freshly logged to fifty year old (my estimate) trees. There are a few old growth trees left here and there, but no forests of massive trees are left around here that I could see. It’s too bad in that the little bits that are preserved are great tourist draws. Having a few more would be nice. But the easy to get to stuff was all logged a long time ago before there ever was a thought of tourists coming to see old growth trees.
But I had pretty good variety of vegetation to walk about, and varying weather from dense fog to bright blue skies giving me lots of opportunities to capture the area in different moods. The blue sky was fleeting though – it never lasts long in these parts at this time of year.
Some fog is magical
All fogged in below is just a white background
While I love taking pictures of trees in the fog, it was getting to be a bit much at times. I hiked up on set of hills hoping to get a view of what I’m calling “Varney Lake”, but the fog got so thick I had no idea if I was looking down to the lake below. I did return several days later in clear skies to establish that there was in fact no lake view along those roads. But it was an excuse to hike into the same area again under very different light conditions.
The Varney area had enough variety that I decided to return for a second week after a resupply. This time I chose one of the dead end roads a half a kilometer away from me, much more solitude, although I did hear one truck come up partway and turn around and head back – if they saw me at the end I don’t know as they turned at a split where I would just be visible but it is also a good place to turn around and go back to the main road.
There was a group of left over trees near me that would be inviting to sit under on a sunny day. But the fog made them look foreboding in the distance. The sun did come out more the second week, you will see!
Down the Varney main towards the former log dump
One hike I did was to travel down to the end of the Varney main, a road that went mostly through older trees, with a few younger patches occasionally. It made for a tunnel effect, with just a narrow beam of sunlight if the sun was just right. I was investigating a campground a local had mentioned, Varney Dump, as in where they dump the logs into the water. It had long ceased being a log dump, and had been converted by the forestry company into a campground. The local said the campground had been taken out a few years ago, but that doesn’t mean I can’t park there.
Off to my left is the Varney 500 branch road, which is now more of a main road
The sign warned me the campground had been decommissioned. But my bigger concern was the trees on the road just ahead. Sure enough, as I got closer I could see trees down past the first one as far as the eye could see. There would be no driving down to the old campground. As I got close, I could see they meant business about keeping vehicles out. A bridge had been taken out and a large drop that only a quad could manage remained behind. So no chain sawing your way in!
Just grass and an informal fire pit remain of the campground
It’s too bad because the area looked pretty nice right on the water. I don’t know what the “safety concerns” might be they cited for closing the area off, but it looked good enough to me. A small boat or me walking in with a tent is about the only way you are camping here now.
Coming back, I still had enough time to investigate some of the branch at the campground turn, the Varney 500. This is one of the exceptions where the branch road, Varney 500, is better than the main road. At one point, the logging companies would have hauled to the log dump, but now haul to a site much more distant, thus the disused main. The Varney 500 goes to some areas I can see on the googles that were logged fairly recently, so the branch road is still in pretty good shape.
Pit area potential camping. Several RVs could fit here.
I decide to head for the one clearing I can see on the aerial photo of the area, it is all I have time left for as I am a fair ways from my RV with darkness coming soon. It turns out to be a fairly large old pit area. Several RVs could camp here There is evidence of a few previous campers, but I would say this spot is lightly used. If they clear the trees of the Varney main, I’d camp here and check out the spots further in past this pit.
My walk to get a view of Varney Lake that was stymied by fog did have some close up stuff to see. I encountered another bee trailer on a branch road I was hoping would lead me to a view. I had to pass right by the bees. Most hives were silent, but I could hear a low buzz from one hive. I treaded softly and didn’t stick around too long to see if something was going to wake up.
Old growth. 2nd growth recently cut to the left, partially obscured by the bush for size comparison.
Logging in BC has cut down most of their original old growth forest. Walking through the trees, I could see the occasional massive stumps remaining from those. But some areas have now been sitting long enough that the second growth forest is ready to harvest, which is the case for the area I was walking through. The massive old growth tree beside the road gave me a selfie opportunity to show the size of these things. If you look closely to the left, a shrub partially blocks the puny by comparison second growth that was cut down just a few years ago. Sustainable logging? Perhaps, but only for the small trees.
My time was coming to an end camped in the Varney area. But I had a couple of really good weather days ahead before the rain came back, time to hike to the furthest reaches of the branch I was on and see what kind of views I can get.
The day started out cold and frosty – with a light fog the sun was trying to burn through.
Soon I could see it was going to be a blue sky day – the tops of the tall trees were already in the sun. I put on my pack and headed for the far back hill past Varney Lake that had been recently logged. No fog to obscure my views today! The air was chilly, but warming up fast with the sun shining down now. I pass Varney lake, and head up the road into the the newly logged out area, climbing the right branch past the lake up the hill.
Straight dead end not quite level, but usable spot
The first dead end I arrived at would work for boondocking, but probably this spot would be better in a few years time once some green has grown back. But remember, you are counting on all the roads back to the main staying open as well during this time, not an assumptions you can make. I continued to the right, hoping for a better spot.
Dead end spot with a killer view
The second dead end was the spot. Even freshly logged, this would be pretty good – some old trees remain near by, and you have a view down that is really good. As this was the nicest weather I had experienced in quite some time I decided to climb up to the top of the hill in the old trees. Although the logging debris and the deadfall at the transition to the forest are difficult to walk over, it was not far. My spot for a break was spectacular.
Sitting at the edge of the trees looking down
4x zoomed view from the dead end road
It certainly was nice to sit on the moss at the edge of the trees admiring the view below – hills as far as the eye could see, a bit of lake in front, and pure blue sky. It reminded me of a Tolkien landscape: I was a hobbit, on a grand adventure – having my elevensies while enjoying the view of the wilds below me.
Even back at the RV, I had a nice sundown to watch the contrail across the sky while I dined. It had been one of the best weather days I had had so far, I was glad to have taken full advantage of it with a hike into the back roads and up the hill for view.
I had one more day of good weather to explore another direction. This time, it was back down to the Varney main and up one of the smaller branches of logging roads further down.
The farther water is the flooded pit of the former Island Copper Mine
The hike went up the side of a hill that was mostly covered in thick young tree cover. I was hoping for a view of the copper mine across Rupert Inlet, but it took quite a bit of walking before I finally found an open spot to shoot across the inlet. You can see the mine is flooded – the original pit went way below sea level. I believe it had the notable fact of being the lowest open pit in the world at the time of the mine’s closing. You can see how huge this thing is too – a lot of ore was hauled out of this hole.
The next day was back to rain and overcast. I decided to stay in and start putting stuff away for moving. Time to have a shower and make myself presentable to the world again. The rain let up enough in the evening for me to have a little fire before my shower – no point in getting all smoky after a shower. The area had been rewarding for hiking, and even gave me a couple of sunny days for fishing and enjoying the views. Now it was time to head to my next spot. A bit of aerial sleuthing had identified a promising area on the other side of Rupert Inlet. See you next time when I land in my new spot!
