Sloquet Hotsprings Overnighter

[Gormley Green]

Found a night that worked with our schedules to load the camper and head out for a night. Our destination was Sloquet Hotsprings via Pemberton, BC. Didn't get to Pemberton until about sundown so most of the route there was done in the dark - thankfully my careful map studying paid off - lots of weird/new spurs on active forest roads.

The route took us from Squamish through Whistler and Pemberton (about 110km one way) and south along the In-SHUCK-ch forest service road (aka Lillooet Lake Rd.) for about 80km, then 12km into the Sloquet Creek valley via another FSR. For a total of about 95km on dirt road. The FSR's are both in great shape. Lillooet Lake Rd serves two remote native communuties and active logging and is very well maintained. It was quite washboardy though, so despite its short length it took about 4 hours. We had the tires at 68psi rear and 62 psi front which didn't help smooth it out! One could also approach these springs via the Harrison West FSR via Vancouver (from our home) which is 4x4 only. Given our time contraints we didn't do it this time but plan on doing the whole loop next time which will give us some 250km one-way of off-pavement with some real 4x4ing.

Despite a round trip of only about 430km, our driving time was roughly 10 hours. Bumpy

We had to be back Thursday by 6pm to get to the Turkey Sale (this weekend in Canadian Thanksgiving) for 40-60% off Icebreaker and Arc-teryx! This is THE weekend to load up on ski gear! Thankfully we made it, so we're stoked for the winter.

Our route (a=home, b=end of pavement, c=destination):

 

[Gormley Green]

Arriving in the dark was tricky, mostly tent sites, with the one (and only other occupied) good truck site having two truck campers parked. So we flashed our lights around and got level and setup, somewhere. Didn't seem to matter being the only other campers there. It was kind of late and we were hungry and thirsty!

Not much to see even with high beams!

After fuelling up we decided to try the hotsprings in the dark. It was a bit of a mission as this forest was pitch black! We made our way down the steep path towards the sulphur smell, got a look at some steam and then BAM - Lizzy gets stung by a wasp directly on the bottom lip! It was 4 degrees C - why was it awake!? Combining that experience with her fear of the dark, we bailed. Went back and had a campfire and went to bed.

 

[Gormley Green]

In the morning we woke up pretty cozy. Put up the Artic Pack before leaving for the first time in a while and it felt nice. It even gives the illusion of warmth by softening up the appearance of the tent material. Our site looked great and the parking job was perfect

Quick breakfast and nice coffee and we were off to the springs, again.

Getting closer:

This bluff is steaming:

And the beautiful gin clear Sloquet Creek below:

Here was the scene of the stinging last night, a narrow log pathway to the springs (tricky in the dark!?):

 

[Gormley Green]

First of several pools:

Hot waterfall:

This, I can deal with!

I am very relaxed behind the camera:

 

[Gormley Green]

We soaked and lounged and chatted to the other 2 couples camping for about 2.5 hours and decided it was time to head out, so we could get to the Turkey Sale when the doors opened! Not before trying to sell them both on popup campers, they were both in Northern Lites. I bragged about my headroom, solar, shock lifter thingy's, etc.

Here's a typical scene from the FSR:

Lots of parked machinery along the way:

A surprisingly isolated native community, Skookumchuk, and their ornate church:

Narrow, pay attention, keep it on the road

South end of Lillooet Lake, not too bad!

 

[Gormley Green]

About 3/4 of the way back to the pavement we hear a rock BANG on the roof of the truck. Weird, that's got to be 1/1,000,000 to come off the tire and land up there. A few minutes later another one! Only it slid down the windshield, and was made of stainless steel.

A bolt from one of my 4 solar panel mounts! Uh-oh. The washboard was taking it's toll. This wasn't a problem I had predicted as they were quite torqued and not subject to shifting. Wrong. I don't have wrenches. I do have zip-ties. So I climb up on the roof and rig this up and get home with it!

Not pretty, but it held fine. Never a dull moment in the FWC


Thanks for reading. And HAPPY THANKSGIVING !

 

[SunMan]

Wow, beautiful hot springs. Looks a like an amazing place. Could use a soak in one of those abot now.

 

[highz]

Happy Thanksgrabbing - uh - Thanksgiving to you. What a great overnighter.

 

[craig333]

I"ll remember that, no hot springs at night. Gotta love zip ties. And duct tape.

 

[MarkBC]

Very nice, GG. Thanks.

Your nut-losing experience relates to my own current solar installation. Craggyman was warning me that I should be sure to use locking nuts to keep them from rattling loose and losing them on rough/wasboardy roads that I sometimes drive on -- and then losing my panels.
Thanks for providing this example.

 

[Gormley Green]

The underside of the panel and Z bracket is a tricky place to get two wrenches. You do not want to have to be installing or tightening these bolts more than once, if you can avoid it.

Other peoples mistakes - definitely one of the best things about WTW

 

[MarkBC]

The underside of the panel and Z bracket is a tricky place to get two wrenches. You do not want to have to be installing or tightening these bolts more than once, if you can avoid it.

That difficult-to-access aspect of the z-brackets is one of the reasons I came up with my alternative mounting approach. I'll be able to tighten their fasteners -- or even remove the panels -- without removing the screws that pierce the roof of the camper, because the connections are made to the outside of the pv-panel frame.

Sorry for this hijack/diversion of subject.

 

[ski3pin]

Mr. Green, thanks for the report, looked like a great trip sans the wasp sting. We could almost feel the warm water around us and the slight scent of sulfur. Good times!

 

[Lighthawk]

Nice write up Gormley.

Brings back memories from 1986. We drove our VW Westfalia the 100k dirt road into Whistler from the interior. It was well graded back then too.

Strange for wasps to be active in cool temps. Maybe they were geothermally active wasps?

 

[Gormley Green]

Maybe they were geothermally active wasps?


That might not be far off! It was weird, but I'm glad only one of them was awake. The hive looked pretty busy in the morning, would have been a real problem to get them angry in the dark standing on a log bridge!

 

[Smokecreek1]

Very nice, GG. Thanks.

Your nut-losing experience relates to my own current solar installation. Craggyman was warning me that I should be sure to use locking nuts to keep them from rattling loose and losing them on rough/wasboardy roads that I sometimes drive on -- and then losing my panels.
Thanks for providing this example.

Good trip anyway GG. What's a bolt or two to an FWCer! Counting the days 'till the end of the week and I'm out and about!

Smoke

 

[Gormley Green]

Good trip anyway GG. What's a bolt or two to an FWCer! Counting the days 'till the end of the week and I'm out and about!

Smoke


Yea what the hell, could have lost all 4!

 

[home skillet]

Great trip report! That is within shootin' distance of where flutterby and I live. I might have to make a November trip up there and try out those springs.

 

[Gormley Green]

I'd go back! Let me know if you head up, maybe I can show you the way.

 

[jasantos]

Nice pictures! It's a good thing you guys didn't have any more accidents when you were treading the way to the hotsprings at night.