| From
Golden, drive west on highway 1 and exit at
Donald. Head north
on the Bush River FSR (gravel). Continue in a north-westerly
direction staying on the main road, keeping track of the yellow
kilometer markers
along the side. The intersection to Susan Lake is well indicated, past
the 11-kilometer marker. Follow the road to the Susan/Jeb Lakes
junction, 9.9 kilometers and continue towards Jeb Lake. The trail that
leads to the lookout is 1 kilometer from the junction, 734136,
(indicated on the topo. map).
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The road to Sunsan
Lake is not plowed in the winter.
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Snowshoe trip:
RT 9.75; 5.0 up. This trip was the result of
a spontaneous plan B. We planned an ascent on the Bush River FSR
assuming the service road was plowed for Chatter Creek's skiing
operation. We
drove
to Donald and quickly realized the road hadn't been plowed in a while.
We carried on, following truck tracks. It snowed a lot more than
expected overnight, the depth of snow quickly
augmented past the Susan Lake turn-off; Fab and I started to weigh
out the situation. It became obvious the trucks ahead had chains, we
didn't. Snowmobiling the added mileage to reach our approach road on
only one machine, in -20° Celsius seemed ludicrous for a number of
reasons; we decided to turn around. I started thinking about something
to
do to save the day, Susan Lookout came to mind. Funny, I had
never
considered Susan Lookout before because both Fabrice and I have been
up there on sleds! Funnier is that I suggested
walking the road to the lookout. Funniest is that Fab agreed to walk
25 kilometers on a snowmobile trail with a sled in the back of the
pickup. We hiked without snowshoes and continued
beyond Susan Lake towards Jeb Lake. We located the trail that leads to
the lookout, nobody had been there so we strapped on the
snowshoes and proceeded to make our way. The embankments and steep open
pockets revealed glide cracks; this is how avalanches
propagate in steeper, unsupported terrain... Our stay at the lookout
was long considering the wind and cold temperature. After replenishing
ourselves, we started heading home in good spirits, joking about
what people said when they saw us: "is this for real... idiots!"
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The snow on the
road is compacted by snowmobilers.
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The lookout is
visible (right center). |
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10 kilometers later,
we're at the junction; Susan Lake on the left and Jeb Lake to the right. |
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Starting on the
lookout trail, time for snowshoes. |
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The wide trail is
easy to follow. |
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The old lookout
ahead. |
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Looks eerie... |
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Susan Lake below, we
can hear snowmobilers. |
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Semi sheltered right
up against the wall. |
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The lookout is
gutted.
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Back down the trail. |
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Joining the firm
snowmobile trail.
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| Back
to home page
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