For a 15-year Wedding Anniversary you are supposed to give each other crystal, instead Jim and I gave rocks. This year, our anniversary fell on the day after some heavy rain which typically clears the air of smoke. We took this opportunity to do a 2-day climb in British Columbia.
Mt Lindeman is very close to the US border in Western BC. Jim and I have several climbs we want to do in this area, so we took some time before hiking in to base camp to check out the nearby logging roads. In Canada, logging roads have large drainage trenches. This makes most logging roads high clearance vehicles only. Many are so rough, they require a 4×4.
After dragging our trailer hitch through several ditches on the Mt Lindeman road, we reached the parking shoulder at the informal trailhead. The first 2 miles of trail was very wet brush. When we broke into the forest, we were both soaked.
The forest trail was so steep, I kind of wished we were back in the wet brush.
After several hours of climbing straight up, we found a flat spot in a high basin with running water. We setup our tent in a cloud bank. Happy Anniversary!
We woke to clear skies but we did have smoke blocking our distant views.
After packing up summit packs, we headed up the rocky basin toward the ridge above Upper Hanging Lake. We had planned to camp here but the cloud-layer the day before convinced us to camp lower.
The climb above Upper Hanging Lake was pleasant yet rocky.
We didn’t pay much attention to our route. We decided to climb up to the ridge and then run it to the summit. Mt Lindeman is not a difficult climb.
Jim and I scrambled along the ridge. Enjoying the steepness and views on the other side of the ridge.
Then Jim and I were faced with what looked like a notch in the ridge. Jim went out to check it out.
Getting across the notch was a bit more exposed than I like without a rope. A 1000-foot drop on both sides is more than my stomach can handle.
I opted to wait for Jim on this side of the notch. Jim quickly worked his way over to the summit.
After Jim safely returned from the summit, we sat down to take a break. Looked across the basin. The other ridge looked a lot easier. That had to be the correct route.
We dropped down a few hundred feet and crosses the snowy basin.
When we reached the other ridge, we found a trail to the summit. Well, that was uneventful.
After taking in our smoky view, Jim and I headed back to camp.
We packed up and headed back down the steep trail.
The drop back to the car was crazy steep. It is so much easier to climb up steep trails than to drop down them. At least the brush was no longer wet.
Jim and I opted to camp next to the car instead of driving home. We try and avoid late night driving any more. One of the big bonuses of not having a job.