Completed: Norrish (Suicide) Creek FSR

[BC backroader]

Over coffee at Tim Hortons last night,my buddy Bill suggested that we go for a run up one of our favorite trails, Norrish Creek (Also known as Suicide Creek), since the weather was predicted to be a bit cooler than the record breaking heat wave that we've endured for the last 6 weeks, maybe even a little rain to help douse the almost 200 wildfires burning in the Province right now.

We met at our favourite little country cafe for breakfast, then headed up Hwy 7 to Dewdney, turned onto Hawkins-Pickle Road, and another 3 km to the start of the FSR. For the first 6 or 7km in, there were the usual vehicles parked at the start of hiking trails up the mountain, or at trails to fishing holes down the canyon at the creek, then we had the road to ourselves for several hours, meeting only one other truck, until we got to the top of the Norrish/Chehalis divide, where a powerline crew was working on the new transmission line that parallels an existing one. The crews have been working on this cross country project for a couple of years now, 7 days a week during good weather. The last couple of km climbing to the newest tower was a new, very steep road, ending right on the top of the divide. We stayed out of their way, and turned around for the trip back to pavement.

You often don't realize how high you've climbed, until you start the drive back down, and get to see the panoramic views as you descend. On the return run, we took a side trip along a deactivated old logging road, until I finally reached a cross trench that was deeper than I wanted to risk the truck in, where I made a multi-point back and forth turn on the narrow trail, and headed back to the main FSR, and out to home. Most of the roads were not quite rough enough to rate a 2, but the deactivated one had bits that would be 2.5 or 3. The only damage to the truck was a loosened tailpipe hanger that I scraped going through one of the deeper trenches, and it rattled pretty good as we drove on the washboard sections of the road out. I'll have to get it looked after in the next few days, before I hit the gravel again.

Some pics from the day: