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发表于 2007-7-9 14:53:26
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See the article by Straight.com Vancouver published in 2004
Outside
Seton Ridge Yields a Canada Day Epiphany
Outside By Jack Christie
Publish Date: June 24, 2004
Seton Lake near Lillooet is one of the prettiest sights in B.C. If you've travelled around the province, you know that's saying something. For starters, although the hues of many mountain lakes change with the seasons, Seton's intense turquoise colouration remains almost constant year-round.
Another reason to single out Seton is that for such a large lake (more than 20 kilometres long), there are only a limited number of vantage points from which to view it. Until BC Rail eliminated passenger service between Vancouver and Prince George, train travellers enjoyed a full-length view of the lake from the narrow strip of land that separates it from Anderson Lake and Seton Creek's outflow west of Lillooet.
The easiest place to view Seton Lake is from the B.C. Hydro recreation area at the chilly lake's east end outside Lillooet, where you'll find a broad stretch of sandy beach and some picnic tables. (B.C. Hydro also maintains the nearby Seton Dam campground.) A leafy row of acacia trees planted in 1942 by Lillooet residents to honour war dead shades the shoreline, a welcome relief in summer. Typically, a strong onshore wind helps moderate the summer heat, which in this region routinely sets national high-temperature readings in July and August. Nearby, the Seton Bluffs dominate the skyline on the shore opposite the beach.
Last Canada Day, I had a chance to view the lake from an entirely fresh perspective: atop Seton Ridge, a wedge of crumbling granite that rises between Duffey Lake Road and Cayoosh Creek to the south, and Seton Lake to the north. So steep is the arid slope there above Cayoosh Creek that until I actually drove the road that leads to the trailhead I wouldn't have though it possible to reach the ridge except on foot or by horseback. (Decades ago, that's exactly how the original trail was cut by a local prospector.)
Thanks to logging on the less steep lake side, a wide and well-maintained gravel road switchbacks six kilometres to the ridge. From there, a single-track trail leads six kilometres farther into the alpine.
Seton Ridge rises gradually westward to the foot of a string of glaciated peaks that top out at 2,880 metres above Downton Creek, one of Cayoosh Creek's major tributaries in the region north of Duffey Lake Provincial Park. (Duffey Lake is Cayoosh's headwaters). On this July morning, the most pleasant discovery about the trail that leads up and along the ridge was the profusion of wildflowers that lined the way. Orange-yellow western trumpet honeysuckle blossoms and bright-orange tiger lilies stood out in sharp contrast to the dark forest floor, the colours augmented by splashes of blue-green as the surface of Seton Lake, with its constant whitecaps, intermittently flashed into sight.
Two hours of steady hiking brought me out of the forest into a clearing from where I could sense that the wide-open alpine wasn't far ahead. A change in the tree composition from mountain hemlocks to subalpine firs confirmed this place as a transition zone. Stubby black cones adorned fir branches. And although the trail proved challenging at times, the fact that it was cut to suit pack horses meant the route was never extreme.
An hour later, lush meadows appeared, speckled with paintbrush in a spectrum of reds and oranges. Blue arctic lupine and creamy-white western anemone grew so thickly that I was hard-pressed to find a rest spot where I wouldn't crush any. With all the blossoms, it was hardly surprising to be dive-bombed by hummingbirds. At the same time, it was so quiet that a passing bumblebee sounded like a B-52. A black-eyed junco appeared and gave me the once-over as if it remembered me.
What a place to bring binoculars. I scanned the peaks that rose in a broad swath before me. This view was a mountaineer's dream, testament to why the Cayoosh Range has been a favourite with Vancouver climbers and backcountry skiers for years. An enormous gendarme (a large rock outcropping) thrust up from one scree slope. The snow-draped peaks contrasted vividly with arid Mission Ridge on the north side of the lake. Beyond it in the far distance, a row of peaks marked the South Chilcotin Range.
It hardly mattered that the trail petered out above the tree line. The terrain was so wide open that I no longer needed a path to find my way; I just needed more time than I had left to explore. I stood and wondered why no one else was hiking here, especially on such a fine day. Other than birds, the only sign of life I'd seen was length of wolf scat. Just at that moment, an American mountain biker and his Swedish girlfriend appeared. As with one mind, we toasted the land.
ACCESS: To find the unmarked access road that leads to Seton Ridge, head 71.5 kilometres north on the Duffey Lake Road (Highway 99) from Mount Currie (165 kilometres north of Vancouver on 99). Watch for a yellow bridge that spans Cayoosh Creek, where a sign warns of trucks turning. (If you overshoot this mark, watch for another sign that reads "Lillooet 20" and backtrack to the bridge.) Five switchbacks lead to a flat area on the ridge where the trail begins. |
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