12/17, Sunday. Forecast calls for a rainy week. So I headed to the mountains.
Buses on Sunday runs every hour, so I decided to walk all the way.
My first goal is a point marked as Cypress Mountain (not the one with ski area), The first hour is all on pavement, quite boring, view is okay, passing some nice big houses (with no yard) overlooking the south (yes, can see Mt Baker as I walked).
Once on the trail, well, not quite, it's a bad road only good for ATVs, I realized that the walking stick I brought along is no use. Looked for a tree branch. The road goes fairly close to the "summit", but not quite. I scrambled to the two bumps shown on map, but there are more than 2 high points in the vicinity. All are surrounded by trees, no view what-so-ever. Also, I was trespassing into the municiple watershed.
Disappointed at the non-"view", I changed from my next goal from Eagle Peak to White Rock t, hoping for a view. Also it's much closer.
It's close as the crow flies, but the road goes south and then you can hitch another road.
I cut across to connect the two 4x4 roads.
Had to go around south a bit, due to swampy ground. A couple of small ponds here.
Quite a lot of snow. Elevation ~800m. Bushwacking took much longer than I thought, even though it is not very bushy.
By the time I reached Cypress Lake, it was already 2:30pm (should have started earlier).
The lake is a flow control scheme to ensure adequate water in Noons Creek.
There's a large plaque about this.
I continued on the road (nicer with snow on it) to its blockade.
3 no-trespass signs.
The road continues for a little bit until a fault (wash-out?).
At the approximate junction to the White Rock trail, there's a camera and more no-trespassing sign.
I turned around. Couldn't see the trail under the snow, and it was getting late.
Encountered a girl with a dog at the turn to the lake.
Inquired about White Rock.
She said in summer people all trespass and hike up to the view point, and it's worth it.
On the way back, I took a different route, because I saw a viewpoint sign on my map.
A small opening through the trees.
Then it's a proper trail, albeit steep. Named "Massage Therapy".
Then more trail, all have funny names like: Fat Bastard, Decapitator, ...
Soft forest ground. Even though the trail is not always clear, it's not hard.
By the time I hit the road again, it was dark. Even though not 5pm yet, and it's a sunday, many cars on the road. So noisy, that I couldn't hear my headphone clearly.
