The fall colors are really getting good these days so we've been going out for short excursions close to home. On Monday, we did a short hike along the flanks of Mt Buchanan in hopes of finding a trail to the top. No luck on that, but there were good views up and down the lake and we did find another forest service road that would make for good skiing once we get snow. The fall trees and other plants were very nice and we were also getting some sun which was a big plus after a couple of weeks of grey cloud and rain.
On Tuesday I explored the Milford Creek FSR which is a few kms north of Kaslo. We've driven past it many times and I've always wanted to know what was up there. Tuesday morning looked promising for weather so I was off before 8 am. After a 9 km drive which took me very high above Kootenay Lake, with the accompanying great views and the final narrow, steep track 4x4 track, the lake appeared in the woods. Too small to be bothered with bringing a canoe up, but cute, none the less. I extimated that the top of this road was about 800+ meters above Kootenay Lake which made for some pretty great views. After a quick visit, I headed back down and zipped up another FSR for a few more views of Kootenay Lake.
Finally, this morning we decided to try the road to the summit of Mt Buchanan which overlooks Kaslo just to the north of town. There's an old fire lookout up there which can be reached after a 12 km partially deactivated logging road. We ran into snow near the top and needed full 4x4 driving to manage the last km or so of the road. I'd estimate that the summit of Mt Buchanan is about 1 km above the Lake with views up and down almost its entire length, up Keen Creek into Kokanee Provincial Park and something to the north that I think might have been the Bugaboos. Mt Loki was snow-covered and very prominent to the SE. Unfortunately, we went looking for access to a possible ridge walk, but the snow was already a problem and we didn't seem to be anywhere near any ridge that would be easily hikable (ie: not in thick forest). We did find the end (and the beginning) of the hiking trail to the summit of Mt Buchanan which we will try one of these days.
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