One nearby alpine area that we'd been hearing about for some time now is Alps Alturas, located NE of New Denver high in the mountains on the edge of Goat Range Provincial Park. With the weather clear, hot and dry, and with none of the usual mid-summer smoke haze in the air, we decided ato make Friday the day to explore this new area.
Nearly an hour brought us to the Wilson Creek East FSR for the start of a further 25 km of climbing to the trailhead on the border of the Goat Range. Thankfully it got a bit cooler as we climbed but another vehicle accompanying us couldn't handle the grades without overheating, so they turned back.
Nearly an hour brought us to the Wilson Creek East FSR for the start of a further 25 km of climbing to the trailhead on the border of the Goat Range. Thankfully it got a bit cooler as we climbed but another vehicle accompanying us couldn't handle the grades without overheating, so they turned back.
By 10 am we were ready to hike with about 500 m of elevation gain remaining. Even arriving at the trailhead was scenic, with the FSR edging around large mountains with incredible vistas opening up below us and into the distance.
A short hike through the woods brought us to lush alpine meadows and increasingly fantastic views in almost all directions. The trail curved around the base of Mt Dolly Varden and on to a lake at the base of Mt Martens. We had clear views to the Denver Glacier in the Valhallas and the glacier and peaks of Kokanee Glacier Park in the distance, and the myriad of other peaks in all directions.
Having scrambled to the top of a minor hill and enjoyed our lunch amid all this scenery, we hiked back down, rattled our way down the FSR, cooled off in the waters of Slocan Lake and headed for home.
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