Conair @ Stoyoma – Let’s Get It Together

Our first event held September Long Weekend 2008, the event was the trip in & camping portion of the weekend. Some that attended also had the goal to claim a cache called Conair @ Stoyoma. The camping would occur at Cabin Lake and the hike to the cache was not mandatory.

We left Boston Bar with our teams in place and headed towards Cabin Lake. Based on the backroads map books the most logical road to take would be Spious, but we strongly believe there is a wash out along this road. In Nov of 2007 we attempted to take that route coming from the East side and ran across a road that even the snowmobiles weren’t going through that was becoming overgrown with willows. To date we have not attempted it from the West side and welcome updates on it.

We took the Utilzus FSR from Boston bar making our way through the twists and turns and made only one wrong turn along the route. As none of the roads are clearly marked, this can easily occur even if you’ve been on the road before. Approximately 2 hours of travel time should be allowed through this section until you get to the “shortcut”, this short cut occurs once you complete the Utilzus FSR and come to a beautiful river with a small bridge.  There is a road that heads North with a "woodlot kind of sign", you turn up that road and marks the point where you depart North for a bit.   Quickly after that you will be turning left near a cattleguard.  This shortcut is also referred to a “mini-whipsaw”, although it is not near as severe and can be travelled in a stock Jeep or Ford Ranger.

If one is opting to take this section of road, be prepared to go a bit slower, and carry a chainsaw, it is not uncommon to run across fresh deadfall that has recently fallen. This section runs for about an hour and adds a bit of fun to the trip. Upon completion of this section you will come out on a main road, here you need to turn West as you near your final goal. We do recommend that you use the coordinates of “Let’s Shack Up #2 – Cabin Lake” as your destination coordinates, it well help you make the correct turns.

There again is limited signage along the route and many dead end spurs can be found, if you take the roads to the left you should find your way quicker. It is 3 right turns, and the  final one is a right.
 

The final section to Cabin Lake is somewhat rough, again can be travelled with a stock For Ranger or Jeep. With regards to trailers, only modified 4-Wheel drive trailers with good ground clearance should be taken and only those with plenty of experience. There is no space to turn around on this section.

As we made the final approach to Cabin Lake (keep in mind that this is September 3rd) we were greeted with the refreshing image of fresh fallen snow on the leaves. We blamed the snow on a travel bug we had named Jingle Bells, she brought us lots of snow during the months of August & September! We shook our heads and continued on the final (fill in) kms to Cabin Lake.

Upon arriving at Cabin Lake we were greeted with the beautiful sight that it is, serene, quiet and again some fresh snow fall. There were two other groups camped out there, one was not belonging to the planned events, but Zuuk was there already and had written out the word GEO on the hood of his car as a greeting for us. Unfortunately they had had vehicle trouble on the way up and had been ill prepared for the weather that had greeted them.

As a forewarning, this is extremely high elevation and one should be prepared for all types of weather and for sudden and severe weather changes. The nights will be chilly and weather can go from shorts to parkas within 3 minutes. Layer very well!

Those of us that had travelled together set up our tents & camp and then joined in with those already there and got to know one another. Then we all settled in for the evening, those in their tents and us in the back of the Suburban. We awoke around 10 am to a beautiful Sunny morning with the Whiskey Jacks flying around stealing Princess Millie’s dog food. The sun glistened off the lake and excitement was in the air as we had breakfast and prepared for our hike into the crashed airplane.

Unfortunately the group that arrived before us was not able to make the hike as they needed to prepare to go home & deal with the vehicle problems they were having. Daylight was the best time to travel & they did make the trip home safe.

We left at about noon, with as much gear as we could lightly take. This included a small amount of food, an emergency blanket, bear spray, change of clothes and first aid kit. Even though it is only a 2 ½ hour hike in, with the sudden weather changes you do want to be prepared and not have to turn back. The trail started along the East end of the lake and continued along the North Shore.

All together there were 6 of us that hiked in, and Princess Millie. We continued on to the end of the lake, for those that are interested you do NOT go over the rocky portion to the “tip” of the peak in front of you at this point. You travel along a gentle incline that is marked with flagging tape. If you are planning on making this trip – we do recommend new flagging tape be added. There is some that is marked Geocache that is available from Worldcaching.

The hike is absolutely beautiful, the views amazing & the variety of wildflowers you will find awe inspiring. We took many pictures along the way; some photos almost appear to be a reverse negative of the mountains in the background as there was a small amount of snow that was highlighting the ridges of the mountain of sheer rock in the background. The hike we would consider to be mild, there are no severe inclines along the way and can be made in about 2 ½ hours with out “speeding”, this allows time to take photo’s enjoy the views and make the most out of the experience.

During the hike there we experienced many types of weather, rain, snow, sleet and hail. As we had prepared well for this it made the hike much easier as we added and removed layers as necessary.

We completed the majority of the hike and came into a beautiful field of heather in the open valley, and it occurred to Mr. Turtle that it was called the Heather Basin Trail for the Heather you will find here, not after a woman. It did create a chuckle moment between those in the group. We could see the glint of the metal in the distance of the fallen airplane and it created a quiet moment of contemplation as it hit us the reality of what lay before us.

This was more then just an Ammo Box in the Forrest, it was more then a great hike to a breathtaking site, it was a tribute to a fallen hero who gave his life to help others. We continued through the meadow, making our way around to it slowly. The meadow right in front of us seemed to be a bit wet so we took the guaranteed dry area. At this point the most severe hail was upon us but as we made our way towards the plane it suddenly turned to a beautiful warm sunshine, as if the Sprit of Eric Yuill had decided to shine down and provide us warmth and to make the most of the experience without feeling hurried due to the weather.

We quickly found the cache, and then made our way up the scramble to the highest point of the fallen plane. We do recommend being careful when making the ascent the rocks can be somewhat unsteady and try to ensure that no one is directly below you that could be hit.

At the top you will find it truly hits you as you look at where you are, the pieces below and realize the force at which he hit, the fire that followed and the remarkable ability for so much of it to continue to exist today.

More recently a new piece of the storey has come about on the cache page, the post reads:

I was at the Blue Lake resort the day that the plane went down. He buzzed over us a few times and we could tell he was having difficulties. I was with the Forestry fire suppression crew boss and he was relaying the bombers position to the tanker base at Abbotsford, Unfortunatly the pilot was unable to find any clear sky. He was reported overdue about an hour later and as I recall was not located for about three weeks.

(anynSR.)

We spend about 30 minutes exploring the site and then decided it was time to head back, the weather was still sunny at this time. As soon as we moved 30 meters away from the plane the heavens opened up and it snowed again. We have never experienced such amazing & sudden weather changes, it does make one realize what it would have been like to live here.

The cabin that is at Cabin Lake, how long would they have lived here, what brought them here in the middle of no where, who was the family? So many questions that do have answers but at the time we didn’t know them.

We made the hike back with excited conversation on what we had seen, and elation that it wasn’t as difficult as we had imagined, and reflection on the memories that would last a life time. We got into camp at about 5:30 and realized that in 5 ½ hours we had experienced something that would follow us through our life. Best Red & Teskelly opted to leave right away to head home, Ashton & Natasha stayed a bit longer as we enjoyed dinner before leaving.

We highly recommend this trip for anyone that is capable; it does not require one to be in “their best physical shape”. Mr. Turtle & I are far from ideal shape, we usually drive to our caches, but made it without too much exertion. Just prepare for the weather, bring a good tent & your camera.

What the original plane looked like - for those that are wondering -