Parlee Mis-adventure

[Graham]

Well it was an interesting couple of days, not quite what I anticipated but entertaining none the less. We headed out early Wednesday morning and basicaly spent the whole day looking for the blasted place. Initialy we tried the Parlee Brook road. Wandered around there for a couple of hours ( Has any one seen all those cats at the abby? we drove by once and there were none, when we came back, there were over 15 and they kept coming!) We then drove over to what seems to be the main approach and got hopelessly confused with all the various logging roads. by then it was almost 4, and desperate to use our tools at least once in the 2 days we high tailed it down to the Quarry at Welsford in the hopes of finding ice. We camped out and the next morning found a thin smattering of ice. Well we climbed it out of frustraition, but by 1:00 the sun had all but fried the entire area.

So as I said, it wasn't quite what I had anticipated. It was entertaining, but not quite as satisfying. Next time I'll have to kidnap.....I mean "invite" someone along who knows the directions!

[mathieu]

Ahh, memories of PB. Don't worry, your efforts will be rewarded. I think the first time we ended up finding it at 2 pm. Seems you went in the direction of Poley Mtn then turned on the Parlee Brook road? Check out Joe Kennedy's site for direction, here's a link to his guidebook, I think the directions haven't changed since the first time we used them to find Parlee.

http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Rapids/6319/iceguide.doc

[Stef]

No worries Graham, no one finds it their first time A GPS really helps if you can get a hold of one. I might go in this weekend, PM me if you are interested.

Cheers,

Stef.

[Graham]

Arg! please don't mention that guide book. I don't mean to disrespect it whatsoever. But I think it may have been written for someone who has been there before but can't quite remember how to get there. We followed the directions, but the roads must have been changed. Oh well, we'll get it one of these days. Actually the GPS was the first thing we kicked ourselves for not bringing Live and learn eh?

[mathieu]

I heard that the logging roads have change considerably in the last few years. You think Parlee is hard, try finding little salmon river.

[Fred]

Sounds like you took the approach from the bottom. The approach from the top "Lisson Settlement Road" is much easier. The dirt roads have not changed on this approach but they have cut the trees so it's a bit disorienting. I just looked at the map on Joe's guidebook and I think if you can read topography (contour lines) it's a pretty good map (IMO).

[Shawn B]

Arg! please don't mention that guide book. I don't mean to disrespect it whatsoever. But I think it may have been written for someone who has been there before but can't quite remember how to get there. We followed the directions, but the roads must have been changed. Oh well, we'll get it one of these days. Actually the GPS was the first thing we kicked ourselves for not bringing Live and learn eh?

Blame not the guitar for your bad music. The roads haven't changed at all. Like Fred said, they have done considerable clear cutting but the roads are still there. If there is a lot of snow the roads might be a bit less discernable but thats not the case now. The topo while being small is accurate. Use the written directions along with the map and you should be fine. Don't just use one of them.

[Graham]

Blame not the guitar for your bad music

Fair enough.

The good thing that I was able to take out of this though, is that I now know where Parlee Brook ISN'T! and that at least counts for something.