Granite in the Valley

[eva]

I found two granite walls that look climbable (bouldering and top-roping) out by Sunken Lake, upper Gaspereau River area yesterday. Local experts who've been climbing in the Valley for a while (namely, Joel) probably already know of them, and can maybe give advice on accessibility, quality of the climbs available, and such? (Thanks!) But in the interest of starting to compile a climbing guide to the Valley, here's some directions. The pictures are too big to upload, so I'll post them on the Valley Climbing Geeks Facebook group, or send them to you if you email me.

Notes:
*They will need cleaning.
*Bugs will be an issue at the second face, no doubt.
*Wear hiking boots for the trails in; these are wilderness areas.
*Darn it, we saw several beer bottles at various points along the river on the hike yesterday, an empty cigarette pack, and one or two other items. Such a beautiful area, and then litter. Not cool. Pack out your trash. And if you bring a trash bag with you and help clean up litter that other people have left, you will officially be one of my heroes.


First area: Little River Falls

This is a pretty waterfall on a tributary to the Gaspereau River, not too far upstream. The pool at the base of the waterfall looks like it would be good for a swim, too.

Driving there: Take Deep Hollow Road out past the bridge in White Rock, then take your first right onto Lower Sunken Lake Road. At the spot at the corner of the lake where the road takes a left and you can see water from the road, there is a logging road on the right (across from the lake). A short ways down this logging road, there is a gate (open both times I've been in), and on the right before the gate is an atv track. 2-4 cars can park here, making sure not to block the entrance to the atv track. You can also park out on Sunken Lake Road and walk in (it's not far).

Walking in: Head down the atv track. After, mm, maybe a five minute walk at a medium pace? there's an overgrown little trail on the right. It is marked by orange tape on two trees on either side of the trail. Follow this trail (there's one spot early on where it looks like it maybe splits - keep right if you are unsure), up and down a little, past a nice lookoff at the top of the left face (you can see across to the right face through some trees, but can't quite see the falls), down a steep slope, and around to the left to come out at the falls. There's a granite face to the left of the falls (below the lookoff) that starts about halfway up (steep dirt below), but looks cleaner. There's another face starting closer to ground level to the right of the falls. You can easily rock-hop across the stream. There weren't obvious trails leading up to either face, but some little-used trails might exist, and the underbrush is light.


Second area: let's call it... Firepit Island?

The face is not on the island, but that's the adjacent landmark. A smaller face, but a little easier to get to both the top and bottom of (the left face by Little River Falls is easy to get to the top of, but getting to the bottom without rappelling would involve a little bit of a scramble probably; the reverse for the right face).

One set of directions:
Preliminary directions: Pack river sandals/water shoes and wear pants that convert to shorts or that you can roll up above the knee. Go to Little River Falls.

After that: Follow the trail downstream a short ways (about 5 minutes) until you come to the Gaspereau River. Keep following the trail downstream. You'll cross a couple other little streams that feed into the river - easy crossings all. Then there will be an island in the river. Wade across to the island (eg. at the spot about halfway down the island). You'll note a firepit toward the lower end of the island. Looks like a nice spot for hanging out around a campfire. Walk back up to the top of the island, then cross again to the opposite bank of the river. On that opposite bank, just upstream from the island, is a granite face kind of hidden in the trees. Again, no obvious trails leading to it, but the underbrush is relatively light.

Alternate directions?
I think that the trail on this side of the river probably comes out at some logging or camp roads, which would not involve any river crossings or wading (unless you wanted to get out to the island and have a fire in the firepit). I'll post an update whenever I get the chance to do some more exploring.


Other Gaspereau River bouldering or climbing possibilities:

The Firepit Island site is just above the section of the Gaspereau River where the ravine gets really steep. Unfortunately the exposed rock is no longer granite in the steepest part of the ravine (sorry Andrew), but the same sort of rock as at the White Rock bouldering site or at the Old Mill site. There are quite a few little cliffs (bouldering size) along the river and up the bank near the top of the ravine, and maybe two larger looking cliffs (both on the north side - the left bank if you are facing downstream). Note: all river crossings mentioned involved wading through maximum knee-deep water this past mid-June weekend after a rainy week. The water would of course be running higher and faster earlier in the spring. Please exercise caution.

One of the larger looking cliffs was at the top of a rock slide closer to the top of this steep section, and can perhaps be accessed from the logging roads on that side of the river - some exploration would need to be done to find/make a trail. You might not see the cliff itself through the trees if you are not particularly looking for it, but you will likely notice the rock slide through the trees - it extends along half a km or so. We were on the opposite bank, so I didn't get a chance to scramble up and check out this cliff up close without trees blocking my view. Accessing it from the Little River Falls trailhead (which is the closer trailhead) would involve a 2-2.5 hour hike on more difficult trail, some river crossing, and then scrambling up a rock slide. Probably not worth it.

The other larger-looking cliff comes right out of the water, and is just upstream from the major bend. You could potentially access it by bushwhacking a little farther from where the trail that comes up that side of the river from the bridge in White Rock makes it's first river crossing (in other words, where the trail on that side of the river ends), but that's some nasty scrambling through steep, loose dirt, downed trees, and swarming bugs. If you're climbing this cliff, you're going to be standing in the river to belay anyways, so likely aren't afraid of a little wading. This cliff is about an hour and a half walk in, on relatively easy trail (plus river crossing).

The smaller, bouldering-size cliffs are all in the section upstream of the major bend where the topo lines get very close together on the map. This area is a good two-hour hike plus one or two river crossings down the river from the entrance trail at Little River Falls, or up the river from the bridge on Deep Hollow Road in White Rock, however, so these sites are more remote and harder to access than the sites of comparable rock composition at Old Mill and White Rock. I would not recommend it unless you're going for the hike as well as the bouldering.


Eva

[Scooter]

Sweet let us know when you post pics on the group!

[eva]

With apologies to non-Facebook users:

left face, Little River Falls:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?op=1& ... 6179696128

right face, Little River Falls:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?op=1& ... 6179696128

Firepit Island site:
http://www.facebook.com/photo_search.ph ... =827055553

-Eva

[Nette]

Hey Eva,

I was going to go out there and clean it, would you be up for that after work today?

Andrew

[SeanM]

I might be up for that after work tomorrow, Nette. Get in touch if you think you're still interested.

[Nette]

There's some great potential for some sport climb's at little river falls but it will need some serious cleaning of moss and choss. Eva and I got out yesterday and started brushing and prying loose rock. I didn't seem much for trad but we'll see once the face starts to get cleaner. I think it will be the highest route valley! (that doesn't really say much). If anyone is keen on helping clean these routes let me know.

Andrew

[eva]

I did bring home a couple ticks, though:(

[Nette]

Yeah, I had a couple crawling up my leg when I got home. I think they are dear ticks too. Just have to be careful

[eva]

I put mine in a ziplock bag (two, double-bagged, actually), and brought them in to DNR in Kentville. Three of them were too big to be deer ticks for sure, but one was a bit smaller, so they were going to send it out somewhere for testing.

Ticks shouldn't be quite as much of a problem after we clear some trails.