Has Anyone Climbed Lake Echo?

[Ammex]

Before I got back into climbing I hiked the Salmon River trails in Lake Echo and remember passing a large amount of boulders and small cliffs. The round trip hike took us like 10 hours to do the whole loop and there are some extreme elevation changes, but if there are any clusters it might be worth a hike in. Since I wasn't climbing at the time I didn't examine anything too seriously but distinctly remember passing 10-20 large boulders and 3 faces and saying "could climb on that" to each one, and that's just on the one trail that we took. If the weather holds up I'll go out for a hike this weekend with a pad and a camera, but was just wondering if anyone's explored that area already?

44 45.625 N 63 23.790 W is parking for one of the trailheads.

[Quinn]

I've heard there is potential there - a guy who used to climb at GZ was pretty stoked on lake echo, but he never did any developing as far as I know. I'd be interested to know what's there.

[chameleon]

Lake Echo is the Schizzle!!!

[seanT]

Watch out for the crazy hillbilly that lives out that way...you might hear some dueling banjos...

[chameleon]

wheare's myyy knutt?

[Rich]

Lake Echo is SWWWEEEEETTT. Only one main area though - the "Ice box" , a little low-bally but lots of killer problems.

[Ammex]

I intend to get out sunday and take pictures of what I remember. Definately more to be had then some lowball problems!

[chameleon]

yep

[bns]

Lake echo is the flowers!!! and the ice box is the dopest joint in the hood. keep it real fools! Don't even think about messing with them gggs.

[jeremy benjamin]

Where is the ice box? Is it bouldering or routes? How many problems are there? I want to climb in Lake Echo too. Come on guys share the wealth. I promise not to touch your knutts.

[jeremy benjamin]

Ammex, what is up with the Salmon River trail. Is there places to camp along it. A 10 hour hike would make for a sweet overnight weekend, Especially if there are sweet boulders to be had along the way.

[stoneseeker]

Yeah, I am super curious too. Is this an area that has been partially developed? Whats the beta on getting to the icebox?
Jeremy, if you want to go pack light, and do some exploring/cleaning out there give me a call bro!

If I found enough easily accessed rock in Dartmouth, I would promptly dedicate a month to cleaning and developing it for the rest. Lets hear the scoop!

[Quinn]

Yeah, if it looks promising and there's work to be done, I'm in too. I live in Hali now, but I haven't forgot my Dartmouth roots. I'm down for some dirty work, but I'd also be stoked to GPS map and photograph the area and create an online guidebook.

[Ammex]

Ammex, what is up with the Salmon River trail. Is there places to camp along it. A 10 hour hike would make for a sweet overnight weekend, Especially if there are sweet boulders to be had along the way.

There is a wicked place to camp maybe 30-40% of the way through the loop I did. It's only meters froma beautiful lake, super flat, already has a small firepit and such. To to the entire loop it's like a 10-14 hours thing, but you can go in and out in much less time. There are 2 entrences, one from Rive Drive and one from Myra Road, so even the furthest place in wouldn't be more than say 2-3 hours, it just gets long when you turn it into a big loop.

There are some large boulders along the river path that I remember but there is lots of potential throughout including a pretty tall face with a nice path leading to the top and several large boulders. There was also a small face that had seemingly perfect granite stairs for the desent. The trails are maintained for the purpose of hiking, so it's a nice walk regardless.

Yeah, if it looks promising and there's work to be done, I'm in too. I live in Hali now, but I haven't forgot my Dartmouth roots. I'm down for some dirty work, but I'd also be stoked to GPS map and photograph the area and create an online guidebook.

I actually just registered a domain and paid for some hosting. I'd like to get a comprehensive guide online so that A) Newly found/lesser known areas can get developed quicker and explored by others and B) so out of towners can have all the info they need. I've started taking pictures of when I'm visiting and hopefully should get something started up soon.

[chameleon]

I promise not to touch your knutts.

well, sheeeyit I guess I'm not gonna show you the Ice Box then!!

[chameleon]

The area has been explored but only minimally developed.
In general the boulders are scattered and the rock is a little coarse. But there's definitely some potential here. Here's some info to feed your stoke....

Trail map from ns.gov somewhere:

From River Drive, the West Lake loop takes an hour if you run it. Hiking with a pad would be a bit of a slog but a fun adventure. Camping is possible.

Here's some places I've noticed. There are others.....

Lookout Loop ==================

Ice Wall – 25-30’ wall; 10 minutes on the lookout trail; dirty but with features; good for short n goofy ice/mixed climbing; possible bouldering on this wall – specially left of the cliff, as the trail rises; 1 boulder down hill in woods also looks ok.

Sharp Boulder – just before the trail bends left towards the Ice Wall, you can see a short whitish boulder off to the right ~100m from the trail. Sharp, short, but entertaining.

Cian’s Echo – right next to the trail. Arête on backside has V10 put up by Zig ~5 years ago. Also has 2 V3-V4ish rail traverses.

Highball - ~200m SE of Cian’s Echo (bushwhack) is a very high boulder (30’). Possible short route potential. Pretty dangerous for bouldering.

Lookout – potential below some sections of the lookout. I seem to remember a short overhanging crack. Prolly other stuff too.



West Lake Loop ================

Otter Boulder – Top of the ridge, right next to the trail before you start descending towards the West Lake loop. No problems yet (only a couple to be had) but I’ve long had my eye on a painful crimpfest. Guessing V8ish. There is cliff of sorts below this lookout and an otter pond at the bottom.

Crows Nest – not to be confused with Crows Nest in Terence Bay! This is a short dirty cliff with some tiered walls. Definite moderate bouldering potential on the tiers. I’ve cleaned a hand crack ~30 ft. on the right side of the cliff. Haven’t climbed it yet but it looks good. Have at ‘er.

Camp Boulders – established camp site next to lake. A big split boulder sits next to the camp with a fun scramble through the middle of it. A few possibilities around the campsite. Pretty sharp rock here though.

Old Age Boulder – V7 established here a few winters ago. See Zig’s website. [location on the map is a guess]

Lake Boulder – where the trail turns 90 deg and heads uphill there is a flat boulder on the lake. About 8’ high, it has some features facing the lake that might be interesting. Lots of lichen.

Hill Boulders – There’s a couple big ones in here on the slope. Should be a few lines possible. Arete/slab?

West Lake Roof – [see photo] a big chunk of rock with a few possibilities. Low roof at bottom with horizontal cracks for traversing. Some dihedrals in behind.

Burnside Boulders ==============
Todd F, Sean K and I checked these out years ago. You have to cross the river (wadeable at low water) and then slog up hill to an old burned area. The rock has very little lichen up here. Mostly small stuff but there are at least two worthwhile destinations. One is a wall ~20 feet above a ledge and the second is an overhanging prow. The second time I went up there I couldn’t find the prow. May have been taken by aliens.

River Trail ==================

Lake Wall - a short dirty wall by the lake. Scramble 100’ uphill and there is another short cliff. I’ve climbed a contrived rising traverse (L to R) from some underclings. Some potential here including an alluring high ball. Ice forms up on these two tiers in the winter.

Scout Boulders – I think these have good potential but have only looked at them once or twice. There’s about 3-4 boulders located ~200 m uphill of an old Scout Campsite (near top end of the lake). One of the boulders (20’ high) has a cool-looking square cut arête. [location on the map is a guess]

Split Boulder – 20m uphill of the trail, east side of river. Overhanging dihedral. Looks real hard but possible. Fairly clean. [location on the map is a guess]

River Boulder – this is a wicked boulder on the west side of the river. Good luck finding a spot to cross. Probably best to cross during low water at the end of the road. There is a trail. Zig and I played on this briefly. Awesome features on the overhang leads to a holdless slab finish. I don’t think Zig finished it. Couple other possibilities on this boulder too. [location on the map is a guess]

[Ammex]

Beautiful, exactly what I was talking about. I knew the boulders (that you could see from the trail) were quite spread but didn't know if there was anything near by in the woods that wasn't visible from the path. Good to know that my memory wasn't retarted and that some people know about these rocks.