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SUMMARY: A moderate hike with an easy scramble at the end.create
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Gotcha Peak
Jul 1, 2014
Superlative views from an easy scramble near Blowdown Pass. Getting to the peak from the pass is simple and obvious, and the photo in the Scrambles book is only needed for backup. There is even a faint track in places and some small rock cairns. There is snow on this part of the ascent and it's highly variable: one minute you're walking fine, the next you're up to your nether regions in snow. That took the shine off the trip for a while as you had to test every step to make sure you didn't disappear into a tiger trap. So we were very glad to hit solid ground again for the relatively steep scramble over boulders to gain the summit area. No issues here - just standard boulder crossing, watch for wobbly rocks. Then onto more snow, thankfully firmer and we were at the summit. Great views, but not of Blowdown Lake itself. The descent is by the same route.
The hike up the 4wd road was as easy/boring as ever though the hot blazing sun made it a bit of a slog. Watch for 4wd vehicles along the road - we met a Ford Explorer descending as we headed up (had a pleasant chat with the occupants), and an ATV as we headed down. We even met a guy with a rifle (we had bear spray - who'd win that contest?) and we completely forgot to ask why...
The Blowdown FSR is still 2wd but may require modest clearance and a bit of skill to get through the water bars, of which there are now quite a few in the first couple of km. They're not deep water bars, but they are sharp, so the nose of the car dips down a lot if you approach them head-on (tip: don't do that!). Also they are hard to spot so keep your speed down! Watch for flagging at the roadside. I got a bit over-confident and clonked the underside of our CR-V a couple of times... Oops. Beyond 2 km, there's a long stretch with no water bars, but then there are a few more that have been dug where avalanche debris has run across the road. These have running water in them and are a bit muddy. You may lose traction momentarily. The climb at the 9-km turnoff is quite rough and has many golf-ball sized rocks on it. With the road being dry it might be possible for some lower clearance cars to get through the remaining few water bars, otherwise it's an extra km or so each way.
Flower report: I'm sad to say that the glacier lily show is pretty much done already :-( A few still bloom along the road, and patches are visible waaaay up the slopes of Gott Peak, but the lower slopes now have different yellow flowers. Lots of spring beauty, though, and more phlox than we've ever seen anywhere else. Plenty of white and green bog orchids (mostly along the FSR). Lots of paintbrush along the FSR, none on the trail yet. Marshy areas have marsh marigolds and western anemone plus some subalpine buttercups. A few localized blooms of columbine, valerian and common butterwort.
Animal report: marmots near Blowdown Pass, including a pair that were boxing like hares. Lots of chipmunks on the FSR, running hell-for-leather with their tails up. We heard (but didn't see) pikas. Some bear scat on the lower part of the FSR; no bear signs higher up. Bugs were mostly non-existent on the trail but lots of mosquitoes near the trailhead.
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