Across the Sheep River

Sun. 11 March:  Across the Sheep River

There’s another world across the Sheep River.  In spring and summer, high waters make access very difficult. But come here in winter and you can simply stroll across the ice, and enter this magical world.

Today, “simply strolling across the ice” was an adventure in itself.  The top three or four inches of ice had formed a crystalline structure which crackled loudly as we stepped through it.  But the surface was solid underneath.  This has been a mild winter, and soon the ice will be melting.  It turned out that the skating pond at Sandy McNabb, where my colleague J and I started today’s walk, would be closed for the season tomorrow.

Our trail is called Price Camp, and it heads west above the south bank of the Sheep River, crosses over into March Creek, swings north over a low hillside, before swinging east again to join Sheep Trail and recross the river in a deep canyon.

At the western end of the trail is a huge open meadow, hidden in the folds of the forested hills.  Here many years ago Mr. Price had a large logging camp.  There was very little snow in the meadow, and in crossing March Creek we had managed to get our feet wet – we agreed that it should be renamed MarSh Creek.

Here we noticed a set of very large cat paw prints in the snow heading in the same direction as we were, down the hillside.  There had been reports of a large cat (cougar?) in these parts not many years ago.  If I was a cougar, I’d pick the south side of the Sheep River for my prowling ground – away from 99% of the tourists – apart, that is, from Passionate Hikers!

The trail finally drops steeply down to the dramatic steep-sided canyon where once again we strolled across the ice.  Here in a few weeks a raging river will be sweeping round the wide curves.  It’s quite a slog up to the Sheep Trail and the closed road high above on the opposite bank.  Stopping for a snack, we were surprised to see a guy striding up the trail just a few minutes behind us.  He wore shorts and seemed dressed more for summer than winter.  But he clearly knew the area well, and described an interesting route he had taken up onto Mt.McNabb, the high ridge on the southern skyline opposite.

Our final leg took us along the pretty Sheep Trail, the first part of which hugs the edge of a precipitous cliff high above the river canyon.  Soon we were strolling along the Sandy McNabb ski trails – mostly now melted – and back to the car.

This was a good warm-up trip for J, whose next hike will be in Amazon country.  As for me, what can I do to match today’s exciting stroll into another world?

Statistics
Price Camp/Sheep Trails
Sun. 11 March
Total Dist.	10.0  km (hike) +   2.0 km(‘shoe)  = 12.0 km
Height Gain	200 ft.
Max. Elev.	4,951 ft.
Time	4 hrs. 5 mins.

Other Stats.
Start hike:      8.36 am Mt. McN Jn:   9.41 am Price Camp: 10.20 am Sheep R:      11.10 am Ret. to car:   12.41 pm	Temp: +3 to +9 deg.C Blue skies, a few clouds.  Breeze picks up later.