2022/07/23 – Port Alberni (east) – Day 2 – Yellow Creek Mine, Arrowsmith

The Day 2 plan was pretty simple Yellow Creek mine and explore around Arrowsmith.

The mine was new, but it turned out I was retracing my footsteps from 2016 for much of the exploring around Arrowsmith. I really do need to go back up there with hiking gear and a buddy.

(p.s. I’m unsure if it is properly called Yellow Creek Mine (common usage) or Yellows Creek Mine… the creek seems to be called Yellows Creek, but the mainline and the mine seem to drop the “s”.)

Fortunately I didn’t need to go in alone. A quad came up while I was putting on a jacket and mounting my head lamp. We went in the full length and looked up the air shaft at the end. It would have been nice to have climbed up and gotten GPS coordinates for the top, but I’d need more/better lights.

Folks have apparently been making a loop up Yellows Creek Main and Copp Main… unfortunately for me the gate on Copp main was closed. Fortunately the EXC is a fairly light bike and because I was going downhill (escaping again) I was able to get up on the bank and squeeze around the outside of the block. Doubling back wouldn’t have been the end of the world.

Throwback picture. Tony and I stopped here for lunch in 2016. Lots of newts in the lake/pond, and lots of mosquitos in the air.

Mosaic has been doing their normal “badwill” thing, blocking access to places people used to go. On the flip side, what used to be a busy river spot is now reserved for folks that can go around obstacles, making it a good private spot for a bath.

Same spot. Basically where Cameron Main crosses the river on the way to Pass Main.

I thought I was going to make it back to the campsite fairly early, but I ended up spending 90 minutes online working at this office (leaning against the tree in the foreground).

With luck, I’ll get the gopro footage edited. There is lots of it, but there won’t be that much to show. As the days went, excluding the mine, this was the least memorable.