Susie at the Slesse Memorial:
“Susie, Paula, Astrid, Marcelo and Maria met at Edmonds at 8 am, and were parked at the old trailhead just before 10 after 4×4-ing up the Nesakwatch Creek road. Some 2WD drive vehicles had made it about 2 km up the road, but then been stopped by a rough stretch. We hiked 10 minutes up the logging road to the new trailhead, and discovered that this stretch of road is also driveable now. The recent logging in the area is probably why the road has been fixed. We were happy to get on the trail proper, and soon found ourselves at the somewhat scary creek crossing. As Maria observed once she was on the other side, it was an exercise in conquering fear. Now we were into some really beautiful old growth forest and we all exclaimed at the softness of the trail underfoot. We joined the original trail and hiked on up at a very gentle grade. Unfortunately cloud obscured what is usually a stunning view over to Mount Rexford and the Illusion Peaks. The odd bit of drizzle fell, but we were getting wetter from the foliage on the trail than from the sky. We lunched at the memorial site with dramatic views into the Slesse Cirque, waterfalls pouring down all around the bowl and a chilly breeze blowing off the glaciers. We decided to head on to the propeller cairn, and the trail changed dramatically from a very ancient logging road to a scramble through very wet encroaching blueberry bushes. Must be bear heaven in late summer. We started to run into snow as we reached the top of the ridge, and were eventually turned back by a snow bridge that clearly wasn’t going to bear our weight. However we were now looking down into the Slesse cirque from above, and were satisfied with our destination. We were back in Burnaby just before 6, having all enjoyed our day very much. This is a great hike.”
