Batchawana Mountain (3.0 miles; d=4.90)
Read MoreBatchawana Mountain Hike Route Map
A rough approximation of the track of my hike up Batchawana Mountain, depicted a la Google Earth...
Batchawana Mountain Hike Route Map
A rough approximation of the track of my hike up Batchawana Mountain...
Trans Canada Highway-Mile 38 Road Junction -- 650'
Mile 38 Road was my turn off the Trans Canada. Its just north of the scenic Chippewa Falls area...
Mile 38 Road Trailhead -- 1,200'
After 15 miles of bone-jarring gravel road I finally reached the parking area...
Mile 38 Road Trailhead -- 1,200'
The trail took off up the ridge directly behind the shelter...
Batchawana Mountain 'Trail' -- 1,300'
My vague directions were to "follow the trail road until it stops going up, then head left into the trees..."
Batchawana Mountain 'Trail' -- 1,460'
I estimated this to be the high point on the ridge and almost convinced myself this looked like a trail...
Batchawana Mountain 'Trail' -- 1,600'
See, it looks like a trail, doesn't it? Maybe I wouldn't have to bushwhack after all...
Batchawana Mountain 'Trail' -- 1,700'
Unfortunately the "trail" soon started looking like this...
Batchawana Mountain 'Trail' -- 1,800'
Finding this moose print was cool but also made me nervous as the thick brush would likely hide one of these big fellas until I ran right into 'em...
Batchawana Mountain 'Trail' -- 1,900'
At this point right here all impressions of a trail ended. From here it would be a full-on bushwhack straight up the mountain...
Batchawana Mountain 'Trail' -- 2,000'
As I struggled higher the terrain got more rocky, which I took as a good sign...
Batchawana Mountain 'Trail' -- 2,100'
After what seemed like an hour (more like 20 minutes) I broke out onto the Juniper mat below the summit...
Batchawana Mountain 'Trail' -- 2,100'
A thick carpet of juniper covers the steep western side of Batchawana's summit. At this latitude plant life is very slow to recover so I tried to step lightly...
coach outlet
on January 14, 2011A wonderfully lit, evocative picture.
Derek
on January 19, 2009Very informative post! And thanks for cross-posting it to http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/447748/batchawana-mountain.html. I had wanted to climb Batchawana from the east side this summer, after climbing Griffin Lake Peak (East-Northeast of Batchawana), but the trail disappeared on route from Griffin Lake over to Batchawana. I'll be back to do it via your route sometime soon!