The Goat Lake Hydroelectric Plant turnoff is about a mile above customs and about 500 feet above the river. The road down to the power plant is closed with a gate, which we walked around. While we were down there the road mysteriously doubled in length, so the climb back up was longer than the walk down.
Once you cross the river on the pipe, it is easy to find the old wagon road and follow it along, even though the forest has reclaimed it all. However, downstream the entire hillside is overgrown with Devil's Club so we went upstream. The whole forest is covered in moss. The ground is like walking on sponges. We were afraid we would fall right through into a cavern or something. 
Cutting a road through this area must have been formidable. Even today, with a bulldozer, it would be a serious undertaking. The hillside is steep, with solid cliffs of granite everywhere. There are many caves suitable for bear hibernation. Guess I won't go there in early spring!
We hiked as far as Pitchfork Falls and the water was too high to cross, so that was the end of that. The only relic we found was the old telegraph wire that is strung from tree to tree. The trees have grown so the wire passes right through them, and in places, the trees have fallen and taken the wire down. There is so much moss and needle/leaf mulch that anything dropped would now be covered over. A metal detector would be a big help, but since we weren't supposed to move anything.....
It was raining lightly while we were out there. Nobody slipped on the wet pipe, but getting on and off at each end was dicey.
I don't think Erin, at customs, believed that the six of us had just gone up to take pictures of Pitchfork Falls, but I guess when she ran our passports she could tell that we all drive through there a lot, so she didn't hassle us too much. She is one of the nice ones; she even attended the potluck for the stricken driver.
4 comments:
So you are in Canada (which is still a foreign country) and you ignore signs telling you there is danger and you should keep out, you get around locked gates and go over pipes and continue up an old abandoned roadbed that is not supposed to be accessible, you admit that some parts of the travel were a bit dicey . . . hmmm - sounds like exploring Hopewell and other old mines sites around here. You could have had trouble but you didn't, so I am glad you had another adventure and saw some more wild country.
All true Margie but remember Don was along to supervise and provide the correct tools if needed.
And he carried the tools..where?
Thank you, Margie, for your concern.
Now, for you and anyone else on the tour who wasn't paying attention earlier....the U.S. Customs building is 8 miles inside Alaska. It was put there for logistical reasons:ie; city water would not have to be pumped, city power and telephone were available without long, expensive lines, and there is no way around it due to the canyon. Canada Customs is 6 miles the other side of the border because the railroad had already established a well there, power is provided by diesel generator, and they didn't have telephone (they used radio) until cell came along.
When we went on the tour with Stan, he made it clear that HE couldn't take the liability of taking us over on a rainy day, but that with the hand rails, it was safe enough, and that there is almost never anyone there, and how easy it is to get around the gate.
There were six of us to help each other out, so it isn't like Don and I heading out alone.
And we did NOT ignore the Danger Keep Out signs, we took pictures of them.
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