Little White Mountain...

[tsayta]

Anyone know of a southern/ western approach? Say from Big Meadow?

[Graham Adder]

Anyone know of a southern/ western approach? Say from Big Meadow?

I was up that way a few years ago and recall it being pretty well marked off the...um...is it 401 fsr?

[Relentless]

The shortest hiking distance to the top of Little White is if you take the old logging road off of Canyon Lakes FSR just north of Greyback FSR which is off the 201.

Click picture for larger size

You can drive(with a 4x4) up the old logging road with all the red markers as far as you dare, and then park and hike the rest of the way up.
It can be an hour hike or an hour and a half(one way) depending on where you park.
The problem with going this route is that you have to drive a bit to the trailhead.
Also, if you don't have a 4x4, you can drive up the old logging road about 2 kms, and then hike from there.
It would be another 4 or 5 km hike if you did so, as the logging road goes for about 7 kms off of Canyon Lakes FSR.

You can hike the Highland trail which starts near Canyon Lake, but you need a truck to get you to that point as the road is too rough for a car.

You can hike of bike the Crawford trail as described in an early post with maps from the other side of Bellevue Trestle. And just remember you cannot drive across Bellevue trestle with a vehicle, they have a concrete barrier in place, so you must access the Crawford trail from the Myra side if you are driving and parking at the trailhead in this area.

I haven't found another way in from the Big Meadow side.

There is another way to the top, but I am not allowed to share, it took me years to find it.

[RichardW]

Anyone know of a southern/ western approach? Say from Big Meadow?

There's also an old road that leads up from Greyback FSR which is about 4.34 km west of the intersection of Greyback FSR and Canyon Lakes FSR. It seems to be labelled as Big Meadow Trail in my Backroad Mapbook. Anyway, you can hike up there. At some point, the road fizzles out, at which point you contour to the right for a few meters and pick up a narrow clearing that you can follow uphill. Things will start to open out and eventually you will be standing on the meadows west of Little White. You can then head over past Crawford Lake to the summit.

Now, when I've gone up this way, I've always gone down the way suggested by UltraViolet above. I've also only ever done it with quite full snow cover, so I'm not sure what, if any, trail will be visible on the ground. So, beware that you're probably going to need a strategy to retrace your steps and find the old road again. For many, that's probably a GPS, but I enjoy relying on a map, compass and my wits.

It's a longer way in, by the way, but it should be no problem for someone who likes their hiking.

[samsquench07]

The good way to explore little white, besides going out there and exploring, is to check out google earth. It is amazing how you can twist and turn the images, zoom in and out, and get a really good feel of your surroundings. I would higly recommend it to anyone wishing to explore areas.

[Relentless]

An interesting story.
http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/opini ... f6878.html

Final plea on 50-year-old missing person case
Posted: Friday, October 17, 2014 6:30 am

Fifty years ago, on Nov. 1, 1964, my dad, S.D. Simnett, known as George, went hunting with three friends on Little White Mountain in Kelowna.

They were going out for the day and met up at a forestry cabin to eat their packed lunch. They decided to go out again for another couple of hours and meet up again around 4 p.m. at the same cabin. My dad never returned.

There was a significant search for him, with the fire department acquiring a large horn three days after the day of his loss. The way I remember it, the Kelowna Fire Department along with the local RCMP were in charge of the search. The name of the fire chief at that time was Jack Roberts.

We lived in Okanagan Centre (now Lake Country) in those days, and my dad was a school teacher at West Rutland Elementary School.

A significant number of local people gave of their time and searched for a number of days, all the time with the horn blowing to try and get his attention. Every day, they would meet back at the Kelowna firehall to review the following day’s plans for the search.
Eventually, the search was called off and my dad has never been found.

He was 50 years old and had emigrated to Canada with his family from England eight years earlier.
I am now the only surviving member of that family, and have just turned 76. I would love to get a resolution to my dad’s loss before I am gone.

I had three brothers who have since died, and I have neices and nephews and my own children who were too young to remember anything about this tragedy. My mother would have loved to have had a resolution to my dad’s demise, but unfortunately she never got it.
I know in my mind that my dad’s remains are still on Little White Mountain, and I am asking if there is anyone out there who may have found something of my dad’s, such as a gun, his leather boots or anything else that was with him at the time.

As the years pass, the landscape changes and I cannot now find out if that forestry cabin is still there or not. I know they accessed it from June Springs Road. I took a drive up that way a few weeks ago and couldn’t even find the access to June Springs that I remember. It is all built up and changed now.

A few years ago, I went into the Kelowna RCMP detatchment and asked about the file on my dad and was told there wasn’t one; it must have been destroyed. They said they would open a new one, and I gave them my DNA just in case some remains might be found one day.

At the time of my dad’s disappearance, there were no search helicopters available. Our family, with donations from the kind folk of the Winfield Fire Department, who canvassed the community, hired a local man to search in his plane.

The Kelowna mayor at the time was Dick Parkinson, and when my mother and I went to see him to plead for some help, his words to us were: “Surely, you don’t think that man is still alive, do you?”
It was devastating.

This was a great loss to my family and my mother, who lost all three of her sons before she died and never really recovered from this tragedy. My parents were very loving and, despite theories by folk who didn’t know them and who speculated that “he took off with another woman” or had “gone back to England,” none of this is true. My dad was a true family man and loved us all.

If anyone has any memories of this or if there is anyone out there who hikes on Little White Mountain and may have found something or who may find something in the future, my phone number is 250-763-2162.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I spoke to Judith tonight, and she would like some closure.
50 years have past, and not a trace of her Dad, or his gun, or boots.
I also spoke with Charley, one of the searchers at the time.
The area he went missing in was near the meadow, west of the "Brighthouse" cabin.
The cabin is gone, but the base is still there.

[Relentless]

Almost forgot

http://globalnews.ca/news/1668677/watch ... -50-years/

[60-YEARS-in-Ktown]

I think a concentrated. Effort should be made to find the remains..quite surprising, no trace has been found..

[logman]

Please,I mean no offence but some people may not want to be found. 50 years ago disappearing would have been a lot easier to do if you wanted to be gone. Or if someone wanted you gone.

[Relentless]

This is what should have happened to Little White Mtn and Forestry Cabin.

http://youtu.be/4BTTB6P8cmU

But no, instead the tree huggers didn't want other kids playing in their sandbox!

[vinnied]

This is what should have happened to Little White Mtn and Forestry Cabin.

http://youtu.be/4BTTB6P8cmU

But no, instead the tree huggers didn't want other kids playing in their sandbox!

Too many people get off by wrecking cool things around here. wasn't it burnt down by vandals.. wouldn't have left much to restore

[Relentless]

Too many people get off by wrecking cool things around here. wasn't it burnt down by vandals.. wouldn't have left much to restore

The forestry cabin was in fairly good, restorable shape in 2002, people decided to smash windows and use wood to build fires up there, and then it caught fire in 2003 or so, probably because someone left an unattended fire on the top, not sure if that's exactly what happened, but if it was restored when there was a chance, it would have been a nice Historical place to visit today.

Oh yes, there are some people of a different "breed" around Kelowna, that tend to destroy things for fun.

[Swacked]

PWorked for the forestry in the 80's for a number of years. Great job! Set up many rec reserves ( Beaver.. Island ... Doreen ..etc) Once a week used to run supplies up to the Little White lookout. Bit of a tough drive,especially when you hit the Boulder section up top. Beautiful view!!!!! To bad those days are gone!

[Am123]

I've been up to little white 10 or 15 times over the last 5 years, there are 4 approaches to the summit and I've done them all.

Telegraph trail from the north which starts just up the road from the Bellevue trestle. Telegraph trail is in a lot of trouble, it's a river for a good 1/4 of it and every year it gets worse and worse. A page or two back someone posted a google earth print out of them access telegraph from a fire break. That was punched through by quads which aren't helping matters any. Especially when some of them think its ok to mud bog the little pond right at the summit. Understand that bcparks has no money to maintain or fix stupid behaviour and that most of these trails are maintained by volunteers so posting those directions probably isn't the best idea.

You can approach via the highland trail from the west starting either at the 201 and heading up big meadow trail or starting at cooperation lake. This approach isn't recommended, it's long, it's remote, there is no easy way out and when you hit the burn line from the 30's (yup, little white isn't true treeless alpine, it burned in the 30's) the trail disappears. The second gen/old growth line is obvious on google earth once you realize what your looking at.

You can approach from the east via highland trail, this is the nicest trail, best hike, easiest drive in, etc. I recommend this approach over the rest. Take the 201, left on grayback fsr, left on canyon lakes fsr and drive till you get to the clearing on the left....it's obvious and there is a bcpark sign. Canyon lakes fsr requires the clearance of a stock 4wd but can be done in 2wd.

Lastly, you can approach from the south up an old poorly marked hiking trail. Take the 201, left on grayback, left on canyon lakes then take your second left I believe. Drive as far as you can then continue up the road on foot, look up hill, you will see an orange marker, follow it. It basically cuts the switchbacks in the road and goes straight up the backside. This trail is more of a bushwack then a trail but it is the fastest approach.

I dislike reading Blanket statements like "the tree buffers didn't want others playing in their sandbox" because statements like that are not based on facts.
Sometime around 1999 it was announced that the arthon pit had submitted an application to build an asphalt plant where the current pit is now. Local residences, and all the people who recreated in Crawford got together to stop this and protect their place of recreation. This included hikers, equestrians, motor bikes, mountain bikes, etc. this basically how FOSS started. After 2-3 years of petitioning the rdco they reluctantly decided to turn from the power station to about half way to the kvr into a regional park. Then bcparks came alone and offered to take over all the way up to little white. Unfortunately it pushed the dirtbikes and 4x4's out. It was a difficult decision but what's done is done and besides having a non motorized rec area is important, they got bear creek so fair is fair.
Around the time bcparks took over, a group of people burned the lookout and since bcparks has no money and their stance is conservation first, recreation second, the remains of the lookout were removed and it was decided to not rebuild it since it was more then likely going to turn into a money pit thanks to vandals.

Little white fsr was also deactivated as a result of this. FOSS and pretty much everyone locally tried to get parks to gate the road for ease of access in the event that someone got injured and needed to be evacuated but the area supervisor at the time was hell bent on shutting down motorized activity at the summit so the road was shut down.

The road should have been gated, prohibition doesn't work as I stated above, quads and trucks still get up there. Everyone will admit that shutting down the road was a mistake now but there is no funding or need to open it now.

I'd love to see the fire lookout replaced but now that the park burned, there are so many other improvements that need to be made first that its basically a pipe dream.

[Relentless]

People were mud bogging in this pond?
I've been up there a dozen times in the last 2 years and haven't seen any signs of that!

Oh yeah, spending $38,000 to deactivate the Little White FSR was as stupid as it gets, a real knee jerk reaction on someone's behalf!