Anderson FSR in 3-14

[drbb]

Folks,

I have had my first ever successful LEH (doe in 3-14). I have not been off the highway in that region and want to take a couple of scouting trips before November. I have searched this forum and the consensus on the ruggedness of the train is a bit deflating (too late now), especially for a solo hunter.

It looks like the main accessible road in 3-14 is Anderson FSR which seems to go all the way to Coquihalla. If possible, I would like to take this road and go from HWY 1 to 5 to enjoy the scenery and solitude. I have a 4x4, but don’t want to go and get stuck in some remote area or have to turn back before I get where I need to be.

Three questions to those who know the area:
1- Can you let me know what the road conditions are?
2- What is the likelihood of filling the tag (doe in November)?
3- Any other suggestions for roads/areas in 3-14 to check?

Thank you in advance.

[savage10]

Last I heard, the road is washed out and impassable from last years storms.

[TyTy]

Access is getting tough. Ive hunted this area lots in the past, lots and lots of wolf tracks, less and less deer sign. I think your time would be better spent up South Ainsle or Mohaqum

[Rayne]

I have the same draw I’ll be closer to Lytton. The deer push down that way come November

[caddisguy]

Has anyone been up there since the storms? Last I heard Anderson was washed out and you couldn't get very far at all. That was a long while back.

Prior to the floods, it was passable to the Coq. I remember some switchbacks around 30km up Utiluis that were pretty beat up but do-able in the jeep. Snow could be another issue. Bring chains if it looks like there's any chance of snow. Last year woke up to a big dump of the white stuff while camped high up there, bit sketchy. There's always the chance of breaking down or having to turn around. Extra gas, gear to spend a night or two, sat messenger definitely a good idea.

Keep in mind the boundaries because you will be pushing into 3-13.

I've had that doe draw a few times but as luck would have it, all the does I see in October and all the <4pt bucks I see in November. Go figure.

Last trip I did find some new area that looked promising and was hoping to take a poke back up there this year. The big question though is... is the road even open? :)

[MichelD]

Be aware of the Mowhokam FSR closure

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/sports-recreation-arts-and-culture/outdoor-recreation/motor-vehicle-prohibitions/wildfire-closures/mvpr_1_126_mowhokam_creek.pdf

[caddisguy]

Access is getting tough. Ive hunted this area lots in the past, lots and lots of wolf tracks, less and less deer sign. I think your time would be better spent up South Ainsle or Mohaqum

Seen the tracks over the years but had our first actual wolf sighting up there last year. Noticed the day prior some cattle up there that seemed all sketched out. Didn't see them the next day, but as we were walking along saw a huge friggin wolf in a clearing down below us. Didn't take long before it knew we were there and scooted back into the timber. Figure those cattle that were there previously were getting pressured at the very least.

[trapman]

Road is gone at 31km can’t get through

[caddisguy]

Road is gone at 31km can’t get through

Thanks for the intel there. Sounds like there is still quite a bit of country accessible via Anderson and other roads albeit one way in one way out now.

[caddisguy]

What the heck... just noticed this?

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/industry/natural-resource-use/resource-roads/local-road-safety-information/chilliwack-natural-resource-district-district-road-safety-information

Anderson FSR 8074.01 (July 12 to August 19, 2022)
No access at 0.5 km in support of ongoing environmental management.

Seems like it was closed for a while, maybe for fire season?

[MichelD]

I remember years ago not so long after I got my first Nissan 4x4 in 1992, my Mrs. and me were on an elderberry picking trip up the canyon and on the way back from Lytton we saw the sign for the Anderson River Road.

"Hey let's see if there's anything up there." It was shortly before dark and we didn't see any elderberry bushes up there. Didn't have a real decent map either. No BC Recreational Atlas, this was before BC Backroads books, all we had was a big fold-out map from the forest service that they used to put out showing basic forest roads. This one was from the Chilliwack Forest District. It got dark but we kept going. Consulted the map and it seemed to show that we would emerge at the Coqihalla.

When we came to a major intersection we took what looked like the most travelled one. I seem to remember a kind of featureless plateau at kind of a summit. We were geting low on gas now so there was no point in turning back. It felt like we had travelling a couple hours too and I was starting to wonder if maybe we had made a big mistake and were going to run out of gas and be stranded God-knows-where.

By now I don't know where we were, Spius or Utzilius FSR. Anyway, we kept going and suddenly from the elevation we were at we could see the lights of traffic on Coquihalla way down below and zig-zagging downhill came out at Coldwater Road, I think it is, got onto the Coq. and by the time we got to Hope that Nissan 4-cylinder engine was running on fumes.

[drbb]

Thank you all. I will try to make it back and provide some field report.

[caddisguy]

Thank you all. I will try to make it back and provide some field report.

Awesome thank you. Might take a peek in there myself in a few weeks.

[drbb]

Here is the field report. I went up the Andreson FSR with plan to go to Coquihalla at the other end. saw a few service trucks going up the road as I took a rest at the junction. The first 3-4 km is steep, but road is ok and doable in most SUVs or trucks; not sure what happens when there is snow on the ground. The slope decreases after that and the road surface actually gets better. All is good until about the 10th km. The road then twists and goes next to the river for another 3-4 km until the main road is blocked completely at a fork, presumably because of a serious problem further on. The other road will take you a couple of km further until you reach a washed out bridge that is being repaired (cannot pass as crew are working ). Apparently there is another washed out bridge a bit further up, but I didn’t go any further. On my way back, I tried the smaller roads and all that I checked were unpassable after a few km because of the rockfalls.

Mohawkam is closed from 0 km.

so, not that promising. However, I had not ever seen so much bear sign around (fresh and few day olds). I actually saw two in that one trip, in the middle of the day (including a small cinnamon one). I didn’t see a single deer sign anywhere I hiked :(

hope this helps.

[caddisguy]

Dang missed the report and went to post my own here. I'm camped "somewhere" up in those hills now.

Where Anderson splits into Utiluis and East Anderson around 15km, Utiluis (the hook you would take to Merritt) is completely gone as far as the eye can see and I'd wager several kms are missing (anything that was near the creek)

The workers are going hard fixing East Anderson. They sure have punched through quite a bit. Curious what the interest on that road is, as it was just a loop back down to the canyon but it's been a bit of a rough beat up trail for the last decade... maybe some work planned there. Sure would be cool if they fixed the Merritt connection but I'd wager that's a lot of millions on a path few peeps ever poke through.

Was listening to the workers on the radio "Looks like there's gonna be a lot of hunters up this weekend eh" ... "Yeah man sure hope our gates still there when we come back on Monday" ... gave me a bit of a laugh there.

Hey anyone heading up especially during the week, bring a radio or scanner at the least, RR-10 (150.410)

I'll hang out for a day or two depending... having some jeep issues it turns out, gotta take it easy and keep a close eye on things.

That's all I got... transmission from transmission tower, over and out.

[westcoaster]

I realize there is a current vehicle closure up there but Mowhokam connects through to Nicomen (I'm sure that is well known) and over to Prospect. Follow prospect down to the snowmobile staging area and head up as if going to Cabin Lake. Another turn (two ways) will take you down to Spius at the corral. Up and through to Murray Lakes (could turn right and head out Uztilus Creek)...

That entire area is interconnected up there.

That said, I haven't been up since the flood so have no idea what is still passable or not....

[dirtymax]

I had the same antlerless draw in 3-14 and was successful yesterday. Hunted all over anderson - spurs - power lines with zero sign. LOTS of cougar tracks and coyote tracks. Anderson is plowed but highly recommend chains or a orv for any side roads as the snow is slick and lots of it. Ended up crossing some buck tracks heading downhill below the snow line . All sign below snow line so we headed to the south part of the region at Alexandre bridge we’re we were successful. Careful as it crosses into 2-17 for a bit