Remote Wilderness
A good portion of this remote trip to Ritchie Falls is virgin country, where no one typically ventures this far into the interior during winter months. Don’t expect to see much traffic on a trip of this type.
The Cross-Country Route
On this February 2022 trip, Chad and I decided to make an extended version by starting at Endikai Lake then working our way cross-country through a series of trapper bush trails, logging roads and remote lake crossings to get to the starting point of the Boland River road. We could have easily trailered to the Boland River road, but that would have taken away much of the spectacular wilderness views along the way. We did encounter deep snow and significant slush on the lakes.
Scenic Views
Although you can carve your way through valleys and along the river banks, there is still opportunity to get some hilltop photo views if you know which trails to take. This is a view of the Boldger Lake Mountain along the Little White River Valley. Another scenic mountain ridge encountered along the trip is Thunder Mountain, located on the south-side of Rawhide Lake. You are also a stones-throw away from Ceolin Falls as you pass it by on the shoreline of the Boland River.
Breaking Trail
Once we arrived at the entrance to the Boland River road, the first 12 kms was already broken, but after that, it was pure virgin powder. Chad and I each took turns breaking trail, however, it came to the point where Chad’s Long-Track Renegage was needed to continue the venture through the deep snow as we pushed further east and into remote wilderness. As the afternoon progressed, fuel guages were going down and daylight hours were running thin. Nightime was just a few hours away and we still needed to get back to Endikai Lake and hopefully before dark. Crossing deep slush lakes during nighttime was not welcome news for us as my Polaris struggled enough during daytime hours. So, we made the rational decision to call it quits and turn around. We were so close and only 13 miles to go to get to Ritchie Falls. Our return trip back through a series of lakes was exciting as usual and no issues encountered. We did make it back to Endikai Lake before the sun went down. No worries as we will tackle this trip at another time.
Author: Dan Kachur – https://sled-x.ca
