peakbagger
In Rembrance , July 2024
Jazzbo and I decided to do a short hike on Sunday to Mt Oscar from the Zealand Road. He had been up it previously but it was the first time for me. I can highly recommend it as a entry level bushwhack. The start point is opposite the Sugarloaf trail head parking lot. Fire Road 155 is a gated primary fire road the heads east and then roughly south/southeast running on the opposite side of the valley as the Zealand road. Climbers use this route to access the Mt Oscar Cliffs (we met a group of 4 at the parking lot who were heading up) The fire road gives a nice view across the valley but we were about a week too late for leaf season as the majority of the leaves were down. Our goal was picking a point to leave the fire road and shooting for the saddle between Oscar and Rosebrook while missing the Oscar Cliffs and the associated talus slope below them. There is a herd path marked by a very small cairn that appears to follow an old logging road up to the cliffs. That wasn't out goal so we headed further along the road until we had a good line up the valley that is apparent on the topos while avoiding the area below the cliffs. There has been much logging of the hardwoods along this road probably in the last 20 years which are regenerating. The maples are crowding out the early successional species which means the woods aren't open but still reasonable to go through. There are traces of old twitch roads and possibly a main haul road. The main haul road is definitely growing in but raspberry plants are still abundant so its best to avoid it. We soon were at the base of the major slope and the transition to softwoods. The softwoods in this areas are great. There are lot of what look to be very healthy trees with a dense canopy. That means open woods and easy hiking. We headed up slope and then popped out the USFS boundary and very well marked hiking trail that runs along this Saddle. We followed this to the summit and took a detour over to the large summit openings on the east side of the ridge.
After a long break enjoying the views we headed back down on the saddle trail. We encountered a sign pointing west for "climbers only" to the west side cliffs. It is an older unmarked herd path that initially heads down slope but rapidly slabs west heading to the base of the cliffs. At one point the trail heads upslope and peters out with a large cliff just visible through the woods. We elected to backtrack a bit and head straight down the slope through the open softwoods. We ended up about 20 feet away from where we had headed into the softwoods on what looks to be the end of the main haul road. From there it was mix of nice woods and as we approached the road the woods got thicker as we hiked through older regeneration. The going was normally good but when we got below the cliffs there was a stretch of talus from the cliffs that made for ankle twisters. We headed a bit more SW and got back to flatter woods although it did get bit thicker where beeches had become dominant. Soon we popped out of the woods and then took the walk down FR 155 to the car.
In my opinion this is a nice option to practice bushwhacking skills. No real need for a GPS. The open softwoods on the slope are hard to beat and realistically FR 155 running parallel to the ridge line means that navigation doesn't need to be precise as one would need to really get turned around to miss it. The only caveat is to avoid the base of the cliffs unless you are aready for the extra gymnastis associated with traversing talus slopes. The trail along the ridge and the associated ski trails means not having to deal with the potentially gnarly ridgeline Spruce/fir and the views are hard to beat in either direction. We didn't go up to Rosebrook but it would be a nice addition to the hike if someone is ahead of schedule.
After a long break enjoying the views we headed back down on the saddle trail. We encountered a sign pointing west for "climbers only" to the west side cliffs. It is an older unmarked herd path that initially heads down slope but rapidly slabs west heading to the base of the cliffs. At one point the trail heads upslope and peters out with a large cliff just visible through the woods. We elected to backtrack a bit and head straight down the slope through the open softwoods. We ended up about 20 feet away from where we had headed into the softwoods on what looks to be the end of the main haul road. From there it was mix of nice woods and as we approached the road the woods got thicker as we hiked through older regeneration. The going was normally good but when we got below the cliffs there was a stretch of talus from the cliffs that made for ankle twisters. We headed a bit more SW and got back to flatter woods although it did get bit thicker where beeches had become dominant. Soon we popped out of the woods and then took the walk down FR 155 to the car.
In my opinion this is a nice option to practice bushwhacking skills. No real need for a GPS. The open softwoods on the slope are hard to beat and realistically FR 155 running parallel to the ridge line means that navigation doesn't need to be precise as one would need to really get turned around to miss it. The only caveat is to avoid the base of the cliffs unless you are aready for the extra gymnastis associated with traversing talus slopes. The trail along the ridge and the associated ski trails means not having to deal with the potentially gnarly ridgeline Spruce/fir and the views are hard to beat in either direction. We didn't go up to Rosebrook but it would be a nice addition to the hike if someone is ahead of schedule.
Last edited:
