Secondary access to Boundary Peak

I made an attempt at hiking Boundary (Panther) peak this Sunday from the Canadian side and was turned around at the ZEC Gosford gatehouse because it was prime hunting season and they didn't want a hiker on the boundary swatch.

I didn't want to create an international incident (or come home with bullet holes) and thanked them for their time.

I've heard a few stories of hikers accessing Boundary from the US side. Can anyone recommend a route and how deep can I get an AWD Subaru into the logging roads on the US side?

Anyone know when the Canadian Hunting season ends and when the property owners will allow hiker entry?

I have climbed Whitecap from the US side and hiked the boundary swath over but that's prime hunting terrain with lots of blinds even if it gets you around ZEC.

I'm thinking that what you want is straight up&down from the US, which should be easy enough - the summit is less than 3 miles from the main haul road (may have to walk a little more from gate) and only 2000' from a clearcut (see Satellite view)
http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=45.26256,-70.82088&z=14&t=T&marker0=45.26728,-70.84105

The "traditional" route from the US side is to bushwhack to Whitecap, then bushwhack from there to an unnamed peak on the swath, and follow the swath out and back to Boundary. You definitely do NOT want to be on the swath during hunting season. The swath is lined with salt licks and hunter blinds. You can see one in the left side of this photo, and you can see two of them in this photo (warning: second photo is large). Roy's suggestion doesn't put you far from a blind, so if you attempt it, wear a LOT of orange and try really hard not to come out on the swath below the top (which I seem to recall is pretty thick).

Personally, I wouldn't even try until the season's over.

MichaelJ said:

You definitely do NOT want to be on the swath during hunting season. The swath is lined with salt licks and hunter blinds.

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I did the Marble-Saddle-Twins boundary peaks during that hunting season years ago, I didn't know about it in advance and there was no gatekeeper but when I arrived there were lots of hunters. I had no orange with me but wore a bright blue parka as I figured there were no blue moose either. I modified my proposed route such that all bushwhacking would be done on the US side and all walking in Canada would be on the swath or roads with good visibility. Even that does not make you entirely safe - I met one lost Canadian hunter at least half a mile on the US side, but he knew he was lost and had his rifle slung.

I would say that with a GPS it should not be hard to come out on the boundary exactly at the summit, with loud singing from yourself or radio the last couple hundred yards. Whether you wish to do this is a personal choice.

MichaelJ said:

The "traditional" route from the US side is to bushwhack to Whitecap, then bushwhack from there to an unnamed peak on the swath, and follow the swath out and back to Boundary. You definitely do NOT want to be on the swath during hunting season. The swath is lined with salt licks and hunter blinds. You can see one in the left side of this photo, and you can see two of them in this photo (warning: second photo is large). Roy's suggestion doesn't put you far from a blind, so if you attempt it, wear a LOT of orange and try really hard not to come out on the swath below the top (which I seem to recall is pretty thick).

Personally, I wouldn't even try until the season's over.

Click to expand...

Ditto to what Michael J said. Personally I wouldn't go anywhere near there during the hunting season. You have to see it to believe it. There are stands all along that boundary swath. They had water troughs and I think salt licks right under the stands to lure the game in. I've never seen anything quite like it. It looks like a war zone. Fortunately in mid-summer it is an abandoned war zone. But during hunting season I especially wouldn't want to come in from the American side as the stands kind of face that way. It's just not worth getting shot simply trying to bag that peak.

Ed'n Lauky said:

There are stands all along that boundary swath. They had water troughs and I think salt licks right under the stands to lure the game in. I've never seen anything quite like it. It looks like a war zone.

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Some of the stands were pretty impressive, two stories with glass windows and propane heat.

My wife and I got a kick counting the empties outside some of them. Plastic trash cans brimming with crushed beers. One old-timer still had pull-tabs littering the ground outside a plywood shack.