November 5th 2016 Hike to Coulson Tower

We left for Matheson in the morning to head up to Coulson Fire tower. Upon arrival we went down Forrestry Road and then down Nickle road (which turned out to be a an access road for farmers to access the rear of their properties) after turning around due to the mud we made our way to Diamond road and turned again on the right side of Nickle road and up to Painkiller road. After some distance passing by cottage roads we found our parking spot. We hiked down the road and came across a friendly trapper and his wife who gave us the heads up where to avoid his traps. We walked through
a couple of flooded areas and a large beaver pond. A kilometer or so down the road we came to a cabin and a trail leading to the tower. The hike to the tower is a fairly easy hike with some slick rocks but very manageable. The tower stood out of the trees still guarding the area or so it seemed.
The views were spectacular, a full view of Coulson lake on the north side. I got to test out my new Esbit alcohol stove and cooked up some Hi-Mountain chilli and some mocha hot chocolate.





 



On the way back we stopped for some fishing at Painkiller Lake without luck

October 22nd 2016 Hike to Kenogamissi Firetower

We started the day off with the drive up Dalton road and onto the road going to the Kenogamissi Lake cottages. After passing over the bridge and passed roads 1-3 we selected our parking site to be at Kenogamissi Road #4, from there we hiked up the trail on the power line and up to the top of the hill the tower used to be housed on (Yes I used the word "used" the tower was cut down much to our dismay) The weather was constantly switching between sun and snow squalls but at the top of the hill we had some clearer weather to take a couple photos.
                                      
The view of Kenogamissi Lake
                                      
The trail up

At the top was the trail into the old site of the tower, on the eastern side of the power lines. A short hike (500 meters) and we were at the site of the former tower.
                                        
 











All that remains of the tower are 4 feet and and the cement pads.

We searched the area and located the remains of the towermans cabin and a strange unidentified structure
       

Towerman's cabin

Strange structure

After spending some time exploring the environs we hiked the 4 kms back to the truck. Although the tower was cut down we still got some amazing views and a good hike.