From Highway 6 near Lost Lake Rest Area (34.6 kilometres east of Cherryville or 47.6 kilometres west of Needles Ferry Terminal), turn north onto Keefer Lake Road (2WD gravel).  Ignoring all side roads, drive 10.1 kilometres to a junction with a road branching left just before Keefer Lake Road turns south to cross a bridge over Kettle River.  Although we did not go this way, the branching road eventually leads to a cut block (50.13087, -118.39251) where, according to satellite imagery, a jeep track continues up the south side of the mountain all the way to the summit.  For our starting point (not recommended), we crossed Kettle River and continued driving another 3.7 kilometres before veering left at a junction to re-cross Kettle River (right leads to Keefer Lake Lodge).  About 240 metres past the junction, we turned left onto a logging road which crosses Keefer Creek, and then we drove for another 900 metres before parking next to a roadside wood pile (50.13748, -118.36084).

From where we parked, Zosia and I walked up the continuation of the logging road for about 875 metres before reaching a junction (50.14130, -118.35209) with an overgrown road climbing very steeply up the slope to the north.  This overgrown road is also marked on OpenTopoMap, but it is incomplete and ends somewhere at an elevation just below the 1950-metre contour line.  The overgrown road also looked painfully steep to ascend, but I filed it away as a potential alternate route for our descent.  About 1.1 kilometres further, we reached the end of the logging road but continued following a drainage (Keefer Creek) into the southeast basin.  Almost immediately, something was amiss as we found ourselves thrashing through increasingly thick vegetation and tedious deadfall.  Other than some bits of flagging, signs of human passage were nonexistent, and it slowly dawned on me that we were likely following either a skier's down-track or some poor devil's miserable bushwhack.  That Zosia did not utter a single complaint is a great testament to her patience and high tolerance for suffering, but this was one instance where she probably should have smacked me for choosing such an awful route.  To be fair, she is as stubborn as I am about not giving up on an ascent, but we eventually reached a point where continuing or retreating along the drainage became equally unbearable.  Instead, we abandoned the drainage and simply grinded up the adjacent forested slope.

Like the many steep uphill bushwhacks Zosia and I have both endured in the past, this was another one that is best forgotten and never to be repeated.  It took us a dispiritingly long 100 minutes or so to climb 375 metres to the crest of Yeoward Mountain's east ridge where we finally broke out of the trees and stumbled onto a cat track.  Turning westward, we followed the cat track across a short dip and then up to the summit plateau where we intersected a jeep track--the very same one I describe in the driving directions--coming from the south.  The jeep track winds past several humps on the summit plateau, but the highest one is topped with a biffy-like building and a collapsed antenna.  We dutifully tagged the summit before heading to another hump with better views for a break.

	Zosia begins hiking along the continuation of the logging road.
	The logging road ends at the entrance to a basin southeast of Yeoward Mountain.
	Despite the presence of sporadic bits of flagging, this drainage is not the best way to ascend Yeoward Mountain.
	Already past the point of no return, Zosia scrambles over a downed tree to get out of the drainage.
	Sonny slowly grinds his way up the steep and bushy slope. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
	After a lot of horrendous bushwhacking, Zosia finally gains a cat track running along the crest of Yeoward Mountain's east ridge.
	Zosia heads for an obvious jeep track on the final approach to the summit (not visible here).
	The summit of Yeoward Mountain (2135 metres) is topped with a building that looks like a biffy.
	Sonny and Zosia give half-hearted thumbs up on a subsidiary hump east of the summit.  In the background are some of the rugged peaks of the Whatshan Range.

When we resumed hiking, Zosia and I descended the jeep track southward into a vast rolling meadow--presumably a glorious place for ski touring in winter.  The jeep track passes a rustic hut at the edge of the meadow, and we stopped there to poke around a bit before continuing our descent.  Because we had no idea where the jeep track would lead us--it is completely unmarked on all maps except for BC Basemap which I did not consult until well after our trip--we abandoned it to try and connect with the aforementioned overgrown road.  We followed a beaten path eastward from the hut and subsequently hiked off-trail until we intersected the road as marked on my GPS map.  Disappointingly, we found a logged corridor rather than an actual road, and although we could still follow it downhill, the uneven footing in the slash made for less than pleasant walking.

At one point while we were still quite high up the mountain, we surprisingly met two collared dogs wandering in the bush.  Although we shouted a few times, their owner was nowhere in sight.  The dogs approached us but generally stayed beyond our reach.  When we failed to offer them any snacks, they promptly lost interest in us and disappeared back into the bush.  After this "wildlife" encounter, we muddled through an exceptionally tedious stretch of logging slash, but just when we thought the misery would never end, the slash cleared up to reveal the overgrown road we had been expecting all along.  Though steep, the overgrown road was very straightforward to descend, and we ultimately reconnected with the logging road we started on and walked back to our parked car without further issues.

Zosia follows the jeep track southward in hopes of finding a better way down the mountain.

 

	Sonny checks out a rustic hut located about a kilometre south of the summit. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
	The hut's interior is a bit dusty but not necessarily inhospitable.
	Sonny is surprised to run into two collared dogs quite high up the mountain with their owner nowhere in sight. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
	Sonny muddles through an exceptionally tedious stretch of logging slash. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
	Zosia makes better progress descending this steep and overgrown road.
	After descending the overgrown road, Zosia rejoices at returning to the logging road that she started on earlier in the day.
	Total Distance:  12.3 kilometres Round-Trip Time:  7 hours 8 minutes Cumulative Elevation Gain:  675 metres