Ash Canyon - Very Tough

[TiffTastic]

Well, been in the canyon about 20 days in interloper grade weather and cold and it’s a challenge. Food isn’t tho, cause of wolves and bears. Somehow I have survived more wolf maulings(6) and bear maulings (2) in this time I think than ever before. If you want wolves, go to that little crawl space canyon off shattered grove. I found five at the far end of that. Bring your own coal to cook em, cause there isn’t really anything that burns there. Start a fire and shoot em one at a time as they charge, the fire will let you aim without shaking. I found another pack if 3 timberwolves up some smallish canyon that led to a cave that wanders up to the rope bridges. That cave is warm btw. There’s some sky bear around miners folly, it lives in a tunnel above that, it mauled me when I walked into it during a blizzard. And then again when I rage shot it in the butt with an arrow. I don’t have any clothes left really, but I got enough bear chow to last a month. I am currently holed up in miners folly, that nice foreman house on the hill, waiting for wolves, bears, and deer to cure so I can make new clothes. Then, gold mine time.

[TIMBERBEAR810]

On 12/9/2020 at 9:25 PM, Ahatch said:

I was mistaken that was a regular  wolf  Spent the evening exploring and I've covered pretty much the whole map just have to explore a little bit by the climbers cave and have pretty much covered all the main spots .... I think . Really big map and actually impressed with the amount of places. I'm playing pilgrim so I'm encumbered as usual. I'm not sure this would be a good starting map for interloper but might be a cool place to loot and maybe stay at the miners folly and eat bear meat. Fishing hut is a little rough and not sure you would want stay up fishing all night then rope climb up to the cabin. 

Good, because I was about to pack out and leave the region.

[stratvox]

21 hours ago, Ahatch said:

Still having some issues getting to the one wood bridge that looks broken near the Anglers Hut . I have crossed all the others but this one is elusive so far. I took the rope climb up near the chasm cave but couldn't see a way to get to this one area. Lots of renshi mushrooms on this map. 

I've found that quite a few of the bridges don't render properly when you're looking at them from the floor (if you follow me). I think that it might not be broken and you have actually crossed it; I found that both the Runaway Bridge and the bridge that goes to the Miner's Folly area are both high enough that there are places down in the valley below where they end up not rendering completely. Thinking it might be an engine limitation issue.

[Ahatch]

I managed to find my way up to the bridge today after circling around enough times. Can't quite completely map the high area behind Climbers Cave as I was hoping there was some way to get to top of that ridge. I think I have covered off over 90% of the map just a few little spots to map out. So now just have to think if I want to try an Interloper run there perhaps and see if I can really survive it. Quite a ways from the forges though and not sure if arrow heads will spawn in Interloper. 

[Valuable Hunting Knife]

Update dropped on my last day of annual leave, and no tech hitches apart from a few UFOs (I wasn't so lucky with darkwalker last time out), so I was fortunate enough to be able to put in a big session in AC straight away.

This is the first time I've gone to a new region in any mode other than voyager- I had a 200 plus stalker run well set up (moose satchel, bearskin roll, plenty of ammo) in TMW. My hunch after looking at the updated world map was for the entrance to be in deer clearing, although I assumed the existing cave would be extended.  Ended up over at Eric's falls before giving up, checking online and realising I'd gone straight past the new cave!

Once in my first impressions were both the emptiness and the size.  it's a shame 'bleak' and desolate' have already been used- I think they apply to AC more than any other region, especially bitter marsh, for me one of the most dismal feeling areas on Great Bear.  I imagine even in summer it would be a malaria hotbed...

I lucked out in getting to Angler's Den early on, found the fishing hut, and then went top left to the 3 ropes.  I actually mapped the mine entrance, but didn't spot the rope or climbing rock, or that the mine was back down- I was turned around a bit and expecting a further summit to the entrance.  At this point a blizzard came in, and I decided to reverse follow the arrow signs, in the hope I could easily backtrack to the mine later...

Those rope bridges- as someone with a pretty intense fear of heights/flying, they are bang on the money.  I do not like them at all.  They are ravine rail bridge x1000. Well done Hinterland!  I'm tempted to start a pilgrim run in AC just to see if you can actually fall off (although I think I know the answer).

By this point I was freezing and low on food.  I reached the bear cave area, having picked up a rope on the way that I was forced to abandon as my stamina was nil.  Cursing the ruined hut just outside, I made it into miner's folly just in the nick of time.  I then kept going in a clockwise direction over the next few days- had a bit of difficulty getting the polaroid to trigger at High Meadow.  Was delighted to find the second exit.  Eventually did backtrack, tried to MG down to the mine, got stuck and nearly rage quit before my partner sensibly pointed out the climbing rock I'd gone past 2 times now... stole a rope from the highest of the 3 nearby and finally got my reward (after surviving a double bear mauling and a classic 'dumb death' by beginning to harvest the whole thing with low temp- thank god for the cancel button and stims).  Eventually got the final piece of the map after a frustrating circuit of the broad falls area before I found my way to the pool below the mine area waterfall.

Currently a little underwhelmed by the new gear, but it is early days.  I was happy enough already with the well fed buff and moose satchel weight-wise, although it will cut down a lot of to and fro busy work after big game kills or when looting the dam/plane crashes.  Haven't really tried out the crampons tbh- my guess is that, as climbing is such an integral part of the newer regions, they are there to negate the finite coffee supply.

Plenty of wolves in AC on stalker at least- despite finding at least 3 boxes of revolver ammo, I'm definitely down after my visit.  I'd recommend having decent fishing skill before going in, as game is generally scarce, however if you take a day or two to stock up angler's den and the cottage above the fishing hut, you should never be too far from an emergency supply if you need to abort an exploratory trek.

Overall, I found AC a nice amalgam of HRV, FM & TWM. The trade of between colder/ non curing caves and several indoor shelters is a good twist.  I've retreated to TWM and will prob try to set up a couple of key depots in AC with the last of the summit supplies, and if this run does go deep past the 500 day mark I imagine I'll return at least once to clear out the plant supplies.

Any theories on the random fire barrel by the way?

[Valuable Hunting Knife]

looks like it's still being tweaked btw- new hotfix has moved the workbench at Miner's Folly to a better position, and added a fire barrel near it.

[peteloud]

6 hours ago, Valuable Hunting Knife said:

looks like it's still being tweaked btw- new hotfix has moved the workbench at Miner's Folly to a better position, and added a fire barrel near it.

Yeah, I noticed that too.   I wish HTL updated TLD much more often, for minor issues, rather than wait until they have a bunch of corrections then produce a big update.

[TiffTastic]

7 hours ago, Valuable Hunting Knife said:

looks like it's still being tweaked btw- new hotfix has moved the workbench at Miner's Folly to a better position, and added a fire barrel near it.

Yeah, I thought I was going crazy...I was staying at miners folly, used the bench the day prior, went to sleep, woke up, went out and it had moved😁

[acada]

I think I will call the Ash Canyon: Misty Mountain. There is mine, there is mist every day, wolves. The Misty Mountain name suits it well.

[Daymo]

Always have the crampons in the inner slot not the outer and they won’t get damaged if you’re mauled. 
Ear wraps will take the damage until you can craft a moose bag.

[manolitode]

How exciting exploring Ash Canyon has been so far, Hinterland put a lot of effort into adding new nature design, path design, suspension bridges etc. I'm just thinking how unreasonable it is that I paid 10 bucks or something in 2017 and don't have to contribute anything to get new content. If it would increase new map production speed, I would happily purchase each new map. Anyway, I think this is a masterpiece. 

[peteloud]

I have spent 40 days in Ash Canyon on a Voyager game and have discovered most of it.  I still have a few black patches on my charcoal map but I'm not sure if they are inaccessible areas or areas still to be discovered.  I am on my third trip around the region but I have not found the Polaroid that I saw mentioned in another comment.  This is so frustrating.   I am puzzled how I have missed it.  No, don't tell me where to find it.

[peteloud]

7 hours ago, peteloud said:

 I am on my third trip around the region but I have not found the Polaroid that I saw mentioned in another comment.  This is so frustrating.   I am puzzled how I have missed it.  No, don't tell me where to find it.

I have found it and cleared up one of those black patches on my map.  The symbol for the Polaroid view in is one of those black patches so I suspect getting to the viewpoint not be easy.  Once I've got there I think that I'll have seem most things there are to see in Ash Canyon.

[Dan_]

11 hours ago, manolitode said:

How exciting exploring Ash Canyon has been so far, Hinterland put a lot of effort into adding new nature design, path design, suspension bridges etc. I'm just thinking how unreasonable it is that I paid 10 bucks or something in 2017 and don't have to contribute anything to get new content. If it would increase new map production speed, I would happily purchase each new map. Anyway, I think this is a masterpiece. 

I couldn't have worded it better. AC is wonderfully intriguing, every single cranny and little slope might hide a footpath to amazing vistas or a transition to a new plateau or different section of forest. Honestly, I feel like this is what they wanted to do with HRV but with a more limited scope, with Ash Canyon they could let the creativity flow and still produce a great multi-level map. I particularly love the birch stands sprinkled in between the sheer rockfaces in the west side of the map. I still have stuff to find and couldn't figure how to get the mine still in my limited time, but with 80% or so of the map covered I can proclaim a verdict: Amazing map, well worth the wait once again the guys and gals at HL deliver.  

[Morrick]

After a long hiatus from both the game and the forums due to a serious increase of work, I had to get back to play in the new region. I had one of my survivors located in Timberwolf Mountain — a very well-fed, well-equipped Pilgrim, so I figured he was the best candidate to go on a mission.

I found the entrance (or one of the entrances) to Ash Canyon pretty soon. At first the new region gave me a bit of a Hushed River Valley vibe, and I'm sorry but I really dislike Hushed River Valley, and after one in-game day in Ash Canyon I was already weary of exploring fairly empty areas in constant blizzard and almost-blizzard weather. Good thing I had the presence of mind of bringing a bedroll with me, by the way. The labyrinthine nature of the landscape was starting to put me off — with just a few charcoal pieces I was trying to map my progress as I marched forward, but I couldn't do it consistently. 

But after the first couple of nights, something clicked in a way that didn't click with Hushed River Valley. Sure, they're both areas that develop in an intricate way and on different levels, but somehow I'm finding Ash Canyon less opaque than Hushed River Valley. I don't know, maybe I've just been lucky or I have good instincts, but the path that led me to the Gold Mine (where I am at the moment), though convoluted, has felt linear so far. During all my visits to Hushed River Valley, I found the place to be sort of designed against the player and, in a sense, more deceitful than Ash Canyon. Hushed River Valley has always felt like a puzzle rather than an organic map. At least to me.

All in all, I find Ash Canyon to be a clever and well-executed map. You definitely want to explore it with a good stash of food and tools (the bedroll is essential), and my aim so far has been to worry more about being constantly rested rather than well-fed, as climbing seems to be a frequent and unavoidable activity. When I discovered Miner's Folly and the Mine, I was glad the map featured some man-made structures, another welcome difference from Hushed River Valley. I've been surprised by the general scarcity of active wildlife, but it's also interesting because it gives Ash Canyon a decidedly sinister mood. 

The weather, on the other hand, is award-winning annoying. I feel it's even worse than Bleak Inlet. I've been in Ash Canyon for about an in-game week, and I only saw a clear blue sky once, and it didn't last long:

 

Some vistas are breathtaking, though:

 

[peteloud]

Ash Canyon is tough.

Yeah,  with a Voyager game I have had four extensive trips around AC, that is the triple rope climb to the mine and on to the Foreman's cabin etc. etc.  At the Foreman's cabin I have three bearskins and a lot of meat. I didn't bother killing the bear on the fourth trip as I don't need the bearskins and have more than enough meat.  As I travel around I try to fully map the region. Sometimes I forget to use my charcoal, sometimes I run out of charcoal, and some areas I seem unable to map, so I still have a few black patches in the middle of the map and some black fuzzy edges. On my fifth run I didn't want to repeat  the mine & foreman's cabin bit so I concentrated on trying to clear black patches from the lower half of the map.

All of that bumff is to explain that I like to think I know the region reasonably well.  However on run five I could not find the cave that led me back to TWM Deer Clearing, and that was with an almost completely sketched charcoal map.  I spent ages going over the area and several times I had no idea where I was until suddenly something familiar such as the Angler's Cabin or the ruined fishing hut would appear before me.  I think that the rocky crags on the map are misleading, but that can happen when you get lost in the wilds without a proper map and sat nav., and that is all part of the game.

I am surprised at how hopeless I was on my last trip and how easy it was to become confused and get lost.

 

 

[Bean]

If you want to find Deer Clearing cave, the best way is to start at Angler’s Rest, then travel southwest up into the mountains until you hit the wall then go south along there always choosing the western turn.  It’s not much further past Pillars Footrest.  It maps as “Cave System.”

Edited December 16, 2020 by Bean
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