Adventures Along the BC Circle Route

[franken60]

I spent this past week driving through parts of BC with the girlfriend...somehow managed to convince her taking the landcruiser was the best option

(proposed schedule):
day 1 & 2 - Callaghan Provincial Park
day 3 - Skookumchuck Hotsprings
day 4 - Downing Provincial Park
day 5 & 6 - Nahatlatch Provincial Park
day 7 - Silver Lake Provincial Park
day 8 - Vancouver with a friend + home

We started our journey by taking the 8:30am ferry from nanaimo on a warm saturday morning with the intent of landing ourselves in Callaghan Provincial Park which we had visited this past november.

After a quick grocery shop and diesel hunt we were away and out of squamish. Just over a hour later we arrived at the FSR. locked. Found out there had been a landslide and ministry of forestry had not signed off on the road....insurance issues= no go.

Plan B....find somewhere near by to set up shop for the night. 20 minutes later and 1 minute up a lumpy trail nearby....no steering....dropped a tie rod.
Solution : nothing a little military grade paracord can't solve (spoiler alert! 900km later...still good)

Cruiser Outfitter were very helpful and had the parts sent out the door as soon as I hung up the next day I had time to research.
After 2 hours trying to find a solution at Lordco Whistler( without one), we were off to slookumchuck hotspring (Lilooet river between Lilooet lake and Harrison lake 2 days early. aired down after 5 minutes of FSR torture and at 7:10 pm arrived at our site. Long, stressful, disappointing day 1 had come to an end. spent that night and the following at the hotsrings

sunny days 2/2

Day 3 we packed up and moved back towards pemberton to lizzie Bay rec site on Lilooet lake so we could finally use the kayaks that we impeding the 3b from obtaining its usual warp speeds.

bare with me...

 

[franken60]

day 4 we then decided with what had already happened, to bee line it for Nahatlatch Provincial Park. back to Pemberton to restock beer and groceries...plus give cruiser outfitter a call to order those parts. headed up through Duffy Pass keeping a steady 35km/h as to not let those 3B egt's from creeping into no mans land. god i need a turbo . Saw a horrendous Big Rig Accident...I'm assuming back brakes... poor chap most likely did not walk away from that one...only a frame and engine was left of it....

Saw a forest fire, mountain goats, and got snowed on then made it to the lytton ferry. drove through the back roads to Nahatlatch for a number of km before we were stopped by a river which had washed out the road....easy crossing if the ground had been there on the cliff side of the road....couldn't even get close...not worth the risk for a loaded, top heavy 60 with kayaks catching on every other branch...

Turned around again...back to ferry. Hit up the one restaurant in Lytton (hotel, cafe, pub, chineese, buffet and all day breakfast joint.) then stayed at Skihist Provincial Park. lovely park if you enjoy the sounds of crickets, rivers, cargo trains and the hum of highway 1. Needless to say the most tiring part of the day was throwing on a happy face and a good attitude to keep the from jumping out and walking home.

Day 5 was a driving day, opted to bypass Silver Lake Provincial park, and to visit our friend in Vancouver a couple days early....
hit up Hells gate on the way to hoover some Salmon chowder and stock up on Salt water taffy. Was spotted by the PO in Chilliwack who promptly texted me. And finally grabbed a beer and meatballs at the local coquitlam IKEA. yes....IKEA now serves beer. Stella to be exact as well as a nice Okanagan Red Wine.

in a Last Ditch effort to salvage our what seemed to be dismal trip... we decided what better way to cap it off then to camp for 2 nights on Galiano.

Thank God for Galiano....I love me some Pacific Ocean/ Gulf islands. you never know how good you have it until you leave and come back.

Stayed at Montague Provincial Park for 2 nights and enjoyed Wine, Beer, Sunsets and Perfect sunny days kayaking around our beautiful coastline + one mean encounter with a sea urchin after a impromptu dip in some riptide.

 

[franken60]

Overall it was a good trip, there was some hiccups but in the end we both wished we could keep on roadtripping instead of going home.
the whole trip took us 1075km and we burned about 1 3/4 of a tank. I wasn't able to get mileage due to random top ups and pure laziness.

Came across this cool cruiser north of lytton as well, looks like whoever took on the project did it well

 

[franken60]

couple extra pictures:

 

[Gsb15]

Nice, looks like an awesome trip. Glad the steering worked out. Looks a little frightening.
I like that 60 truck, Always though it would have been cool if they had made a pickup version.

 

[franken60]

Ya, luckily it broke when I was in 1st low so no worries, didn't have many other options other than trailer back to vic, drive back to vic or leave it in whistler until parts came in next week....I checked it every couple hours to confirm it wasnt fraying.

ya they look like good as a truck for sure, have the size and hood length

 

[slowandsteady BJ]

Awesome. Nice write up man. Every good trip has some sort of hiccup to keep it all interesting. That truck and those pics bring back memories of my (and the 's Yukon trip). We had similar experiences in a similar truck!

https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/yukon-2011-cruzin.506122/

 

[Sweatyforehead]

Thats absolutely awesome! Makes me want it to be October allready so I can take the cruiser on another long roadtrip

 

[franken60]

Awesome. Nice write up man. Every good trip has some sort of hiccup to keep it all interesting. That truck and those pics bring back memories of my (and the 's Yukon trip). We had similar experiences in a similar truck!

https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/yukon-2011-cruzin.506122/

I was telling the about your trip to the yukon, dropping some heavy hints haha, she probably wont want to go unless i can guarantee no problems....she doesn't know what a LC is I guess

Thats absolutely awesome! Makes me want it to be October allready so I can take the cruiser on another long roadtrip

Ahhhhh just go already, who needs october, adventures are for now!

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Great pics and sounds like a mostly good trip Lachlan! Thanks for sharing. Your truck looks wicked in those pics; such a nice looking rig.

 

[franken60]

Great pics and sounds like a mostly good trip Lachlan! Thanks for sharing. Your truck looks wicked in those pics; such a nice looking rig.

Thanks Nick! Always good to here!

 

[seapotato]

cool man.

Nice to see pics of a cruiser getting enjoyed, instead of just worked on...


I approve of your trail repair....Cam will remember this day fondly...

 

[JimJ]

Awesome looking time!

 

[franken60]

cool man.

Nice to see pics of a cruiser getting enjoyed, instead of just worked on...


I approve of your trail repair....Cam will remember this day fondly...

hope you didnt have to drive as far as i did like that I was just happy it didnt drop on the highway at some point....stroke of luck really

and theres work to come now that the trip is over

Awesome looking time!

it was great! nice to get away and spend it driving some cool roads in a cool cruiser

 

[JimJ]

hope you didnt have to drive as far as i did like that I was just happy it didnt drop on the highway at some point....stroke of luck really

and theres work to come now that the trip is over




it was great! nice to get away and spend it driving some cool roads in a cool cruiser

 

[JimJ]

Well I got my 60 to where its finally ready to roll and hope to meet you and your 60 sometime!

 

[franken60]

Well I got my 60 to where its finally ready to roll and hope to meet you and your 60 sometime!

60 roundup? stoked

 

[Sweatyforehead]

ill be down for that, rust, dents and all!

 

[seapotato]

hope you didnt have to drive as far as i did like that

Ah, just the work commute for a couple weeks. It was way better than the factory rag joint...


Mine went when I was getting my front end yanked sideways in a snowy hell. So not high speed either thankfully.

 

[franken60]

Ah, just the work commute for a couple weeks. It was way better than the factory rag joint...


Mine went when I was getting my front end yanked sideways in a snowy hell. So not high speed either thankfully.

Too good, every time I checked on it, it looked the same....so it's gotta still be good haha