Today turned out to be a great day in the lush BC wilderness, as members of the Coastal Cruisers gathered at De Dutch Pannekoek House for some breakfast and morning banter prior to hitting the trails. There was abundant sunshine with not a hint of cloud in the sky. Spirits were high as the food was tasty, the restaurant "scenery" interesting, and the company was good.
Present were: Driver (Passenger)
1) Allstone (Joe, Coco) - BJ74.
2) Greg (nephew) - BJ74.
3) Petra (Scout) - HJ61.
4) Martin (Garry T.) - BJ40.
5) Ken (?) (Steve) - V8J40.
6) Clarence (Jody?) - HDJ81.
7) Craig (Angie, Matte, Emma) - FZJ80.
8) Brad R. (Sarah) - BJ42.
The few minutes' drive up the hill to the trail head only served to heighten our anticipation of what lay ahead, as many of us have never driven this trail before. Rumor had it that the entrance to the trail (bypass) was the most challenging part of the run, as one had to deal with mud and tightly spaced trees and rocks in order to get to the trail. This certainly was challenging, as this time of the year often means a lot of moisture, and the mud was thick and sticky. Garry T. served as one of our trail guides as he had been through this trail numerous times...and he guided us safely through the maze.
Clarence and his HDJ81 up the muddy hill.
Petra concentrating on which line to point her HJ61 to.
Craig's FZJ80.
Some Cruisers with open diffs needed a tug through the mud, and Craig zipped up and down the line offering what assistance he could with his ultra capable FZJ80. Brad R. in his open diffed 40 breezed through most of the obstacles as if he barely noticed them. With a little more height, his driving skills would make his truck unstoppable. Martin's mint BJ40 didn't even sustain a scratch from his careful driving and excellent line choices. Greg and Petra took a hard muddy line through the trees and needed a couple of "sandbags" on the front bushbar to provide some extra weight and gain some traction to the front tires.
Funniest part of my day was when I ate a tree root and bent my passenger side running board (again), and the passenger door couldn't open. So Steve and his friend and I jumped on the running board to bend it back down, and it ended up looking straighter than before I ate the tree root in the first place.
Greg B.'s BJ74 eating some mud.
Clarence's HDJ81 in the woods.
Clarence and Craig giving Petra a hand.
"I thought you had your Swampers on, Greg?"
After the bypass through the trees, we encountered a couple of boulder fields. Within one of these boulder fields was a particularly interesting rock ledge. This was a great opportunity for some of the newer wheelers to have their chance at picking lines. Unfortunately, Ken (I hope I remember his name right...owner of the red V8J40, friend of Steve's) twisted and bent his rear driveshaft picking a particularly hard line up this rock ledge, and we reluctantly had to leave them there to unbolt his rear driveshaft and limp home in front wheel drive. I hope they made it down okay.
The infamous Rock Ledge with about a 2' drop. Note the colourful paintjob.
Martin making it look easy.
Stone's turn through the ledge.
Trail casualty...bummer.
There was not too much up top after the boulder fields, but we did encounter snow. Near the top we encountered a bunch of vehicles from the local forum, BC4x4, on their way down. The trail turned into a big parking lot as Coastal Cruisers rigs backed down the snowy trail in search of a place to turn off and let the other trucks through. After backing down a ways on the trail and finally hitting a branch to let the other trucks through, we decided to turn around and go back down the trail. Most of the interesting stuff was near the trail head anyway.
Petra's "oops"...she was trying to match my rear bumper.
Coming back through the trees and mud proved more interesting the second time around, as our previous attempts and other people's passage through here has cut some deep ruts into the trail, exposing roots, stumps and rocks. Several people needed a tug or winching, and I almost lost the hat off of my snorkel to a tree (again). Going through the slick muddy hillside after the trees proved almost costly to me as a moment's carelessness almost flipped my BJ74 on its side. I didn't see a deep rut and both my left tires fell into it, momentarily lifting my two right wheels...but it didn't flip. Gave Joe a good scare though.
Craig's ultra-capable FZJ80 eating up the mud.
Brad R. Open diffs + good driving skills = No Problem.
We met some good people on the trail today with a variety of offroad vehicles. One second generation 4runner broke a passenger side Birfield that needed to be taken out on the trail. We had some sustenance to eat, chatted a little, and reflected on the great time that we had on the trail today.
I hope I haven't forgotten anyone...and I'm pretty sure that I got Steve's friend's name wrong. Please just correct me on that, Steve...and I'll edit the article. Thanks to all that showed up on this trail ride...it was a lot of fun. Hope to do another one in the near future.
My copilot...Coco.
[size=-1]Photo Credits: Stone and Joe.[/size]
Present were: Driver (Passenger)
1) Allstone (Joe, Coco) - BJ74.
2) Greg (nephew) - BJ74.
3) Petra (Scout) - HJ61.
4) Martin (Garry T.) - BJ40.
5) Ken (?) (Steve) - V8J40.
6) Clarence (Jody?) - HDJ81.
7) Craig (Angie, Matte, Emma) - FZJ80.
8) Brad R. (Sarah) - BJ42.
The few minutes' drive up the hill to the trail head only served to heighten our anticipation of what lay ahead, as many of us have never driven this trail before. Rumor had it that the entrance to the trail (bypass) was the most challenging part of the run, as one had to deal with mud and tightly spaced trees and rocks in order to get to the trail. This certainly was challenging, as this time of the year often means a lot of moisture, and the mud was thick and sticky. Garry T. served as one of our trail guides as he had been through this trail numerous times...and he guided us safely through the maze.
Clarence and his HDJ81 up the muddy hill.
Petra concentrating on which line to point her HJ61 to.
Craig's FZJ80.
Some Cruisers with open diffs needed a tug through the mud, and Craig zipped up and down the line offering what assistance he could with his ultra capable FZJ80. Brad R. in his open diffed 40 breezed through most of the obstacles as if he barely noticed them. With a little more height, his driving skills would make his truck unstoppable. Martin's mint BJ40 didn't even sustain a scratch from his careful driving and excellent line choices. Greg and Petra took a hard muddy line through the trees and needed a couple of "sandbags" on the front bushbar to provide some extra weight and gain some traction to the front tires.
Funniest part of my day was when I ate a tree root and bent my passenger side running board (again), and the passenger door couldn't open. So Steve and his friend and I jumped on the running board to bend it back down, and it ended up looking straighter than before I ate the tree root in the first place.Greg B.'s BJ74 eating some mud.
Clarence's HDJ81 in the woods.
Clarence and Craig giving Petra a hand.
"I thought you had your Swampers on, Greg?"
After the bypass through the trees, we encountered a couple of boulder fields. Within one of these boulder fields was a particularly interesting rock ledge. This was a great opportunity for some of the newer wheelers to have their chance at picking lines. Unfortunately, Ken (I hope I remember his name right...owner of the red V8J40, friend of Steve's) twisted and bent his rear driveshaft picking a particularly hard line up this rock ledge, and we reluctantly had to leave them there to unbolt his rear driveshaft and limp home in front wheel drive. I hope they made it down okay.
The infamous Rock Ledge with about a 2' drop. Note the colourful paintjob.
Martin making it look easy.
Stone's turn through the ledge.
Trail casualty...bummer.
There was not too much up top after the boulder fields, but we did encounter snow. Near the top we encountered a bunch of vehicles from the local forum, BC4x4, on their way down. The trail turned into a big parking lot as Coastal Cruisers rigs backed down the snowy trail in search of a place to turn off and let the other trucks through. After backing down a ways on the trail and finally hitting a branch to let the other trucks through, we decided to turn around and go back down the trail. Most of the interesting stuff was near the trail head anyway.
Petra's "oops"...she was trying to match my rear bumper.
Coming back through the trees and mud proved more interesting the second time around, as our previous attempts and other people's passage through here has cut some deep ruts into the trail, exposing roots, stumps and rocks. Several people needed a tug or winching, and I almost lost the hat off of my snorkel to a tree (again
). Going through the slick muddy hillside after the trees proved almost costly to me as a moment's carelessness almost flipped my BJ74 on its side. I didn't see a deep rut and both my left tires fell into it, momentarily lifting my two right wheels...but it didn't flip. Gave Joe a good scare though. Craig's ultra-capable FZJ80 eating up the mud.
Brad R. Open diffs + good driving skills = No Problem.
We met some good people on the trail today with a variety of offroad vehicles. One second generation 4runner broke a passenger side Birfield that needed to be taken out on the trail. We had some sustenance to eat, chatted a little, and reflected on the great time that we had on the trail today.
I hope I haven't forgotten anyone...and I'm pretty sure that I got Steve's friend's name wrong. Please just correct me on that, Steve...and I'll edit the article. Thanks to all that showed up on this trail ride...it was a lot of fun. Hope to do another one in the near future.
My copilot...Coco.
[size=-1]Photo Credits: Stone and Joe.[/size]
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