Four Days stuck in 1st and 2nd gear low Range

[Deny]

Sweet, the rivers were way too low on this May long, seemed almost like a quad could cross it and was similar to regular Aug long depths, so crossings should be interesting for sure, can't wait!

 

[boozewz]

Can't wait to see this upcoming trip report Deny!

 

[Deny]

Well we got back a day early, because there is still too much snow in the mountains. The rivers on the way in were very intense (dropped over a foot by the time we drove out), seeing Adams bronco bucking across the river as it battles the current with water going over his huge hood was scary, I actually had a camera in my hand and after the first photo was stunned and didn't take anymore. We did a bit of trail clearing, about a km worth before the snow got too deep so we have about 4km left to clear now. Then we took a stab at the saddle and climbed up almost to as far as we have gone in the past only to hit a huge snow drift as well. Amazing how steep a truck can crawl up, the diesel chugged along no problems, but Adams carb stalled out a few times and he had to back down to try the steep sections again. all in all a good camping trip, we are getting really quick on this trail though, we can do the first 20 km in about an hour and a half, 6 hours from FSJ. Adams front locker helped him huge as places where he usually has to struggle and bump to get over or through obsticals, he just crawled. I have a few photos that I will try to post up later, nothing specail, but Adam has video of both big crossings, that I can't wait to see, I pretty much had water a few inches over my hood the entire river trying to battle the current. Hopefully i can figure out how to post video up too.
Cheers,
Deny

 

[bigneily]

Excellent story and photo's Deny , Looking forward to the video when you get it posted. I'll keep stalking the thread. Neil

 

[Deny]

Well looks like the welder buddy that Adam brought out on his quad messed up filming my big water crossing and missed it and he got adam from down river so doesn't look as impressive, will see once I see them to see if they are worth posting. in the mean time here are some of the photos. Was testing out my new big camera, but I think I need a lot more practice, the photos didn't turn out as good as I hoped. Start of the trail. Ran into two dudes doing some Bear hunting, they couldn't even get to the river crossing because they got stuck in the bog, they said there is no way we are crossing, as the river is just too high.
Enjoy

 

[Deny]

Adam had a new tire rack with gerry can and cooler holder, worked good, and looked awsome, doesnt look like a redneck with tire just strapped to the roof It does have a bit of a limit on his departure angle though, but he can live with it. Then we parked the trailer, topped up my diesel for the trip in and parked the quad. Then Adam loosened his fan belt and we attached my winch rope just in case he had some troubles with the crossing.

 

[Deny]

Got my winch ready and Adam started off with water above his tires just in the ramp down before he even entered the main channel. Then once I took the last shot all I remember is staring and thinking s*** what do I do with this rope in my hand if he starts getting in trouble and totally forgot to take more pics as the bronco bucked through the quick flowing water with the odd over hood splash.

 

[Deny]

So after Adam made it across I yelled over to him if he thinks we should keep going or if he should turn around and see if we can make it back, he figured keep going, so I reluctantly crossed since I just saw what a battle Adam had. The truck struggled and plowing water roughly 2 inches over my hood the whole way, I got my feet a little wet, but not too bad. Then we just cruised the 10km to the next crossing where we set up camp and the water was they highest weve seen, barely a place to camp. Then in the morning since we didnt want to cross this one, we pushed a little trail around the swamp the quaders go through to an easier place to cross. Then a little trail building on the skecthy section we built last year so that it isn't as sketch and now I am sure my trailer can cross as well.

 

[Deny]

More trail building, clearing till we hit snow (mostly because there was still a ton of willow that was under the snow and we didn't want to clear the trail twice!). So then turn around after a few hours clearing and back to camp for some food and beer

 

[Deny]

Then the next day we took a stab at the saddle, knowing the hills were covered in snow, but we thought maybe it being the western slope and being able to see the clear trail from down in the valley we would give it a try, nothing else to do but drink at camp eh. Some steep climbs adam had to take a few runs but his locker kept his tires chewing. Then we hit the big snow drift right near the top.

 

[Deny]

Thought I would finish for the day with some nice shots. We got to the top and again could see the entire valley, it truely is amazing up there. You can see on the other side of the valley is where we are pushing to, the lake is in the pass there. The snow on the other side of where we were heading (second pic) was way to deep to even trying to get over the snow drift that stopped us. The fun part was turning our trucks around on the steep trail!

 

[bigneily]

holy shat, I know my ass would have taken a big bite out of my seat when i entered the river crossing. Look's crazy deep.

 

[Deny]

Yeah the hood of that bronco is between 4 and 5 feet high, and there were places it was going over the hood. Mine was a few inches over the whole way, and I'm not too concerned about going hood under the water with my diesel, just when I have an entire body length of current pushing down stream is when I get a little sketched out. Couldn't believe that over three days the river dropped by a foot or two, can't imagine trying the crossing a few days before we got there, we would have lost a truck for sure

 

[AJAEbj42]

That's pucker factor! Wow! Beautiful shots of the wilderness too, Deny. What an amazing place.

 

[Deny]

Thanks Rob, yeah it is amazing country, I can't even describe it, as the entire trail I seem to be grinning because if your not concentraiting on a technical obstical, you have beautiful scenery to look at.

Anyway on with the remaining pictures. After a bit of hiking and trying to spot mountain goats, sheep, and grizzlies with no luck, we headed back down. Stopping at one of the snow drifts we ran over to have lunch, a beer, and fill up the cooler with some snow since adam forgot to buy more ice on the trip in.

 

[Deny]

Then we headed down further and decided to stop to do some target practice before reaching the valley bottom so we didn't have to battle the mosquitos down there. Then back to camp for a quick hike down river and some more food and beer.

 

[Deny]

Then in the morning we headed back out. Scoped the mountains for bears, again no luck, but ran into the bear hunters we saw out there and they said right after they talked to us they saw 4 grizzlies in the area. Then crossed the river which had gone down by a foot or two since our trip in a few days earlier. Thats all the pics I have, saw the videos adam had and pretty dissapointed the guy missed my big river crossing, but what can you do. Will try to post them up sometime, but I really have no clue how.
Cheers,
Deny

 

[BC40]

Wow, impressive area/trip. Really shows in this batch of scenery shots. Would have been trouble if Adam had drowned his truck midstream. Wonder how close the water level was to the distributor on that v8?

 

[Deny]

Yeah funny thing is that it is the shallowest midstream, both sides are deeper. But for sure, I let the rope go way too early on his first crossing and he would have had to throw the rope back to me somehow as long as his truck was parellel to the current and not being pushed down stream.

 

[AJAEbj42]

Upload the video to Youtube, then post the link here. That's how I would upload video.