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

[Deny]

Finished the trail and to the end of the gravel road with only minor issues. Adam blew his front drive shaft about 7km left and then had to take it off for the highway ride back home. Aired up and made it back home. The end till possible sledding this winter or not till next may long. Met up with the Recreation Officer last night about adopting the trail. He wasn't too pumped about us crossing the creek, but he said he will help us adopt it.

 

[Deny]

Well after saying we were going to explore the area in the winter for years, me and Adam finally took our snowmobiles to the area, and having to ride the road for over 30km (not plowed) we got to the trail. Sorry for the crappy iphone pics, my camra battery died.

 

[Deny]

We got close to the falls, but there was one big snow drift with sheer cliff below that would have been pretty sketch to side hill with the wet/half frozen snow. we could have dug, but just the two of us would have took us a long time and we still had to get back as we only were out for the day. Was really warm and was an awsome day. we tried climbing up the hill so we didn't have to side hill, but didn't have the power (adam blew up his turbo sled earlier that week so he was on his spare sled, I had a borrowed sled as I was suppose to be riding adams spare, since my sled is not a mountain sled).

 

[Deny]

Ended getting pretty high up but still couldn't crest the ridge over to the falls and the first river crossing. So then we headed back, had a quick fire and smokies, soaked up the sun in our T-shirts (truck said it was 8-12deg celcious) then headed back to the truck. Will need to go in for a few day trip next year so we can really do some exploring, or bring a few more people. For now we will have to settle for some wheeling this summer as the snow is melting fast
Cheers,
Deny

 

[Deny]

Just so you all know I survived another trip in here, Adams underpants not so much He near lost his truck getting lazy and not going high enough on an erosion scared trail only to find both tires over the edge, sitting on his diffs, teetering above the revene. No pics of it, as I didn't see it becuase I took off on him and he winched himself out, but I seen his tracks and can just imagine exactly how he described it as teetering with one hand on the door and the other on his dog ready to jump and crapping the pants all at once. Anyway we did a good trip of clearing, rock hauling, and building bridges getting ready for our hauling crap for the girls riding their horses on the trail later this month, even got to head up to the saddle area (did run out of time, but managed to get Adams truck up there finally as it is damn steep and he didn't attempt until he got his front locker last year, then even after two failed attempts due to carburator issues on the steep slopes) Anyway the pic is from near the saddle area, one day we will make it to the saddle in the background as that is where the trail goes. If you are heading on the Mackenzie trip, don't return to this thread, because I will soon be posting some sweet pictures and it will only make that trip that much more boring ;p

 

[AJAEbj42]

Save some good photos for the calendar (i.e. don't post!); front shots, minimum 2MB in size, blah blah.

I'd sure be interested in the history of that trail going up to the saddle (miners, prospectors, old wildlife trail?)

Looking forward to more!

 

[Deny]

Hey Rob, most of them are Bronco pictures as I just took pictures as we drove didn't take too many. I thought I already sent you some snowy pics because you said you needed snow, I can't send more than one, would look silly having my truck on a few months no? Anyway the next three are of the early part of the trail where I normally take pics, at the beginning where we had to do a bit of shoveling as the creek had ripped out the access, then mid trail, then at our first bridge still holding up well after 3 years of use.

 

[Deny]

Oh and the history is that the saddle trail was an old siesmic line with some minor shoeflys to go around some rock knobs, then upgraded to a road to get to another old well site, just like at the lake. However the old lease looks to be at the base of the saddle, I think another quick road got pushed over the saddle to access another siesmic line further south of the saddle, that eventually from looking on google earth gets to another lake you can get to from the east by quads. really over grown though, doubt it is possible, plus the saddle road looks extremely eroded. There is an interesting tid bit though from the saddle area, there is a book a guy from tumbler wrote and there is a famous photo of an expedition in that area where there are horses coming down off a really steep ridge, however someone hiking in the saddle area took a picture and it's the same area, just the horse picture the camera was turned slightly to make it appear steeper than it actually is.

All the above is just my guess, except for the stuff I read in the book, I dont really know what happened, just putting pieces of the puzzle together from old maps I have, google earth, Adams girlfriends step dad who used to bomb around those logging roads back in the 80's when he was a kid in an old forestry truck, and the group of local first nations guys we drank hard with one night when we both got stopped by snow one spring.

 

[Deny]

There were some quad tracks following us down into the river when we drove out, but looks like they just nosed in and found it was too deep for them and had to back out. We had the valley all to ourselves, ahhh peice and quiet, except for our drunken campfire banter and the sound of our chainsaws making firewood and clearing trail Anyway spent most of the day setting up our camp area at the second river crossing to get it ready for our horse trip in a few weeks, even got started on a hot water shower system. Was awsome being able to shower and be clean after a long day sweating and getting dirty from all the work we were doing in the hot sun. Then later in the afternoon we went to take a run at the saddle as the sun was going down a bit. Was a steep final climb (although the middle ledge climb is way steeper and stopped Adam the first time) to get to the top, which stopped Adam the last time, but he finally crested the top and got to join the old wagon as one of the few vehicles that can make that climb. we know of a guy on a motor bike and his buddy in an argo that make it, but there is a lot of quads that wouldnt even consider it as it has some really big step ups (they do access the saddle trail from the east side) and I wouldn't recomend the climb in a short wheelbase truck (sure as hell wouldn't try it in my 42), definatly need a rear locker, front is also highly recomended, then would need some bigger tires, and minimum airing down to 15psi as I normally run 10-12, but this time had 15 and it was hopping pretty good up the steep loose rock climbs enough to get pretty scary

 

[bigneily]

That's it ?

 

[boozewz]

Always look forward to updates from here!

Keep em coming

 

[Deny]

Ha ha, no not done, just have to fit this in during breaks at work cause my home computers got a virus Thanks for watching and encouraging though. Anyway after we creasted the top of the steep stuff and made the first saddle, we continued on the trail which crosses a few alpine meadows where the mosquitos were intense, so not much stopping. The green vegetation, blue sky, and white snow in the mountains were just breath taking, I can't even discribe the colours, they just seemed to be so soft and inviting (like mother nature was giving us a big hug!), we didn't really want to turn around. Trail was pretty tame up there and really just dodging old downed logs.

 

[Deny]

So after we got to the 2nd shoe fly around the rock knob and saw the big saddle and what looked like a wet area coming up on the trial we decided to turn around (see first pick in series with old school sticker) since we saw we had a lot more to go and would need a day from our regular camp spot to make an attempt on this trial as the sun was now getting pretty low behind the mountains. we had no problems heading down and took half the time going down then up. we got back to camp and used the shower we had just put together that morning and man it felt good to be clean without freezing your nads off in the glaceir ice cold water. Then some more drinking around the fire but to bed a bit early becuase I needed to get up to run this portion of the trail as I am training for the emperors challenge again this year which is the half marathon up and down a mountain by Tumbler. I was sure glad we drove up the day before since a lot of the tall grass that growns on the trail had been layed down by our trucks and made the run that much easier

 

[Wheelingnoob]

Beauty pictures!

Would love to explore that area some day.

 

[Deny]

Thanks Noob,

I live for that area too, I love exploring it as well

Oh and that middle picture is the top steep section, which is not as steep as the middle steep section where if going down all the s*** on your passenger seat falls down to the floor steep!

 

[Wheelingnoob]

Thanks Noob,

I live for that area too, I love exploring it as well

Oh and that middle picture is the top steep section, which is not as steep as the middle steep section where if going down all the s*** on your passenger seat falls down to the floor steep!

Haha thanks for subtle spell check

Always fun going down slopes like that with lose gravel. It's even better going up when you lose forward momentum and the front of the truck wants to slide out because you are all locked up.

 

[Deny]

Yup, that top slope has a lot of loose rocks, and is same level sketchy as the middle steep slope because of the loose rocks, it is a very long steep pull, and the one side is open for a huge view of the valley which is quite intimidating and breathtaking at the same time

Mid slope is sketchy because it is a seiries of steep ledges and actually is the slope that filters the quaders we think and would be possible endo material for really short wheel base trucks (I seriously sometimes have to almost get onto my hands climbing that section when I do my run up that trail and am amazed our trucks actually climb it).

the first slope is only sketchy because a few larger loose rocks sometimes make the front end bounce a little and the fact it is the first of the three steep sections and really just gets your blood going and your hands clammy a little

 

[BC40]

Very nice Deny
Said it before but I'll try to get my s*** together for a trip in there with you guys, in a year or two...

 

[Deny]

Anytime Martin, Rob said he may try for this year either August or September long, feel free to come up too.
Cheers,

 

[Deny]

Last three pics I took, as we just did more trail maintenence the last day before heading out. the trail to the second river crossing is pretty sweet now, not too bushy, some of the bottom less pits were filled with rock, so the quaders stop fing up the trail, and hopefully don't blame us for it, and some of the bridges we built, we shored up nicely so they are more stable for horses crossing them. This is the day Adam had his little off edge fiasco. Then we got back to camp and showered up again. I just bought a one inch trash pump to make the shower better and a little adjustable. On the way out the next day we cut down some fire wood and did a little more trail up keep, but motored out of there pretty quick and got home around 5pm after leaving the camp spot around 10:30am. I was lucky not to hit another elk like I did last time I drove back home from tumbler in the company truck, so all in all a sucessful trip, can't wait for July 20th and the big horse adventure!