VI Cruiser Expedition June 21-22 and beyond

[GTSSportCoupe]

Update:

OK folks, I'm going to start a tentative schedule for this trip, and will update as plans firm up. This trip will work for those who only have the weekend available, as well as those that have more days available.

Tentative Plan:

Day 1, Saturday June 21: All rigs will meet at Hammond Bay Serious Coffee in Nanaimo by 9:00am. Once all have arrived, we will move out and head towards Gold River. I think it's about a 3hr drive +. Upon arrival we will re-group, have lunch and re-fuel. From here we will head out on Ucona main towards Kunlin lake. We'll find an appropriate location, and setup camp for the first night.

Day 2, Sunday June 22: Pack up camp and begin the trek to Donner Lake. Hopefully have a good day of fun getting out there. At this point, those that need to be back home for Monday could leave. Those that are able to, will stay the second night at Donner Lake. There will likely be time to get some fishing in that afternoon and next morning.

Day 3-4, Monday June 23 to Tuesday June 24: Pack up camp, and head back to Gold River. From this point, the trip has not been planned, but will include more exploring of back roads and sights in the area between Hwy 28 and 19, and West to the coast.

Confirmed so far:

cruiserpilot - HJ60
Diesel Cruiserman - BJ42
GTSSportCoupe - LJ78
burnz - BJ42

Details:

We will each pack self sufficient with tools, recovery gear, food, clothing, camp gear, etc. There are a couple lists on the forum here which suggest equipment needed for trips like this and are worth a read. Bring an FRS radio or two if you have them, as they are convenient for vehicle/vehicle communication.


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Original Post:

A few of us have been chatting off and on about planning a camping run this year. Personally, the second half of June would work really well. I know that this would work well for a couple other members too.

I know weekends would be easiest for most, so let me suggest either June 20-22nd or June 27-30th.

The idea would be to gear up for 2-3 nights out. We'd pick a destination that all interested member rigs could get to, with maybe some more advanced wheeling opportunities available along the way for those with the more prepared rigs.

A this point I don't have a particular destination to suggest, but it would be nice finding something worthy of a multi day trip. I'm open to anything on the Island. Please share your ideas.

Let me know if you would be available either of the proposed weekends, and if you are interested in coming.

Just getting the ball rolling....

 

[Gsb15]

June 22nd to 23rd might be right at the end of my time off which I would be up for. That is if I can finish my rust work the two weeks before :s

 

[cruiserpilot]

I am really interested in this. I can do either weekend. Lets get committed to this, and anyone with ideas of an area we can camp and do a day trip wheeling from would be best.

 

[burnz]

hey guys, dont forget about "going coastal" big landcruiser event on the mainland right around that time. here is a portion of an email i got from
one of the event organizers. is there anyone going already?
Going Coastal will be on July 19 this year and is located at Heritage Park in Mission, B.C. You enter off Mary Street, and here is the website: http://www.heritagepark-mission.ca/ There will be a big raffle with off-road prizes worth about $2,000. There are also prizes for Best in the show. Last year we had an attendance of about 90 Land Cruisers, plus pickups and other vehicles. We are also looking for dealer contributions such as hats, key chains, fuel additives, T-shirts, etc.
We usually get going after 10:00 a.m. and shut down about 3:00 pm, followed by camping near Harrison Lake.
Hope you can make it.

 

[cruiserpilot]

$180 return per truck from the island to Vancouver, makes it a hard sell to islanders. I get home from 2 months off the day before, I'm already going to be scrambling to get out the door.
That being said, big IF, there was some really interesting wheeling organized for the weekend, out of Harrison, then I might be interested. I would have to include my vote with our group, not by myself. It also means that from the island, it would be Thurs - Sun to make it viable. I don't know if guys can swing ferry fare, and miss 2 days work for this.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

July 19 for the Coastal Cruiser Days meet is a few weeks later than what we are trying to plan here, so I don't think it will interfere. If guys want to attend that meet also, then by all means go ahead. Personally I don't think I'll be heading over there as I won't have time then and the ferry cost is a drag.

 

[cruiserpilot]

I read JUNE 19th, sorry about that. Good thing, don't want anything to interfere with our plan.
BTW, Burnz, why would you post that? It's really got nothing to do with this plan.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Anyone been out to Donner Lake in Strathcona before? South east of Gold River. Looks like a pretty incredible place from a bit of research I've done. It would be a bit of a chew to get to I think, and am still trying to see if it's even possible in a cruiser.

Would also be a long highway drive which might be a little too much for some people. Just throwing it out there though as one potential option. Might have to camp somewhere else one night before attempting to reach this lake.

Here is a bit of info from someone that rode a motor bike out there: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=904941 (see about halfway down the page).

Here is a pic of the lake

Roads out there:

 

[seapotato]

Looks nice.

Sounds like fun, but it's pretty much impossible for me to say if I can go or not at this point...

kinda the time everyone take their holidays, so someone has to stay behind and watch the kettles.

(not to mention my present cruiserless condition, which may or may not be dealt with by then.)

 

[cruiserpilot]

So Hwy 28 is the road to Gold River? That is nice country. I don't suppose it's accessible from the south, Pt Alberni way? I wish I had my mapbook here, I'm okay camping along the way.
I read that thread, might be interesting. I figure we'd be walking some of that just to make sure we fit. Might be worth a go though, good potential.
Any chance anyone up there can pre run it?

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Looks nice.

Sounds like fun, but it's pretty much impossible for me to say if I can go or not at this point...

kinda the time everyone take their holidays, so someone has to stay behind and watch the kettles.

(not to mention my present cruiserless condition, which may or may not be dealt with by then.)

Bahhh, give 'em notice right now before everyone else books holidays. If you are still cruiserless come June, maybe you could co-pilot/navigate?

So Hwy 28 is the road to Gold River? That is nice country. I don't suppose it's accessible from the south, Pt Alberni way? I wish I had my mapbook here, I'm okay camping along the way.
I read that thread, might be interesting. I figure we'd be walking some of that just to make sure we fit. Might be worth a go though, good potential.
Any chance anyone up there can pre run it?

Yup, that is Hwy 28. From my maps it doesn't look accessible from Pt Alberni by road at all. However, it is possible to continue on to Tahsis, and I *think* get to Zeballos by logging road, which would make a loop out of it if we had the time. Serious miles though.

I've read a few things on Donner lake now, and it seems it was accessible by 4wd until relatively recently at least. However I did come across a couple things that lead me to believe there may be a bridge out. I'll look into it closer tomorrow. If anyone is into fishing, I think that it would be pretty epic at Donner lake, as almost no one goes out there.

Found another good link with pictures. Sound like a perfect wheeling challenge: http://cameronsoftware.com/blog/blog/2012/07/19/dons-adventure-ride-17-donner-lake-gold-river-bc/

 

[cruiserpilot]

Well, I did just get a new to me used 10' fly rod and reel! This does look like a good exploration. I do have a chainsaw, so I'm up for
a bit of old road recovery. Have to find out about the bridge I guess.

 

[burnz]

oops sorry guys. good ol copy and paste. i could have sworn that read june 19. got a little busy at work and posted that without reading the entire email i got again. anyway if anyone wants to go there is a few cruisers and a jeep going in our group so hope to see anyone else there

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

oops sorry guys. good ol copy and paste. i could have sworn that read june 19. got a little busy at work and posted that without reading the entire email i got again. anyway if anyone wants to go there is a few cruisers and a jeep going in our group so hope to see anyone else there

Thanks burnz. So, you interested in coming on this run?

 

[seapotato]

Bahhh, give 'em notice right now before everyone else books holidays. If you are still cruiserless come June, maybe you could co-pilot/navigate?

Ha, you've never seen a group of grown men racing to fill out paperwork as you do with holiday forms during the first week of jan around here, so fat chance of that.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Ha, you've never seen a group of grown men racing to fill out paperwork as you do with holiday forms during the first week of jan around here, so fat chance of that.

Crappy man. Well hopefully you can make it fly. Probably the weekend before Canada Day would give you the best chance?

 

[Diesel Cruiserman]

Could do 20-22, could it extend my visit until 24..

Rob


What is this mythical job you have anyway..

Looks nice.

Sounds like fun, but it's pretty much impossible for me to say if I can go or not at this point...

kinda the time everyone take their holidays, so someone has to stay behind and watch the kettles.

(not to mention my present cruiserless condition, which may or may not be dealt with by then.)

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Have to find out about the bridge I guess.

I looked into the bridge a bit more. It is the 'Heber' bridge that is/was out. There is another way in to Kunlin and Donner lakes on Ucona Main though, which avoids the bridge issue.

I'm just throwing this trip out there as one option. Please, if anyone else has other ideas feel free to post 'em.

Also, looks like the weekend of June 20 - 22nd is the one that everyone is leaning toward, so I think we should stick with that one. Avoids the Canada Day madness which is good. If anyone wants to extend the trip beyond the weekend and see more land up there, I'm up for that too.

 

[cruiserpilot]

With Rob getting M&T off as well, it could work out to 4 days. I am completely free for everything. I realize this particular drive could
be done in a day, and may in fact not amount to much. Perhaps keep looking in the area, nothing stopping us from moving around,
say include looking to go in there, then come back out next day and go north of Gold R to another lake/road system.
Nick, did you pay for a subscri;ption for the mapbook? I can't seem to find anything free to download. What do you suggest
I can find and download. I've got 1 PC and 2 iPad's here.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

With Rob getting M&T off as well, it could work out to 4 days. I am completely free for everything. I realize this particular drive could
be done in a day, and may in fact not amount to much. Perhaps keep looking in the area, nothing stopping us from moving around,
say include looking to go in there, then come back out next day and go north of Gold R to another lake/road system.
Nick, did you pay for a subscri;ption for the mapbook? I can't seem to find anything free to download. What do you suggest
I can find and download. I've got 1 PC and 2 iPad's here.

Yeah, I agree, would be cool to do more exploring in the area after the lake trip. Looking at my map, there is a lot of stuff to explore out there, I've even found various hotsprings on my map that I can't seem to find any info on elsewhere. Wondering if they are not discussed much to keep them from getting too popular.

Anyhow, this is what I bought: http://backroadmapbooks.com/GPS/VIBC-GPS-Maps.html I run it on my GPS, and use Garmin Basecamp to view the maps on my computer. I broke down and spent the money last year and it has been well worth it. I think you can buy just a pdf version of the Vancouver Island map book, which you could download and look at in your current location also.

If you don't want to spend money, but still see maps, give this a try: http://geobc.gov.bc.ca/base-mapping/imagery/topographic.html Seems to have the logging roads and topography. You have to click on areas, and it becomes a pdf download, so a little awkward I guess.