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Re: Bike rides

Posted: 14 Mar 2019 19:56
by funwithmonkeys
Byron you should let me know when you come to Byng. I live 6 min away. We go for walks in the trails there all the time with the kids. There are some great trails in Cliff Gilker park really close to Byng also.

Re: Bike rides

Posted: 14 Mar 2019 20:52
by gooned
Been to Byng twice with kids, great spot!

Re: Bike rides

Posted: 14 Mar 2019 23:06
by Byron510
Thanks for the heads up guys - I’ve been told it’s a pretty nice place. It must be, wasn’t it once the location for the Pacific Jamboree?
My daughter has been there twice with scouts, I look forward to going this year.

Norm - certainly, sounds like a plan. I’ll hike out to meet you at some point, I’ll know what our schedules is like soon, it is suspect it’ll be in the evening. I’ll bring my woods essence of musk and campfire with me 👍

Byron

Re: Bike rides

Posted: 06 Jun 2019 21:45
by gooned
If you haven’t watched Frank before....it’s amazing some of the places he crawls into.

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCtFNKt_IKBpalOWXuIreW7Q

Re: Bike rides

Posted: 09 Jul 2019 07:21
by bertvorgon
Our latest adventure.........

HARRISON LAKE To BOSTON BAR

Matt and I decided to get out of dodge for a day and finish a trip that we tried to do 2 years ago…cross from Harrison Lake to Boston Bar, stopping at the Nahatlatch Forest Fire Lookout for a late lunch.

The term “gravel road” was not suitable on the section from Harrison to the start of the climb, there was NO gravel!!! So much traffic has gone through this part that all the loose gravel bed was gone, just leaving ROCKS sticking up. This was one of the roughest roads I have ever been on…...and I have been on a lot of gravel in my life time. We had to go quite slow.

Then, to start to top off our day, at almost the start of our climb, they were heli-logging, so we had to stop for 45 minutes till the heli ran out of fuel. We did get to talk to two really nice guys from the Czech Republic who were on off-road tour motorcycles, going to do a big loop for the day also. They and two other guys coming the other way were the only people we saw all day.

The lower part of the climb went by fairly quickly. We stopped at the really scenic waterfall up there, when the two Czech fellows came up behind us and the other two guys heading to the lake came by.

Right after the waterfall the climb starts to get quite steep and the bloody cross ditches began. We started to get concerned that they were getting worse in how deep they were and the approaches were quite sharp. Our Tracker has a short wheel base and to hit them, at an angle, again pointed out that as the vehicle went on the diagonal, it started to cross jack and we lose traction. We at least have lots of experience on how to get through these things but, at the same time we did not want to get stuck. Other than the fresh motorcycle tracks, there had been NO vehicle traffic through here.

The clock had been ticking by this point, our travel time had really slowed down due to picking our way through so many cross ditches, at least 30+ before we got to the top of the pass. Our concern became what would the down side of the pass be like; we sure did not want to go BACK the way we came! As we crossed over the top of the pass, some 5,000 feet in elevation, the road surface changed markedly, and, the cross ditching became less severe.

It was now 2 PM so we stopped for our obligatory fire, beer and a steak, catching a break in the light rain for a clear spot of sun.

Another 20 km rolled by and we were down where the road crosses the Nahatlatch River, electing to popup to see the start of the lake chain and visit the old trappers cabin, sadly covered in graffiti. I can remember back in the 70’s when this area first opened up, not easy to get to as there was an aerial car ferry that only took 4 cars I think to cross the Fraser River to Boston Bar. The bridge really let the masses head up here.

As the day had just blown by with being so slow on all the cross ditches, we elected to not head up to the Nahatlatch Fire Lookout. That would have taken another two hours and it was now almost 4 pm.

Next time we will just go up the Canyon and head up from Boston Bar. Personally, I would never do that route again from Harrison, it is just too rough and those cross ditches will not get any better. It was a good day and a long one, saw lots of deer and just enjoyed the tense fun of some 4 x 4’in.

Re: Bike rides

Posted: 09 Jul 2019 07:25
by bertvorgon
A few more.

as we headed into Hope, the 2 motorcyclist's that were heading to Harrison, had finished their loop, they waved to us as we crossed paths again.

Re: Bike rides

Posted: 09 Jul 2019 07:34
by bertvorgon
this note will get lost in time but, thought I would mention it. We have a GARMIN ETREX 20 for our backwoods navigation at times. I bought the B.C. Backroads GPS Micro SD card for it.

Turns out, it also will slip into my GARMIN NUVI 40 that I use in my 510 as a speedo and road map.

This will be very handy as the screen is much larger than the handheld one so in the Tracker when we are in the back country roads, will have a much better screen to read.

I never noticed the very small slot on the side of my Nuvi, for the SD card.

Re: Bike rides

Posted: 09 Jul 2019 15:41
by bertvorgon
Just thought I would throw this up for history sake, not many will remember this thing.

Boston Bar car tram

Re: Bike rides

Posted: 09 Jul 2019 17:00
by RONSLYCHUK
Once again Keith,you have posted some great pics.Thanks!

Re: Bike rides

Posted: 09 Jul 2019 19:39
by gooned
I’ve done the reverse loop twice, coming down from starting with the fire lookout, once in 2wd in the big yellow dodge...THAT was a slow trip with lots of help in those big washouts.

I remember being a kid on the tram, totally terrified 😳

Great to see you guys out and sharing pics.

Re: Bike rides

Posted: 15 Jul 2019 23:19
by Byron510
I also remember that tram as a kid! I agree with you 100% Jason.

I did the same road two years ago, starting from Boston Bar. No GPS, no maps. And there were a number of time when we wondered if we were in the correct road. It we ended up on the East Harrison main, and had a well deserved ice cream in Harrison to wash down the dust :-)

The worn out shocks on the pretty soft ride in the Xterra did fine, my buddies brand new Taco beat the crap out of him - for the life of me I can’t remember the third vehicle. I put it in 4wd once, only because I wanted low range to travers a long single lane section that was loose and pretty sketchy if it were to go wrong (you wouldn’t have survived going over that one!). And for that section alone I don’t think I would have enjoyed going the other way!

Great road though, would do it again to find the look out you speak of....

Byron

Re: Bike rides

Posted: 29 Jun 2020 08:39
by bertvorgon
Wow, been awhile since I posted some adventures on here! This year the weather, Covid, plus Matt's time, have been very restrictive.

Yesterday, BIG MISTAKE, as we left too late, we thought we would hike up East Canyon trail at Golden Ears Park. Upon arrival, just at the point the road dips down to the picnic area, we got turned around as the parking lot was FULL! Holy Cow! So, we turned of course...where do we go?

On a lark, we went up another road, still in the park, to check that out. It was busy, but, we thought we would try something there, off the beaten path. That turned out to be a good move, as all the city slickers stayed right where everybody else was. So much for quiet and solitude.

What a great day, all the berries coming into ripeness, the Foxglove were spectacular in colour, and...it was dead quiet and NO people. We finally came to a nice spot where we would have our lunch, roast beef sandwich and a cold Kokanee.

We had just finished eating and sipping on the beer when we caught some motion in the trees. Lo and behold we see two, very fresh black bears cubs climbing up a tree. That gave Matt and I a big red flag....where was Momma? She must have seen/smelled us and sent them up the tree. Sure enough, right across where we were sitting, came Momma. She was not aggressive or giving that "wuff" that they do, but, we decided to move calmly a bit higher from where we were sitting, and I did arm my bear banger just in case. I have learned over the years, with our many encounters with bears, cougars, etc.....make NO sudden moves.

Momma bear disappeared under the ferns, right across from us, those ferns all of 6 feet tall. The cubs had climbed to at least 70 feet up that tree. Then, Momma bear came out and went and sniffed right where we had been sitting, she was maybe 50 feet away from us, really paid us no mind, sniffed along where we walked, then went back to the area where the big tree was. As soon as she got back, the two little cubs came down the tree, very cool. We watched for 20 minutes the antics of one of the cubs as it tried to eat some of the plentiful berries where we were, lots of salmon and huckleberries out now. I would suggest the cubs were about 6 months old and all three looked as healthy as could be.

That she was not aggressive spoke to the fact that she knew and heard us long before we saw them, so no surprises.

As we left Golden Ears park, that staff had set up a road block at the entrance to the Park, where the big goat is. You locals will know, and, as we left, they let 1 in. The LINEUP went all the way down to the play park at the bottom..INSANE. Matt and I were gob smacked at the press of vehicles, people will be in that line up for hours, crazy at the time of day, late afternoon. I have been going to Golden Ears since it was made in 1967 and have never seen anything like that, speaking to both the Covid easing and the shear number of people trying to get into the outdoors, which then makes that experience just another case of crowd control. There will be no way Matt and I go back there during peak months again.

Re: Bike rides

Posted: 29 Jun 2020 08:45
by bertvorgon
Bear

Re: Bike rides

Posted: 29 Jun 2020 18:01
by gooned
Once again you prove how all our resources in the “blast radius” are overwhelmed these days.

Really need to get 4 hours out to enjoy any space :(

Re: Bike rides

Posted: 30 Jun 2020 09:15
by bertvorgon
Hey Jason, good to hear from you!

Yes, it is quite sad now that the press of population has overwhelmed the available resources here. We are all part of the problem now, as we try to find recreational space within a 2 hour drive window.

The Squamish corridor is done, Chilliwack River, Harrison, North Shore, Golden Ears, etc.. The Twitter/Facebook world has not helped things, as people so poorly prepared go for the photo op.

Look at what happened at Joffre Lakes, Holy Cow!

I swear to God too, the some people are just frigg'in lazy, get themselves into an area, in their God damn sandals, the day gets late, as they underestimate the terrain and their state of physical fitness, then call for help to get the helicopter ride out. REALLY?!

I few weeks ago the head of North Shore rescue...the level of frustration in his voice was so apparent, you could tell he just wanted to say..."You STUPID A-HOLES...what did you think was going to happen!!!!!"

You are right, 4+ hours now to get away, in what are really limited corridors, until you get the the Interior. Even the top of the Coke, at the Needles, etc, is getting over run. It is just the way it is now.

Our next trip will be a multi day camp out, 6+ hours away...no people..no cell phone service...4 wheel drive required...

It is a shame, when you consider how much land is along the perimeters, that our Governments(s), having seen the press for more camping spots, have not built more campsites. Manning Park is a perfect example, there are lots of places where another big Hampton size site could be put in. I'm so glad the most of the stress is on weekends and that I have the luxury to go mid-week, where there is hardly anybody at say Hampton Campground.

I get we ALL want to get out of the Big Smoke...but now...the BIG Smoke is at every campsite/hiking/walking parking lot. That line up to try to get into Golden ears was an eye opener, it truly did look like rush hour on #1 Pre-Covid, everything stopped and idling...so much for fresh air.

My rant for the day!