Sunday, February 17, 2002

Erika posted on the BC4x4 bbs that she wanted to head out to the Vedder area on Sunday; I was the only other person willing or able to head out, so bright and early Sunday morning at the crack of 11:00h, we met up at the 176 Street weigh scales.

The weather was cloudy with a very light rain. We zoomed out to Sardis, got onto Vedder Rd, and turned left onto Chilliwack River Rd just before the Vedder Crossing bridge. We followed Chilliwack Lake Rd, crossed over Chilliwack River, and turned right onto the gravel mainline. I actually forgot to write down the names of the roads we took, but we took the first road left off the main road; I think the sign there said Chilliwack - Tamihi Creek FSR.

I spotted a little trail off to the left, so we shifted into 4-low and started to check it out. It immediately turned into a steep dirt climb with alternating holes, positioned just right to cross up your axles and trap a non-lockered truck. I slowly crawled up the grade, listening to the tires rub the fender flares on compression. I waited at the top for a moment, but Erika didn't appear. I walked back down the hill, to find her backed into the bush on the right side, with the right rear tire off the road and the left front tire unloaded. As I walked up, she said "Look what happened!" Apparently she tried reversing, and was unable to stop before backing off the road. Nothing like getting stuck 5 minutes into the first trail! :)

When she applied the throttle, the two drive tires spun in the air, and the truck rocked slightly on the other two tires. Her passenger-side nerf bar was right against a tree, and her tailgate was close to another tree. I suspect that if the nerf bar wasn't there, she'd have a dented door and a broken mirror. We decided that I'd back down the trail and tug her out to avoid any damage. I wasn't able to tug her out on my own due to the steepness and the loose dirt, but with both of us applying our respective throttles, she was able to get back onto the trail. We turned around and went in search of another trail.

Further up the road, I spotted another little trail off to our right; it climbed up along a ridge for a short distance and ended at an exposed campsite on a plateau. We had a nice view of the valley to the south, and could see Tamihi Creek meandering along the valley floor.

Back down to the main road; we checked out a new-looking road to the left which switchbacked up through a freshly-logged cut and ended at a field of rocks. Immediately across from this road was an access to Tamihi Creek; we pulled into there and stopped for lunch. The creek water was its usual clear, cold, blue; the pool here is a great place to cool off on a hot summer day.

We checked out a few more side trails; they were all covered with snow, and we were only able to get in a short distance on each one. We encountered a small rock slide along the main road; careful driving allowed us to squeak by the boulders. The snow along the main road eventually became too slippery for us, so we turned around and headed back down to the mainline.

We turned left onto the mainline, and turned left onto Liumchen FSR. At a three-way junction, we took the smallest trail to the right. It proved to be a tight, twisty trail through the trees, just the way we like them. It was very overgrown, and both of my mirrors were folded in by the trees in short order. We encountered a bit of deadfall across the road, but we both had enough clearance to drive over it. Later on, we found two trees that had fallen across the trail to rest on trees on the other side of the trail, leaving them too high to drive over. It was then that I realized that I had left my saw at home! *doh* Erika didn't have a saw either, so I hooked my tug strap to the first tree, and reversed until the tree broke in two, pinned by its roots on one side and a standing tree on the other. I repeated this for the second tree, and we were on our way. Just to spite me, one of the trees dented both drivers-side wheelwells, but I was able to straighten them out by hand (thin Toyota sheetmetal!). This trail ended in a small clearing by a creek; we turned around and headed back to Liumchen FSR.

Back at the 3-way junction, we took the middle road. We encountered a few snowy patches, but nothing that caused a problem. We checked out a trail on the left; it turned into a narrow shelf road that paralleled Liumchen FSR. The only tracks through the snow were ATV tracks, and the trail wasn't much wider than our trucks. We passed a neat waterfall that was flowing down green moss from way up above us, and looking to our right revealed a nice view of the Chilliwack River valley. This trail eventually ended at a small campsite; I snapped a couple of photos before we turned around. My window was open, and I managed to get whacked in the face by a prickle bush, which left a tiny spike in my cheek. Once we were back on Liumchen FSR, I used a pair of pliers to remove it, with the aid of my driver's door mirror and a flashlight. Eight hours later, I still have a slight swelling similar to a mosquito bite, but it's not itchy so hopefully it will be gone by tomorrow.

We found a narrow trail heading north, down towards the river, so we did a multi-point turn and checked it out. Again, ATV tracks were the only tracks through the snow. This was a very steep downhill grade, and at the bottom, about 100' from the Chilliwack River, we encountered a V-shaped trough about 3 feet deep that we'd have to straddle to continue on. The trough was so narrow that even the ATV's had to walk along the sides of the V. I spotted ATV tracks leading down to the river and all throughout this area; when the weather gets nicer I'm going to bring my own ATV down here to do some riding. I hiked down the trail to see what lay ahead; there were a couple of soft creek crossings, some deadfall that required cutting, followed by a very rough, rocky section, followed by a dug-up dirt section through a creek with fresh grass covered with green netting, which we obviously were not supposed to drive on. End of the line! We turned around and slowly climbed back up the steep trail.

Note: I found out what this netting was for when I returned a month later with my ATV.

It was just starting to get dark, so we decided to call it a day. We got back to the main road without incident, and split up to head for home. A nice, relaxing day in the mountains; no breakage except for me ripping out the lower part of my right fender when I stuffed a tire, easily fixed with a screw.

On the highway, I noticed my truck wandering a bit, so I pulled into a rest stop to check things out. I discovered that my right rear tire was at 19psi instead of the normal 28psi, and I could hear a slight bubbling as air escaped from a small leak somewhere. I guess I managed to slice or puncture it on something. I aired it up with my ARB compressor, and was on my way again in a few minutes; I'll take the truck into Big-O on Monday for a free fix.

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