Sunday, March 17, 2002

I decided to write this trip report because it was the first time I had my quad out for an actual ATV trail ride; I've had it out five times in the past: the first time was to learn how to ride it (starting, turning, shifting, burnishing the brakes, etc.), the second and third times were "practice" runs where I didn't really leave the main logging road, and the fourth time was when we were setting up TORR 2001, the bi-annual off-road rally organized by the Lionsgaters 4wd Club. All of these routes had been on logging roads, where I would have had no problem taking my truck. This time, I had some actual ATV trails in mind that I wanted to check out.

Mike and I were supposed to take our quads out to the Squamish area, but he phoned me in the morning and told me that he got food poisoning the night before (he's okay now). Since I already had trailer and quad in tow, I decided to head out on my own. I had visited the Tamihi / Liumchen area exactly one month ago, and during that time I had noticed a few trails that were too narrow for our trucks but would suit an ATV just fine. A stiff cross-wind was blowing me around a bit, and I frequently noticed the trailer swaying back and forth in the rear-view mirror. I got on to the Liumchen East FSR, and parked by the bridge at the second road where I off-loaded the quad. (I didn't write down the road names again).

The road started off with a climb, so I put the quad in 4-high range and headed up. The cold wind had managed to find it's way through four layers of clothing by the time I hit 20 mp/h, so I stopped and did up the last few buttons and snaps. My helmet did a good job of keeping my ears and most of my face warm. I hit a thin layer of snow fairly quickly; I was on the north slope of the mountain, so the shade prevented the sun from warming the ground and melting the snow, except for the occasional sunny spot. I listened to the hum of the engine, and the occasional crack as the tires broke through the small, frozen puddles that dotted the road.

I soon arrived at the first trail I wanted to check out; it had two boulders on either side, preventing anything larger than an ATV from accessing the trail. I could see the faint indentations of previous ATV tracks beneath the snow, but I was the first person up the trail since the last snowfall. The road was a continuous climb; the snow was approximately 3" deep but the quad had no trouble, and didn't even spin a tire. I know that if I was attempting to do this trail in the truck, I would definitely be having some traction issues. The snow had a thin crust on top, and I could hear the tires crunching through as I climbed up the trail in 2nd gear. A couple slightly-off-camber sections reminded me that I was supposed to lean towards the high side, and I quickly figured out that placing my feet on the floorboards and slightly rising out of the seat made shifting to the high side much easier. The trail ended at a small clearing in the trees; my first thought was "What? No viewpoint?", but it was a neat little trail nonetheless. The trip back down seemed steeper than the trip up; I left the quad in first gear and used engine compression to descend.

Back at the main road, I headed up the hill to the next trail, a sharp turn to a descent down to the Chilliwack River. I spotted a couple of little trails off of this trail, and made a mental note for a future trip. One looked like a nice path through the trees on a bed of brown pine needles, but the overhanging branches were really low and I didn't feel like ducking for an extended period. Another trail looked passable, but was rougher than I wanted to tackle alone. Still another trail was really muddy; I remembered checking it out with my truck, but the mud looked a lot deeper with the quad. :) I eventually arrived at the bottom of the trail, which consisted of a steep descent about 4' into a small creek, with a V-trough on the other side. The creek was cold; ice was forming on the branches overhanging the creek, and icicles hung from the roots at the edges of the creek. I positioned the quad to hit the decent straight on, shifted in 4-low, and s-l-o-w-l-y started down. It seemed really steep, although I suspect it wasn't nearly as bad as it felt. At one point I accidentally hit the throttle, and had to jump on the brakes to stop, stalling the motor, and causing that "electric" feeling as the adrenaline pumped and I felt like I was about to go over headfirst. How can you tell I'm new at this? :) I restarted the quad, eased down into the creek, and climbed out into the V-trough. I didn't want to turn out of the trough as I was worried it would be too off-camber, so I straddled the trough and drove out at the end.

This part of the trail consisted of rounded rocks, and I was quite impressed by the way the independent front and rear suspensions gave me ample clearance. In fact, I was sure that I was going to scrape the skidplates over a few of the taller rocks, but I didn't. I went down to the river's edge, and watched some anglers on the other side casting down the river. Back across the creek, up the steep incline. I sat far forward on the seat, and felt the strain in my arms as I held myself in place; the tires slipped for a brief second, then gripped, and pulled me up to the level surface. Back up the long climb to the main road.

I decided that I wanted to see where the road went. Since this was a well-maintained logging road, I shifted into 2wd. I saw a cool-looking gravel climb that was ATV width; it went pretty much straight up the side of the mountain, but I chickened out and decided to save it for when I had an experienced rider with me. I spotted a road leading up to the left, crossed a bridge, and found a small network of truck-wide trails that led to a nice view of a waterfall. Unfortunately, there was a lot of litter in this area. Up a slight hill to a corner where I encountered a group of about five 4x4's heading in the opposite direction; we waved at each other and continued on. At a clearing at the corner; some loser had dumped an entire truckload of house-hold garbage, complete with garbage cans. The problem with a well-maintained 2wd logging road close to houses is that it results in lazy and cheap local residents dumping their crap on our trails. There's just no excuse for this. The road eventually came to a junction; I think the sign said the road I was just on was the Chilliwack - Little Tamihi FSR. I went straight, passed by a Canadian Military installation, and spotted a small hole in the bush to the right. I took a look; it was a really steep descent down to powerlines, which I again elected to leave for a future run. Just before a curve, I spotted another small trail off to the right. This was a winding, truck-width trail with slight off-camber sections, and ended up with a steep descent to the powerlines I saw earlier. From this point, I could see a housing sub-division below. Back to the main road, and a short distance later the FSR turned to pavement just above a brand new housing development, where I turned around.

I headed back towards my truck, and by this time I had built up enough confidence to be able to hit the wide, flat corners at speed, with just a slight rear-wheel drift. :) Just before the road that lead to the creek, I encountered the same group of 4x4's I had seen earlier. The lead Jeep stopped me to ask if I knew of any good locations for 'wheeling; he was looking for some mud, but nothing too difficult. He said "I don't want to roll it; after all, it's a Jeep." His words! Back at my truck; I decided to take a quick run down the road to the east to see where it went; it ended at a small parking area full of full-size trucks, with a sign saying the road was deactivated. The ground was covered by the green netting I had seen at the other end of the road last month, and the sign stated that it was a fish habitat restoration project, for coho and trout. Cool! So that's what the netting was for. I snapped a photo of the sign because I didn't have a pen handy, and turned around. It was now around 15:30h, so I decided to call it a day.

It was a day for "firsts": first "real" trail ride on ATV trails, first time in snow, and first time requiring 4wd. While a lot of the ideas are the same, riding a quad is quite different than driving a 4x4 truck. Tight, twisty trails that would have required extreme carefulness to avoid body damage in the truck was a walk in the park for the smaller quad. Off-camber sections and alternating ruts which I wouldn't have even noticed in the truck were very noticeable on the quad (but I'm sure I'll get used to it, with more seat time). Snow that may have stopped or at least impeded the truck was a breeze on the quad. I feel like a whole new world has opened up for me! :)

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