Saturday, December 1, 2001

Written Feb 23/02, so some details might be fuzzy.

It was our first annual non-denominational holiday run and dinner, and a post to the mailing list resulted in four trucks willing to head out for the day, with more promising to be at the dinner later on. Mike from Brackendale met us at the Mamquam FSR trailhead where we were airing down, and delivered a tailgate to me. Thanks, Mike! His original plan was to finish some work on his truck the night before, and join us in the morning, but around 02:00h he realized that it was not to be. Matt brought his newly-acquired 1989 4Runner, complete with antlers affixed to the front pushbar. Redneck!! Doug and I had taken Matt and Alan on a 'wheeling trip during the summer, and Matt liked it so much he bought a 4Runner. We're bad influences that way! After standing around getting soaked in the pouring rain, we finally said good-bye to Mike, and headed up the Mamquam FSR, not sure how far we'd get with all the snow on the ground.

For some reason, I was elected to lead. I figured we try to do the Forest Lane loop, but a short while in, the pouring rain turned to large snowflakes, and the road was covered in the white stuff. A little further in, we found a stock Grand Cherokee timidly creeping along the road; when he saw us in his rear-view he courteously pulled over at the top of a rise. We passed him, and soon found ourselves making the first tracks through the snow. Arminder somehow got too close to the right side of the road, and slid into the ditch. He wasn't really stuck, he could move back and forth, but he just couldn't get back onto the road. I reversed up to his location, snapped a quick photo in case he tried to deny it later, then tugged him out.

We managed to drive for a couple more km's before I slid off the road to the left. The others didn't want to drive down to where I was, thinking that if I was having difficulties then there'd be no way that they would make any progress. Which might not have been true; a narrower tire would have done better than me in the snow, even with my lockers, a fact that Dave proved to Mike and I about two months later.

With Wade spotting, I managed to reverse far enough down the road to get back onto the surface, without slipping further off into the bush (although it felt "iffy" for a short bit!). The snow was only two feet deep here, but it was slippery enough that the uphill grade made my forward progress impossible. I turned around in a clear spot, and drove back to where the others had left their vehicles. Everyone else turned around without any difficulties, and we headed back to the highway.

It was lunch time now, so we zoomed up to the Tim Horton's. I phoned Mike to see if he was interested in joining us; and he arrived a short time later. After lunch, Mike asked us if we wanted him to show us a few trails in the area, of course we said yes! We drove up the road to a power station, where Mike parked his truck and hopped in with Norm. We started in on the trail, and Matt discovered that he wasn't able to lock his hubs. He parked his 4Runner, and with Alan hopped into Arminder's 4Runner.

We bumped along the snow-covered trail, where Mike in Norm's 4Runner led us to a hillclimb. Mike then informed us that it was very difficult to do when dry, and that there was rocks and loose dirt under the snow. Oh, sure! Everyone walked up the hill with their cameras, and Wade rolled the tape. I tried creeping up slowly, but was unable to make it, getting stopped by a vertical ledge that I just couldn't get traction on. A couple more tries, then finally I used a judicious application of throttle and managed to zig-zag my way up to the top, tires spinning, snow flying, to the cheers of the others. I think Mike was impressed. I said to Wade, "I hope you got that on video!"

Norm was next; he gave it a few tries and managed to almost slide his AT-tired 4Runner into a truck-sized hole on the left. We all got behind his 4Runner and pushed; it was enough to get him up and out. He backed his 4Runner into a handy alcove, and it was Arminder's turn. Arminder gave it several valiant efforts as we cheered him on, including one time where he got extremely close to a stump. "Hey Arminder, the road's over THIS way!!" Wade got that one on video too; it was pretty funny. :) He had a rear locker, but we could see that he really needed a front locker too; he kept getting stopped at one spot where his front drive tire was in the air. His front end was bouncing up and down as his rev-limiter kicked in. Sensibly, he quit before he broke something, like a CV joint. We walked up to the next section, a powerline tower, and checked out the view.

After chatting for a bit, and getting wet, we eventually headed back down. Mike led us out an alternate way, and we eventually drove back to where his truck and Matt's 4Runner were parked. We stood around some more and chatted in the rain, and then we finally split up and headed back to town. A fun day of playing in the snow; no breakage, and I finally got to meet Mike, with whom I'd only conversed via email before.

We had about 15 people show up for the dinner, and we had a good time talking about trips, trails, and Toyotas. We all had a laugh watching Wade's video, and Jud won the $50 gift certificate donated by North Shore Off Road. A big THANKS to NSOR for the draw prize.

Matt's hubs worked fine the next day; I suspect he got a bit of water in them and they froze up.

More photos are located at Norm's website.

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