Sunday December 3, 2000

Our forays into the back-country have taken us through the picturesque Fraser Canyon on numerous occasions, and it was during these trips that we noticed a little shelf road winding across the mountain faces on the other side the river, north of Hope. Doug mentioned that he'd like to check it out some day, thinking that with a bit of luck the road just might meet up with the road system south of Boston Bar.

With this in mind, Doug, John, and Steve set out two weeks ago to explore the area (I was busy that day). The road went in for a few kilometers, then was blocked with a gate marked "Private Property". They were a little disappointed, as the road continued on past the gate, but they respected the wishes of the land owner and turned around. However, they did have the foresight to leave a phone number on a note attached to the gate, stating that they respected the private property status, but were wondering if it would be possible to gain access to the trail system. They were pleasantly surprised when the land-owner phoned a few days later, and after some discussion he granted permission to access his land. In a time of land closures, it's sure nice to get some positive feedback from the community.

The following weekend was the Lionsgaters' annual Christmas run and dinner, so they decided to return to the Hope area the weekend after, and I agreed to attend. Doug advertised the upcoming run as a "modified" run, meaning that if you bring your stock vehicle, be prepared to turn around or incur damage, and since my truck is mildly modified I figured I'd qualify. However, during the Christmas run, Doug and I were playing around on some large rocks by a creek, and I managed to detonate my left-side Birfield joint. I decided to take this "opportunity" to straighten and completely rebuild my front axle housing (the right side was slightly bent from the previous-owner's drunken accident, and I didn't notice it until I started getting the funny tread wear). As my truck is a daily driver and I couldn't afford an extended period of down time, this required slapping in the spare front axle housing and third member. But since the spare diff had 4.10 gears, I'd be in 2wd mode only, and would be unable to attend the Hope trip. :(

Then Doug said "You could always be a passenger; I have a spare seat available." Hmm... passenger... what a novel idea! And I could take some notes and some pics, and maybe even write a trip report... :)

Okay, enough of the background. I awoke at the ungodly hour of 05:20h to the persistent screaming of my GE alarm clock. Why do we do this, anyways? I don't even get up for work this early, and they're paying me! I sent Doug a quick email stating that I was awake and would be at his place by 06:15h. There was hardly any traffic on the roads (go figure), and I arrived on time to a darkened house. Apparently Doug had hit the snooze button a few too many times! Doug and I threw our gear into his truck, and headed off to a 24-h Subway to pick up lunch, then to a McDonalds for drive-through breakfast. We arrived at the Port Mann weigh scales right on time, meeting up with John and Steve who were patiently waiting for us (and John had doughnuts! Whoo-hoo!). The others arrived shortly thereafter, right after Doug said "It's past 7:00, shall we give them two more minutes?" After some brief, and I mean brief, introductions, our little team of intrepid explorers set off down the highway in the dim morning light. Our next stop was to be in Hope for gas.

We arrived in Hope without incident, got on to the Old Princeton Hwy, and gassed up at the Chevron. We turned left on 7th Ave, right on Kawkawa Lake Road, then left on Union Bar Road just after the bridge. Union Bar Road turns into a dirt road, where it becomes the Squeah FSR (Forest Service Road). We aired down here (waypoint 87), while Doug, John, and Steve told us tales of the "ferocious pit bulls" that were roaming the private property we were heading to, accompanied by some dogs barking away nearby. Suddenly, a pair of black labs popped out of the bushes about a hundred feet down the road, barking and bounding towards us. Well, holy crap, I've never seen John and Doug move so fast before, as they ran for their vehicles! I was laughing so hard I would have become fresh meat if the dogs had actually been the ornery sort. After seeing that we brave four-wheelers weren't attempting to usurp their territory, the two dogs returned to chasing rabbits and disappeared back into the undergrowth.

We were done airing down at 08:47h, and as we slowly climbed the shelf road in the fog, we could just make out the Fraser River below us to the left. We made a left at the first fork, crossed some well-travelled railway tracks (exercise caution when crossing the railway tracks in this area; they are very active!) and, according to the orange lettering spray-painted on a tree, entered an Indian Reserve at 3km. Just past the 4km mark we took the right fork, and crossed the railway tracks again. We stuck to the main road, passed through an open gate at 5.5km, and took the left fork.

We went left at a major fork at 7.5km (waypoint 88, 08:59h), and observed the snow-capped mountains of the Zofka Ridge poking up through the fog. We stayed left at 10km and emerged from the fog; it was a sunny day after all.

At 13km we turned left off the main road onto a smaller road (waypoint 89, 09:09h). We drove down a relatively steep grade, forded a small creek, and arrived at an old white building with green trim. Doug remarked that there used to be a logging camp here, and that there was some old logging equipment to the left by the river. The road forked here, and we took the right fork as Doug zeroed his odometer. We passed the rusty remains of a blue early-'60's utility truck and a barely-legible "Private Property" sign, and shortly thereafter arrived at a low-slung steel-rope "gate" strung across the road, with a "Road Closed" sign.

This gate was supposed to have been left open by the land-owner's son for our scheduled arrival time of 09:30h; it was only 09:15h so thought that maybe he hadn't arrived yet. The land owner had told us that we could drive around the gate via one of the skidder trails that he put in; we briefly explored some of the skidder trails in the immediate vicinity but were unsuccessful in finding the correct one.

At 09:25h we back-tracked past the white building, crossed west over the railway tracks, and headed down to the river. I checked out some of the old logging equipment, then wandered down to the river's edge, where I could see the smooth, glassy surface of the river slowly disappearing into the mist. While I was happily taking in the view, Doug was on the cell phone to the land-owner, who as it turned out was still asleep in Hope, having arrived home late the night before. He also informed us that his son had had a late night as well, and gave us some better directions to bypass the gate via the skidder trails.

We eventually made it through, and lightly treaded past his portable mill operation and camp. We spotted one of the pit bulls, leashed to a shed. Shortly after the mill, we found an old logging trailer lying across the road; we figured it must be the rear of his property and he was using it to block access from the other side. Funny how he didn't mention it to us! We tried taking a skidder trail to the left, but it didn't go through. Oh well, a few minutes with Doug's winch and snatch block and the trailer (a.k.a. "the back gate") was nicely rolled out of the way. Note the use of a tree-saver strap; this prevents damage to the tree that would have been caused by wrapping a chain or winch cable around the trunk. Remember, you want that tree to be around the next time you need to use it! A thick layer of moss was growing over everything here, and was especially visible on the north side of the trees and on the leaf springs of the trailer.

We started to gain elevation again, and at a switchback we found the road covered with debris in the form of stumps and branches (waypoint 90, 10:14h). Doug had almost no trouble driving over it, but some of the larger pieces had to be moved for the stock trucks. At one point John yelled "STOP!" when it appeared that Doug was stuck on something; it turned out to be a 2" thick pointy branch protruding from a log doing it's best to sidewall Doug's right front tire. John obtained a bow saw, began cutting the branch, then suddenly found himself thrown on his butt when the branch snapped with a loud *bang* from the pressure exerted by the tire's sidewall. Truly a Kodak moment, but alas, I didn't have the camera ready (I really should know better when John's involved!). While the rest of the crew negotiated the debris, John and Steve walked up the trail to check its condition. They spotted a bear who spotted them at the same time, and they took off running back down the trail while the bear scrambled up the hillside in the opposite direction. I'm not sure who was more scared!

We continued on up the road, passed a couple of fallen boulders, then took the less-travelled fork to the left (waypoint 91) as it appeared to head in the direction we wanted to go. It turned out that it was less travelled because it ended at a small hole in the road that was several hundred feet deep (waypoint 92, 11:01h), so we turned around and went back to the main road.

We took a right fork (waypoint 93, 11:06h), drove up a grade for a few minutes, then popped out of the forest onto a two-track road running perpendicular to ours (waypoint 94, 11:19h). We went left, heading towards our original destination. We switchbacked up for a while, finding a nice view of the valley just south of Qualark Creek (waypoint 95). We could almost see Yale, but the view of the town was blocked by the surrounding hills.

The overgrowth started to get nasty after this point. The road split at one point; the left split was reasonably clear, but the right split had 2" thick trees growing up through the center of it. The two splits met up again just before a partial washout. The washout was basically a turn with a drop into a ditch, with just enough room for Doug's Xtra-cab to squeak by without the left rear tire falling into the hole. Gord's YJ was next; he got the skid plate high-centered and had to be tugged back by Rob's Mazda. Some creative shoveling got him through. Rob was next; his stock-height truck got high-centered on its left-side frame rail and body seam (incurring some minor paint gouges), and when he made it through, a renegade piece of soil reached out and snagged his front valance, breaking the left fog-light off at the mount. Doh! The road had become a bit flatter by this point, and everyone else made it through without incident. Oh yeah, while John was observing the proceedings, the edge of the bank gave way and nearly sent him into the ditch; another Kodak moment, and again I failed to have the camera ready. I think we'll assign somebody to continuously operate the JohnnyCam (tm) on the next run. :)

The road past the ditch was overgrown so much that I almost felt sorry for Rob's mint Mazda. I say "almost" because everyone was aware of Doug's standard disclaimer: "Paint scratches are guaranteed, and body and mechanical damage is a possibility." One particularly thick alder unleashed its frustrations on John's 4Runner, snagging his right front plastic bumper corner and flinging it 100' into the bush, smashing his right front marker light, and surgically removing his right mirror, all in one well-coordinated movement. All John heard was *thwack*, and he looked over just in time to see a black object sailing off into the trees. "Go get that!" he told Fraser. "What was it?" "I dunno, just get it!" LOL! Doug later informed me that he too sustained some damage here; another tree knocked a hole in his left-side marker light. I see some heavy-duty front bumper mods in their futures!

The trees finally thinned out after a slight dip in the road, and we found ourselves in the sun on a rock-strewn section of road overlooking the valley. Time for lunch! The road ahead was even more overgrown than the last section, so Doug walked ahead, and reported that the road ended in a box a short while later, just west of Spider Peak. Looking around, we could see an overgrown road winding through the trees below us and continuing on to the next range of hills, heading in the correct direction. On the way down, I saw a good opportunity to photograph the other vehicles switchbacking down the mountainside behind us, so Doug grabbed the CB mic and said "Hold up there, we want to take a picture of you." Steve replied, "Okay, we're on the way down!" Steve, remind me to never spot for you!

We checked out a branch to the right on the way down; it quickly got really overgrown, so Doug once again checked it out on foot (waypoint 96). At one point he had the "crap" scared out of him when he startled two grouse who were just minding their own business in the bushes. I think he still had "bear" on the brain. :) Since the road didn't seem to get any better, we turned around here and headed back to the main road.

We went back to the fork from 11:06h (waypoint 93, 14:07h), hung a right, and about .25km in found a large rock slide blocking the road. We entertained the thought of rock crawling over it, which was definitely possible if you weren't worried about body damage or had some pretty stout rock sliders. The only dangerous part (other than having several tons of overhanging rock cliffside falling on top of you) was the off-camber turn back down to the road once through the rocks, where the path was on a really steep angle, and the gaps in the rocks would drop the tires enough to roll you onto your roof. With the right cable rigging it looked like it might be doable. However, none of the other vehicles wanted to attempt it for some unknown reason, so we turned around. It did look like this was the road we wanted to be on though.

We traced our way back through the roads, where a sneaky stump jumped out and tried to keep the right-side running board/step of Greg's TJ for its own (14:40h). We arrived back at the logging trailer, and once everyone was through, Doug winched it back across the road (remember to close gates when you're done!). Just past the private property, we met the land owner and his son who were coming back for a week of work. We chatted with him for a few minutes, showing him where we had been, and he told us a bit about the history of the area and mentioned that a large logging company was going to be logging the area shortly, and were planning to build a new road through. He also said he was really glad to have met us, and promised to give us a key to the gates for future access. Let me take this opportunity to stress that responsible four-wheeling and good public relations will go a long way towards keeping road access open for everyone. Please respect private property, and stay on the established roads.

We arrived back at the Squeah FSR at 15:20h, and took the left turn (turning right would have taken us back to Hope). The road forked a while later (waypoint 99, 15:30h); we took the left fork while the rest of the group continued along the main road. Our road went through a creek and ended at a clear cut; I took photo of a neat-looking cloud formation, and we headed back to join the rest of the group.

Steve had led the rest of the group up the next fork, a smaller road branching up to the right from the main road. John had continued on past this fork. Steve reported that he had gone in around 2 km's and was on the two-track road that we had found earlier, and was sitting at waypoint 94. John suddenly realized that he was on a different road, and turned around, meeting up with us as we were heading back out to the main road.

The group split up, and we all spent some time checking out little side offshoots and miscellaneous trails; most ended at a logged area or petered out into the overgrowth. Doug and I checked out one offshoot by ourselves; it started getting fairly off-camber and looked like it only got worse, so we ended up backing out. I'd like to check this one out further with the ATV when I have more time. Doug and John played on the rocks at one location (waypoint 100, 16:27h), and John was amazed at the flex his new TrailMax rear Ranger-length springs had, compared to his year-old, stiff, sagged Skyjackers (just how can springs can be both stiff and sagging at the same time?). It was starting to get dark, so we decided to call it a day and head back to town.

Back down the main road; Doug and I checked out an interesting offshoot to the right (waypoint 102) over a brown dirt berm; it meandered through the trees for a couple of km's before disappearing into the darkness as it headed down a steep hill (waypoint 101). Even with our MagChargers we were unable to see the road surface through the overgrowth, so we decided to turn around before we got into trouble; this one is another trail worth checking out via ATV.

We headed back to Hope to air up and grab some dinner; we arrived at the Home Restaurant on Old Princeton Highway (near the Chevron) at 17:38h, having put a grand total of 44.9km's on the odometer since the white building. I had a great time, and it was nice to be able to enjoy the view from the passenger seat instead of having to constantly pay attention to the road. Being a passenger also allowed me the time to take some semi-accurate notes for the trip report instead of trying to memorize everything. I definitely want to do it again.

GPS Coordinates

49.44931905, -121.40684407, WPT 88
49.48448853, -121.40594273, WPT 89
49.49899063, -121.41123358, WPT 90
49.50441684, -121.40183263, WPT 91
49.50422954, -121.40089524, WPT 92
49.49677783, -121.39432449, WPT 93
49.49394437, -121.39040367, WPT 94
49.49962284, -121.38849284, WPT 95
49.50232135, -121.39058394, WPT 96
49.50321692, -121.39893033, WPT 97
49.48863410, -121.40388768, WPT 98
49.48868094, -121.40071497, WPT 99
49.46329262, -121.40372544, WPT 100
49.44136082, -121.40313056, WPT 101
49.44652385, -121.40482507, WPT 102
49.19139956, -122.79954539, WPT 103
49.17700096, -122.77738151, WPT 104
49.15756447, -122.77740855, WPT 105

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