Sunday, February 6, 2000

Note: Pictures of my truck were taken by me; there are no pictures of the other trucks! This is because I didn't see anything overly interesting at my location on the first trail, and I was far ahead of everyone else on the second trail. So, if anyone has pics of trucks other than mine, please send them along! Also, if anyone can help me out with people's names and truck vintages, let me know.

Wes posted a note on the BC4x4-invites mailing list that the South Coast All-Terrainers (SCAT) were having a run up to Eagle Ridge. The last time I had checked out the area was in 1987, before all the houses at Westwood Plateau were constructed, so I figured I'd tag along and see what had changed. This would be my first trip of the year, and would also be my first trip since Doug and I installed the new shock mounts and long-travel RS9012's.

We met up at the Chevron at 152 & 104 at 9:00 am, and headed on out to the north side of Coquitlam. At the start of the trailhead, Danielle's Tracker started experiencing overheating problems, so we stopped and took the opportunity to air down and lock in the hubs. The main trail was a graded 2wd road, although there was one minor berm that drooped Murray's right rear tire, causing him to lose traction, and he had to take a different line. We passed a rock-strewn branch off to the right, which I commented I'd like to try on the way out. Once we hit snow some of the vehicles with street-tread tires had traction difficulties. Norm lost traction just past a snow-covered corner with his couple-month-old 4Runner; after some ice-breaking, gravel-placing, and tire spinning, I got him to air down to 10 psi (from 20 psi) and with a bit of jockeying he was able to continue. The 73 Chevy got stuck there next, but was able to continue on after some digging and a lot of throttle. Nobody else had any problems, and we continued on up the hill. Norm pulled over in a wide spot, saying that his stock vehicle had had enough for the day. The 73 Chevy also pulled over, but said he'd try to continue on up after everyone else had passed him.

The stock Ford pickup in front of me was taking runs up the hills and using the throttle to blast his way through; apparently he had tried the slow-crawling method but just sank into the snow. My lighter vehicle and wider tires allowed me to sit on top of the snow and just crawl up without spinning the tires. Murray gave up somewhere behind me, and jumped into the Dodge. At the top, the snow was too deep for the leader's liking, so we turned around at a nearby bridge.

The return down was uneventful, and offered a nice view of the city below. Further on down, we encountered the Chevy stuck in the middle of the trail, close to Murray's parked Cherokee. A couple of tugs from the Dodge got him turned around, and we headed for the rocky branch that we had previously spotted.

After taking a look at the steep, rocky entrance of the second trail, all of the stock trucks decided to head for home. August and I were the first ones up the trail, and we had no difficulties until Rock #1. It consisted of a jagged step on the right, and a rut on the left with snaggly tree roots. I elected to take the right-hand line, but stalled the engine in the middle of the rock (how embarrassing!). I casually flicked on the rear locker, and was able to easily crest the ledge. I turned the locker off and continued on up the trail. Rock #2 was a 1'-high rock step, which looked like it might be a challenge, but ended up being no problem whatsoever with open diffs. Wes managed to "spot" Dale's lifted Explorer into a tippy 3-wheel situation, and apparently the rapid colour change (to white) in Dale's face was quite entertaining. :) (Pictures! I need pictures!)

We hit snow shortly after the ledge, and followed some coyote tracks for a while until they turned off into the bush. No other vehicles had been up here since the snowfall, so I happily crawled along making new tracks with my Big-O's. Everyone else was far behind us by this point, having had difficulties at Rocks #1 and #2 (and that's why I don't have any pics of them!). Once the snow started getting diff-deep, I began experiencing some tire spin, so I engaged the rear locker to help smooth things out. I engaged the front locker shortly after that, as the trail got steeper and more rocky, and the snow got deeper. I attempted to stay on top of the crust, and was successful for the most part, but I occassionally broke through and sunk the truck into snow deeper than my 33" tires. At one point, when I had been creeping along on top of the crust, August stepped out of the truck to remove a fallen tree, broke through the crust and found himself waist-deep in snow. :) Sometimes when I broke through the crust, the snow was so deep I couldn't open my door.

There were several somewhat difficult sections, like a creek crossing hidden in the snow, where I broke through the crust and sunk into snow up over my rear bumper. I made a mental note that there was a wide spot to turn around here. Although the trail was technically "easy" (ie. no winching), I still sustained a bit of minor damage. When August opened his door one time, we heard a loud *crank!* sound, and discovered the forward door edge had kinked the fender. Doh! I suspect that the newly-increased travel had allowed the tire to be compressed so far that it contacted and actually moved the fender. Time for some more bodywork by Sawzall! And one particularly thick tree branch reached out and snagged my driver's windshield wiper for a souvenir, snapping off the plastic bracket at the end of the arm; it was just beginning to rain so I stopped and replaced it with my spare wiper.

As we got further up the trail, staying on top of the crust became a real problem. Frequently one side of the truck was on top of the crust, and the other side was buried 3' down. Snow was constantly up over the diffs. I eventually got to the point where I was sinking and trying to plow through bumper-height snow, so I decided it was time to call it a day. I walked about a kilometer back down the trail to see what everyone else was up to; Danielle was putting cable chains on her Tracker just past the hidden creek crossing, and everyone else was patiently waiting for her. I informed them that I was turning around, so they backed up to the wide spot and got turned around as I trudged back uphill to my truck.

There wasn't a convenient place to turn around where I was, so I backed down the trail to a tree well. I attempted to turn around there, but kept sliding sideways. I stopped the attempt after a tree gently caressed the driver's rear corner of my box, smoothening out the factory body line. I straightened out again, and backed down to the wide section below the creek where the other vehicles were, and I was able to easily turn around by backing the truck up a steep embankment.

We all proceeded down to the main trail without incident, and spent about 30 minutes chatting and checking out each others' trucks before heading to Boston Pizza for dinner. August was very impressed with how the Big-O's handled the deep snow. And now that I know where the trail access is, I'll be back once some of the snow melts. Once again I got to meet some more people from the BC4x4 Mailing List and put names to faces. A big thanks to the South Coast All-Terrainers for hosting this run.

Note: Trail access is controlled by a gate, which is sometimes locked.

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