Sunday, November 18, 2001

I was supposed to take a couple stock Jeeps 'wheeling next weekend, so I wanted to pre-run the course. They enjoyed the minor creek crossings we did during last weekend's run, so I was thinking that a splash through Garnet Creek was in order. I'd been out there twice before, with no trouble.

Colin decided he'd come out and play, so we met up at Michael's Cafe in Dewdney for a 09:00h breakfast buffet (mmm!). Once we were suitably stuffed, we headed east on Hwy 7 and passed through Agassiz. We turned left off the highway onto Lougheed Hwy - Ruby Creek FSR, where we locked the hubs and aired down for comfort. Actually, just Colin aired down; I discovered I was still at 20psi from last weekend, oops! I pointed out to Colin that he had whacked one of his Daylighters on something, and it was pointed off to the side. He commented that he was going to wait until they got broken, then replace them with lights that better fit his bumper.

We turned right off the FSR at 3km, and took the steep but short gas-pipeline right-of-way up the hill. Colin commented that this would be an excellent route to take stockers and/or new 'wheelers; I agreed. We crested the hill, descended to a cross-road at the bottom, took it right then left past a beaver-dammed pond, and took the next steep ascent up the gas-pipeline right-of-way. We crossed over another trail, and discovered that our road ended abruptly at a hundred-foot drop-off. Back to the last cross-trail, and right. We crossed the main road that we would have been on if we had not taken the gas-pipeline right-of-way at 3km. We followed the power line trail for a bit; it was a slippery, muddy two-track that wandered along a shelf and switch-backed through the forest. We passed an old, broken hay wagon, checked out one road that ended at a farm in the forest (complete with horses), and finally reached the end of the trail at a transmission tower and another drop-off.

I was trying to remember where the road to Garnet Creek was, but wasn't having much success. We went back to the main road, and turned left to continue on exploring. We found ourselves travelling down the loop road the led back to Hwy 7, but just before the end of the road we encountered a pair of signs that read "Dead End - Gate Ahead" and "Notice: Private Property - Any Unauthorized Person Will Be Prosecuted", so unfortunately we had to turn around. When we entered a switchback and passed the trailhead to the Ruby-Mahood FSR, I finally remembered where we had to go. The switchback was the start of the Ruby Creek FSR, which we followed for a bit then took a branch off to the right to access the powerline trail again. We crested a hill, and were presented with a nice view of the powerline trail descending down into the Ruby Creek valley, then switch-backing up through the transmission towers on the other side. Looking behind us, we could see snow-capped mountains in the distance, possibly Knight Peak (2235m) and Welch Peak (2357m), towering 27 km's to the south.

We drove the rocky shelf road down to Ruby Creek, crossed over the old wooden bridge (a sign here read "Private Bridge - Use At Your Own Risk"), then climbed up the switchbacks on the other side. When we were west of the Dog Mountain repeater site, we found the access that led down from the powerline trail, and soon found ourselves at Garnet Creek. It was around 14:00h, so we figured that once across the creek we'd stop for lunch (we were still quite full from the morning's breakfast).

We hopped out of our trucks, and surveyed the scene. I remembered that it was quite rocky last time, and the creek entry was off-camber with large rocks littering the edge of the water. This time, the entry into the creek looked much smoother and easier, as the rocks were no longer there. The creek itself didn't look much different than the previous two times I had been there, although Colin said parts of it looked like it was over 4' deep. The water was green-tinged but clear, and we could see large rocks and larger boulders littering the creek-bed. I pointed out several large boulders visible under the surface, pointed out whirlpools that marked the deeper locations, and picked out a line that threaded between them, thinking that if I tried to crawl over the rocks I'd get high-centered, and if I drove into a deep spot I'd hydro-lock the engine. Colin grabbed a 8'-long tree branch, and tried to determine the depth of the creek from where he was standing. The most he could accurately measure was approximately 4'; he was only able to measure the area immediately around the rock he was standing on without getting wet, so we could only guess at the creek depth further out.

I had the taller truck, and was locked at both ends compared to Colin's rear locker / front Truetrack, so I had the dubious honour of being the first to attempt the crossing. I popped the hood and relocated my air intake to the back of the engine compartment. With our limited manpower, caution and common sense were the rules of the day, so we attached Colin's winch cable to my rear bumper just in case I got stuck and had to get winched back. Once across, I would attach my winch cable to Colin's cable, and have him winch my cable across so that I'd be able to winch him out from the other side if he needed it. Some might argue that "caution and common sense" would dictate turning around at this point, but where's the fun in that??

I started into the creek, and soon discovered that the reason the rocks were no longer at the side of the creek was because the creek was noticeably higher this time, and the rocks were under the surface of the water. I felt a large rock in front of my right front tire, and decided that I was a bit too far to the right from the original path I had picked out from the shore. I reversed a couple feet, turned the wheels to the left, and proceeded forward. The water level was reasonable; just below the bottom of the door.

I was still encountering rocks that were large enough to stop my forward progress, but I couldn't see where they were due to my angle of vision and the swirling eddies on the water's surface. I jockeyed the truck around a bit, then found forward mobility again, as Colin looked on from the shore. Actually, my forward progress was surprisingly easy. Then without warning, the left side of the truck dropped off of the rocks into a low trough, with a lurch and an accompanying *splash*, and I got that sinking feeling as creek water flowed over the left front of the hood. I looked out the driver's window; the water was a scant 4" below the window. Serious situation! (Note the water line in the photo) Actually, looking out the driver's window at the moving water gave me the disconcerting sensation that I was drifting to the left, but looking at a far-away stationary object showed me that it was just an optical illusion. This was definitely the deepest water I had ever had my truck in.

I tried reversing; not much movement. Water was starting to seep in through the door seals, and the charge warning light came on as the alternator failed due to it being submerged. I stalled the engine as I worked the pedals and shifter, so I flipped my battery boost switch to allow both batteries to provide power in the absence of the alternator. I struggled some more to free the truck; the water in the cab was now deep enough to flow over the tranmission hump and I had to put my feet into the water to push the pedals. Good thing the VHF radio was mounted in the dashboard, and was high enough to remain out of the water. Colin later said my voice was starting to sound panicky over the VHF as I described the situation! I'd like to think of it as being "mildly concerned". :)

Realizing that I was running out of time, I yelled "Winch!" as Colin ran for his truck. Colin winched as best as he could; his truck was sliding down the muddy slope towards the creek edge. I restarted the engine, and with both of the lockers fired up we were able to yard the truck back a few feet, the water in the cab sloshing around me. I could no longer restart the engine; it was turning over, but would not catch. Everything in the engine compartment was under water. Inside the cab, the water was high enough to fill the square pocket at the front of the center console, and of course my alarm remote was sitting in there and was now under water. I grabbed as much stuff as I could and relocated it to higher locations. The EFI computer, located behind the passenger kick panel, was totally submerged as well. Colin repositioned himself and winched some more; he was able to pull my truck back a bit more, which was high enough so that only the front corner of the driver's door was under water, and the water level in the cab was higher than the water level outside, which would allow it to drain a bit. I was now in a better position, but we were still unable to pull my truck clear of the water.

I climbed out of the driver's window onto my rock sliders, and worked my way to the back of the truck and the relative safety of the boulders that were above the water. Colin and I inspected the situation; all four tires were in holes with vertical rock surfaces behind them, preventing any kind of driving or winching. The truck was listing to the left, but the right door sill was now above the creek surface, so I opened the passenger door to let some of the water run out.

If we could move the back tires to the right, they would be clear of the vertical faces and the diff would not strike another rock that was perfectly centered with it. I grabbed my Jack-All out of the back, and jacked up the rear bumper almost to the top click. Colin engaged his winch, and pulled my truck off the jack and over to the right a couple feet. But still no rearward movement when winching. We repeated this procedure a couple more times, and when we figured we the truck was in a better position I jacked up the rear again, and we tossed numerous rocks into the creek, beneath the tires and behind the tires to form makeshift ramps, which hopefully would be enough reduction in resistance to pull the truck out.

Straight winching still wasn't enough to permit extrication, so I hopped back into the wet cab to see if the truck would start. It did, and we had movement! I had the front locker switched off so that I wouldn't break a Birfield when I was jockeying it earlier, but I had had enough so I punched the front locker button, and the truck suddenly roared to life and leapt backwards and out of the creek! BAM! *tinkle* Oops, was that Colin's truck back there?? We got out to assess the damage; my rear bumper had taken out Colin's right-side chrome Daylighter. All the winching had greatly shortened the distance between the trucks; partly due to my truck becoming free, and partly due to Colin's truck sliding down the slope. I knew I had a strong bumper back there for a reason! I guess I did him a favour; now he had an excuse to replace the Daylighters with some other lights. :) But I was finally out of the creek, much to my relief.

I left both doors open and pulled the drain plugs in the floor to drain the water. The engine wouldn't start again, so Colin tugged me back up the slope to the first flat section of trail. Water was dripping from the floor and the exhaust pipe. I popped the hood; there was water EVERYWHERE. I popped the airbox off, and inspected the air filter; there was water in the bottom of the airbox, and moisture above the K&N. Hmm. I pulled the air intake cross-pipe; it had water all through it. I inspected the throttle body; it was slightly damp but didn't look too bad. I pulled a spark plug; it was completely dry (damn good thing). I checked the oil; it was a bit dirty but there was no sign of water in it. If there had been water in the engine, it would have been hydro-locked when I turned it over earlier anyways, so I wasn't worried about that.

I hooked up my ARB air hose, and used my air compressor to blow air into the MAF box, watching water run out the other side. Colin started up his engine, and we placed my air filter, MAF box, and cross-pipe in his engine compartment to dry them out. We checked the distributor cap; it looked dry. While this was happening, I removed the EFI computer from the cab. I used my cordless drill to quickly remove the case screws, and blew the water off the circuit board with my air compressor. We placed the computer board in the engine compartment to dry it out as well.

Once everything was dry and toasty warm, we reinstalled it all, and with fingers crossed I turned the key. Like a true Toyota, the truck fired up right away. I revved the engine; the alternator spun out the excess water and the charge warning light finally went out. The air was quickly filled with billowing white smoke as the water in the exhaust system was heated up and forced out the tailpipe. I kept the revs up for a while, and noticed that I was unable to take it past 3500RPM as it would bog. We decided to pull the distributor cap and give it a spray of water-displacement-in-a-can; once this was done I was finally able to rev the engine smoothly right up to 4500RPM (I've never taken it past that). Success! I turned the truck around, and we got ready to head out in the dusk.

But wait; once I put a load on the engine (had it in gear), it began surging. With a steady application of throttle, the revs were up and down, up and down. Symptoms of a failed MAF sensor. Luckily, I carry a spare of practically every under-hood component (stored in a water-proof military ammo box), so we swapped out the damaged MAF for the spare in the growing darkness. The H4 headlights were half-filled with water (as were the Hellas), so I pulled the light housings and drained them so that the bulbs wouldn't break when the cold water hit the hot glass.

The truck was running reasonably well; the idle was still a bit rough (approximately 600-800RPM), but I had power and was finally able to drive. It was now around 18:30h, and we limped back up the hill to the main road. Once back on the highway, things started to dry out, and the truck was able to hold 100km/h with only minor periodic surges and misses. I phoned Doug, and arranged to have him give the truck a once-over. By the time I reached Doug's shop in Surrey, the truck was almost back to normal (albeit soggy). I felt much better!

I drove home without incident, and the truck drove fine the next day. *whew* The computer is still lying on the passenger-side floor (and probably will be there until the weekend), and I have numerous objects drying out in front of the fireplace. I've always said that the worse day 'wheeling is better than the best day working, and I guess this was one of those days! But despite all the difficulties, we still had a good time and we'll be heading back to Garnet Creek another day.

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