The Picnic Run |
June 13, 1998
Participants |
The original plan was to head up the Coquihalla Hwy to Portia Station, and take the easy pipeline road up around Needle Peak to the north side of the toll booth. From there, we were going to make a detour to Zum Peak, and then back to the Coquihalla and north to Juliet Creek to the Murray Lake road, to the Cabin Lake area. Once there we would do what Brad called the "mini-Whipsaw", and then take the powerline road to Uztlius Creek (aka "Useless Creek"), then west to Boston Bar and the Fraser Canyon. Exploration-type driving, nothing overly tough or technical.
It was a warm, sunny day. Brad, Ray, and myself met up at the Guildford Chevron at 10:00 am, and proceeded east to the Clearbrook Chevron to meet up with Darren. Once we were all together, we drove to Hope and filled our gas tanks (last chance for gas). The drive up the Coquihalla was uneventful, but the grades left me wishing I had my 4.88's installed when I got passed by a Honda Prelude with four people in it. We exited at Portia Station, to find that the pipeline-road gate was locked. We continued on up the Coquihalla to the Falls Lake exit, where we climbed a short, steep, rocky gas pipeline road and had lunch with the mosquitos. Well, most of us did; Darren's Nissan only made it up halfway before he lost traction (although he gave it a valiant effort!). It was here that everyone discovered that Terry and myself had brought along 12 hotdogs for sustenance, and made several comments about this fact... that, in combination with the fact that this was an easy trip, caused me to name it the "Picnic Run"! I think the idea of a jumbo hotdog was psychologically too much for Ray, who later ended up swapping Terry two pieces of KFC for a dog. :)
Lunch over, we proceeded north up the easy 2wd road towards the Coquihalla Lakes exit and the north side of the toll booth. We came to a fork three km's south of the Coquihalla Lakes exit, where we decided that this was the road to Zum. Unfortunately, the bridge at 12km was surgically removed and was sitting in the middle of the road on our side, probably in preparation for a rebuild by the BC Forest Service. We decided to see if the creek was crossable, so I attempted to pole-vault over the water to check out the other side. Of course, I didn't make it over, and it was just luck that nobody had a camera handy. I determined that there wasn't any real incentive to cross the creek by vehicle, as the road didn't seem to get any more challenging, so I again attempted to pole-vault back across the creek, with the same predicatable result, much to the amusement of everyone else. After I removed the wet clothing items and replaced them with the dry spares I keep on hand, we headed back towards the Coquihalla, stopping only to give directions to a couple of lost motorists.
Rather than exit to the highway at Coquihalla Lakes, I decided to take the gas pipeline route that paralleled the highway, and after some minor water crossings (and observing a LASER operation on the highway north-bound, courtesy of the RCMP Highway Patrol), we popped out 2.5 km north of the Lakes exit, where there was a convenient tunnel to put us back on the north-bound side of the highway.
A short jaunt north brought us to the Juliet Creek exit, where I almost rolled my truck when I took the rather tight exit way too fast. Ray on the radio said: "Shall I read you my Superlift warning sticker, my center-of-gravity-raised friend?!" I probably got more articulation there than anywhere else on the trip! We stopped at the beginning of the Murray Lake road, aired down (more for ride comfort than of necessity), consumed some more food, and got consumed by mosquitos again. Two stock Grand Cherokees came out of the road at this point, leading us to believe that the road was fairly easy. :) (Brad: "It's a highway!")
The road took us past Murray Lake (of course), where I stopped to lend my floor jack to a camper who was attempting to use a screw to patch a hole in his tire(!) because his jack was broken, and he couldn't jack the car up to put on his spare. In gratitude, he let us use his mosquito repellent, which kept the little rotters at bay for at least 15 minutes. Shortly after this, Darren pointed out to Ray that his right rear shock was hanging out the back of his 4Runner, so we pulled over and Ray removed it. It looked like the bottom shock eye sustained a sudden traumatic extension, as the weld had broken on one side and it had pulled right off the bushing. Gee, Ray, I think those shocks are limiting your travel! Gotta love those lifetime warranties!
We took the Maka - Murray Lake FSR to the Spius South FSR at Spius Creek. We took the Spius South FSR west to the branch at the Spius Creek FSR, then did an interesting loop that Brad called the "mini-Whipsaw" which took us north towards Cabin Lake through a climbing, muddy, rutted trail, then east, then south back to the Spius South FSR via a steep, unnamed road with a "Road Closed" sign at the Spius South end of it. We proceeded west on Spius South back to the branch, then took the Spius Creek FSR towards the powerlines.
From this point, I'm not exactly sure which way we went, only that we were following Brad in his GPS-fed, MapInfo-powered, laptop-equipped 4Runner. We made two stops; one for Lexindra to use campground facilities, and one for Darren to change a slowly-leaking tire.
During these stops, we came to the realization that the mosquitos were actually stalking us, and were quite probably the very same 'skeeters from Falls Lake that had aquired a taste for hotdog-fortified blood.
We eventually found the access to the powerline road (after passing it the first time), and travelled along a narrow shelf road that went over several cattle guards and passed several herds of cattle. It was during this part of the road that I discovered that mud tires are equally effective at self-cleaning when driven over bovine waste deposits with the window open. We made a brief, mosquito-plagued snack stop, where Brad determined which way we were going, and I trail-fixed an annoying rattle/squeak on my passenger side inner fender (caused by a broken weld) by jamming a piece of wood into the gap.
After stopping for a group photo in a very windy and mosquito-free area, we wound our way around the backroads, followed Spius Creek (a narrow, brackish, dark brown creek that meandered through a flat meadow for several km's), then took a steep, narrow, twisty powerline road down to the Uztlius Creek FSR in the growing darkness. From here, we blasted west towards Boston Bar, the end of our route. We did a quick drive down the Fraser Canyon to Hope, where we aired up at a Chevron, then had a coffee and some "food" at the Husky Truck Stop. I got home at around 3:15 am.
This trip had some pretty varied terrain; some water, mud, rocks, and a lot of logging roads between the good stuff. Ray described the run as "painfully excruciating", as he was looking for a more challenging outing with his well-equipped rig. I was just happy to get away from the city for a day! However, as I do more work to the truck, I too will be wanting to do more hard-core 'wheeling. I think the Blue Mountain trip with Wil spoiled me! Oh yeah, total mosquito bites sustained by me: 61! (Terry: "Doh!")
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