July 1, 1998

It was a cool, cloudy morning. We met up at North Shore Off-Road at 10:00 am, and headed for the Sea-to-Sky Highway and the Squamish area. I had read Larry's trip reports about the Hut Lakes, and had heard stories from Wil, so I didn't know quite what to expect. Ray with his well-equipped truck wanted to do some harder-core wheeling; and I was getting bored with the logging-road thing as well. So it was decided (the night before) that we'd do Upper Hut Lake, as neither Ray nor I had been there.

We eventually found sun, and clear, blue skies around Brittania. We took the Brackendale turn-off, drove past the power station, took the right fork towards Evans Lake, and turned left at the North Vancouver Outdoor School facility. A short distance in on this road was a rough track on the right, heading up an incline. This was the start of the Hut Lakes road. We aired down to 10 psi, applied mosquito repellent, had a bite to eat, and proceeded up the road.

The first obstacle was a rocky step, the soil eroded by rain and run-off. There were two lines you could take; the direct approach up over the step, and an easier-looking bypass which was very close to the edge of the cliff. Wil chose the step, so I decided to follow. It wasn't really difficult, and we all just kinda crawled up over it.

Wil watches as Greg climbs the first obstacle

Ray crawls up the first obstacle

Parked on the rock at Hut Lake

Hut Lake is quite a tranquil setting; lush green trees lined the lake, and snow-capped Diamond Head provided a nice backdrop.

Taking a break on the rock at Hut Lake

After the break, we continued around the big rocks to finish the loop. Wil had no problem with his 5" lift; I contacted my transfer-case cross-member on a rock ledge.

Greg on the ledge exiting the the lake area

I continued on, didn't quite make the next steep rock face, and had to take a second run at it with a teensy bit more speed. By the time Ray got to the rock ledge, Wil and I were across the dip, at the top of the large rock face. Ray called over, "What's the correct line?", to which Wil replied "You're fine!" It should be noted that neither Wil nor I could see where Ray was positioned! Ray started up the ledge... scraaaape... big pause... worried look from Ray... laughing noises from Wil and I! "Don't worry," I assured Ray, "it's just your transfer-case cross-member or something." How can you tell that we're concerned, caring spotters?! Ray crawled up over the ledge, and up the steep rock face... oops, try that again. Up the steep rock face... up... ah, that's it.

The scraping sound turned out to be the little tin skid platette (tm) attached to his transfer-case cross-member, which did not sustain any damage. Ray was muttering about "great spotting, you guys", and Wil said, "Well, we couldn't see you from over here!" I started laughing again, and got a withering look from Ray. :)

Back onto the road, and we started towards Upper Hut Lake. The road was more overgrown now, and I'm sure the agonizing sounds of branches against paint were quite excruciating to Ray, who had the nicest paint of the group. Had! Now it looks a lot like my Friday-Creek-enhanced pinstripe job. Oh well, built it to 'wheel, right? We encountered a couple interesting rocky sections, like a couple V-shaped cracks, through which we traversed by placing our tires half-way up each side of the V, and a narrow, walled trench. Slow and steady driving allowed us to easily crawl these obstacles, although Ray got his passenger side within an inch of the trench wall.

Greg on the first V, trying to keep the front tires on the rock walls

Greg on the second V, which would look a lot cooler if the damn rock stackers would UNstack them when they were done

Greg climbing over the rocks at the exit of the trench

The rest of the road to Upper Hut was uneventful (just overgrown), and we spent a while at the lake, absorbing the scenery and talking about trucks.

The trip back down the road was "interesting".

Greg starting into the trench, trying to keep away from the wall

At the trench, Ray managed to bang the left side of his ARB front bumper into the wall, leaving nice scars on the tube and channel portions of the bumper. Good thing it was a nice strong bumper, and not the stock chrome tin unit or some flimsy dual-tube thing, or he would have probably suffered marker-light and fender damage. Then, as he was decending a ledge, the rear of his truck suddenly slid to the left with a resounding KABANG! as something not-so-gently caressed a rock. Ray drove a bit further down the road, and got out to inspect the damage. I thought he might have slammed his rear bumper into a rock or something. "I've blown my driver's rear sidewall!" came the not-happy voice of Ray over the radio. Sssssss... Doh #2. We changed out his brand new BFG Mud Terrain via my Jack-All jack (which I discovered was in desperate and immediate need of lubrication), and noticed score marks on his chrome rim. Apparently, he slid sideways, contacted a rock with his rim, and cut a 1.5" gash right through the sidewall, possibly by pinching the tire between the rim and a rock. I took a picture, much to his dismay! At this time, Ray expressed his frustration at wrecking a brand new tire. We reminded Ray of his Blue Mtn rim-breaking incident, and I gave him the nick-name "Sick and Tired".

We continued on, and Wil mentioned that his clutch was giving him problems; he decided to drive to Hut Lake to check it out. Back at the stump, Ray's right front tire rolled a rock under his right-side nerf bar, and gently abraded the bottom side of it when his rear tire came down off a different rock. We caught up with Wil, who was underneath his truck with a flashlight making worried noises. He eventually decided that his clutch master cylinder had pooched itself, and that he would try to limp out to the road. Doh #3! Back at the first obstacle, Wil tried taking the bypass route on the cliff side; he managed to pivot his truck around a rock by catching his tire on it, and the back end neatly slid over towards the edge.

Wil starting to drive around the first obstacle on the way out

Wil was "concerned", but only briefly. I took the straight line, and had no difficulties (good thing, as we had an audience here).

Greg leaving the first rock on the way out

Ray also took the straight line, and received applause from the audience for his efforts.

Ray starting over the first rock on the way out

We finally got back to the mainline road, unlocked the hubs, and took a break. Everyone stole a piece of Ray's fried chicken, and Wil decided that his clutch was good enough to drive back home on. We headed for home, stopping for dinner at Taco Bell in Squamish (it's nice that we now have Taco Bells in Canada; we no longer have to make a run for the border!).

In all, I had a great time; I enjoyed crawling over the challenging sections, the views of the lakes, and oh yeah, that other really awesome scenery (those present know what I am talking about! :) ). The trip is a short drive from our area, and can easily be done in a day with lots of time for relaxing and food breaks. Got home around 11:45 pm.

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