backroader issue 1

explore everything, tread lightly

issue 1 winter 2010$5.00

tread lightly

www.4wdabc.ca

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Backroader

Legend:

Around the Campfire: From the EditorWelcome to the Backroader

4WDABC News:8th Annual Stave Lake clean up 2010

A different point of view

Eagle Mountain Access

Trip Reports:Coastal Cruisers trek on the Alexander MacKenzie trail 2010

Gear Review:Handle-All by Jack-All

Member Clubs

Tail Gunner’s Notes:The Last Explorers

A word from the President:Welcome to the 4WDABC

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Perspective:Alpine

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Fresh Tracks, February wheeling by the Fraser Canyonby Maciej (Mat) Radoszewski

On the cover: higher elevation morning, Pearkins Peak. by Maciej (Mat)Radoszewski

Wheelin’ Wisely 24

IVOAC News:Grey Market Imports: reallya question of whose rights?

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Club introduction:Urban Rednecks

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Legal Advice:Insurance and your 4X4

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The Four Wheel Drive Association of British Columbia

President Kim Reeves [email protected]

Vice President Chris Grant [email protected]

Secretary [email protected]

Treasurer Kathy [email protected]

Directors at LargeVince Hilgerdenaar [email protected]

Land Use Director Steve Dillen [email protected]

Director of Website Operations Corey Jong [email protected]

Membership Coordinator Chris Grant [email protected]

Four Wheel Drive Association of British Columbia PO Box 284 Surrey, BC V3T 4W8 Canada

A word from the President:by Kim Reeves

Welcome to the 2010 edition of the Backroader magazine

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Every time the issue of the Backroader comes up, the membership is nearly unanimous in wanting it printed. I know I enjoy kicking back with a magazine written about the regions of this province, the beautiful scenery and the great people exploring it. However, since the internet has come into its own, printed publications are more difficult to produce due to expense and the lack of content submitted.

We are hoping to change that by committing ourselves to producing this magazine and if the content isn’t there, we’ll go find it. At this point I have to point out that while I say ‘we’ the driving force behind this issue is Mat Radoszewski, a Coastal Cruiser member and a man of many skills as well as determination. I expect that we will see a lot more of Mat in print in the future not only in this magazine but others as well.

The 4WDABC board has been quite busy this year. Steve Dillen stepped down as President at the AGM in March and took the position of Director of Land Use. When he and I discussed the fact that he wouldn’t be continuing as president, he stated that he liked meeting with the government and the local stakeholder groups around issues of access (who doesn’t) but he didn’t care for the managerial aspects of being president. I saw this as a good opportunity for the association as we weren’t losing Steve, who as we all know is a huge asset to the 4WDABC. I volunteered to stand for president knowing this and knowing that I and the rest of the board could focus on areas that required attention. Things like a new website, communication, membership renewal and retention, club memberships, representation outside region 2, fun, event insurance and so forth.

We have accomplished many of these items in the 7 months since the AGM. The new website was launched in July and this included our own forums where information can be exchanged, news stories can be posted and feedback solicited. We have broken down the forums into regions so that land use reps for those regions can be contacted by those who have questions or concerns in those regions. Many thanks to Corey Jong for his work in bringing this site to life.

A new membership management system has been implemented to keep track of our membership and aid in communicating with our membership. New members now receive their membership packages in less than a week from receipt of payment. We have received a number of positive comments on the efficiency of this process. Chris Grant, our VP, deserves the accolades for this work.

Club membership has surpassed our expectations this year, we have 9 clubs at this point and have one more that I hope to sign up in the very near future. We have also exceeded the projected individual membership for the year as well.

With all of those items taken care of, our focus has shifted to accomplishing tasks that will grow this association. From every discussion I have seen or been part of about this association and the drawbacks to it, FUN is the item that is pointed at as missing. We have discussed this item numerous times, to have fun we have to have

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events, barbeques, show ‘n shines, wheeling trips, breaking old trails or what have you. For the association to have events, we need event insurance so that individual volunteers are not liable for anything that may happen at one of these events. Event insurance isn’t cheap. We’ve looked around fairly extensively and have settled on a policy that we intend to purchase. This policy is scoped to include up to 300 people at an event. Coverage can also cascade to our member clubs so that our clubs will not be required to purchase event insurance for a single event that they hold. With 9 clubs, even if only half of the clubs have one event per year, this insurance is paid for. For those who are interested in more details on this, feel free to contact me at [email protected], I want to hear your opinions on this!

In closing, I have to mention that Chris and I attended the October meeting of the Sasquatch Club, founding members of this association back in 1975! What a pleasure that meeting was and what a wonderful, knowledgeable, positive group of people. This club holds the toy Run under the 4WDABC banner each year in Surrey and I hope as many of our current members as possible can support this great cause.

Happy trails,

Kim ReevesPresident, 4WDABC.ca

Around the Campfire:From the Editor

Welcome to the Backroader

by Maciej (Mat) Radoszewski

Most of you are wondering who I am, why am I editing the Backroader and even some of you are asking what is the Backroader.

Let’s start with the easy one, the Backroader is a publication done by the Four Wheel Drive Association of British Columbia (4WDABC), well at least it used to be a while back. I know this may be a shock to most, I didn’t even know it existed when I joined the 4WDABC three years ago. The idea is that we have a magazine that is catered to us, to inform you of what is happening in the Association, trail status, camp information, scheduled runs, issues with access and the usual information that happens behind the scenes. The other part of this magazine is trail stories and trip reports, be they a weekend out at Hut Lake or a 2 week trek in the Chilcotin; local trips you can read about to places you can access by fellow members and friends, not stuff from some country you’ve never been to written by people you’ve never heard of. As the magazine evolves we’ll be adding topics to it like Technical Articles, Product Reviews and more. Your feedback and trip reports can help with the Backroader not only expand but also become something of your own creation.

As for me, my name is Mat, an addict of trails, outdoors, camping and off-roading. I’ve been in one way or another trekking the less beaten path for about 20 years, 13 of those usually involved a truck of sorts. Currently I am a member of the Coastal Cruisers, a local Land Cruiser club, have a full time Commercial Audio Video Installation job, a metal fabrication side business and a part time CNC machine service job, and lots of spare time on my hands. I manage to get away every long weekend and usually we do a club run for about 2 weeks somewhere in BC. Several of our members not only wheel here but also head to the US, on runs like Moab, and into Alberta for River Shiver. We explore anything from the local Mt. Cheam and Harrison Lake runs to places like Taseko Lake, and everything in between. I drive a local 1984 Toyota Land Cruiser BJ60, with a 4 cylinder diesel, 5 speed, 3.5” lift, 33s, 4.56 gears, Detroit locker, lots of modifications and add-ons. Like many guys, I have a project truck waiting for some attention and love and has that almost unattainable great potential to be “the ultimate truck”.

As to the story of how I came to be the editor, photographer, writer, designer and producer…I volunteered without realizing what was in store – like the old saying goes “it seemed like a good idea at the time”. Kim, the president of the 4WDABC is a good friend and fellow Coastal Cruisers member, he suggested I do the article about the featured Alexander MacKenzie trip we did and I was more than happy to oblige. After a couple conversations he admitted that they did not yet have anyone who was actually making the Backroader so I offered my services, and was told “Great! You can make it what ever you want, start from scratch!” So here it is…help?!

PS - If you’re getting tired of seeing my name everywhere please contact me and I will gladly assign you a task to help with the magazine.

The Backroader

Editor in Chief:Maciej (Mat) [email protected]

Contributing editor:Kim Reeves

Design and Production:Fantom DesignsMaciej (Mat) [email protected]

Production Office:PO Box 284Surrey, BCV3T 4W8Canada

Advertising Informtaion:Submit all advertising inquiries to [email protected]

Printer:Payton Thomas Industries ltd.122-5678 199 St. Langley, BC778-998-5955paytonthomas.com

A publication of the Four Wheel Drive Association of British ColumbiaEditorial contributions and stories are welcome and should be submitted to the editor.

The Backroader has information from various sources and gives no warranty nor claims responsibility as to the accuracy or completeness. The views expressed in the articles are those of the writer and not of the Four Wheel Drive Association of British Columbia.All Material published in the Backroader is protected by Copyright. No material can be used or reproduced without express permission of the Publisher.

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Four Wheel Drive

News

8th Annual Stave Lake clean up 2010

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Association of BCby Kim Reeves, President 4WDABC

The lead up to the annual Four Wheel Drive Association of BC Stave Lake cleanup event was unique. On April 22nd, Global TV televised a news story about the garbage being dumped on the east side of Stave Lake as part of its Earth Day newscast.

This kicked up quite a storm on the various web forums in the wheeling community. Our VP, Chris Grant, acted immediately and contacted Global and tracked down the reporter who covered this story. He spoke of how the wheeling community is leading the efforts in cleaning up the backcountry, the pack out what you pack in philosophy, if you see garbage you pick it up principle, and he also spoke of our annual Stave Lake Cleanup event. This conversation resulted in Global interviewing our Director of Land Use, Steve Dillen, on April 23rd. His interview was televised that evening and was a resounding success. The fact that such a negative for our community was rebutted within 24 hours and completely changed the perspective of so many viewers is terrific!

In the meantime, behind the scenes, the organizers of the Stave Lake Cleanup were pounding the pavement and heating up the phone lines organizing the event. Businesses were contacted to donate what they could, be it buns and hot dogs, drinks, ice, coffee, condiments, garbage pickers, bags, dump trucks, a backhoe, you name it. The work of Carolann Van De Ligt and Chris Grant was amazing, which became evident when June 5th arrived.

On the May long weekend, Chris and I went on a scouting trip to check out West Stave and map specific areas that needed attention, particularly backhoe type attention. We found a couple of burnt vehicles and a fair number of garbage piles. Carolyn also scouted the area on June 4th, the evening before the event.

The day arrives and the volunteers are greeted at the staging area with fresh coffee compliments of Tim Hortons. After everyone has signed in and bags and pickers are issued, areas that needed attention discussed, directions and rules given and vehicles marked, the cleanup begins.

The garbage was attacked by the crew, ditches were scoured, ravines were emptied and the flats were ravished. From 9 am through close to 5 pm folks worked steadily, only stopping to devour a hot dog, some chips and a pop or a coffee. The dump trucks were running up and down the FSR loading the piles of garbage bags from the sides of the road and delivering them to the Mission Dump. The backhoe was busy pulling out the large items and loading the trucks. Regular trucks and vehicles with trailers were hauling back to the staging area and unloading there. All the steel was sorted out from other garbage and loaded in a separate bin for recycling.

At the end of the day, the numbers were tallied and the fact that this was the most successful cleanup event yet became more than obvious. 91 volunteers, 48 trucks, 9 trailers, 3 dump trucks and a backhoe were involved in this colossal effort. 22,500 kilograms (50,000 pounds for the old schoolers) of garbage was collected as well as a bin full of steel. This is nearly triple the amount of garbage collected in previous years and near double the number of people volunteering.

photography by John Gabor

Incredible! We know there is more garbage there, particularly at one spot which appears to be a number of people’s regular disposal area. From this location our volunteers removed a car, fridges, furniture, general garbage, over 500 diapers, and you name it from a ravine that must have been 100 feet deep and down a severe angle of 50-60 degrees. All of the large items were winched out.

The Four Wheel Drive Association of BC would like to thank each and every volunteer for coming out and helping make this event the amazing success that it was. We also can’t thank enough the organizers, Carolann Van De Ligt and Chris Grant! Take a bow, you deserve it!

Here is looking forward to next years event and here’s hoping that there won’t be as much garbage.

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First I have to ask - how are you? I mean really how are we as a people? I spend my life surrounded by companies telling me how green they are, we preach reduce, reuse, recycle - but I still feel strongly that many companies only preach what will add to their bottom dollar. If you were to go around asking these big mega corporations that deal in millions of dollars that tote “Go Green Contests” where every contest entry is a paper entry & they are giving away a Car as a prize (yes a hybrid) to stop and donate the cost to cover dump trucks and to help do a clean up in their own back yard, in their community - you know what they will tell you?

They will say sorry, not sure if that fits within our corporate priorities, we’ll get back to you. Yet you ask the little guys - like Mike Salo (who has helped year and year again), Lloyd Davies & Keith, Darryl & Glen Weed to help and they jump at the chance every year. They don’t run multi-million dollar corporations, they contribute to their communities, put not only the cost up but also dedicate their time, time and energy that counts for so much more then pure cash.

Stave Lakea different point of view

by Kris Wheeler

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The Four Wheel Drive Association of British Columbia would like to gratefully acknowledge the generous contributions provided by the following individuals and organizations. These organizations have contributed merchandise, financial support as well as supplies to the Four Wheel Drive Association and have significantly assisted us in our endeavours to promote sustainable, environmentally responsible motorized off-road recreation in British Columbia. Please demonstrate our gratitude by supporting these organizations wherever possible.

Brighten Beach Salon

Buck-or-Two

Canadian Tire Associate Store# 479

Cloverdale Paint Mission

Cobs Bread (Mission Hills)

Davies Sand & Gravel Ltd.

District of Mission

District of Mission On The Fraser

Flight Centre

Fraser Valley Metal Exchange

Fruits & Greens Market

Fun Bouncers

Gail J. MacDonald

Johnston Meier Insurance Group

Lordco Auto Parts Ltd.

Mission Adopt-A-Block Society

North Shore Offroad

Save-on Foods

T&T Auto Parts

Tempest Development Group

Tim Hortons (Mission)

Tim Hortons Community Cruiser

Webster Industries

Wendy’s Restaurants of Canada Inc.


How many people do you know who figure that to give back is to just “throw some money at it”. I’d like to see some of the big head honcho’s that make disposable items, like shot gun shells, get out of their suits and fancy Mercedes SUVs and spend the day squatting 1752 times to pick up the 1952 Shot Gun Shells left by others.

The 4 Wheel Drive Association of BC - their entire board of directors & all their volunteers put so much effort into arranging this and the sponsors that helped out to make it an amazing “fun time”. You have made more of a difference in the world then you will ever know, thank you for that.

I’d also like to take a moment to address the people that think that those of us with “big trucks”, or “loud trucks” are the ones dumping the stuff in the gully’s or ripping up the fields. I’ve heard it since Jordy has started building his truck “wow you’re going to destroy the meadows with that thing”. I know I can’t change people’s minds but I wish people would not judge others so quickly. That big truck of ours has hauled more garbage out of sensitive area’s then gas we’ve burned.

I know so many off-roaders that dedicate their time to taking care of the environment and the areas we use, yes there is an ulterior motive - to keep the roads open & to show those in “control” that there are good people out there. Even if that wasn’t at stake I can guarantee that the same people would be out there, and that number is growing past a small visible minority to a noticeable amount. If we take a look at this year’s Stave Lake Clean Up, this year we had 91 people there!

That is a record amount, in total 22,000 KG of garbage and over 4,000 KG of recycled metal (not sure if that included the several burnt out cars or not). People of every age and size were there, it was great to see the families with the young kids out there. That means we are not only walking the walk but we are setting an example! Those that came out to clean even converted a few people that were camping and not “part of it”. By leading by example those around us followed, it’s a natural “pack” mentality.

That sad thing is it is so hard in this disposable world of “me” to set that example, we all run around trying to fulfill the need to meet all these expectations of the world that we all often forget what is truly important. When was the last time that you stopped, turned back time, rewound to a memory, to the vision of what you thought your life would be? I mean really rewind back the years to when you were innocent, to when you thought the whole world would do right. Where you did right because, well, it was right - there was no debate over what was important?

Where life was alive, where you could feel the slightest touch of a hair on your arm, where all the synapses in your brain were clicking and the sky was filled with pink elephants floating in the clouds.

So I ask how are you? How are we?

Where did we as a society go so wrong, to where even if we don’t agree - saying nothing is ok as well?

When did we say “yup” to it being ok to watch a trailer drive past you filled with TVs, microwaves, garbage bags full of dirty diapers only to see it later after it’s been dumped and thinking it’s someone else’s job to deal with.

Why is it that those that care also find it so hard to stand up for what they believe in and just telling people they’re f* up for doing something like this when we see it? Why is it when people stand up for things the rest tells them they are causing a big commotion for nothing? Wait until you have back up? Don’t be the little girl standing up to the 6 foot 4 guy with a shotgun - (I carry a big Aura - it’s all good)

Where is our accountability and responsibility as a society? Why is it we as a society don’t enforce a community service law for CEO’s that make disposable goods?

Perhaps tonight it is my existential depression, sitting in bed with my 11 year old son who the other night equated pollution and garbage disposal to a bigger issue then war, and that life will be no good when he grows up because people just don’t take care of the world and simply want more and more.

Anyway enough of my “lecturing” tonight, how are you? Are you doing anything different tomorrow? Will you every walk by or drive by garbage without at least thinking of stopping to pick it up.

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Four Wheel Drive

NewsAssociation of BCby Kim Reeves, President 4WDABC

Eagle Mountain Access

2010 brought some terrific news to the 4 wheeling community in the Lower Mainland. That news was the Key Access program for the very popular Eagle Mountain.

For the first time in years, legitimate access to Eagle Mountain was available. This was no small feat. To gain access, an agreement was required between many parties. They included Melony Burton and the City of Coquitlam, the BC Hydro Transmission, Mike Peters and the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts, Metro Vancouver and the Westwood Plateau Golf Course.

A key access program has been discussed at various levels for this mountain since at least 2002. It never came to fruition until May 2010. Through many meetings with the city, 4 wheelers continuously expressed the desire to regain access to this area. The city heard us and really pushed this program through by pulling all the parties together and addressing everyone’s concerns.

There are so many people to thank in the wheeling community for adding their voice to the chorus that called for this program that I won’t begin to try to identify them individually. I will say that this is a huge win for our community and potentially, a precedent to use and a template to copy to regain access to other areas that we have lost over the years. This is a win for every single wheeler who advocated access to Eagle Mountain, and as the city told me, there were hundreds of us. This is a good example of the ‘power in numbers’ that we should all take to heart.

Now that we have access, it is incumbent on all of us who use the area to police it. We need to make it our business to ensure that everyone sticks to the trail and stays out of restricted areas. We need to monitor all the areas for garbage and remove that garbage when we see it. We need to do everything that we can to show that we deserve the access that we have and to keep that access for future wheelers to enjoy this wonderful mountain.

And we need to wheel! Let’s enjoy this mountain and continue working on gaining access to the next area that is closed. If we all work together, we can keep our access to wheeling destinations on the doorsteps to our cities.

Cheers and thank you to all who made this a success.

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Legal Advice:

by Dale McGregor

Contributed by Dale McGregor, a trial lawyer with 21 years of practice in the field of insurance law and personal injury matters. Dale drives a modified 2005 Jeep Unlimited (Rubicon).

This is the first article in what is anticipated to be a series of articles that will address legal issues that are of interest to the 4x4 recreationist. This information is generic and does not constitute legal advice; you should consult a lawyer in the context of your particular circumstances rather than try to apply this general advice to your own situation.

Driving a four-wheel drive vehicle “off-road” can be exhilarating, as well as profoundly satisfying. It’s an opportunity for many of us to get out of the urban anthill, challenge our driving skills and revel in what the wilderness roads of BC offer to us – breathtaking scenery, back-country fishing & hunting, distant approaches to even more distant hikes, berry/mushroom picking, photographic opportunities of wildlife and vistas that some never get to see firsthand.

Most 4x4 owners rely on a 4x4 vehicle that is insured for travel on highways and roads, and often there are questions that arise relating to just what sorts of things are covered by insurance when out on the back roads of BC.

General Motor Vehicle Insurance Considerations

Motor vehicle insurance in our Province is mandatory, and governed by the Insurance (Vehicle) Act. The Insurance Corporation of BC (ICBC) is a monopoly, governmental insurance company from whom you must purchase insurance and obtain BC license plates. If you operate a motor vehicle in BC on public land, you are required to, at a minimum, have third party liability coverage of $200,000. You may opt to have excess 3rd party coverage from a private insurance carrier, or from ICBC itself. There are benefits and costs associated with private insurance, but those issues are outside the scope of this article.

3rd party coverage is the insurance that you will rely on, should you find yourself causing someone else (a 3rd party) damage or harm.

While having 3rd party insurance beyond $200,000 is not legally required, it is prudent to have at least $2 million worth of 3rd party coverage. I carry $5 million myself, partly because I’ve seen first-hand what medical care needs can cost for a catastrophically injured pedestrian/cyclist/motorcycle rider – and to a lesser extent, a motorist. Remember that a moment of inattention on your part can result in significant financial responsibility. The more that you own and the greater your income, the more you will benefit from being adequately insured for damage or injury that you cause.

As an aside, remember that if you own a motor vehicle and loan it to someone, you are vicariously liable for their conduct – the injured party can claim against you and the driver (either, or both). Loan your vehicle only to people you trust and be prepared to be financially responsible for their behaviour.

While you are obligated to have valid insurance on your vehicle when driving on a forest service road, changes to the definition of “highway” in the Motor Vehicle Act in recent years have taken away some of the insurance coverage that was once part of a standard ICBC policy. You no longer have 1st party insurance coverage for collisions with an unidentified driver, or an uninsured motorist, when on a forest service road or industrial road (as defined in the applicable legislation), unless those roads are specifically defined as a “highway” by regulation.

Before this change in the definition of “highway”, if your vehicle was damaged, or should you have been injured by an unidentified or uninsured motorist on virtually any forest service road, you would have been able to have your damage covered by ICBC. This is no longer the case.

Similarly, if the motor vehicle accident doesn’t occur on a “highway”, you do not get the benefit of the Underinsured Motorist Protection policy that you previously had access to.

This appears to be an unintended consequence of our Provincial Government trying to divest themselves of the financial responsibility to maintain forest service/industrial roads; they have specifically removed these roads from the definition of “highway” in the legislation.

It is an odd reality that we have the benefits of all of the above coverages when we’re driving on a ‘trail’ or other ‘public way’ – such as the roads to the recreation sites that we frequent, but do not have these coverages when driving on what is designated as a “forest service road”.

Insurance and Your 4X4

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One would think that the greater potential for harm would be when driving on a forest service road, such that it would be more important to have these coverages while driving on them, rather than on a slow-crawl adventure up to the likes of Sunrise Lake off of the West Harrison Lake Forest Service Road.

Given the complicated and convoluted interactions of the many separate pieces of legislation that apply to operating a vehicle in BC, you should seek legal advice when you find yourself being denied insurance coverage, or should you be involved in a motor vehicle accident and wonder whether, or not, you’re getting unbiased advice from an insurance company. As most appreciate, an insurance company is a business that earns its profit by collecting insurance premiums and not paying out on claims. The insurance adjuster assigned to your claim is typically not acting in your interests, but is acting for the party whose insurance should be paying for the damage caused to you. Definitely seek legal advice from someone who will be looking out for your interests.

Insurance for After-Market Vehicle Modifications

The ICBC makes available an Excess Special Equipment endorsement policy, as part of the insurance that it offers.This insurance is for the extra things you have added to your vehicle. It insures permanently attached non-

manufacturer’s equipment worth more than $5,000, or permanently attached sound and communication equipment worth more than $1,000 (for most passenger and light commercial vehicles).

ICBC will pay for your insured equipment if your vehicle is a write-off or if your vehicle or equipment is stolen provided you have the appropriate own-damage coverage. The coverage pays for the actual cash value of your vehicle with the equipment attached if the vehicle is a write-off or is stolen. This coverage will also pay for the Actual Cash Value (ACV) of the equipment if just the equipment is stolen from the vehicle. Make sure you declare the true value when you purchase your insurance coverage to get your Actual Cash Value (ACV) in a claim.

Remember to keep the receipts for all the equipment you buy to help prove the value. Photos will assist; take some pictures after you have installed everything, with embedded dates if your camera has that feature. Digital files should also have meta-data that will provide the date of the photo, but this information is subject to modification with certain software, so be prepared to adduce additional evidence, if needed.

Be aware that there is a partial payment of loss clause in this type of extension insurance:5.10 Declaration of value –

(a) Where a declared value set out in an owner’s certificate is less than 90 per cent

of the actual cash value of the vehicle together with its equipment, the insured

is a co-insurer with the Corporation for any loss or damage to the vehicle and

its equipment, and the amount of the co-insured portion of the loss or damage

for which indemnity is afforded by the Corporation shall be determined by the

following formula:

( dv/acv x loss ) – deductible = claim

where

“dv” means the declared value of the vehicle and its equipment;

“acv” means the actual cash value of the vehicle and its equipment;

“loss” means

(i) where the vehicle is repairable, the cost of repairing the vehicle and its

equipment, or

(ii) where the vehicle is not repairable, the actual cash value of the vehicle and its equipment;

In other words, the coverage isn’t going to make you “whole”, but it’s better than not having any coverage at all. “Actual Cash Value” is ICBC’s term for “fair market value”. Take note that you will not be reimbursed for what you paid (“declared value”) for the added item.

Trip Reports: Coastal Cruisers trek on theAlexander MacKenzie

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2010article and photography by Maciej (Mat) Radoszewski

Coastal Cruisers Alexander MacKenzie Trail 2010

The Coastal Cruisers club embarked on a 2 week journey in the drivable footsteps of Alexander MacKenzie between July 24th and August 8th. The Alexander MacKenzie trail, known as Nuxalk-Carrier Route, the Blackwater Trail or the Grease Trail, is 420km long and starts on the banks of the Fraser river North of Quesnel, passes through Tweedsmuir Park and ending in Bella Coola. The drivable portion of it is 265kms long, and is the old wagon road which follows the original hiking trail very closely, then it enters the park where it becomes a very tight hiking trail for the remainder of it. There are several books about Alexander MacKenzie, his expedition and the trail. The Home Ranch, which is along the trail is a part of BC’s history and was the largest ranch in BC, also featured in several books like “Grass Beyond the Mountains”, Nothing too Good for a Cowboy” and “The Rancher takes a Wife”.

The line up:

Glenn – BJ74 Land Cruiser, Bill – BJ74 Land Cruiser, Gary and Jordy – BJ74 Land Cruiser, Drew and his dog Winston – FJ Cruiser and Adventure trailer, Grant and Wendy – FJ Cruiser and custom trailer, Ronald – RJ70 Land Cruiser, and myself, Mat BJ60 Land Cruiser.

Last year we embarked on a trip into the Chilcotin region to explore Chilko and Taseko Lakes and more importantly the mountain ranges in that area. After being witness to some of the most amazing views this country offers we made a new tradition, to take 2 weeks every year to explore a region of BC. Like most people I spent a frantic month of juggling fixing and upgrading the truck in between a hectic work schedule all the way up to the morning of the trip where I enjoyed my first cup of coffee while installing a freshly rebuilt alternator in front of the shop that did the work. Glenn, Bill, Gary and Jordy met me in Chilliwack on Saturday and we hit pavement leaving the city in a cloud of diesel smoke. Drew caught up to us by lunch in Cache Creek and we stayed on the congested, hot and uncomfortable paved road until we hit Williams Lake. After last minute shopping in a larger town we finally got on gravel and set up camp for the night at Blue Lake, an uninteresting spot just outside of town, where Grant and Wendy joined the team. This was the first time that we laid our eyes on Grant’s custom trailer, which made us question how this would work due to its size, but we trusted his opinion of the performance of it.

Sunday we were back on pavement heading to Quesnel, once there we spent probably too much time running around in hopes of grabbing last minute forgotten items and finally by lunch we hit a small mostly paved road leading into the bush. Within the hour we were covered in dust as we pulled up to our first encounter with the Blackwater River at a little pull out by a camp spot where we were supposed to meet our final team mate, Ronald. Since we were running late and Ronald wasn’t there we were trying to come up with a plan for finding him or letting him find us once we left, luckily before we managed to reinvent the wheel he pulled

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above: the line up, Drew, Ronald, Bill, Glenn, me (Mat), Gary and Jordy, Wendy and Grantright: driver’s meeting, day 1 on the Blackwater river

up with a smile on his face. While here we wanted to see what kilometre 0 of the trail looked like, a slight detour East on an uneventful gravel road brought us to a mostly unexciting, forgotten camp spot on the banks of the Fraser river. The only indication of this place being historic is a sign board close by and a large rock with a plaque on it that tells the story and shows a small map of the trail. On our way out we stayed on the high speed, hot and dusty Bantum Road, passing by Pelican Lake and just as I was beginning to wonder how to invent AC for my truck we finally turned off onto a small trail marked as the Alexander MacKenzie. Our first official camp spot of the trail was situated about 70 feet above Titetown Lakes, there is another spot right on the shores but was occupied by a handful of trucks that delivered some ATVs and a guy with a horse and a tent. We chose to stay at the upper camp and relaxed as we finally enjoyed the solitude of the outdoors and the slight anxiety of an adventure that lay ahead. I ventured down to meet the stranger with a horse who turned out to be a very interesting and ambitious traveller. Mike Beech is a very well travelled, incredibly knowledgeable guy with a soft spoken approach, likable personality and more guts than most people by attempting this trek with an unknown horse. He bought Fred MacKintosh in Quesnel a couple days ago for $1000 without knowing for sure how well he would travel, a saddle, rice, potatoes, Spam and a fishing rod completed his supplies to tackle the Alexander MacKenzie trail.

The first official day of the trail started with a shallow water ford through a narrow section of Titetown lakes, where we said our goodbyes to Mike and wished him a safe trip, speculating we would never cross paths again. The trail to Kluskoil was easy but rocky and slow going, with the occasional muddy section for variety, our average speed was 6 km/h and we had to rely on our CBs and Ham radios to keep the group together especially due to Grant’s trailer which was a little on the slow side. So far it required a fair bit of load adjusting and retightening of various ratchet straps that held the two pontoon fishing boat but on average it did well. Drew acquired the first trail damage as a tree jumped out and attacked his passenger side turn signal, headlight as well as his CB antenna mount. When we arrived to Kluskoil lake we had our first encounter with miscommunication as ½ the team took the harder trail down while we recommended for Grant and Bill to take the easier path further down the trail, they continued past it and ended up heading away from us, beyond CB range. I turned around and raced up the rocky trail to catch up to them and get them turned around, luckily other then some time we did not loose anything else. The lake was stunning, pelicans lounged around on the water, fish were biting, the sun was shining and other than a small group of ATV riders the place was ours. There are a few old cabins here that date back to before the lake became a park and are privately owned but don’t get used a lot, they are all locked up but there were signs that not everyone respected that. Since the day was young we enjoyed some fishing while Grant and Wendy expertly prepared a monumental Mexican style dinner for the group, complete with freshly baked bread done in a dutch oven on the open fire. As we snacked on appetizers Mike and Fred sauntered in, it took little convincing for him to pass on the rice and Spam in favour of Mexican food and Margheritas. We drank and talked the evening away under the cover of stars and found out that Mike was actually not riding the horse but using him mostly for cargo transport, which made us admire his ambition of walking the entire trail all the way into Bella Coola.

The next day we decided to take it easy and enjoy our vacation from civilization, even though we were not really roughing it, and stay the day at the lake. Glenn headed out to scout the trail while we fished, repaired Drew’s truck, tried to bring Ronald’s CB back to life and had a great dinner as the sky opened up and we were witness to a great lightning show.

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Above: Mike Beech passing us. Clockwise from right: Kluskoil lake camp, Grant and Wendy treating us to an amazing Mexican dinner, Gary relaxing on the dock, pelicans on the lake supervising us.

Wednesday we left after Mike and the trail was painfully slow as we bounced around on the rocks, we didn’t catch up to Mike until the Pan Meadow water crossing through the Blackwater. Mike headed on the original trail while we took the wagon road after a long but shallow water crossing, once again speculating we would not see him again. Further down the trail we encountered ATV riders returning to camp with bad news from up ahead, they turned around due to fire damage from last year and recommended we do the same. We were expecting this as we had information from Wayne Mackie, a local ATV rider that we met on the Chilko trip who had gone out of his way to provide us with detailed information and current status of the trail. We arrived to the fire damaged area and initially the trail wasn’t bad, some minor cutting but as we progressed through the eerie and depressingly

bare forest of black tree trunks it became more obscured until we hit the major obstacle. With a mud bog, many large fallen and upturned trees the initial crossing seemed beyond our abilities. Upon close inspection we saw a path and after 2 hours of cutting and digging with all of us working at it we managed to get the first vehicle through. Covered in ash and sweat but with a sense of victory we got everyone through, but the celebrations were short lived as we encountered more and more windfall. The fire damaged area was long and as we were contemplating sleeping on the trail the sky was getting darker and the rain was moving in. By the time we got through the major fire damage 1 out of 5 chainsaws was still working, the rain and hale was pounding on our windshields and we were beyond tired. Just as we were almost ready to give up we finally saw the major FSR, the 4000 road. We emerged only to encounter fire crews heading towards us from fighting fires, a puzzled look on their faces at the convoy in front of them but luckily they were not interested. We continued on to find camp down a small trail off the 4000 road and as the rain died down we came to a meadow by some old ranch cabins, it was 8:30pm and we were too tired so this was home. A fire was quickly made and as we were finally starting to unwind from the hard work of the day Grant came up with very sombre news that his trailer hitch receiver on the truck has sustained major damage and was looking like it wanted to rip off. It was too dark to deal with the problem so we speculated on possible solutions as we ate a very late dinner, enjoyed some well deserved beers under a ghostly red full moon while a mist creeped in between the trucks and trees that would have made Hitchcock grab a camera.

We woke up tired and sore the next day, we covered all possible options over coffee but the only one that made sense was for Drew to take Grant’s trailer and follow Grant and Wendy into Quesnel, we would meet back up with him at the next camp and Gary would tow Drew’s trailer there. The next camp was close by but we had an old wooden bridge to get through, Drew had a lot of ground to cover but it was all high speed gravel so he should meet us at about the same time. The bridge needed some repairs and took us about two hours of raping and pillaging from the old bridge which was right beside to fix up the “newer” one so it’s passable across the 3 foot deep creek that ran into the lake. With careful spotting everyone made it through, the rest of the trail was fairly easy and we finally went past Kluskus Village and down to our camp spot by Upper Kluskus Lake. Since it was early in the day I had a shower thanks to my on-board system and caught up on some fishing. By dinner time we were getting worried that there was no sign on Drew and only silence on the Ham radio. Three hours went by and still no sign of Drew, we begun making a plan B when we finally got a response over the radio, he was over 50 kilometres away and heading for us. He found the trail easily and was in camp as the sun hid behind the horizon, we quickly fixed him a dinner as we listened to his adventures. Due to the fires, road closures and the really bad condition of the trailer hitch it took Grant and Drew

almost 3 times as long to get to Quesnel as we thought in the morning. They were not able to take the shorter trail into town and had to go the long way around. Once in town Drew picked up a couple things for us and Grant’s friend from Williams Lake showed up to tow the trailer back the rest of the way. The road back was complicated but thanks to Drew being part of the Emergency Response program he was able to go back into the woods, all the roads had manned blockades due to the fires and unless you had permission they were turning everyone away. He showed us pictures of the fires blazing on the sides of the trail in the spots where we crossed a couple days ago which proved exactly how lucky he was to be able to join up with us. We found out that the fires up ahead were not directly in our path and since we were already inside the perimeter then we should be fine to stay here unless we got into a direct fire zone, but once we exited we would

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Above: Grant and Wendy fording the Blackwater river. Lower: over 2 hours of hard work rewarded us with a passable trail.

not be allowed back. That evening we sat around the warming glow of our headlamps as the fire ban was now official and carefully scanned the maps for alternate routes in case the fires shifted into our path.

We woke up to the sounds straight out of “Good morning Vietnam” as the choppers began flying overhead while the sun came over the mountains. A yellowish haze and the smell of smoke were our companions during breakfast, after which we continued on the main trail, taking a side detour that got us around the area close to the fires. Instantly the trail was more enjoyable, tighter with more challenges, and as we came up to one Glenn’s yelling over the CB stopped me in my tracks while my vehicle was balancing on 3 tires. A close inspection of the obstacle ahead revealed that we needed some filler for the off-camber ruts, just as work was about to begin it was Gary’s turn to provide bad news, he was leaking coolant. The lower radiator hose cracked at the water pump but the repair seemed easy, just cutting the cracked section off and sliding the hose further on should solve the issue. I dug out all my tools and within minutes we encountered the second problem which was the hose not being reinforced and bulging right past the pump to the point where we could shove three fingers between the hose and the pump. While Gary was pacing back and forth chanting a mantra consisting of “I’m done, the trip is over” and wondering how much a tow would cost out here, I pulled a chunk of radiator hose out of my truck that fit almost perfectly over the pump and inside the oversized hose. With some grease, lots of pressing and even some hammering we had everything installed and even double clamped. The rest of the guys got the trail ahead modified and soon we were moving. A nice lunch on the shores of the Blackwater was our only stop, we were making good time and making up for all the delays but our headway was short lived as we came to another bridge. While some of us did the water crossing Glenn and Bill took the bridge, Bill did not pass. His slightly narrower tires fit perfectly between the loose logs, luckily some very nice work with a Jack-All in the experienced hands of Glenn got Bill back on solid ground. Tsacha Lake, home to the abandoned Alexander MacKenzie Lodge, was our home for the night, we were hopeful it was still in decent condition but our arrival disrupted a group of local ATV riders that have claimed this place theirs while they squatted and used whatever hasn’t been stolen. It was sad to see the lodge, which has not been operational since 2006, to have been raped and robbed of anything valuable. Its main owner passed away under strange and questionable circumstances while his wife and a business partner were not interested in operating the lodge so it has remained private property and for sale since. All the cabins are suffering from neglect and their new habitants, the rats; the main lodge is also starting to fall apart but must have been a great and beautiful place when it was fully functional. We found a quiet spot on the far side of the property to camp at and enjoyed dinner with a view of a sunset made spectacular by the smoke from the fires.

Our next destination was not far, and the trail was fairly easy and uneventful. The Pan Phillips Lodge was located at kilometre 192 of the trail, we were in touch with Rob and Linda Phillips by e-mail over Drew’s Ham radio and our reservation for the night was still good. The lodge is located in a picturesque setting of the valley between Tsacha and Cluchata Lakes, the view of the perfectly groomed lawn and rustic cabins seemed almost surreal in comparison to where we came from. Rob and Linda Phillips made us feel at home in no time with hot showers and the ability to wash our clothes. We decided to thank them by making a group dinner and were given the entire main kitchen to our disposal. As we enjoyed pre dinner drinks and appetizers we got to know each other and exchanged stories of our adventures thus far while Drew and I cooked on the wood burning stove that was probably older then

both of us put together. We mentioned our encounter with Mike Beech and his horse and were surprised to find out that they have heard of him, they are also Ham radio operators and were contacted by Mike’s girlfriend who was concerned as she has not heard from him in a long time. Shortly after we finished talking about him we saw a very familiar silhouette stepping out of the woods, unbelievably Mike caught up with us again and was just in time for dinner and many, many drinks. Rob and Linda were great hosts and full of knowledge of the area, Rob was actually born and lived at the historic Home Ranch and was directly related to Pan Phillips who was a legend in these parts and who started the ranch. Which is were we headed the next day after a little groggy start and a large breakfast made by Bill and Glenn. Mike headed on the original MacKenzie trail and we detoured to visit a little history which has not been in operation since the 70s but still had that open frontier feel to it. Once back on the trail we came up to Mr Lampard’s property, the trail runs right through his back yard which is a large collection of automotive and industrial machinery history. While Mr Lampard was searching for some back up parts for Gary’s radiator hose in case it let go Mike caught up to us once again. We left shortly after and continued West to Eliguk Lake and made good time as the trail was easy.

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Previous page from the top: Jordy and Winston, Drew spotting Grant through the freshly built trail, Ronald testing out his incinometer, eerie mist rolling into camp, Bill, Gary and Jordy enjoying dinner at the abandoned MacKenzie lodge, setting up camp under the watchful eye of 2 ospreys, Glenn testing out his tires in the bog, Drew trying to drive through the clay like mud. Above: Mr. Lampard helping Gary with parts for his rad hose

The camp by the creek into the lake was perfect, other than two ospreys that curiously watched us set up camp in the rain there was no one around. The fishing was amazing as almost every cast rewarded us with a catch, usually too small but fun all the same.

Monday Ronald had to head back to real life and we picked a good spot since there was a trail close by that headed South to the Dean River, Glenn and I escorted him down to the main trail in case there were issues while the rest of the guys started to head West on the MacKenzie. By the time we caught up with the team two things were evident, the trail was the tightest and hardest section of this entire trip, and Bill was a bad choice for being the point man with the smallest and least aggressive tires of the group. The branches clawed at our trucks as we barely fit on the ATV sized trail and the chainsaws were getting a good workout. We came to a very off-camber section, around 35 degrees by Drew’s measurements, which was bad for me as my truck was fairly top heavy, with a drop to one side of about 30 feet and a hill side on the other I was not feeling good about this but luckily Drew’s extensive experience from his many challenging runs at Moab proved invaluable as he did an excellent job in spotting me. The trail was getting tighter and harder with clay like mud pits that turned our tires into slicks, by the time we caught up to Bill he was stuck and completely tipped to one side against a bank with his tires fully submerged in the clay. In all the years of owning the truck he never used his PTO winch so this was the worst time to try it out, luckily it worked and after a lot of straining and digging we finally got him out. Gary took the lead after some creative driving skills through the mud while Glenn got stuck and needed winching. While I avoided one hole I got stuck in the other and had to winch, Drew who was behind me was doing well until he slid into a bank and got stuck with his truck at 35 degrees to one side and his trailer all the way to the other side. He was trying to winch but was only rewarded by a dull click of the solenoids and nothing else, so I backed up through the mud and tried to tug him out with very little luck. After re-strapping the trucks I finally managed to winch both of us up the hill finally getting through one obstacle. It was early afternoon and our progress was so pathetic the our average driving speed was about 1 km/h, if we were not stuck in mud then we were cutting fallen trees or clearing a path around swamps to be able to pass, making sure not to damage any sensitive areas. By 5pm we travelled only 7 kilometres and were in a small rocky clearing where we chose to stay for the night. We snacked on appetisers while working on Drew’s winch and by dinner time we had it up and running and were sitting around joking that Mike would pop out of the bush soon, after the first bite we heard the familiar bell on Fred’s saddle and we broke out in laughter. Mike covered almost 3 times the distance we did that day.

Tuesday morning we broke camp early while Mike enjoyed a slow start, in hopes of staying ahead of him we hit the trail with a purpose. It didn’t take long for us to get stuck, with Gary and Glenn up front going through the virgin mud they did good time but Bill had to winch and by the time Drew and I arrived to the churned up ruts we had a hard

Above: Mike and Mrs. Lampard sharing stories of the area. Below: My truck enjoying a little rest on its side against a bank, Drew finding it hard to make it up the hill, the mud and clay turning our tires into slicks.

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time staying off the winch line. When the back of the pack finally got through the front guys were stuck or had to cut fallen trees out of the way, the entire morning was a sadistic game of catching up to the front guys, help them winch or clear the trail and get stuck again. By noon Mike caught up to us, we hung our heads in shame as a guy walking with a horse left us in his dust. The trail was relentless, not that we would have wanted it any other way, it was tight to the point that we had to make 4 point turns between trees, the swamps were deep and swallowed me to my waist as I tried crossing by foot in my hip waders, we spent hours cutting windfall trees and winching. We finally hit higher elevation and left the swamps but encountered other obstacles, the trail was so overgrown that the only way to find the path ahead was to look up at the gaps in the tree line, there was so much shrubbery in the way that any tracks of previous explorers were totally obscured. The hours passed as we spent more time out of the trucks cutting away shrubs and fallen trees or clearing a path around impassable obstructions, than actually driving. Glenn, who was up front managed to get ahead a little and by the time we caught up to him we found him exhausted, sitting in his truck with his chainsaw still hot from cutting up a huge stack of 6 trees that fell across the trail. We finally broke through to a trail that actually had tracks and soon after were at Gatcho Lake where we wanted to spend the night but we encountered a group of guys working on a new lodge, even though they were very hospitable the group was tired and edgy and wanted to have some peace and quiet so we continued along in search of another camp spot. We arrived at the main gravel FSR with no luck, Glenn and I went scouting North but found nothing other then the MacKenzie trail which was nothing more than a foot path into Tweedsmuir Park, that meant we had completed the historic Alexander MacKenzie trail but had no place to camp and it was getting late so we decided to head South towards the Dean river which was our only way out to Anahim Lake as well as the place where we were supposed to meet Glenn again. As we bolted down the high speed gravel one of my shock absorbers finally decided it had enough of this trip and ripped off but a quick unbolting session got me back on the road with no real damage. We drove down in a speed that was unfamiliar to us for the past 10 days when all of a sudden Gary’s voice brought some bad news over the CB, his truck had a new, unpleasant vibration, the U joint on the rear driveshaft also had enough of the trip and was going on strike. Bill and Drew stayed close to Gary as they were back to a crawl while Glenn and I raced up ahead diving in and out of little side trails to find a camp, we finally came upon Poison Lake, a rather ugly camp spot by a lake just off the main trail but it was past 8pm and we were too tired to be picky. We made dinner and decided to deal with the aftermath of

Below: Gary found a hole to park his truck in, Drew and Gary teaching Jordy how to use a chainsaw, Eliguk lake with a stunning sunset, Drew working on fixing his winch at the end of a hard day, Anahim Lake, re-supplying our depleted stock of important supplies like vegetables, meat, chips and beer.

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the day tomorrow. Wednesday we woke up sore and tired, I fixed Gary’s driveshaft with a spare u-joint in my collection while the guys made breakfast, and we were in Anahim by lunch time. The journey back home was spread out over a couple days, even though it was supposed to be easy gravel travel we had our share of issues, outside of Anahim my newly rebuilt alternator blew the regulator and needed an instant repair before it took out the rest of my electrical system, luckily I had a spare one. The fires around Hwy 20 made taking any trail heading back home dangerous so we were stuck to the highway, when we entered Williams Lake it was covered in smoke and had a visibility of about 3 blocks so we made a point of getting out as fast as we could. One of our choices for the night turned out to be a horrible side trip that cost us dearly in body damage as a trail marked as a fairly large FSR on our maps turned into a very tight and dangerous trail barely wide enough for an ATV, with spear like branches aimed at anyone dumb enough to be on it. Regrettably we were committed with no turn around in sight and as we cut our way through it we cursed whoever failed at trying to clear this trail the last time and only managed to turn it into a gauntlet that was damaging to our trucks and could have easily killed anyone on an ATV that was not paying attention. In the end the last night was spent at Nahatlatch Lake, Bill, Gary and Jordy went home while Glenn, Drew and I enjoyed a relaxing and easy going afternoon in a beautiful place that has luckily not been damaged by disrespect and garbage.

All in all a good and successful trip that taught us a lot, about ourselves, our trucks and more importantly about each other and the friendships we have developed. A trip like this makes you realize the benefit of being a member in a club that shares your interests and even though opinions might clash at times at the end of the day you trust your fellow members and friends with your life and are glad they are a part of yours. One of the many lessons we learned here is that no matter how tired, frustrated or edgy you get it’s not wise to rush on the trail and take reckless risks as they usually end up damaging you or your truck and cost you even more time.

The group visiting the histor-ic Home Ranch, Gary at the top, Ronald, Glenn, Jordy, myself (Mat), Bill, Drew and his trusty friend Winston.Below:Eliguk Lake at sunset.

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Perspective:alpine photography by Maciej (Mat) Radoszewski

As high as we can: Pallisade Bluff, Chilkotin, BC

21End of the Road: Taseko Mountain, Chilkotin, BC

22A view to die for: At the end of the trail at Granite Creek, Chilkotin, BC

23Driving on the edge: Mount MacLeod, Chilkotin, BC

EquipmentPacking the right equipment is easy; knowing the right equipment to bring along is not. Each trip is different, even if you are just returning to your favourite trail. Often the circumstances surrounding why you need a specific piece of equipment can change with each use. Remember that with each trip your ability to determine what you will need becomes easier and more fine-tuned, and with enough time, you too will be referred to as the MacGyver of your group.

Hope for the best, pack for the worstWith only a small amount of careful planning, your next adventure into the wild could end with a big smile and fond memories, or with you wondering why you bothered to leave the couch. The cause of most problems that arise is due from a lack of equipment, or knowledge. All but the most serious of vehicle or personal incidents can usually be solved on the scene with the proper tools and information. Do not be afraid or embarrassed to ask for help when trying to plan for a trip, the more experienced veterans of the bush love to share information.Don’t rely on others to have what you need

This is especially important if you drive a vehicle that is a little more rare or different than what everybody else drives. We all know that Chevy parts are interchangeable from most years, but if you need a special widget for your modified Datsun, don’t expect somebody else to have one. It helps to know your vehicle and your own personal needs before heading out. If you are prone to allergies, or other medical needs be sure to provide enough medication for at least double the length of your trip timeline, as you never know how long you may be out or away from civilization. The same rule applies for your vehicle. If you are prone to breaking a certain part, be it a u-joint or a wheel bearing, bring an extra along. This is exceptionally true for modified or custom-built rigs.

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ConceptWhen entering a new sport or hobby, there are always questions, and to those who are not familiar with the sport of Four Wheeling, there are many questions. Questions about what to take with you? What to do? How to do it? What can be done? What cannot be done? These questions, along with many others, always seem to arise but often the answers to these questions can leave a lot to be desired. In today’s world of internet communication and the massive amount of information that can be found, it can often be difficult to find simple answers to simple questions. And as often as not, the simple answer does not provide enough information to be helpful. Enter the philosophy of Wheelin’ Wisely.Wheelin’ Wisely is not a set of answers, but a set of guidelines that have been drafted for wheelers by wheelers along with input from several other sources. These individuals were concerned that some of the existing programs for maintaining off-road access and environmental stewardship were too impractical to be followed in good conscience and common sense. They have tried to provide useable information on three key categories that tend to induce the most questions: Equipment, Environment and Etiquette.Our goal in promoting the concepts in the Wheelin’ Wisely philosophy is to ensure that both newcomers and experienced veterans of our sport can have repeatable and enjoyable adventures whenever leaving the highway and heading for parts unknown. The first idea that Wheelin’ Wisely is trying to promote is a simple one that all wheelers should know and abide by - drive responsibly. However, Wheelin’ Wisely is not “off-road driving 101”, and it was never designed to teach anyone how to pilot a vehicle in adverse terrain. These ideas and guidelines are about more than just the skill behind the steering wheel. Wheelin’ Wisely digs deeper into the recreation of off-road driving, by exploring three main areas of concern. It is within these areas that we hope to develop a program that is geared up and keyed toward the recreational off-road user so that it would better suit their needs and requirements.

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If you know of a problem with your vehicle before heading out, fix it firstWhenever thinking about vehicles and adventures, the thought of old John Wayne movies showing the rickety chuck wagons heading off into the wild blue yonder comes to mind. Those pioneers always had spare parts and if they needed something they didn’t have, they weren’t afraid to experiment with how they could make whatever they needed by modifying whatever they had at hand to get mobile again. Heading out on a wheeling adventure is very much like the old pioneer adventurers; only now we usually have a plan and we quite often know what we are getting into. A planned trip however, is no fun when your vehicle has broken down in the middle of the trail; either for you or the people you’re with, so do everyone a favour and pre-check your rig before heading out. It never hurts to poke your head under the hood or under the frame to have a look at what’s going on. If you know of an existing problem, fix it before you head out, as it’s often easier to fix in the driveway than rocker panel deep in a mud hole. If you suspect something of being ready to fail, at least pack an extra one in your toolbox. If you don’t need it on the trip, you might on the way home. Supplies can be broken down into two groups, stuff for you, and stuff for your trail rig. Here are some suggestions of items that should be in your rig whenever you head out. Feel free to modify and expand on this list, as everyone’s ideas of what they need are a little different.VehicleSpare equipment

- Spare tire, appropriate size in good shape - Spare parts, your driving style and the terrain you

play in will determine a lot about what you bring, but u-joints and spare electrical components appropriate to your vehicle (fuses, relays, solenoids, wire, connectors, etc.) are a good place to start

- Fluids, any your vehicle may require (special oil, water, bug wash, etc.)

Tools- Any hand tools required to do trail repairs - A fair sized hammer, pry bar, some locking pliers,

duct tape, zip ties, etc - Any vehicle specific tools, i.e. hub socket - Vehicle specific repair manual - Jack, capable of lifting vehicle to remove tire - Lug wrench, appropriate size and length

Safety Equipment- Communication equipment, CB radio, cell phone,

ham radio, 2-way radio or some such device. If battery operated, carry spares. A SPOT unit is an excellent and affordable safety communication device

- First aid kit, nothing fancy, but be sure to know how to use the items

- Fire extinguisher, accessible and fully charged Recovery Equipment

- Tow points, appropriately placed and mounted - Tow rope or strap, designed for vehicle pulling;

ensure heavy enough GVW rating for your vehicle. Sometimes bigger is better

- Shovel (appropriate to terrain, ex. Snow shovels do not work with mud)

- Axe, chainsaw or Swede saw

- Winch and accessories, not necessary but highly recommended

- Heavy duty come-along, highly recommended if you don’t have a winch

- High-lift or Jack-All, beam style jack capable of lifting a tire off the ground. Be sure to include some sort of base when using in soft terrain

Chains for anchoring, not for pulling - Tree saver strap

PersonalFluids

- Minimum of 2 liters of water per person per day Food

- Take enough for the trip and bring emergency rations if the trip runs longer then expected

- Good food will take you farther than junk food MedicationsPersonal items, toiletries

- Prescriptions, pain killers, allergy medication (Benadryl type work best)

- Sunscreen - Bug spray and after bite

Clothing- Complete change of cloths - Appropriate footwear suitable to the terrain - Appropriate clothing for climate, weather and season - Sunglasses - Hat

Camp Gear- Appropriate shelter, bedding and seating - Food preparation items, stove, pots, etc - Portable lighting with spare batteries - Fire starter (carry matches because lighters do not

always work) - Any and all desired items to make the experience

more enjoyable, like a camera or appetizers

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EnvironmentWe all know that our sport is looked down upon, and environmentalists feel that we are unjustly causing harm to our planet by enjoying what Mother Nature has provided for us. It is up to us as a group to stand united before these people and coalitions to prove to them that we, as responsible wheelers, do more than our fair share of keeping the planet clean and taking care of our privileges. Remember, our sport is not a right, it is a privilege. If the wrong people get the wrong idea about what we do, it can be taken away. Then the only nature and off-highway exploration that we will be able to do will be done with pictures in magazines. Thus we have come up with suggestions as ideas to help 4-wheelers create and maintain a better image for our sport and ourselves. Feel free to add your own ideas to our list.

- Leave areas cleaner than when you found them; this will ensure that others can enjoy the scenery as much as you have

- If you are camping at a site, please leave the campsites in as good a condition or better than you found it. It takes countless hours of work to maintain sites and a lot are kept by volunteer groups. Please do your part to keep these sites open and looking good

- Ensure all campfires are completely extinguished; this is self-explanatory and with the constant threat of forest fire, is the most important thing to be done before leaving a site

- Water crossings are to be done only at designated locations, and with appropriate speed. Remember, as slow as possible and as fast as necessary

- Leave the physical trail as you found it. Nobody minds a little road building, but put the obstacle back to the way you found it so that others can still find the trail challenging. That means removing your rock stacking, and pulling all the sticks out of the mud hole

- Do not senselessly destroy the environment. The trail is there for a reason; it is to be driven on. Try to stay on the trail at all times, especially in easily damaged areas like alpine meadow and wetlands. If the road does not go there, you should not go there

- Use deadfall for firewood; there is a lot of it, and it burns better Avoid sensitive ecological areas, alpine meadows, marshes, etc

EtiquetteThis is probably the hardest subject to broach, as every wheeler has different opinions on what Trail Etiquette is and how a driver or anyone else on the trail should act while they are out. Simple common courtesy and manners will lead to a fun trip and a memorable adventure. Everyone realizes that emotions can run high; from good to bad with everything in between. Just remember that you are there to have an enjoyable time, but so is everyone else. If you can remember to follow just a few of these guidelines, and any that you feel to add, your off highway adventure will turn out to be one of the most enjoyable and memorable trips you’ve had

- Drive responsibly - All driving laws are to be followed - Always keep the vehicle behind you in your rear view mirror. This ensures that everybody keeps up to the group,

if you get separated wait at the turns for the vehicle behind you- If you get stuck, hook up your own vehicle, you’ll know it’s done right; if you can’t then pick someone who is

familiar with your vehicle- It is the driver’s choice as to who is his/her spotter, and they should be allowed to work together without

interruption. If something needs to be pointed out, tell the spotter, not the driver - The “Three Try Rule” applies. Make three attempts at an obstacle, if you do not make it, get some help - Leave the trail in better shape than you found it, as best as you can - If you know there is no firewood at the campsite, bring it with you - If you find it on the trail, or bring it with you, pack it in and pack it out - Respect the rights of all recreationists, and give way to people with animals as they spook easily - Smile

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RememberIt cannot be stressed enough that Wheelin’ Wisely is not a set of rules, but only a set of guidelines or ideas that many wheelers would like to see adopted and put into practice. No one person or group can make you act responsibly, that is a decision that must be made on your own. If these ideas can assist you in making better choices and have more fun while out, then they have done what there were created to do. Have fun Wheelin’ Wisely

Developed in conjunction with The North Caribou Offroad Adventurers Society

www.offroad.bc.ca Copyright © February 2003

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Gear Review:

Handle - All by Hi-Lift

In an never ending search of new tools that are better, multi functional, compact and make life easier on the trail I came across the Handle-All by the manufacturers of Jack-All. It is a very compact Swiss Army knife of trail repair tools with a shovel, pick axe, sledge hammer and axe. With a telescoping handle, full sized shovel head, 10 pound sledge hammer head, full sized splitting axe and a pick that is just a little smaller than full size. All the gear fits nicely into a compact, durable bag even the handle which is comprised of two thick walled galvanized steel tubes that slide into each other and lock with tab lock clevis pins, the head attachments use the same pins for locking the tool on the handle. The construction is durable and once assembled has no play in it with a good weight distribution, the heads are all cast steel and machined to fit into the tubes with no play.

Instantly I was excited about this as it is a pain to carry all 4 tools individually, trying to find a place for each and having the added weight, so this seemed like the perfect solution. Shortly after getting it I encountered the perfect trip to test out all 4 tools, we encountered a large washout of dirt and a clay like hill side that needed to be carved out. The assembly takes a second and switching between tools is just as easy, several things I did notice right away is that the handle is a little too short when the tool is used as a shovel, it’s longer than the compact shovels but would be better if it was about 6 inches longer for comfort. As a shovel it works great, strong and sturdy but since the handle pipes are just steel and have no grip or top cap it makes prolonged use a bit uncomfortable and after a while the short handle does take a toll on your back. As a hammer, axe and pick axe there is one common problem that I instantly noticed, since the handle is a pipe and has no curve or anything to aid in keeping it straight on the down stroke it tends to rotate a bit in the air making it hard to hit your target especially if you are wearing gloves. This is most evident when the pick axe is used, particularly if it’s used at even a slight angle. The other issue is the tab lock clevis pins that are used to hold the handle and tool head together, they tend to pop out, especially when used as a pick axe. This is a dangerous flaw as the head can fly off and damage or hurt someone, if the pins were replaced with a bolt or a different locking pin that stands up to impact better then this would solve that issue but would add to set up time. On the pick axe head the wedge section is a little on the short side for any major trail work and requires more effort to obtain the results you would from a full size pick but that is a small price to pay for the compact feature of this tool. The axe head works well for splitting and has enough weight to handle even larger logs. The sledge hammer head does exactly what it needs to do and has enough weight to drive wooden or metal stakes into the ground with only a few hits.

Overall the tool is ok, with the slight modification of replacing the stock locking pins and adding a grip surface to the handle (like hockey tape even) it works a lot better. It is a tool mostly meant for short, lighter duty work just because of the size of the handle and pick axe wedge, if you have a large trail repair ahead full sized tools would work better but in a pinch this would quickly become your best friend, especially since it takes up less room than a 12 pack of beer.

Disclaimer: This product review is based soley on the opinion of the author. There may be comments about a product, its use and performance as advertised and/or expected by the typical consumer of said product. Remarks that may be deemed to be disparaging towards any product should be recognized as constructive criticism based on the individual evaluation of the product in the described circumstances, different circumstances may bring different results. I urge the reader to use their own personal discretionary actions no matter how they ultimately chose to use the information contained in this article. The views expressed in this article are only those of the author and not of the Backroader and the Four Wheel Drive Association of British Columbia. This review is not sponsored in any way.

phtographs are the property of Hi-Lift

by Maciej (Mat) Radoszewski

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So you are winding your way up Mount Cheam and behold a strange sight of a line of mini-vans descending the trail. Okay, although fairly rare on the trail, 4x4 vans are not a new thing, but these things are weird. Right off the bat, you notice the drivers are sitting on “the wrong side” and they seem to have no fear of going off the edge as they straddle it to let you and your friends by. Then there is the quiet rumble of their fuel efficient turbocharged 2.5L diesel engines as they idle by you. You think to yourself, “not hard core but hey, that is a cool little rig to take the family out camping in and to get more families into four wheeling and enjoying the great BC outdoors.”It is getting more and more common, especially in the Lower Mainland or the Island to come across gray market

imports on our Forest Service Roads, trails and even regular roads. Many of them are easily identified as a gray market import by the driver’s position being on the right instead of the left. A few you wouldn’t even know are gray market imports as they have the steering wheel on the left. Most of the right hand drives (RHD) are sourced from Japan. The majority of the left hand drives (LHD) are sourced from Europe. All of them under the current vehicle import laws have to be 15 years old and to pass an out of province inspection to be registered.Since 2006, there has been a pitched battle going on between the people who import and own these vehicles and

the North American auto industry which feels threatened by these imports and our legal right to import and, after passing inspection, to register them. In 2006, it started with the Minister of Transport, Kevin Falcon claiming to the media that these right-hand drive imports were dangerous. At the same time Transport Canada released a report also claiming that these imports were dangerous. Paul Taylor who had been a Deputy Minister of Finance and who previous to that was CEO and President of the BC Auto Dealers Association became CEO of ICBC. It was under his command of ICBC that the corporation delivered the often referenced 2007 ICBC study in which they claimed that right-hand drives were more than 40% more likely to crash. [By the way, Paul Taylor was also at the helm of ICBC during the ICBC scandal concerning the written off cars they were selling without disclosing the vehicle’s status. He coincidentally resigned as soon as the RCMP commercial crimes announced their investigation.] Since then the province of Quebec has put a “permanent minister’s ban” on the new registrations of certain right-hand drives. Not to be left behind, Prince Edward Island also banned the new registration of certain right-hand drives. Both of these provincial bans relied quite heavily on the ICBC study as reasoning for the ban. Adding to this there have been numerous press releases and statement coming from special interest groups, such as the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association (CADA) and the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators (CCMTA) that claim how dangerous these vehicles are.So what is the truth? Obviously, they must be dangerous, if government and these associations are claiming them

to be dangerous. Well, Transport Canada quietly dropped its claim of danger after their study was questioned by the non-professional members of the Import Vehicle Owners Association (IVOAC). The IVOAC launched a freedom of information request to view the data and processes ICBC had used to come to their conclusions. It was clear to the forum membership that both the data and the processes used were flawed. Seeing as the media refused to do any investigative journalism, IVOAC took it upon themselves to commission a professional review of the report by the UBC Statistical Consulting and Research Laboratory. They also found major issues with ICBC’s data and the process they used.So this now leaves us with the claims made by CADA which are also being advanced through their membership in the

CCMTA. The CCMTA brings together the dealers, the manufacturers, insurance industry and the federal and provincial governments in a private association which enables them to discuss, influence and develop public policy away from the critical eye of the opposition, the media and the tax payer.CADA claims that the imports are dangerous, specifically the RHD vehicles, and bases that claim on the ICBC report

whose validity has been put to question by independent professionals. In addition, we know that RHD and LHD vehicles operate together in right side driving or left side driving environments without issue in the European Union, Japan and other countries. We also know that there is no difference in insurance charged if you were to be operating a RHD Land Cruiser or a LHD Land Cruiser in Europe. CADA also claims that these vehicles are environmentally dirty compared to their North American market counter

parts. CADA has never presented any proof of such claims. They must know it is ridiculous because Japan

IVOAC News:by John Gabor, IVOAC National Committee

Gray Market Imports: really a question of whose rights?

photo by Aaron McVey

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and Europe are at least a decade or more ahead in terms of pollution control. Of the Japanese vehicles imported, most of them pass air care with much better readings than other vehicles their age. In terms of the actual amount of pollutants emitted verses parts per million, the imports clearly pollute less than most North American vehicles in their class. It is clear to people who have been following the issue around RHDs and gray imports that the issue is not about

safety or the environment. The issue is really about protecting the market for Canadian dealerships and allowing the manufacturers to dictate what vehicles we buy and operate on Canadian roads and trails.So given the continued controversy, why would people continue to buy, import and operate these vehicles when it

seems every few months they have to deal with another scare story in the media. The reason is simple. It is a matter of freedom to choose what we want to buy and operate. No RHD import owner goes out to just buy a RHD; they are buying the RHD because they know that the driving position has no significant draw-backs. In fact, for a four wheeler, the RHD’s driving position has many advantages in terms of field of vision over a LHD. They also know that the greatest safety factor is not where the driver is located or if it has a CMVSS, DOT or UNECE safety certification. The greatest contributing safety factor is the vehicle’s operator. The main appeal of these gray market vehicles is that they are often far superior off the factory floor than anything marketed in North America. For the four wheeler, nothing was ever offered like the Mitsubishi Delica or the range of Toyota Land Cruisers or Nissan Patrols that are available everywhere else except North America. For others, they may be collectors of legendary vehicles such as the Nissan Skyline or looking for the versatility and fuel economy of the Kei class cars, trucks and micro vans.In the long term, many in IVOAC would like to see the protectionist barriers on vehicle imports totally eliminated and

for Canada to accept the UNECE standards like the majority of the civilized world. Canadians ought to have the right to choose what we buy and operate. We should not roll over and be dictated to by private interests who are chiefly concerned about their profits. Today we know that the battle with CADA and their friends is principally over the gray market imports. Tomorrow the battle will be about keeping your 10 year old wheeler as a daily driver, yes, CADA has a 10 year national fleet renewal program on their wish list. Let’s not forget about the discussions regarding lifted vehicles going on behind close doors at the CCMTA. So even if you are not directly affected by the battle your RHD four wheelers are currently fighting, these interest groups have your 4x4 and your freedom to choose in their cross hairs.To learn more about the gray market import vehicle issues, please have a look at http://forum.ivoac.ca/.

Sopel doing what he’s best at - getting stuck. Roche Lake trails. Photo by Maciej (Mat) Radoszewski31

Member Clubs


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BC South Coast Allterrainers S.C.A.T. are a family-oriented group of off-roaders based in the beautiful and muddy Greater Vancouver area.

Contact: [email protected]

Bone Shakers The Bone Shakers was started by a group of 4x4 enthusiasts with a long background in four-wheel driving. We are a non-profit group with no membership fee and a strong will to form a club with similar interests for the love of four-wheel drive exploration. We seek out new and exciting areas to test our skills and are always eager to take on new members with similar interests.

Contact: C/O Rob MacKenzie, 7813 Deefield St, Mission, BC V2V 5X2. [email protected]

Meetings: 14th Ave Pub, 32516 14th Ave., Mission, BC. 1st Tuesday of each month at 7:00pm

Coastal Cruisers The Coastal Cruisers started as a small group meeting in a garage in Surrey, BC in early 1991. The issue that brought the club together was the need to raise money for maintenance of the cabin and hot tubs at the Clear Creek Hot Springs. The Coastal Cruisers became a chapter of the Toyota Land Cruiser Association on November 25, 1991.

Contact: [email protected]

Meetings: Extreme Bends Inc, 81 Moray St., Port Moody, BC. 2nd Thursday of each month around 8:00pm, except December

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Coquitlam Crawlers Four Wheel Drive Society We are a 4x4 club based out of Coquitlam, but we welcome people from anywhere in the lower mainland. We head out on the trails as often as we can, so come check us out. Happy Wheeling!

Contact: 115-1966 Coquitlam Ave., Port Coquitlam, BC V3B 7P8. [email protected] www.coquitlamcrawlers.ca

Meetings: ABC Country Restaurant, 300-100 Schoolhouse St., Coquitlam, BC. 2nd Monday of each month at 7:30pm

Herd Of Turtles 4 Wheel Drive Society OK, now that you have stopped laughing at our name, please let us take a few moments to tell you a little about our club. As you may have guessed, the whole point of the name is to have fun and not take our past time or ourselves too seriously. Virtually all of our members and prospective members have email and belong to the club email list and message board. This enables us to organize and communicate in a very fun, yet efficient manner.

Contact: 18112 58th Ave., Cloverdale BC V3S 6K1. [email protected] www.hot4x4.ca

Meetings: Ricky’s All Day Grill (Walnut Grove), 8720 204th St., Langley, BC. 3rd Monday of each month at 7:30pm

Island Rock Crawlers Four Wheel Drive Society We are a 4x4 club based in Victoria, BC, Canada. Our club mandate is simple: to promote the fun and responsible use of four wheel drive vehicles to explore the rugged outdoors of Vancouver Island, and beyond.

Contact: PO Box 48034, Victoria, BC V8Z 7H5. [email protected] www.can4x4.com/irc

Meetings: Country Rose Pub, 592 Ledsham Rd., Victoria, BC. 1st Thursday of each month at 7:30pm.

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Member Clubs


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North Caribou Offroad Adventurers Society We are a group of people that get together and experience offroading in the backwoods of the area. Putting together our individual ideas and resources enables us to experience many different places around the northern part of our province. Our similar passions lead us to the formation of what is now know as the North Caribou Offroad Adventurers Society (NCOAS), registered in 1998 with the Province of BC.

Contact: Box 2353 Station A, Prince George, BC V2N 2J8. [email protected] www.offroad.bc.ca

Meetings: University of Northern BC - Cafeteria, Every Thursday at 7:00pm (April to November) 1st Thursday of each month (December to March).

Peace Canyon Toyota Swamp Donkeys The Peace Canyon Toyota Swamp Donkeys is a Land Cruiser & Toyota 4x4 club situated in Northeast British Columbia. We have a solid membership within the Fort St. John area. However, our membership is comprised of individuals living around the world. We’re a pretty easy going, relatively informal bunch of Cruiserheads who came together to form a TLCA chapter after moving North to the Peace Region and we get typically get together once a month to discuss everything and anything Toyota related.

Contact: (250) 794-8808, Fort St. John, BC V1J 5C9. [email protected]

Rover-Landers of British Columbia The Rover-Landers of British Columbia Incorporated is a registered non-profit society for Land Rover owners and enthusiasts in and around British Columbia.

Contact: 100-445 Mountain Hwy. North Vancouver, BC V7J 2L1. [email protected] www.roverlanders.bc.ca

Meeting: Ricky’s All Day Grill, 8958 152nd Ave., Surrey, BC. 3rd Thursday of each month at 7:30pm

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If your club is interested in joining this amazing group of members,

supports treading lightly and access to your favourite trails and camp spots

Visit us at www.4wdabc.ca


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Urban Rednecks

IntroductionOff-Road Association

Urban Rednecks Off-Road Association started out in Kelowna early 2010 as just a couple guys who liked to take out their trucks and have fun. Today, it has evolved into something new, and something that will benefit the off-road community for, hopefully, years to come.

The name “Urban Rednecks” came as a tongue in cheek saying. We all do things that people consider “redneck”, but it seems that lately the term is used more as slander than anything else. How many people like to have a fire in their fire pit out back, or barbecue as often as possible, or have a couch in the garage? Many of us enjoy these things that are considered “redneck”, so why not get a little joy out of it? An Urban Redneck, if you will, and that is exactly how the name came about, and it just kind of stuck.

While Urban Rednecks Off-Road started out small, it didn’t stay that way for long. It sparked a fire in the founding members, which led them to take their ideas to more people and since has snowballed, fast. The idea that off roaders in general get a bad reputation for things that a small minority of the off-road community does didn’t sit well. So we chose to fix it. Urban Rednecks wanted to get out in the public’s face a little bit, share the viewpoints of the majority of the off-road community, which is not tearing around leaving garbage, burning cars and destroying the environment. For the most part, people pack out what they pack in and not leave any garbage behind whatsoever. As far as environmental damage is concerned from a legal point of view, many people do NOT know the rules! Plain and simple. Public education is a large part of the Urban Rednecks Off-Road gameplan. The more people know about environmental damages, what causes them and how to stop them, the better equipped they will be when they head out for a day of fun in the backcountry.

Which leads us to just one thing, an off road park! That’s right, Urban Rednecks have a goal to achieve, and it’s not just raising awareness and the like. The association is lobbying for tenure on Crown land to create Canada’s first non-privately owned ORV Park. While the club strives for higher education and believes it is the key to playing out in the bush, we also believe that most times, the average off-roader does not always want to be thinking “Is this mud hole legal?” With an ORV park it takes the guess work out of wheeling. The park would be suitable for all truck types and skill ranges, with trail markers bearing notations that vary all the way from beginner, stock, advanced to you shouldn’t even try this! Geared towards being a family friendly area, because we know a lot of times you just want to have a nice day of wheeling with your family, while still having the opportunity to have fun. You would be able to do that in the Urban Rednecks ORV Park.

We still need your help though! In the event of obtaining land, the club would need a lot of fundraising and volunteer help to make it work. Keep updated on what is happening with the club through their Facebook page at facebook.com/UROROK, the website at www.uror.ca or email us at [email protected] with any of your questions or your concerns, we love hearing from the public.

Happy trails!

Even though the Urban Rednecks are not part of the 4 Wheel Drive Association of BC (yet), we support the hard work of any club that holds those values and fights for them. We’re happy to see so many people out there donating their own time, energy and even money to great causes like preserving our wild back country. Even though at times it may seem like a loosing battle, especially if you ever drive on the trails around Harrison Lake, but your efforts make a huge difference and help out. Thanks to all of you out there making sure we still have place to enjoy in the future.

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Tail Gunner’s Notes:

The Last Explorersby Maciej (Mat) Radoszewski

This is the part of the magazine where I get to rant, ramble, express opinions and abuse my power as editor to say whatever I want…this job does have its perks!

That said, thank you all for reading this far and more importantly supporting the 4WDABC, some of you are already members of a club and others prefer the lone wolf approach to exploring the back country but all of you have at least one thing in common and that’s the values that the 4WDABC stands for. I hope this magazine ends up being something you can be proud of, a journal of your adventures, a legacy of sorts that you can leave for all to read.

The world has changed, the days of vast unexplored frontiers has been diminished to a handful of remote locations. Before I continue I wanted to explain what an explorer is: A person who has a drive and determination to venture into previously unseen lands or tackle previously unaccomplished deeds, not knowing what they will encounter, what to expect, if they will be successful or even if they will survive. Although many explorers in the past have not been the first to find a place, as there usually were locals that have lived there for ages, but they were the ones who documented it and were the first to bring the rest of the world’s eyes to it. I don’t mean to make light of their expeditions, as they were gruelling, pitting man against nature and even other man to achieve a goal that many though was not only beyond reach but just plain mad to even attempt. Their journeys inspired many to accomplish similar feats and defy nature, prove that if we set our minds to something we can accomplish it. With that said, these days it is hard to follow in the spirit of Ferdinand Magellan, Alexander MacKenzie, Henry Hudson, David Livingstone or Amerigo Vespucci. For that matter it’s hard to even accomplish the grandeur of a journey like Theresa Wallach and Florence Blenkiron took across Africa. Some manage to still take on these great tasks and surprise us all by finding something that no one has accomplished before, but where does that leave the average Joe with a truck and a family? At some point or another you had the dream of ending up like one of the characters that Hemingway wrote about, with your Pith helmet triumphantly hung on your chair just outside of your tent on top of a mountain that never had man step foot on. Now you have responsibilities, a wife, kids, a white picket fence, a full time job and a dog, is the dream over? Granted there are magazines out there that will gladly advertise gear to make you look like a photo out of Hemingway’s stories, they’ll even help you find your own Pith helmet to complete the picture while you explore your back yard, but the clothes don’t make the adventurer. I don’t think the dream is over though, if you’re reading this it likely means that you end up going out and doing some kind of wheeling or hiking trip at least every now and then. It may not be the undiscovered land that originally motivated you but it has a similar allure of being away from the rest of the sheep and most importantly cell service. So how do you regain that adventurous feeling? You may not be able to explore the unexplored but have you seen everything that BC has to offer? Have you seen the original mine at Britannia, driven the Kookipi trail to Nahatlatch, witnessed the majestic Fraser Canyon as you drive into Churn Creek, or enjoyed some fly fishing at Roche Lake? There are countless trails and lakes all around us, even though they may have been found already it doesn’t mean that they have been found by you. You don’t have to travel across the continent in search of far away lands, with 20 slaves carrying your cargo, even though that might be nice, just go out and discover the things you have not seen that are a couple hours drive away. Search for that small trail leading off to an old mine, to that hidden look out, or just that old overgrown track leading off into the hills. You may not find that undiscovered spot but rediscover a long forgotten one. Our times have changed, and so must we, even though we may not be roughing it like they did in the old days we can still search for that thrill of the unexplored by just getting out there and trying something new every time. It doesn’t mean that all the trips will be successful, and hopefully your kids and wife will understand, but that should not stop you from exploring what this great landscape has to offer, besides, most of my best trips have been the ones that didn’t go as planned.

I know what you’re saying right now “work gets in the way, and there’s a lot of stuff to do at home, money is tight” and so on. True, those are important things, but every now and then you have to find time to enjoy life. The to do list can take a weekend off, seeing a sky full of stars and enjoying a dinner on an open fire, with the smoky taste your barbeque will never be able to duplicate is worth it. As for costs, as a start you don’t need much, a tent, a stove, some food and fuel will get you going until you can start stocking up on some of those creature comforts and toys that make it even more enjoyable. What you will see and experience out there will never be able to match what you read about in books and magazines, so get out there and make your own story. Who knows, down the road you might even get that Pith helmet.

Hope to see you on the trails!

Aaron coming down the hill at Junction Sheep Rangephoto by Maciej (Mat) Radoszewski

tread lightly

www.4wdabc.ca

by respecting this, you protect our future

backroader issue 1

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