07 Off The Leash Adventure Xterra

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All packed up and waiting for the work day to end. We are heading East into the Boundary and West Kootenay area for 3 days of adventure.




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[wreckdiver1321]

Cool solution! Truck looks ready to handle anything now.

 

[gophere]

A quick mock up of it loaded.




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That looks great to me!
Those muffler clamps were made to attach stuff to our racks.
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775km later and we are back home from our little 3 day trip exploring the back roads in the Boundary and dipping into the West Kootenays.

We departed after work Thursday and made a quick on-highway dash to the Conkle Lake turnoff a couple hours from home. 25km of dirt roads later we reached our spot for night #1.


Conkle Lake in the morning.



Headed out bright and early, back down 25km of dirt road, turned east onto Hwy 3 for a half hour, then turned off the highway to find a "less traveled" trail that linked Midway to Grand Forks. The area is strewn with old mines, leftover access roads, and forestry roads used for logging. We connected up a few, and a couple hours later popped out of the forest right into Grand Forks.

An old miners bunkhouse close to The lost City of Paris (now I know the appx. location of this area, I will return with time to spare to explore and find the Lost City)



My Wife working the saw, clearing our path.


After we hit Grand Forks, it was back onto Hwy#3 for another 1/2 hour. From there we left pavement again and headed up into the mountains on the Old Cascade Hwy. (this was the original road from Christina Lake to Rossland, prior to Hwy# 3 being built. It exists now as a nice70km long forest service road).

We found thig guy watching us as we drove past his neighborhood.
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We had hoped to find a nice out of the way backwoods spot to camp in, but could not locate anything. With the mass of logging operations in the area, the roads were dusty, and dry and it was getting too hot to not try to find a spot by a lake. So, we dipped down out of the mountains into Rossland, and headed for Nancy Green Provincial Park(-ing lot). I had assumed we were going to locate a pristine campground, but to my dismay we ened up camped for the night in what amounted to a parking lot. However, as "camp is where you park it" works for me, we made the best of our accomodations and had the chance to answer a million questions about our "tent up there" to all the curious passers-by.


Nancy Greene Lake was still a pretty sight to stand and stare at though, I will give her that.


Coffee and Frangelico in the morning and we were off.

Our next destination was to find Upper Little Slocan Lake. This required an hour or so of paved driving, through Castlegar and into the heart of the Slocan Valley. The scenery and mountains in the West Kootenays keeping us company until I found the forest servcie road and touched dirt once again. Another 25 or 30km later and we reached our spot.

 

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This area is like heaven on earth. We spent the better part of Saturday here and found it hard to depart Sunday morning. Our site was perfect, set back into the tress and shaded from the 30+*C temperatures we have been experiencing.




It's hard to find the words to describe the beauty of this area, so I'll just let the pictures explain it for themselves.






And of course, the dogs having the time of their life playing in the forest.

 

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A couple final shots then it was time to pack up on Sunday, and head for home. We decided to hang out longer at the lake, then simply take the highways and byways home. By late Sunday afternoon we had made it back home, unpacked, cleaned up, and sat down to relax for the last few hours of the extended weekend.

An old cabin that Mother Nature was in the process of reclaiming.


A solitary 'shroom soaking up the rays.

 

[kootenay]

looks like a nice trip. For a town with such outdoor adventure potential, the serious lack of camping has always shocked me Rossland.

 

[Trikebubble]

looks like a nice trip. For a town with such outdoor adventure potential, the serious lack of camping has always shocked me Rossland.

Funny 'eh? When I was younger we used to mountain bike in the area every year and we camped at the local city campground. I really wanted to be out in "nature" a little more now so we passed up on that choice. The Little Slocan Lake site made up for it though.

 

[jhberria]

Great photos, as always. You're making me want to venture up north more and more....

 

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A quick update as I sit here in Kokanee Creek Park on the final day of our summer road trip and adventure. I'll post a full report ( with lots of pictures) when we get back to the real world, but for now I'll leave a few quick pictures here as a highlight of our travels. We decided to take the Mineral Creek trail from Ouray up to and over The Engineer Pass ( then on to Colorado Springs to meet friends). Mineral Creek trail was wet, sloppy, rocky, slippery and 110% a memorable experience. We camped out at about 9000ft then proceeded up to Engineer Pass and over the top the next morning. Engineer Pass was muddy at the outset and had ice patches and lots of slippery sections at the summit. The experience was fantastic and one I will never forget. As a rather novice off-roader I really think I accomplished something making it to the summit via Mineral Creek trail. We had to winch my buddy up one section as his trailer got stuck, and I slid sideways on another, scaring the wits out of my wife. Our campsite was of epic proportions and the views were worth a million dollars.








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[Ricer_X_01]

Great pictures! Eager for the report. I just did the Alpine loop last month, stayed in Silverton as it was a little to cold for us to camp. We checked out Silverton, Lake City, Ouray, and Telluride... Love that area of Colorado!

 

[jhberria]

Awesome! Looking forward to the full report when you get back.

 

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It was fantastic. Can't stop reliving the whole Mineral Creek Engineer Pass experience. My buddy towed his adventure trailer up the whole thing, which a sight and accomplishment in of itself.


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[Ricer_X_01]

Yeah there isn't a lot of room on the switch backs or at the top of Engineer Pass right before or after the switch backs (depending on which way you're headed). Lucky me got to pass a Tacoma on the outside ledge... as soon as the girlfriend seen them coming, she let out a big "OH ********!"