Fires, Tires, 'n Bears Eh? Ooh YeyyaahhH!!- Trip Report

[Blackdawg]

Fires, Tires, n Bears Eh?​

Chapter 2: Dust n Smoke​

The next morning as we finished packing up the trucks. I remembered the section of road by camp being quiet fun to romp over. So I offered up Frankenstein to the group.

“Who wants to drive Frank?” I said.

Everyone did..

So they all took turns romping around in Frankenstein, abusing him and enjoying the front suspension. But everyone had their complaints too. But I didn't care, far as I was concerned all their rig where built wrong and mine was right

While Mike and I lined up for a Crawl off race, Timmy set off over the bumps in his own rig.

IMG_0226 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

“Im pretty sure my **** is 90% as smooth as Montes bucket of bolts” claimed Timmy.

“Oh bull****! Lets go for a ride man! Let me drive!” I responded.

“No” was all he said.

Fair enough..
Mike and I continued with the crawl off race. The rules are simple. Line up the trucks, put them into 4lo and 1st gear. Then dump the clutch or let of the brake and get out and stand on the sliders. Slowest truck wins! pretty fun race and makes for interesting results when you thrown in different tire sizes as well as aftermarket differential gearing.

Needless to say I won, but just barely. 5.29s and 35s is close vs 4.88s and 33s.

I floored it in celebration!

IMG_0229 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

But we needed to actually start covering some miles and set off back on the WABDR track continuing north.

The land was becoming more and more scared from previous fires. I can only imagine what some of the areas look like now that we drove through.

FTnBE?.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Before long we took a slight detour to a nice overlook. And there it was. The haunting yet very obvious huge clouds of smoke impeding out view. It made everything seem, dreary. Even though it was a nice day. There was no denying that the fires where close by now.*

The view was still rather pleasant though, and it was scramble to get out on the edge of the overlook.

FTnBE?-3.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_0239 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

There is something about being on the edge of high cliff overlooks to me that is just intoxicating. I could sit there and just look out into the wild mountains for hours. I don't know if its the realization of just how vast our world is, or how small and nearly insignificant we are. There is just something about being up high and looking down of the world. Like your an overseer of the world itself. Watching to see it play out.

It is very peaceful and calming.

IMG_9799 by mike digirat, on Flickr

Sadly, if I sat there for hours my colleges would just push me off at some point or leave me. So we set off. Parking had been a bit cramped and there was only one way in or out. Plus a large sink hole. So naturally a few of us drove into it.

FTnBE?-4.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_9801 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_9810 by mike digirat, on Flickr

And we got back onto the main road.
IMG_0246 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr
FTnBE?-7.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Although not for very long. As we stopped at another rather*pleasant*overlook spot, Timmy*announced*yet*another issue.

“My resi has fall off the front. Anyone have any zip ties?” he asked.

“You bet! Coming right up” I replied.

So as we dug out parts and let Timmy have his way with C'Bob's front resi, we all enjoyed the smokey scenery.

IMG_0257 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr
IMG_9821 by mike digirat, on Flickr
FTnBE?-9.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_9817 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_0261 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

A couple of beefy well placed zip ties later, and C'Bob was road worthy again. We drove until once again the trees would allow us a lovely view. Plus quiet a few rocky ledge to pose on for...science...

IMG_0268 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr
FTnBE?.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
FTnBE?-14.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
FTnBE?-17.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

We took the opportunity to do some climbing around. Or rather Ben and I did.

FTnBE?-18.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
FTnBE?-19.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_9837 by mike digirat, on Flickr
FTnBE?-20.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_9840 by mike digirat, on Flickr

Upon my return everyone was in deep discussion about...something I don't honestly remember.

FTnBE?-21.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

So since we had wasted so much time anyways we decided to eat lunch here before moving on.

IMG_0275 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

After lunch we took a slightly different route from the normal WABDR route. We took NF-9712 to 711/Wenatchee Mountain RD/ Mission Ridge RD/ Squilchuck Rd. Who the hell names those roads seriously? A road with three names??
Anyways.

We also stopped at Beehive reservoir to enjoy a little water time, but the lake water did not appear very inviting so we just drove on.

IMG_9859 by mike digirat, on Flickr
FTnBE?-24.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

We headed into the town of Wenatchee to top off the tanks again. To get back to the WABDR we took Number 2 Canyon Rd and Peavine Canyon Rd.

Which..was SO WORTH IT!

This was so much fun to drive through. The road was smooth and fast. The trees weren't too thick. But the best part was the drain ditches. Perfect whoop jumps.

Did I say I wouldn't jump the truck?

Whoops..

IMG_0298 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

But I wasn't the only one enjoying these. Timmy Ben and I had a blast popping up over these things.

IMG_0293 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr
FTnBE?-30.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
FTnBE?-25.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
FTnBE?-26.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
FTnBE?-29.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Sadly the road was short. And the road had also revealed the true nature of what dusty means.

FTnBE?-28.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

This **** was awful. It hung in the air like a thick fog. Driving with the windows down was barely an option anymore. Really it wasn't. But I love driving with them down so this meant waiting and waiting for the people in front to get out ahead. Soon we where all so spread out our CB radios where not really up to the task. Relaying messages became standard, often hilariously over repeated for some who listen to their music a touch too loud**cough*Mike*cough*

Once at the bottom of the valley though we drove up to rejoin the WABDR on NF-7100

FTnBE?-31.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
FTnBE?-32.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

I still was amazed at all the old man's beard moss everywhere. Was so green here.

FTnBE?-33.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Before long we where once again riding the ridge tops. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. Though the smoke was a still there, ominous and growing ever more present the further north we got. It wasn't enough to stop us from pulling off to every peak summit we could find.

IMG_0302 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr
FTnBE?-41.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_9872x by mike digirat, on Flickr
FTnBE?-40.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
FTnBE?-44.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

After taking that in we hit the dirt to hunt for a campsite as it was getting later in the afternoon.

FTnBE?-46.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

We finished the road and ended up in Ardenvoir. By now it was getting the point where Mike would have slept on the side of the road as long as we all fit. NF-5310 had a spot though big enough for us all.

Devin and I where fed up with the damn dust though. Our hair was awful. Out came the portable shower which I was excited to try out as I had never gotten too. Its an old 5 gal beer keg from my dad when he was into home brewing. I made some hose adapters to allow my old Vair piss ant little air compressor hook to it and a sink head. Hooked it all up and bam! Pressurized water! Worked amazing and made us both feel much better and refreshed.

IMG_9879 by mike digirat, on Flickr

We spent the evening poking fun at timmy and Mike for being the trucks to cause problems this year around the fire.

FTnBE?.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The next morning was a quiet morning. One of those morning where the radio chatter is low and everyone just kind of keeps to themselves and relish the moment.

And not have to interact with the same 5 people you've had to for the last 5 days straight. We all need breaks.

It was a nice relaxing morning as we ate up the miles.

IMG_0314 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

Ahhhh...peaceful..

That was until Chris shattered the serenity..

“So yea, I just blew a tire guys!” sounding almost happy about it.

“Well ****” I said.

“HAHA! The Maypops finally Popped!” jeered Ben.

Honestly we were all pretty surprised they had lasted this long with the way Chris had been flogging his stock truck to keep up with the group. The stock tire had finally seen its last day on the trail..

FTnBE?-47.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
FTnBE?-48.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_0315 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

Either way, the way we saw it. Flat tire is eaassssyyy. We all admitted that we would rather have a flat tire then any of the other crap we are now accustomed too.

Out came the Hi lift and we had the tire swap in a matter of minutes.

FTnBE?-49.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_0319 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

Happy it was just a tire, we continued towards lake Chelan where we encounter more..whoops..

IMG_0123 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr
IMG_0128 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

The fire's became very real here as we hit the fire fighters head on as we approached the lake. There was a huge camp here and we even met guys on the road directing traffic. They where getting ready to close the road we had just come down. The smoke was thick here.

Sadly no photos of this as we moved along quickly to stay out of their way.

As we refueled at a gas station, we saw 3 outfitted jeeps drive by in the direction we where headed. Certain we would meet them at some point we ate lunch and got back on the road.

Sure enough, about an hour later we caught up to them as they were airing down. We all slowed down to a nice pace but the dust was still a bit bad. Once we where all by them,

“Dude ******, not a single one waved to me!” said Timmy.

“haha I know! I just got a bunch of glares” said Ben.

“Its a jeep thing, we wouldn't understand” I teased.

We all chuckled and kept driving the dust worse then ever before.

IMG_0328 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr
IMG_0331 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr
IMG_0338 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

Eventually we came to a nice overlook. The smoke still as present as ever.

IMG_0320 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr
IMG_0323 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr
IMG_9881 by mike digirat, on Flickr

Once again, we took the moment to get the the high ground. Something about it is just intriguing to us..

IMG_9895 by mike digirat, on Flickr

From here we continued down to Twisp where we aired up to drive up to Mazama. Mike has family there with a lovely cabin. Which for us meant a nice shower.

Its still overlanding even if its in the front yard of a cabin right? Haha

FTnBE?-3.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
FTnBE?-4.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
FTnBE?-5.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

This was a bittersweet night as it was both Ben's and Chris' last night with us. Ben couldn't take his puppy Venice into Canada with out vaccinations and she was to young to even get them. Chris just could take off another week and had one hell of a long drive back home. We spend the night throwing around ideas on the next place to visit.*Ultimately*not able to agree on*anything*especially*the three of us that still had over a week of exploring left.

So we resorted to taunting them about how much cool stuff they where going to miss.

But all good things must come to an end and we all melted away into our tents eventually. Happy to be clean and dust free for the moment.

I went to bed very excited. Because tomorrow, we would be in Canada. Taking on the one and only..

Whipsaw trail.

Bring it.

To be Continued..
Chapter 3: Out for Rip Eh?​

 

[RPhil]

Thoroughly enjoying your pictures and write-up. Cheers

 

[nwoods]

Thoroughly enjoying your pictures and write-up. Cheers

x2

 

[Blackdawg]

Thoroughly enjoying your pictures and write-up. Cheers

x2

Thanks guys!

Will have the 3rd part up late tonight.

 

[Blackdawg]

Fires, Tires, n Bears eh?

Chapter 3: Out for a Rip Eh?​

The next morning was a bittersweet one. We said our farewells to our companions Ben and Chris. Both had their reasons for not being able to join on the next leg. However, we still taunted them and tried to get them to change their minds at the last minute to no avail.

So..

Then there were 3.

We returned to Winthrop and headed north out of town to E Chewuch road. Which turns to NF37 eventually. Here we aired down preparing for the day.

FTnBE?-6.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

We all expected more of the same. Lots of smoke and even more dust. To our surprise, it was not like that at all.

FTnBE?-7.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

It was an almost movie like, the fog had lifted so to speak. The dust was not bad at all and there was hardly a wisp of smoke to be seen. The birds had come out, the sun was shining, hardly a cloud in the sky, and miles of dirt road ahead.

FTnBE?-9.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
FTnBE?-11.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

We all began laughing at the fact that maybe it was more than coincidence that we had shed two of out friends and the day had suddenly gotten better

Of course, it wasn't. But we looked forward to teasing them about what they were missing already. We turned north onto NF39 relishing in the thought of their jealously.

FTnBE?-12.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
FTnBE?-14.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Before long Mike had pulled far ahead and found a nice place to eat lunch on the road. Main because it had a bathroom. Timmy and I eventually stopped taking photos and caught up to enjoy the roadside lunch.

View wasn't bad though.

IMG_9908 by mike digirat, on Flickr
FTnBE?-15.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_9905 by mike digirat, on Flickr
FTnBE?-16.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

We even had company join us! This doe deer seemed extremely curious about us. Hung around for quite a while.

IMG_9915 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_9916 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_9921 by mike digirat, on Flickr

After lunch, we hit the road and enjoyed a rather fun hill climb. You can just barely see it here.

FTnBE?-17.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Many fun high-speed dirty miles later. We came to the overlook of Palmer Lake.

FTnBE?-18.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
FTnBE?-19.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_9930 by mike digirat, on Flickr

This was it. The end of the United states as far as dirt roads were concerned for us. Canada would be the next spot we would get to offroad in. Unsure of what to expect or even if we would make it through the border we headed down pausing for a moment and the lake.

FTnBE?-25.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
FTnBE?-26.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Off to the border crossing we went. I was a little nervous about this. I'd been told by more than one person that the border can be hit or miss on how hard it is to get through. Most had told me getting into Canada isn't usually hard, but back into the US can be.

Considering I wasn't driving the most “legal” looking vehicle in the group, especially by Canadian standards. I was nervous going either way.

But that all dissipated for a brief moment. I was lagging behind Timmy and Mike and a 1967 red hot mustang blew by me. I was shocked. What a beautiful car. The sounds it made. It looked pristine. And then bam. We were at the border crossing and slowly the nerves came back. But not enough for me to snap some photos of the beast.

FTnBE?-27.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
FTnBE?-28.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Timmy made it through no problem and then Mike did too.

Finally, it was my turn.

FTnBE?-29.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

I pulled up and Devin handed the officer our passports. He quickly asked me to shut off the engine and remove our sunglasses as he disappeared into the shack.

He came out looking rather not happy as did a second guard as they began to walk around Frankenstein. It only took me a second to realize what they were looking for. A License plate. I remove my front plate for these trips to make photo editing easier in post. And my trash room covers the rear plate.

Not the smartest way to cross the border I can say...

But they found it and ran the plates. When the guard came back he said,

“You know that that's illegal right?”

“I'm sorry?” I replied.

“Covering your plate. That is illegal.” said the guard.

“Yes, I know, sorry about that. I just haven't moved it yet.” I said with a small grin.

He looked at us hard for a second then looking away handed us our passports and said,

“enjoy your trip”.

WHEWWW!

Thank you!

Canada, we made it!

FTnBE?-30.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

We all shared stories about what the guard asked us. Timmy particularly had a laugh about beer. He had brought quite a lot being a connoisseur of beers. Apparently, there is a limit to what you can bring in and he narrowly dodged the number.

We chuckled as we air our tires up since we had a ways to go on the highway before hitting the dirt.

FTnBE?-31.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

We headed north into Cawston on highway 3 and then stopped in Keremeos. We used the free wifi at the info center to download a GPS track to Whipsaw. Because as it turns out, none of us had until then.

Looking over this fact I ducked into the restroom.

Upon coming out Timmy and Mike informed me of how a local police officer had been eyeing Frankenstein heavily. Even parking behind me waiting to see if I would come out.

The fact I had no mud flaps and tires sticking out extremely wide was already drawing attention to myself. Luckily I made it out of town with no issues and we headed for Princeton.

In Princeton, we stopped to refuel before heading out get on the trail. Whereupon we encountered another interesting out of the country issue or at least Timmy did.

His credit card had been turned off.

Most unfortunate, but he had cash and we all laughed because the current exchange rate was so pro US that any Canadian was more than happy to take any US Dollars. With no way to call his parents to have them call his bank, Timmy had to hand over the cash.

But not all was lost. Timmy and I both had Ham radios and we had ways to communicate with our family via those. Timmy said he would try emailing his dad later about it.

With that, we headed south on High 3 to the start of the trail. A few miles, or rather kilometers , later we were finally back on dirt and airing down.

FTnBE?-32.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

It had been a long day though and as much as I had hoped to start the trail to find camping. We decided to pull off into a large pull off right next to the main road for camping.

FTnBE?-36.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
FTnBE?-37.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Little did we realize how much we would regret this decision later.

There was still a fire ban of course so the propane fire pit saw more use.

IMG_9946 by mike digirat, on Flickr

We were glad to finally be in Canada though. It had been talked about many times but always put aside for later. And we talked into the night.

Eventually, Devin was the first to retire. Soon after Timmy decided he had had enough and made his way into his tent.

As Mike and I both stared up into the night sky taking in the quiet mountains one last time before bed. Something split the calm..

CRASH!!!


“Guys?! Did you hear that??” came the worried voice of Timmy from his ARB tent.

“Yea” I replied.

“What the **** was it?” he said poking his head out?

“I don't know, let's check it out”

Never have I seen a person dressed and out of his tent so fast in my life. But Timmy was johnny on the spot, flashlight in one hand and bear spray in the other.

We made our way to the road with our flashlights. Suddenly a flash of eyes was there.

“There! See it?!” I said running towards them as they were just outside my lights reach.

The eyes disappeared and as I reached the side of the road nothing was there.

Then I spotted them down the road. Still not quite able to make out what it was.

“Dude that's a bear,” said, Timmy.

“ehhhhh I don't know man,” I said.

Mike finally caught up with the lightsaber of flashlights but by the time he had climbed the hill to the road, it was gone.

“Cool, that was fun,” I said.

“Man I'll be lucky to sleep tonight,” said Timmy.

Mike and I laughed and said he would be fine. We went back to camp though and made sure all the food was packed up good.

However, Timmy wasn't wrong. We would all be lucky to get sleep tonight. Why? Well turns out the road by us, was still in use. And by use, I mean logging trucks.

I'm not sure if most are familiar with logging truck drivers but they could be the equivalent of desert racers of the trucking world. They give no ****s.

Jake brakes bellowed into the night with the sound of chains, trailers, and sliding tires. All. Night. Long.

Needless to say, we all had a slow rough morning. But the Whipsaw called to us and we set off down the terrible logging road that had ruined our night.

Finally, we hit our first waypoint of the GPS track though. The cabin

FTnBE?.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_9948 by mike digirat, on Flickr

And we were loving how it was looking.

FTnBE?-4.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

The day was turning out to be perfect. Beautiful weather and so far. No traffic at all. Canada. You look good.

IMG_9952x by mike digirat, on Flickr
FTnBE?-5.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_9955 by mike digirat, on Flickr
FTnBE?-7.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Granted there was still smoke present here. Not as bad as we had encountered but still there. Up here it allowed us the pleasure of some distant peaks still.

FTnBE?-9.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos
, on Flickr IMG_9959 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_9968 by mike digirat, on Flickr

August is the time to be in the mountains. The colors are so pretty. And the Canadian Rockies weren't disappointing us.

IMG_9969 by mike digirat, on Flickr
FTnBE?-10.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_9970 by mike digirat, on Flickr

Further down the trail we had a close encounter with a furry friend. I thought it was a Griz but it's been debated it could be a black bear. Hard to tell from here and couldn't get a good look at the side profile. Was still awesome to see a bear! I love getting to see them.

IMG_9974 by mike digirat, on Flickr
FTnBE?-11.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
FTnBE?-12.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_9975 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_9978 by mike digirat, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

Either way, we all agreed it looked young. Very young. Which could mean momma bear was near and we didn't want to hang around too long.

But it was hard to leave with the peaks on display.

FTnBE?-13.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
FTnBE?-15.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_9983 by mike digirat, on Flickr

Eventually, we left the spot and continued to enjoy our early afternoon on the Whipsaw.

FTnBE?-16.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
FTnBE?-17.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

At the first small lake, we jumped out to take in the pure peaceful serenity of the lake. Man, it was pretty.

IMG_9986 by mike digirat, on Flickr
FTnBE?-18.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
FTnBE?-19.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
IMG_9990 by mike digirat, on Flickr

At this point, I was a little surprised. I thought the tail was supposed to be a bit harder.

FTnBE?-20.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

But we soon had our answer. The trail destruction was INSANE.

People had gone off trail everywhere. Destroying small dogs. It became obvious that people came here and found trouble. And often. It was sickening. It was so bad we couldn't believe the trail was even open. Because it sure wouldn't be in the States if this had happened. Spot after spot was just tore to **** for people looking to get their truck stuck in mud holes. Tearing up steep hills.

The alpine tundra here will be scared for literally thousands of years for this. It's horrific.

Stay on the trail folks.

Struck in awe by the damage as much as the beauty we continued on stopping at a small hill to overlook a valley.

FTnBE?-20.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
FTnBE?-21.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
FTnBE?-22.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
FTnBE?-23.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

From here we pulled into a second lake with a pullout area to eat lunch.

IMG_9998 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_0001 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_0005 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_0006 by mike digirat, on Flickr

As we sat there enjoying our sandwhiches, we finally heard motors approaching for the first time all day since leaving the main road. But the sound was coming from ahead of us, not from behind.

Two ATVs burst around the corner and the leader shot a look over at us and slammed on the brakes. Then both backed it up and pulled right up to us.

I'm kicking myself for not snapping a photo of the two men who stood before us. Both were rangers, the leader was the older fella and much heavier than his younger counterpart. The real funny part was the older guy was fairly clean. Buy my god was the younger guy completely soaked in mud and dirt save where his goggles protected his face.

The ATV life I suppose.

“How are you all doin?” Asked the ranger.

“Great!” we exclaimed.

He went on to ask us to pick up our trash and stay on the trail, all the usual ranger stuff. We, of course, said we would, and proceeded to tell him how appalled we were with the trail being so torn up. The ranger explained it has been a problem for years, but they are finally cracking down on it and writing bigger and bigger tickets. If fact they were out patrolling looking for a group from Alberta that comes there often to write them all tickets for offenses they had committed last year.

This made us feel a bit better and we told them we had not seen anyone all day but we hoped they found them and fine the hell out of them. The rangers then told us a nice place to shoot for and camp at. A spot at Wells lake had a nice shelter that was open to communal use.

We thanked them and the set off again.

Now with something to shoot for, we packed up and hit the road. But then, the Rockies decided to show its ugly face, bad weather.

The day had been so nice all day we hadn't even notice the building cloud front until it was on us.

IMG_0008 by mike digirat, on Flickr
IMG_0010 by mike digirat, on Flickr

It was just a slow sprinkle though and we wished and willed it to go away and bring back the sun.

FTnBE?-25.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

It didn't.

FTnBE?-26.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
FTnBE?-27.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

The sprinkle turned to a steady solid rain. Nothing drastic but hard and steady. Before long, traction was starting to become an issue.

FTnBE?-29.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
FTnBE?-28.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Which became a real downer when we made it to Jeffs Rock. I had REALLY wanted to climb this famous memorial rock. But considering I couldn't even walk up it, it was so wet. It wasn't even worth attempting.

FTnBE?-31.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
FTnBE?-33.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

And even Timmy was struggling to even make it to the rock. Not able to find good grip on the few ledges leading up to the rock.

IMG_0013 by mike digirat, on Flickr
FTnBE?-32.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Now, where I come from. It rains, it pours, but then it leaves. Never hangs around for long.

Wasn't the case here. It showed no signs of stopping. Not even close.

IMG_0020 by mike digirat, on Flickr

It was not so wet out we didn't even want to get out of the trucks to take photos as we made our way through a few very fun washout sections that had some good twisty flexing parts in it. We didn't care though. The rain had really brought the mood down and we just kept driving. Oddly enough we met a 2nd gen Tacoma going the opposite direction. He quickly pulled over but didn't seem to want to chat. Then quickly turned around and followed us.

After riding Timmy's *** for a bit Timmy decided to let him by. But he didn't go around. Finally, he came out and asked if he could tag along as he was up there alone.

So now we had 4 Tacoma's!

After what seemed like hours of rain, we made it to Wells lake. The road that crosses it was almost flooded over at this point. At the end of the crossing, there was a small camp spot which Mike was ready to take. But I spotted the shelter across the lake on the south side and said we could head for it, otherwise, we won't have a dry piece of ground to even sit on.

So I took off while Mike held the other spot. The route there, well, there wasn't one. There were 50 routes. The whole area once again was a maze of people just going where they wanted. And I took the wrong one, almost. It just looked like a puddle by my GOD was it deep. I still don't know how I didn't get stuck, but plenty of skinny pedal allowed me to climb out. Took plenty of mud with me though.

FTnBE?-36.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

As I pulled up to the shelter so did a 4th gen 4runner with a Tepui tent on it. Followed by another 2nd gen Tacoma. Cool, more Toyotas! I call Mike over to come join us, and even though he wasn't quite willing to share the space at first we quickly came around. And by now everything was completely soaked save for about an area 12'x30' under the shelter.

FTnBE?-34.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Then we got to know our Canadian friends. Im struggling to remember all their names, but they were some of the nicest and funnest people we have ever met on the trail. We all hit off immediately.

There is a fellow that is very important in this group to us, by the name of Brandon, this crazy guy had tagged along as a passenger in a 2nd 4runner that joined in and was going to sleep in a ground tent! But he would end up being extremely important later.

We all huddled around the propane fire and began just talking about, well everything. The shared some history about the trail and how long they had been doing offroading. Told stories about their lives and we all shared our stories with them.

“Ooh so yer owut fer a rip on the whhipsaw eh?” one said to us. We could believe the classic Canadian accent they had, but loved it too.

After a bit, we noticed a group of jeeps crossing the lake. A lot of them. About 20-25 of them ended up making their way over towards us. Soon the shelter was packed. We fired up the second fire pit and invited them to stay and hang out.

They didn't.

After a few minutes, they decided to leave to find somewhere else to camp. Though our new Canadian friends who knew the trail well said they had no idea where they would find camping for that many rigs.

We decided to just forget about it and enjoy our evening. At this point, the guy in the 2nd gen that had followed us asked how to get out. The Canadians told him and he said thanks and took off.

As the afternoon turned to night another jeep approached us. But then seemed to just drive in circles.

Brandon went on to explain that he had built that jeep for the lady driving it, as he worked at an offroad shop. Her husband had been a major player in keeping the trail open and had passed away recently. She was taking it hard and was driving drunk in the woods. He went off to console her and get her to calm down.

Despite that, we all just continued getting to know each other. It was an absolute blast. When the subject came up with what we planned on doing next, we simply replied, “we don't have any plans.”

This lit up the crowd as they came up with plans for us to do. But Nick(I think that was his name) had the game changer.

“oo ya got to run up to Molly!”.

“MOLLY!” the Canadians erupted. “Ooh yeeaahh!”

Nick pulled out his phone and proceeded to show us photos. We were smitten. We wanted to go. We HAD to go.

So they proceeded to give us vague directions, including headed to Coalmont and taking the old rail beds.

With a new plan set, we continued with the story telling. I wish I could dictate everything that was said as it was truly a magical just down right fun evening with these folks. So if you're reading this and recognize us. Thank you guys. You were awesome.

FTnBE?-35.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

Still, the rain fell. And eventually, we had to open the tents and crawl into our cold beds. The rain still falling. And half of the Whipsaw left to do.

To be Continued
Chapter 4: A Twofer!​

 

[Blackdawg]

This one is a bit wordy, sorry. Thought i could do this in just 2 more chapters, but i lied. Going to be 5 total.

Enjoy!

 

[Aussie Iron]

Another lot of great photos and a good story to go with them. Thank You just love the way you write it.

Dan.

 

[PetitFrereArmada]

Wow!!!

When is this coming out on dvd?

What a great narrate. Would love to actually watch it on dvd and hear you guys talk, hear the engine sounds, and the rainfalls.

Keep it up.

 

[java]

Fantastic, cant wait for the next one!

 

[Blackdawg]

Wow!!!

When is this coming out on dvd?

What a great narrate. Would love to actually watch it on dvd and hear you guys talk, hear the engine sounds, and the rainfalls.

Keep it up.

Thanks!

We have talked about doing video. But video takes a lot more effort and slows down the trip too much. And requires more gear.

Commentary would be hilarious with us though haha

Fantastic, cant wait for the next one!

Thanks for reading!

Another lot of great photos and a good story to go with them. Thank You just love the way you write it.

Dan.

Thanks Dan!