Where Have You Off-Roaded Today? 3rd Gen

Pretty tough per the rig, as every skid is well used/bent and every bolt underneath is rounded off. Front locker would've made everything a lot nicer, so doing that sometime soon when I regear.

 

I’ve been reluctant to do that trail for the reasons you listed. It looks like it puts the truck and the driver to the test.

 

Went exploring in S. Utah last weekend!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2e19Tp13bE

 

I like that last pic, wish I was there and not behind a computer right now

 

You and me BOTH!

 

South of Superior in Eastern Arizona

It was pretty rocky


Weather was starting to get warm too.


Made sure to close the gates after I went through to keep the cattle from roaming.


Running along a dry wash (a dry creek for those of you out East). The cactus looked healthy.


Lots more cactus.

 

Finished the Mojave Road, heading from East to West.

 

Tacosha, the world has spiraled into utter madness, no question.....these are the very same POSs that are out slashing their neighbours' tyres; COVID has just given them, no matter what province they are from, or who their target is - sadly this isn't just a BC/Alberta issue - a new temporary target.

And as always, across the board and at all levels, the politicians have done nothing to help...sigh.

Brother, here's hoping that in a few months (?!?!?) you'll be back on our FSRs, and I'll be allowed camp in Drumheller again

Stay safe.....

 

What is your guess on how long the border will stay closed?

 

Got out twice in the last week. These shots from yesterday. Awesome quiet and solitude, no other people or trucks. Many of the side trails are still under 2 feet of snow. Endless roads and countless lakes to explore, several are hike-in only. Lakes still frozen at higher elevation so fishing will have to wait another few weeks. So many moose tracks and literally hundreds of piles of moose droppings. They are smart, you don't see them often. Funny, I found my Tacoma rubber trailer hitch cover that I lost last Fall in same area. Found it in one of the many bumper dragging washouts. Cleared a lot of trees on the way up yesterday, but did not bring my chainsaw so had to hand bucksaw them all. Chainsaw next trip.

Device stuck on the side of my truck is a life saver. The "vertiball" massager. Rock solid plastic ball that rolls as you make like a bear on it. In the last 30 years, I have had 3 years of disability for my back due to some very bad workplace injuries. Chronic daily pain now.

I used it 3 times on yesterday's trip, about 5 minutes each time. Strong suction cup on it, just stick it on, and release it with the lever to pull it off. I use this massager maybe 30 minutes per day, every day. I have had about 100 massages on my back, and this works better since you can apply as much pressure as you want. Link is here, and I have zero affiliation with this company. Careful though, you can overdo it and injure yourself if you work the muscles too hard.

I don't know if links like this are allowed on the forums here, so if this gets taken down just search for the name of the product I mentioned above.

https://www.vertiball.com/

 

Gads, methinks I am the wrong person to ask; I'm seeing pretty much all half-empty glasses ....

Every state and province is doing their own thing, with no concrete guidance from either federal government, and as much as you've got politicians and Medical Health Officers trotting out unicorns and care bears when they talk about vaccinations, the news is consistently bad....there is a small win in one area, and then a week later a big loss....and just about every jurisdiction that has opened up in the past while has had to turn 'round and bolt the doors when the numbers jump. The big problem are the variants, and I have no doubt there are going to be even more.

I do hope I am wrong, and I'll gladly eat crow if so, but I don't see any kind of 'normal' until the end of the summer.

Sigh.

I guess I'll go pitch a tent down at our local park, just pretend I'm at Moab. I'll fit right in; this IS Metro Vancouver after all, the homeless tent campment capitol of Canada....

 

Where Have You Off-Roaded Today?

Nowhere. Because the province is on lockdown and crown land is closed for camping.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post.

 

Yup


Heavy sigh

 

i am lucky. Kelowna. Pennask summit up Coquihalla is 40 minutes from my home, then offroad. I can see the start of the Coquihalla mountains from my balcony. Took me longer than that to drive from Coquitlam to Richmond for work each day when I lived down there. A ton of lakes up Pennask summit, and even in mid summer on a normal year I see no one where I go. So much area to wheel that I could not cover it in 10 years.

Tomorrow I head to Bear lake area. That is 30 minutes through town then I am offroad and a bunch more lakes. So yes, very lucky that “stay in your area” is not an issue here. There is also Beaver lake road, which is 20 minutes away before offroad and several lakes up there and endless wheeling.

All really nice spots,and being retired I always stay home on weekends. In the past 35 years of doing this, maybe 500 trips, I have seen a total of 20 fishermen? Most trips all these years, I see no people, no trucks. If you don’t mind a lot of offroading far off the track, BC cannot be beat. I never do weekends, and never fish unless 4-wheel is needed to access the lake. That is by purpose. I go for solitude, do not want to see anyone.

So I can do day trips locally, at a few different areas that cover a lot of offroading.

Lets hope the entire summer is not a loss again. BC starting to see some lower numbers now, but honestly it is not the camping and fishing and such that keeps this craziness going. It is pubs, parties, any indoor gatherings where the real “experts” ignore the risks, and that is why this keeps going 1.5 years now. That crap screws it for everyone. I am concerned about Alberta now. Alberta has the highest infection rate this moment of any spot in North America, and right now the number of Alberta plates on Hwy 97 in Kelowna is the same as the # of BC plates. We normally see that many Alberta visitors mid summer vacation time. Folks in BC should not be heading to Alberta either. There are always Alberta plates here, as many have homes in both provinces. But the sheer number of plates right now paints a different picture.

Granted, if you live in the big city these lockdowns are so much harder to handle.

 

You are in Port Moody? Need a day trip? Mission, Hatzic, then turn left at Sylvester Road. That is 40 minutes. Gas station at that turn. Drive up Sylvester until you hit the offroad. Salsbury lake and a couple other small lakes up there, but lots of offroad to explore. Do not do a weekend, too busy with the offroad crowd. Watch the hairpin corners, some guys drive like nuts up there. Generally though I have done many weekday trips up there and see maybe 5 other trucks passing by, some days none. Old days and long before others knew the spot and when the roads were so bad, I used to hunt for buck up there with my dad. We did very well.

 

Ever seen Matt from Matt's Off-road Recovery around there?

 

Took my son up to Big Bear after school for a father / son camping trip. We went up the 38 and did the Thomas Hunting Grounds trail up to the yellow post campsite. In the morning, we finished the trail and did 1N45 (Seven Oaks Rd) before heading home. We got to see a brown bear and a bobcat on the trail. Nothing like spending quality time with my son out in nature!

 

I haven't personally seen him out there, but I did save his info a while back just in case!

 

Out for the 4th time in the past 2 weeks. Each time hitting impassable snow so no fishing yet. Lakes up high still iced over. Still a good exploration as the area is new to me, but for sure the easiest off-road driving I have done in the last few years. This spot only 30 minutes from home before off-road, and I normally avoid anything remotely busy. Started early so no one was up there. Some dirt bikes and a couple of truck-trailers coming up as I headed down. Even one other truck is more than I care to see. Still, a good area to explore. There are multiple off-roads that snake for at least a couple hundred miles and about 10 lakes. Going to head back there in a couple weeks when the snow leaves the high spots.

 

Hey Bro, thanks much...greatly appreciated!

Yup, it has been a while - five or six years - but I have been up Sylvester many times...good reminder, I will try it again next week when the four walls of my humble abode drive me daft.

Sigh, everywhere is busy now, even weekdays...lots of folks who have never taken their Rav4 off of pavement are out exploring the 'wilderness'...cool that people are getting to see a side of BC that they likely would not normally (had it not been for F@#*$&$ COVID) but, alas, it bodes poorly for us anti-social, grumpy old guys out seeking solitude

There are indeed lots and lots of places to go between Metro and Hope....I'm just whining cuz I'm missing my favourite haunt up the Coquihalla

Thanks again, be safe....