A Canadian Hillbilly and his travels

Great thread, excellent scenery. Keep 'em coming!

 

Definitely planning to. Keeps the mind busy right now, and keeps me planning for the summer trips that I’m hoping to get in. And thanks!!

 

We were headed up to a current fire lookout tower, on a rarely used, and never maintained access road.

 

We got the top, and spent a couple minutes up there, admiring the views. However, it seemed that a mite of rain was headed our way, and we didn’t want to be caught up top of lightening was possible, so we headed down.

 

I decided I’d goof around in the washout, and when my spotter was hollering “left” I kept it straight. That didn’t work out so well for my fender, but was a lot of fun!! The kiddo got mad at me, I’d kicked him out to get pics, and he was upset he wasn’t in the taco for this!!

 

With rust check complete on the frame, we got her back on her wheels, and carried on, me, a touch wiser, willing to listen to my spotter. No, really.

 

You can see the beating the fender took in the last picture.

 

Down safe and sound, with everything except dignity intact, we chased up another trail, and played around in some nasty spots. The rain rolled in, and we returned to camp. The next day, Sunday, with the rain still continuing, and threatening snow, we decide to turn the wheels homeward, rather than risk being trapped at heights.

 

Next trip out was to invermere and area again, to try to access the high country on last time. Unfortunately, the snow had come in, and there was no way up into where we wanted to be. We played around a bit, then headed back home.

 

With all my scrounging, and looking for parts, I came across a fella in grande cache, who’d swampers his 4runner. He then bought a 4th gen, for the V8, and parted out the 3rd gen. For $600, Canadian, I got front and rear 3rds, locked with an ARB up front, a stock elocker rear, and geared to 4.88’s. Was a 16 hr round trip drive, but well worth it for the scenery, and a chance to play in the sand!

 

While some of the big shops were clearing out KM2’s for KM3’s, I got a smoking deal on a set of 4 brand new 315/75-16” KM2’s. Last set available in 4wheel parts inventory, so I sold my Dick Cepek Extreme country’s, and got these mounted before the next trip.

 

Thanksgiving weekend, Canadian that is, I headed down to Fernie to do some wheeling with Ryan and Keenan.

 

With an early winter having rolled in, we were into snow in no time. And puddles that weren’t frozen enough to take the weight of a truck. Frick. There was a lot of winching, and pulling each other to get thru.

 

More ice, more snow, more miles as we crossed the boundary from Alberta into BC. And the odd sighting of Sasquatch tracks

 

We definitely found our share of snow, and had to chase it and see how deep we could get!!

 

We carried on south, into the flathead valley, Canadian side. Ryan, with the 2nd gen, tells me this area can get well over 15’ of snow thru the winter, and has shown me pics of it come spring. His 2nd gen runs on 38x15.5-15” Nitto mud grapplers all winter. I’m hammering away at the frame swap, trying to have this thing ready for some spring snow wheelin.

 

Trailing along the creek, we found a spot where the 36x13.5 swamper M16’s showed their weakness, threatening to slide Keenan’s 1st gen sideways into the creek bottom.

 

Once again, the tredpros came to the rescue! I’m pulling them off, I found that a ways back, in rubbing against a tree, I’d broken my mounts. Once home, I swung by 4wp, and swapped my mount in on the extreme warranty I’d gotten when buying them.

 

With Keenan thru, I hit the disco pedal. I have to admit, KM2’s on packed snow and ice aren’t my favourite tire. However, at 8psi, and 4500 rpm, they love fresh snow!!

 

We stopped at the creek, and got a fire going for lunch. While cooking the hot dogs, I got a couple pics of a sweet second gen rolling past, crossing the creek, and heading up over the pass. Gotta tell ya, that speedway blue is about my favourite toyota colour made.