User Tag List

Reply
 
Thread Tools Rate Thread Display Modes
Old 09-25-2021, 12:22 AM #31
Mark_BC's Avatar
Mark_BC Mark_BC is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: North Vancouver, BC
Posts: 1,740
Real Name: Just call me the Grease Monkey
Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about
Mark_BC Mark_BC is offline
Senior Member
Mark_BC's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: North Vancouver, BC
Posts: 1,740
Real Name: Just call me the Grease Monkey
Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about
More pics
Attached Images
Mark_BC's 2000 Limited Salvage Build-20210901_110535_tn_tn-jpg  Mark_BC's 2000 Limited Salvage Build-20210902_113456_tn_tn-jpg  Mark_BC's 2000 Limited Salvage Build-20210904_130949_tn_tn-jpg 
__________________
My Snow and Sand build thread

Mark_BC's 2000 Limited Salvage Build

Determined to keep them from becoming parts trucks. Yes, even the one I just picked up as a parts truck...
Mark_BC is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
Old 06-19-2022, 11:56 PM #32
Mark_BC's Avatar
Mark_BC Mark_BC is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: North Vancouver, BC
Posts: 1,740
Real Name: Just call me the Grease Monkey
Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about
Mark_BC Mark_BC is offline
Senior Member
Mark_BC's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: North Vancouver, BC
Posts: 1,740
Real Name: Just call me the Grease Monkey
Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about
Finally replaced the fender with a white one. I actually had 2 beige ones, one with the limited flare and one SR5 that was on the car. I couldn't get around to painting the limited one until the weather warmed up and.... it's done. Not perfect, but not embarrassing anymore. Next is to weld up the Coastal Offroad bumper and this thing will really look nice. The white wheels look great.

I used Duplicolor Color Match rattle can paint. It doesn't match perfectly but pretty close. i also got some 2 part clear coat that I'll apply sometime later when the hood is painted the correct colour. I now have 4 different shades of white on this car -- the original paint, the hood, this latest fender, and the wheels. All different paint.



__________________
My Snow and Sand build thread

Mark_BC's 2000 Limited Salvage Build

Determined to keep them from becoming parts trucks. Yes, even the one I just picked up as a parts truck...
Mark_BC is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
Old 06-20-2022, 11:07 AM #33
Mando4RUN's Avatar
Mando4RUN Mando4RUN is offline
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 4
Mando4RUN is on a distinguished road
Mando4RUN Mando4RUN is offline
Junior Member
Mando4RUN's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 4
Mando4RUN is on a distinguished road
Great work!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Mando4RUN is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
Old 09-17-2022, 01:42 PM #34
Mark_BC's Avatar
Mark_BC Mark_BC is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: North Vancouver, BC
Posts: 1,740
Real Name: Just call me the Grease Monkey
Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about
Mark_BC Mark_BC is offline
Senior Member
Mark_BC's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: North Vancouver, BC
Posts: 1,740
Real Name: Just call me the Grease Monkey
Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about
2022 Trip

I had almost 4 weeks of vacation to spend driving around BC. But I had an engagement for the first weekend in the Shuswap that had a hard date. So I had to leave Vancouver Thursday Aug 18. Not only that but a bat flew into me a few weeks earlier and I needed 4 rabies shots to be safe and I had to coordinate the final 2 locations I'd be in around BC at that time. So the first week was pretty much booked up but I made the best of it.

I literally replaced my front brakes the day before I left and lucky I did since one pad was basically at the screecher. I used OEM pads and got a spare rotor set I had kicking around turned at a local brake shop for $25 each. Braking performance improved noticeably afterwards.

I managed to stuff everything in and head out on time. My transmission was getting hot up the Coquihalla but I made it to Merritt that evening.



Just past Merritt on the highway I saw signs for Kane Lake Recreation Site so I decided to take the exit and headed there along a well graded gravel road. The scenery was pretty and I got there after dark and had some food and went to bed. Pretty funny with cows mooing all around but they went to sleep.

The next morning I checked out Harmon Lake Rec Site which is right next door and there was a loon swimming around but it hadn't made any noise all night. That rec site had a row of RV's and generators on the shore so not my thing.





The road continues south to spit out on another highway so maybe I'll do the whole road one day; I like travelling forest roads in BC that actually get you through somewhere since most of them are in-and-back-out jobs, up valleys that don't connect through. But that morning I turned around and went back out onto the highway and headed for the desert of the Okanagan and my rabies shot in downtown Kelowna after lunch. After that I made my way north to my weekend engagement near Enderby.

Monday morning I left my engagement and had a few days to kill before my next shot on Friday in Kamloops. So I couldn't go too deep in the bush. I headed to Hidden Lake that day which was beautiful but another typical rec site with RV's and people everywhere.





So I continued along the road and followed the fresh logging roads which aren't even shown on Google Earth. I went way up the mountain but as the crow flies I was only a few km from Mabel Lake and the valley below.

I found a place to park up in a clearcut and then a thunderstorm hit. This is the interior wet belt and in summer when it's bone dry on the coast it stays wet in the interior from thunderstorms which allow cedar and other trees to grow that need more water. The storm was really windy and I thought the trees on the cutblock edge would come down but they didn't. Most of them were larch which is pretty cool. I thought maybe some forest fires would be started from all the lightning but it didn't seem to do much.



20220822_154654_Trim



On my way back down the next morning I dug up two naturally seeded larch seedlings beside the road which would have had no life anyways and I'll plant them at home. Here is a planted one which is very happy growing in the old clearcut.



Also on the way back down I went by some groundwater seepage coming out beside the road in the middle of a clearcut and I never miss an opportunity to collect that to fill up my water bottle since you don't need to filter it. I had about 5 gallons of storage. There's no shortage of water anywhere in BC when travelling; the issue is minimizing the time and work needed to filter it.

__________________
My Snow and Sand build thread

Mark_BC's 2000 Limited Salvage Build

Determined to keep them from becoming parts trucks. Yes, even the one I just picked up as a parts truck...
Mark_BC is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
Old 10-14-2022, 10:44 PM #35
Mark_BC's Avatar
Mark_BC Mark_BC is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: North Vancouver, BC
Posts: 1,740
Real Name: Just call me the Grease Monkey
Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about
Mark_BC Mark_BC is offline
Senior Member
Mark_BC's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: North Vancouver, BC
Posts: 1,740
Real Name: Just call me the Grease Monkey
Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about
The next morning I headed back down and found some larch seedlings growing beside the road and dug up two and put in my old hummus container. I'd have to keep them alive in the car for the next few weeks. I crossed the Shuswap River at Ashton Creek and headed west to Enderby to get some gas and auto parts. A few days earlier I picked up an Icom VHF radio for driving the logging roads, after a year long wait due to chip shortages and I didn't have time to install it. So I was hoping for a nice rec site beside a lake with not too many people around where I could spend a couple days installing it and working on my driver side DIY front mud flap which was rubbing.

I picked up some nice local corn on the way there and at Lordco I got some electrical fittings for the radio. I also asked for some grease for my drive shaft zerks since I didn't have time to do those either. The guy said they don't have any grease due to supply issues and that soon it would be food we run out of. Bummer.



Enderby is pretty cool and I had lunch at a nice cafe then headed back east towards Mabel Lake where I saw on the map some rec sites north of the highway that looked remote. I forgot to get gas...

I stopped by the Shuswap River and got my feet wet. Kayakers put in along this stretch and float down. The Shuswap connects all the big lakes in this area with a convoluted network of waterways.

I stopped at Cooke Creek Rec Site on the river and checked the map. I actually needed to go up the forest road directly opposite this site so I headed up that road, gaining elevation. I was exceited about what I would find since 4x4ing is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get. I was heading for Dale Lake.

I encountered a washed out bridge with a steep little ravine to cross. The concern would be my departure angle and getting stuck but someone put some beams across and I got through without incident.



20220823_151957_Trim

Then soon afterwards I came to a totally washed out crossing of the main creek. I wasn't sure if I'd get through. Then a side by side came by and I talked to them a bit and they went through. I decided to follow and he video'd me which was great. Always good to have another person taking videos... It was the toughest crossing I've done. The front wheel spun a bit on the exit due to no front locker but I took another run and got through. The rear locker is probably what got me through. It would be nice to have a front locker. And I decided not to bring a spare CV for the weight savings. I don't think I'll do that again.



20220823_152903

I continued along and crossed another washout with a really narrow steep exit and made it to Dale Lake which was mostly lily pads. This rec site was clearly abandoned which was great, exactly what I was looking for. But I was wondering how I'd get back out since I didn't want to go back through the creek crossings. I set up in the pretty spot and the side-by-side guys came back through having explored further along. They said I could probably connect through to the main road to the north west. He just bought some property up in this area and was checking out different access points to it. He said he could follow trails all the way to Revelstoke. It is a neat area up there.




I had dinner and then like usual the thunderstorms were off in the distance and eventually hit me with rain and wind.

20220823_174146_Trim



The next day I spent installing my radio which went pretty well. The main firewall grommet was wrecked so it wasn't too hard to shove extra cables through it. I just used VHB tape to mount the radio on top of the dash. A merlin stopped by to say hi.





__________________
My Snow and Sand build thread

Mark_BC's 2000 Limited Salvage Build

Determined to keep them from becoming parts trucks. Yes, even the one I just picked up as a parts truck...

Last edited by Mark_BC; 10-14-2022 at 10:47 PM.
Mark_BC is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
Old 10-15-2022, 10:37 AM #36
BretMann BretMann is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2022
Location: FL
Posts: 33
BretMann is on a distinguished road
BretMann BretMann is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2022
Location: FL
Posts: 33
BretMann is on a distinguished road
It's coming out great so far!
__________________
Bret

1999 4Runner(3rd Gen) Base, Engine: 2.7L (3RZ-FE), Trans: 5sp manual (W59)
Miles as of 10-2022: 107k
VIN: JT3GM84R2X0047863
BretMann is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
Old 12-25-2022, 03:05 AM #37
Mark_BC's Avatar
Mark_BC Mark_BC is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: North Vancouver, BC
Posts: 1,740
Real Name: Just call me the Grease Monkey
Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about
Mark_BC Mark_BC is offline
Senior Member
Mark_BC's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: North Vancouver, BC
Posts: 1,740
Real Name: Just call me the Grease Monkey
Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about
I stayed at Dale Lake for 2 nights and left the morning after that. One evening some motorbikes came by on the opposite side of the lake so there must be some sort of trail over there. There was, and I followed back along the road and instead of turning off to where I came from, through the creek crossings, I kept going up the forest road which appeared to join up with a bunch of other roads further east and get back to the highway. Luckily Google Earth was still working on my phone since reception was spotty. Previously when I am out of connection, GE just shuts down which is a real pain. I don't know why they do that since the images are cached on the phone and it still gets my location from GPS so there's no reason why it can't just keep being functional when out of range. But it needs to initialize or something.

I followed the road for a while which looked promising and I climbed up in elevation. The forest was becoming more luxuriant with the higher precipitation up here.



I crossed the power lines and went by Elbow Lake.



There were wolf and bear tracks in the mud.



I was really hoping the road poked through at Grassy Lake to the main road just past it. Unbelievably, the road doesn't connect the 500 m through.



So I had to go back down to the power lines and I was a little concerned since I didn't want to backtrack through the creek crossing from the previous days. However, I followed the power line road and it was promising, descending back down towards the main valley.





It is a pretty fun trail with some very steep sections. Unfortunately 1st gear low (in an automatic) isn't low enough to allow engine braking to keep you slow on these steep loose descents. I had to also use my brakes which is a bit of a pain since you don't have as much control, plus they get hot.

20220825_100440_Trim

I soon popped back out on the highway a short distance from where I entered a couple days before.





I continued on down to the end of the pavement at Mabel Lake to see what was there. I was hoping there would be gas but unfortunately it is only available for boats. So I would not be able to continue up northwards across the forest road to Revelstoke. I'd have to back track back out to Enderby, which wasn't a bad thing since I needed to get a move on.

Mabel Lake is an interesting place; full of summer vacationers. Not exactly my thing but it's a pretty spot.



I then headed back to Enderby, had lunch at the same place I did before, and made my way towards Kamloops via a recreation site in mind I found on the map where I would spend the night. I stopped at Armstrong to mail some stuff off and it was like a furnace, over 40 Celsius. Shortly after I turned up the forest road to the mountains towards Pinaus Lake. The road is steep and slow so my transmission was getting a little hot but still OK.



The rec site beside the lake was decent, only a few people around. There is lots of bird life in the lake, an osprey, lots of ducks, and a family of quail was scooting around the shore. There was also a loon serenading everyone. The water is brown, not too appealing; but I wasn't there to go swimming.

While turning around in the campsite the driver's side front mud flap got stuck while the wheel was turned and mostly came off. I had made it to protect the underside of the car from being pelted with rocks on the gravel roads. It is made of rubber pond liner and fender plastic to give it some rigidity. This is the wheel that had been pushed back a half an inch from the collision before I bought the car. Unfortunately the wheel is just too close to the pinch weld to prevent contact with the flap on this side. The passenger side was fine. I removed the remains of the mud flap and would search for more fender liner to rebuild it after I had pounded down the pinch weld – later.





__________________
My Snow and Sand build thread

Mark_BC's 2000 Limited Salvage Build

Determined to keep them from becoming parts trucks. Yes, even the one I just picked up as a parts truck...

Last edited by Mark_BC; 03-14-2023 at 11:48 PM.
Mark_BC is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
Old 03-12-2023, 07:16 PM #38
Mark_BC's Avatar
Mark_BC Mark_BC is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: North Vancouver, BC
Posts: 1,740
Real Name: Just call me the Grease Monkey
Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about
Mark_BC Mark_BC is offline
Senior Member
Mark_BC's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: North Vancouver, BC
Posts: 1,740
Real Name: Just call me the Grease Monkey
Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about
In the morning I washed the dust off the back of the car and headed out. I was hoping to find a higher trail to hike up along the way since I really needed some exercise. The lake is in a high valley and the road rises up even higher before again going back down the mountain to the surrounding lowlands.



There's a bunch of roads in this area, just like all over BC. That's what's cool about BC, all the public backroads everywhere. Every year old ones get taken over by nature, and new ones are built for forestry access. You can pretty much just get a backroads map book and compare with Google Earth, and find somewhere to get off the beaten path.



There are a few cabins beside the lake and then the road veers away. Near the top there is this reminder of what happens when you don't have 4WD up here:



I then started the switchback descents back down to the main valley and highway. It's a dry climate but they were rutted and still wet indicating a summer rainstorm had come through.







I didn't find anywhere to hike so when I was almost at the bottom I just decided to park the car and hike back up the road. I was dealing with jumper's knee so I brought a walking stick and favoured it. I still managed to get up to the 3 km mark; it felt great.





I then had to head to Kamloops for my final rabies jab, after which I could head over to the Chilcotin and get away from civilization for the main part of this summer's trip.

On my way out of Kamloops I stopped at Canadian Tire and managed to find a mini grease gun and a tube of low-temperature grease. Also one of marine grease. They were almost out and I got them both. I tried to find an auto wrecker to search for fender liner material but it didn't come together.

I was going to look for a place to camp somewhere in the forest roads to the south of the highway. This is desert country so the back country should be interesting. I found my turnoff just before Savona. This is a really scenic drive through the desert.





I pulled off a side track that looked promising but it just led to a closed gate into a ranch. I did get some prickly pear cactus which I had been wanting for a while.

I continued on and decided to try to go to Fehr Lake. The signs at the entrance to the back country clearly stated that I needed to stay on roads / tracks, but there was definitely a track going to the lake so I was happy with that. I was on the cleared right of way for a big gas pipeline which goes right beside the lake.





I parked in a grassy area just above the lake. It was pretty windy and I wasn't too hungry so I didn't cook that evening, just ate cheese / avocado /crackers, the usual stuff. A rainstorm blew through which didn't dump a whole bunch of rain but enough to get everything wet.

The smoke from forest fires increased in the evening.

__________________
My Snow and Sand build thread

Mark_BC's 2000 Limited Salvage Build

Determined to keep them from becoming parts trucks. Yes, even the one I just picked up as a parts truck...

Last edited by Mark_BC; 03-14-2023 at 11:47 PM.
Mark_BC is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
Old 03-15-2023, 12:05 AM #39
Mark_BC's Avatar
Mark_BC Mark_BC is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: North Vancouver, BC
Posts: 1,740
Real Name: Just call me the Grease Monkey
Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about
Mark_BC Mark_BC is offline
Senior Member
Mark_BC's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: North Vancouver, BC
Posts: 1,740
Real Name: Just call me the Grease Monkey
Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about
Fehr Lake is kind of interesting. It has a sluice gate on the outlet with a long walkway elevated over the lake. It is in the desert so it must be very alkaline. It is full of snails and other interesting life. Not sure if there are fish in it.





After packing up I continued along the forest roads heading westwards, trying to pick the lowest elevation route to stay in the interesting desert terrain. It did move up in to the forest though and soon I entered an old forest fire. Judging by the extent of regrowth, the fire likely only happened the year before. The fire damage was intermittent, creating a patchwork of surviving and dead stands, with many trees escaping. I'm sure many of the douglas fir survive being burned as well and bring out new leaves.





I walked around the burned forest a little bit and found these interesting tunnels in the ground. I don't understand where they came from. They aren't tree roots as the wood would not burn so completely. Maybe they are animal burrows that became exposed when the surrounding vegetation burned off.







The burned forest continued for quite a while and the trail got muddier as I west west, indicating that the rain had been heavier over here than where I was last night. Eventually I joined with Barnes Lake Road, which turned out to be a layer of sticky mud – that kind of mud that doesn't fling off, it just sticks to your wheels and gets thicker and thicker.



Luckily I only had a few km to go before hitting pavement. I decided that I would stop at Barnes Lake to pound the pinch weld in the wheel well. It's good to have a full set of tools for doing this kind of work in the bush.

Barnes Lake Recreation Site was ideal for this since I needed water to wash off all the mud before doing this operation. It has a lot of aquatic life and I waded in the beach to fill up the containers to slosh up under the wheel well.



Back on the highway towards Ashcroft, I kept an eye out for dead fenders on the side of the road and it wasn't too long before I found something.



I stocked up in Ashcroft then headed to Cache creek where I needed to do some errands on the internet, and I had a great burger at the local burger joint. I called to book some space at the campsite at Lillooet and then hit the road to get there before dark.

Texas Creek Campground is a nice place and I parked on the lawn. Tomorrow I would do the mud flap rebuild. They have nice mountain spring water coming out of the pipes and I filled up all my water bottles. Interestingly, one of my bottles had a leech stuck in it that would not cone out – from Barnes Lake. Good thing I didn't go swimming there.

I was excited to be starting the real remote part of my trip the next day.



__________________
My Snow and Sand build thread

Mark_BC's 2000 Limited Salvage Build

Determined to keep them from becoming parts trucks. Yes, even the one I just picked up as a parts truck...

Last edited by Mark_BC; 03-15-2023 at 01:16 AM.
Mark_BC is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
Old 03-24-2023, 01:06 AM #40
Mark_BC's Avatar
Mark_BC Mark_BC is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: North Vancouver, BC
Posts: 1,740
Real Name: Just call me the Grease Monkey
Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about
Mark_BC Mark_BC is offline
Senior Member
Mark_BC's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: North Vancouver, BC
Posts: 1,740
Real Name: Just call me the Grease Monkey
Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about
I spent the morning getting organized, finishing up some online things since I'd be incommunicado for a while now. I re-fabbed my front mudflap using the roadkill fender material to stiffen it.



And I re-greased all the driveline zerks with my new mini-grease gun which I now really like due to its size. One of the zerks on the main cardon joint is hard to get to and it looked like it had never been done. Anyways, I was satisfied now with the driveline.

I took a trip into town to stock up and parked beside this awesome JDM HDJ81. I had a talk with the owner and his girlfriend, they were super helpful and only the previous week they had been up to Poison Mountain, where I'm going which is the connecting road through the mountains to the Chilcotin Plateau to the north. They said there was a lot of ongoing forestry activities up there and a new road had been constructed with a “Seven Meter Bridge” or something, but they weren't able to connect to it from the historical 4WD tracks up there.



I filled all three 5 gallon jerry cans and headed north out of Lillooet to the Bridge River Road which starts where the Bridge River empties into the Fraser.



I have done lots of backcountry wilderness trips in the upper Bridge River which I wrote about here and here. This year, I'd have the car to power me so a little bit easier on my legs... plus I had the tendon injury in my knee so it would take months of rehab to get back up to strength.

The Bridge River Road is a bit scary with steep slopes dropping off to the canyon and no guard rail; on a gravel surface with frequent larger rocks that had fallen from above.



Eventually I got to the Horseshoe Bend which is an impressive erosion bank. There is a view point at the southern end and I scraped my underside on a rock pointing up from the flat parking area. Funny how that's my first underside contact... I guess I didn't judge my clearance properly.



The highway skirts along the top edge of the erosion bank which doesn't seem to too scary while you are driving it since you can't see over the edge mostly; but from above it looks pretty sketchy.

Soon after this I got to the Yalakom River FSR which turns off to the north (area is called “Moha”). There is a lot of information and signage at the turnoff with some signs from the local indigenous group warning that there is no through road. I hope this area stays open to 4WD explorers, not only for the beauty of the area, but also because it's the only link northwards on the west side of the Fraser River.

I checked out a recreation site down by the river as a potential campsite but there was already someone there and it didn't look too appealing. After leaving this site I passed a Forest Service truck coming back the other way. I wonder why...







As I climbed up the valley I noticed smoke ahead; there was a forest fire nearby.



It was actually directly across from the Beaverdam Creek Rec Site I'd be staying at which is in a nice open meadow on the valley bottom beside the river. As I drove in there were some quad guys loading up onto their trucks and they soon left; but there was plenty of room in this really large campsite, including a corral.





Unfortunately they threw their vegetable food scraps in the river which I guess is OK ecologically since it's no different than any other riverside vegetation falling in, but the problem is it drifted downstream to my campsite so I had onions and other vegetables stuck on the rocks of the river right where I wanted to go in for a wash. Although, it was very cold so I didn't spend too much time doing that.



The fire was on the eastern side of the valley up high on the mountain, and the helicopter was flying back and forth to the west where there is a pond they were filling the bucket from.



__________________
My Snow and Sand build thread

Mark_BC's 2000 Limited Salvage Build

Determined to keep them from becoming parts trucks. Yes, even the one I just picked up as a parts truck...
Mark_BC is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
Old 05-27-2023, 07:52 PM #41
Mark_BC's Avatar
Mark_BC Mark_BC is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: North Vancouver, BC
Posts: 1,740
Real Name: Just call me the Grease Monkey
Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about
Mark_BC Mark_BC is offline
Senior Member
Mark_BC's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: North Vancouver, BC
Posts: 1,740
Real Name: Just call me the Grease Monkey
Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about
There was a little bit of rain overnight, enough to get the ground wet.



The firefighters were back at it with the helicopter, dumping the bucket on flare-ups.



I continued driving up the valley. Yalakom is a pretty long valley and it connects up with the Mud Lakes road, which comes from the more popular recreation use areas further west, via Poison Mountain area. I wasn't exactly sure how the roads went up at the top but I'd figure it out, even though I had no Google Earth.







As I headed up, the road went through an old burn area with a backdrop of silver dead tree trunks.



I encountered the junction in the road; to the right it goes counter clockwise around Poison Mountain. To the left it goes clockwise. I went left.

Soon after I passed by a series of pretty small lakes with alpine-like vegetation.





I could hear the forestry activities happening nearby somewhere but could not see them.

The road becomes very narrow and I would not want to bring a vehicle much bigger than my 4runner through due to the downed trees along and over the trail.

I came to a creek crossing beside an old core sample drilling operation.



To the east of here is a whole network of old exploration roads. I had lunch here -- avocado, cheese, cucumber, tomato, hummus, on crackers – the usual. I was getting up in elevation here and it was cool. As I left a bee flew onto the hood and wouldn't leave since he liked the heat. I forced him off since I didn't want to bring him too far away from his home range.

At one point the trail goes by an old cabin.





Eventually I emerged into the alpine and the main trail junction. To the left it goes north-west to Mud Lakes and connects to the vast Chilcotin Plateau. To the right, it goes up to Poison Mtn.

Poison Mtn has a really steep straight run up its north face to its peak. Usually when I've seen it on Youtube, people go up in groups. I was by myself. It was pretty intimidating at the base but I decided I came all this way so I should go up too. Just don't stop on a steep section.

It goes up for a while and at the top it has panoramic views in all directions. I could see the Yalakom Valley I just came up, including the smoke from the fire there. That seemed to be the only fire around.



And the forestry activities were visible nearby.



Poison Mtn is kind of in the transition between the Chilcotin mountains to the south, and the Chilcotin plateau to the north. It's definitely worth the trip up for the views. I could not find a single piece of garbage on the mountain – nice.







I turned around to go back down to find camp for the night. The low gearing in 4LO just isn't low enough to allow for engine braking on these steep loose trails. So I had to use my brakes which was causing them to overheat. So I stopped about 4 times for 10 minutes to allow them to cool.



I found a campsite near where the road re-enters the subalpine forest. I picked up the bits of garbage around and had a good night's sleep.





__________________
My Snow and Sand build thread

Mark_BC's 2000 Limited Salvage Build

Determined to keep them from becoming parts trucks. Yes, even the one I just picked up as a parts truck...
Mark_BC is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
Old 08-07-2023, 09:07 PM #42
Mark_BC's Avatar
Mark_BC Mark_BC is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: North Vancouver, BC
Posts: 1,740
Real Name: Just call me the Grease Monkey
Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about
Mark_BC Mark_BC is offline
Senior Member
Mark_BC's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: North Vancouver, BC
Posts: 1,740
Real Name: Just call me the Grease Monkey
Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about
The next morning I backtracked the trail from Poison Mountain back to the junction. Here is the track up Poison Mountain:





I turned right and headed north-west to the next junction. This road is really fun to drive, technical but not too difficult. You definitely exercise your axles. There are some pretty tight turns which I wouldn't want to negotiate in a vehicle much larger than the 4runner.



It has nice views of the surrounding area.


There are new logging roads going in from the north which seem to be totally independent of the network of 4WD trails in the area. The cutting goes right over the historical 4WD trail but they seem to have respected it and haven't damaged it.





Eventually it descends to the tee junction where left goes to Mud Lakes, and right goes north to the Chilcotin Plateau, joining with the Gaspard Creek - Red Mtn forest service road. The people in Lillooet with the 80 series mentioned something about a new “7 meter bridge” or something up there but they weren't actually able to get on it. I could see it from the junction.



After turning right at the tee, the trail goes through dense forest for a short while.





... before emerging into an old cutblock with dense young pine trees crowding in the road. This is the only road west of the Fraser River that connects the Lower Mainland with central BC. Pretty cool, I hope it stays that way.



At some point it meets up with the maintained forest road at which point you are home free. I drove past some wild horses off to the side and stopped to take pictures. Then a native guy rode by on a horse so I guess they were his. I thought about how his life must be so different from mine even though we are both BC'ers.



I passed this structure which I presume is for making shelters in winter. I've seen them around the Chilcontin.



The road opened up into a wide well graded forest road. The terrain was much flatter here with rolling hills and distant mountains as I headed north away from the Coast Mountains.







I had an older version of the Backroads Mapbook which showed a road coming in from the east connecting with the roads at the Fraser River. But for the life of me I couldn't find it. I drove back and forth around the coordinates but there wasn't even an overgrown remnant of a road. Very strange.



At a cool creek crossing I decided to have a bath. I took bottles of the cold water for my bath at the side of the road. Wouldn't you know it, some trucks came by right at that moment; after not seeing another person since Lillooet a few days ago...

Then I soon passed the junction with the East Churn Forest Road which I'd like to take some day, and then onto the main Gaspard FSR. There is a gate here which luckily was open.

I went past some log sorts and active logging operations with big haul trucks.



I decided to look for a place to camp and saw Stobie Lake on the map which looked good. I found a really rough recently bulldozed track to it and took that. I found a nice spot in a dry meadow above the lake.



This lake has a sluice gate and the water level was low. Consequently half of the lake was mud; but still a nice campsite with lots of birds on the lake. It turns out there was a better road further up that goes to the lake, and my campsite was in view of the passing traffic kicking up a dust storm.



__________________
My Snow and Sand build thread

Mark_BC's 2000 Limited Salvage Build

Determined to keep them from becoming parts trucks. Yes, even the one I just picked up as a parts truck...
Mark_BC is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
Old 09-19-2023, 11:36 PM #43
Mark_BC's Avatar
Mark_BC Mark_BC is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: North Vancouver, BC
Posts: 1,740
Real Name: Just call me the Grease Monkey
Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about
Mark_BC Mark_BC is offline
Senior Member
Mark_BC's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: North Vancouver, BC
Posts: 1,740
Real Name: Just call me the Grease Monkey
Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about Mark_BC has a spectacular aura about
I needed to head west towards Chilko Lake and the Taseko River road which goes there. I was heading north-east up the Gaspard road in the opposite direction so I needed to take a connecting road over. There is a network of mainline logging roads here on the vast Chilcotin Plateau that generally go north-east to south-west but the interconnecting roads between them are a bit hit or miss.

I saw in the mapbook what looked like a road that connected and I took it and headed west. On the map it looked like a main road but it petered out into nothing about 3/4 of the way across...





I continued up the mainline until I met up with the main Gaspard FSR which I had come out to from Gang Ranch the previous year, then turned west towards Big Creek. I was calling my km as I went but I missed one and I heard a logging truck call out that he was turning onto the road at the exact same km I was at. It took a few seconds to register ... What??? Where was he? Well he pulled out a few seconds later and I pulled over. I heard him warn others of the “little one” on the road without a radio. Well I had a radio, I just forgot to make one call-out. After a while, towards Big Creek, the forestry activity drops away on this road and no one calls out anymore. In Big Creek there was a pay phone I was hoping to call home from, but it didn't work.

From Big Creek I headed north up towards the Bella Coola highway to refuel since I wasn't sure if it would be available at the indigenous-run gas station in the Nemiah Valley, with Covid winding down and things slowly opening back up again. I also wanted some ice since I don't have a fridge in the car, only a cooler. And some fresh food like cheese and onions, whatever else I could find.

I passed picturesque Rushes Lake and was considering camping at the next one, Fletcher Lake, since there is a Rec Site there. Unfortunately it was jam packed full of RV's and everyone else had the same idea, so pass on that one. That's the advantage of 4WD; you can get away from all that.







Near the highway I descended down to the Chilcotin River valley and set off west on the highway towards the little roadside communities to see what I could rustle up. The first place, Anahim, had gas but no ice, so I went further to Alexis Creek where I got ice, and then turned around. On the way back I watched a coyote running through the fields seemingly unafraid off its completely open location by the highway in the daytime. I got gas at Anahim and noticed that my parking brake was on! It had been on since I left Alexis Creek 10 km ago!!! My brakes were hot so I just decided to drive the highway and hopefully the wind would cool them off. Near the river crossing I took the drum off and inspected and they weren't glazed or warped luckily. Disaster averted.

This time I took the Taseko Lake road straight towards Chilko Lake. It quickly climbs up on to the plateau and goes for miles and miles through rolling hills of mostly burnt out small pine stands. That's what this biogeoclimatic ecological zone is called – sub-boreal pine spruce. It's dry and cool so lodgepole pine dominates but the frequent fires prevent much mature forest from forming.





The terrain is a little bleak until you start getting views of the Coast Mountains again off in the distance. You pass under a structure erected by the local Xeni Gwet'in first nation welcoming you to the area and advising that you are to respect the area, and the sentiment will be returned.





I camped at the Rec Site beside the Taseko River, looking forward to exploring this area, and had a chat with the local ranger about 4WD options in the area and connecting through.





__________________
My Snow and Sand build thread

Mark_BC's 2000 Limited Salvage Build

Determined to keep them from becoming parts trucks. Yes, even the one I just picked up as a parts truck...

Last edited by Mark_BC; 09-19-2023 at 11:42 PM.
Mark_BC is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
Old 09-28-2023, 06:51 AM #44
thezentree's Avatar
thezentree thezentree is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: Kentucky
Posts: 1,165
Real Name: Robert');DROP TABLE Students;
thezentree is a jewel in the rough thezentree is a jewel in the rough thezentree is a jewel in the rough thezentree is a jewel in the rough
thezentree thezentree is offline
Senior Member
thezentree's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: Kentucky
Posts: 1,165
Real Name: Robert');DROP TABLE Students;
thezentree is a jewel in the rough thezentree is a jewel in the rough thezentree is a jewel in the rough thezentree is a jewel in the rough
This forum needs more threads like this.
__________________
2001 SR5 - Like OEM, only worse (gears, e-locker, armor)
thezentree is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Blizz86's 2000 Limited Build blizz86 3rd gen T4Rs 71 11-28-2020 08:21 PM
Jered's 2000 E-locked Limited 4wd Build jeredcollins 3rd gen T4Rs 25 04-21-2020 01:34 AM
aykalper's 2000 Limited build aykalper 3rd gen T4Rs 31 04-23-2019 07:03 PM
Snow and Sand: Mark_BC's Build Thread Mark_BC 3rd gen T4Rs 26 04-20-2019 02:08 PM
Airmapper's Build: 2000 Limited Airmapper 3rd gen T4Rs 27 01-08-2019 05:18 PM

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.2

All times are GMT -4. The time now is 08:21 PM.

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Search Engine Optimisation provided by DragonByte SEO (Pro) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.
Feedback Buttons provided by Advanced Post Thanks / Like (Lite) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.
User Alert System provided by Advanced User Tagging (Lite) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.
***This site is an unofficial Toyota site, and is not officially endorsed, supported, authorized by or affiliated with Toyota. All company, product, or service names references in this web site are used for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners. The Toyota name, marks, designs and logos, as well as Toyota model names, are registered trademarks of Toyota Motor Corporation***Ad Management plugin by RedTyger
 
Copyright © 2020