February 19, 2000. 7:30AM
I arrived at Denny's a tad bit late in my yellow FJ45 and ran into Chris with his BJ42 and snowboarding buddy. Sadly they weren't coming on the run, they took off boarding.
Russ had some tables reserved for the entire group. He was driving a red BJ60. Neal and his brother-in-law showed next in their red BJ60 and about the same time Rick in his tan BJ42. Paul and Chantelle in their blue FJ40 arrived next followed by Andrew in his red BJ60. A few minutes later Peter in his brown tricked BJ60 and Warren in his red tricked BJ60 showed up. This comprised the entire camping expedition until later when Garrett met us back in the bush with his purple FJ40.
After arriving at the Wiporous Creek turn off the majority aired down for the run we were on our way. Peter chose the river run which turned out to be a blast. it was nice and smooth , we made great time. I switched with Paul and let him try out my 45 for a while. It is a blast watching someone else pilot your vehicle. You get to see any bugs that you might want to modify before you go out again or sometime in the future. It is also great fun driving a stocker after driving a tricked truck for so long.
Our caravan progressed quite well till we came to a tight spot were the water kept the ice very thin in places. Peter made a good judgement call and had us turn around. most of the trucks proceeded back to the trail but Andrew's 60 broke though. The 45 pulled him out and promptly the 45 fell in with the passengers front tire. As we tried to get it free the other front dropped through. since we were facing the wall in front ABOUT 6 feet away and another one 4 feet behind the truck we ended up in quite the predicament. Andrew tried to pull the front sideways and we ended up with a broken birfield on the drivers side. If you have the front locked and one of the tires is wedged tight prepare yourself for a possible broken birfield. the barely turning engine had enough torque to snap the birfield clean.
Peter came back to the rescue. He inched his way behind me and we ran a cable up the wall, through a snatch block and to the rear of my 45. He lifted the front of his fully laden 60 off the ground and the rear of my 45 at the same time. Then it happened, something in his PTO driven winch let go and down he came. We took the axes and chopped the ice out around the front end (which if I was thinking at the time we should have done right away) and Peter hooked on to my rear and out I came.
We rejoined the group back on the trail with me in 2 low chasing Peter down the trail. When we came to the first steep hill I decided to put on my chains. All the time I felt I was holding up the gang, but by the time I got them on the rest were still struggling to get up the hill. So now I didn't feel quite as bad. Peter covered another loyal fan to his side of the air-down fanatics when he convince Neal to lower his air pressure when he couldn't make the hill. After which he crawled up. I took the tank (my 45) up in 3 wheel drive with the chains on the rear at just above idle. You could feel those chains digging for the earth's core with every revolution. so cool!! Peter said I drove it like it was a diesel. HA HA. Paul did a valiant few trys before finally being pulled over by Peter. Andrew made it with his 60 on the second try.
Of course Warren had absolutely no problem with any hill out there the whole weekend.
We finally got to the falls with no further problems. We set up camp and the array of sleeping facilities started to show itself. There were 2 tents, a lean too, my back of the 45, Peters new Specter tent and Andrews igloo. With a big roaring fire and a couple of tarps the camp was set ready for the night.
Warren and Garrett decided to go for a short ride before night fall. I decided to catch a ride with Warren. We tackled this awesome hill that even in the summer is a challenge, but in the winter bloody near impossible. Warren went first, fairly easy on the throttle, chewing his way up the hill. I guess I should point out that he is chained up also by now. The first section went not too bad but the second did make him take a couple or three tries before making it over the top. Garrett, driving my old hog, chewed his way also. When he got to the second part the front end bounced all over the place. You could definately see the locker do it's job as the tires just dug and chewed for all they were worth. Finally after a few tries he made it also. the view from the top was worth the effort. Looking down on camp, with all the cruisers parked about seemed so serene. we proceeded back along the upper falls trail to the end. The snow here seemed deeper than it was down below. Eventually the trail comes to an end, so we climbed out and enjoyed the view and the peace and quiet. After a bit we went back to the upper falls camp site, drove through it and down to the upper creek. We had to go down a short but quite steep hill that had me wondering whether maybe we made a mistake. I rode with Garrett back out, going back out took pedal-to-the-metal run with the hog and once again it did me proud, pulling us to the top chewing all the way. Warren made short work of it, proving once again that between his skill and his truck, nothing can't stop him. Coming back down the hill proved interesting as it now had loose rock and a bit of ice thrown in for fun.
Everyone seem to have a good sleep as it didn't really cool down much during the night. Paul and Chantelle and Peter being the last to rise. My dog Billie got me up fairly early. Andrew had a good sleep in the igloo. If I was younger I might try it but as it stands I like having the foamy under me.
First on the agenda, breakfast then I had the fun of a trail side birfield repair. between us all Peter had a spare birfield, Warren the seal and Andrew had the tools so an hour later I was ready to rock and roll again. I decided to leave the chains on and being locked front and rear I was a force to deal with again. Man did that feel good.
The drive out Peter convinced another of the group to air down. Paul is a new convert to Peter's way of thinking. But by this Peter created a monster, Paul felt now he was unstoppable. off the trail and through the trees he went, just loving and exploring his new found traction. On the hill that he needed towing up, he just had to try it again and he made it first try. Happy, you bet. Andrew left at the stream and headed for home. Garrett left the night before. So now we were down to 7 trucks.
We picked a perfect time to leave as we came across a herd of chevys and followed by a herd of jeeps. They seemed well tamed and showed the cruisers the respect we deserved (by staying out of our way, that is).
The trail that we went back, commonly called the Margaret lake trail, was full of challenges. The hills are long and the stockers had fun challenging these hills. I followed behind Paul and Chantelle. When she took over I could see a bit of greenhorn showing. She made me shiver when she took the high side on a down hill. With a bit of gentle encouragement she became a fantastic driver. I think the guys on the runs better watch out, the women are going to be showing us up in no time flat.
The one hill I remember vividly, Peter gave a good try and made about 1/4 the way up. Russ followed and made it about a 1/3. Then of course I had to try. Giving it a way more gas then I should have, I narled and chewed, spitting chunks out the back till I crested the hill. The back of the truck felt like it was been torn to bits and I did lose some paint. Paul tried extremely hard and after spinning out for the umteenth time finally sucummed to the hill and backed back down. This 300 foot hill is a challenge in the summer let alone in the winter time.
When we approached the last hill of the run the trucks had there work cut out for them. Steep with not much of a run, it took skill to conquer this baby. almost all made it, but those that didn't wasn't for a lack of trying. but, (i'm biased now) Chantelle made the smoothest ascent of them all for a bone stock truck. Second gear from start to finish and smooth on the accelerator she almost made it look too easy.
We finished off the run with a trip to the Wiporous Valley Look-out for a final look at the days territory. Chantelle was the camera person for me this trip and she took some fantastic shots of everyone. Thank You.