craig
Supporting Sponsor, Overland Certified OC0018
Whipsaw Trail / Ashnola Traverse - BC Canada
Summary
Three members of the NW Overland Society join the BC Roverlanders on the Ashnola Traverse, Whipsaw Trail, and for their year-end Whipsaw BBQ. The BC Roverlanders maintain the Whipsaw Trail which was nominated as a BFG "Outstanding Trail".
More photos are available in my gallery.
On Friday, the trip from Washington State up to Keremeos, BC was uneventful other than running into one of the BC Roverlanders, Andy, filling his RRC with water about 5 minutes before the rendezvous point. He assured us that it was a hairline fracture in the block and that he was watching it carefully and regularly putting in more water. We waited for him to finish and drove the rest of the way to Keremeos with him.
After filling our tanks with gas we joined the Roverlanders and caravaned out to the campground. The drive was very scenic with vivid yellow leaves, bright red shrubs, and fresh mountain water of Ashnola Creek flowing over the rocks. We camped in a primitive campground near the creek. The dogs ran around and played while we setup camp, made dinner, and introduced ourselves to the people we hadn't met before. There wasn't any rain to speak of, the stars were out, and the campfire conversation was very lively until about 11:30 when everyone headed off to bed.
The next morning we talked about the weather over breakfast, broke camp, and had our drivers meeting at 9:00. After spending a little time to get Andy's RRC started, we headed up the Ashnola Traverse. This road is narrow, steep, and filled with a lot of switchbacks but is otherwise quite easy. About 1/2 way up the traverse Andy stopped to put more water in, and it wouldn't start. After fiddling with it for about an hour it magically started; nobody is really sure why. We reached the summit shortly thereafter where the Roverlanders took a moment to visit a plaque commemorating a member who had passed away a few years prior. We continued the traverse down the other side, but the original trail had been erased by a clearcut. The Ashnola Traverse has a few good views, is a nice drive through the woods, and is a very easy non-technical trail.
At the bottom of the Traverse, we met up with a few more Roverlanders and touched base via the HAM radios with a few more that had already arrived at camp. The report was that there was freezing rain and snow at the top. Sounds like a cold night. A few guys headed into town to fillup on petrol, while the rest of us had lunch. Bill, noticed that his green D90 was leaking coolant and narrowed it down to a bad water pump. Fortunately, he had a spare! Bill, Don, John, and ??? dove in and started replacing it. A really big and dark cloud started blowing in, so we decided to get most of the group moving on towards the nights camp. Shawn quickly erected a shelter over the hood so the guys wouldn't have to work in rain while the rest of us headed out.
Dave/Pam Blair led the group up in their DII, and included a stop at an old ore mine a little ways before the trailhead. The sun was out again. The ore mine was kind of interesting. There were remnants of an old sorting area and a conveyor belt. The most interesting part by far though was the shrapnel embedded in the trees. With a little bit of detective work, we decided that a boiler exploded sending the shrapnel in all directions. After a few photos, we headed off to the cabin near the beginning of the Whipsaw Trail.
At the cabin, a plaque was mounted in memory of Shawn's dog Charlie and the Blair's dog Willow both of whom passed away this last year. Watching Pam and Shawn hug as they mourned the loss of their old friends choked me up a bit, so I headed back to my truck to pet my dog and give him a good scratching behind his ears. Shawn, Dave, and Pam I am really sorry to hear about your loss.
After putting the plaque up, we pushed on to camp. The portion of the Whipsaw trail that leads into camp is relatively easy but like all of the Whipsaw is amazingly beautiful. We splashed through a few puddles, climbed a couple of small rocks, and rolled into an alpine lakeside camp with plenty of daylight left to setup camp. Several of the guys were already there. They drove two Unimogs up fully loaded with tents, generators, barbeques, and everything else necessary to provide a feast for all of us. And a feast it was! It was really cold and windy at the top, but they had a really nice fire going with a rain shelter next to it. People quickly gathered here after setting up there tents. The guys doing the cooking started sending down trays of chips/salsa, veggies, and dip, and sausage before calling us all over to the big tent for the feast. They had prepared a meal of BBQ'd ribs, chicken, sausage, Caesar salad, potatoe/carrot vegetable mix, wine, boiled or roasted corn, ice cream, and cookies. It all tasted great! Thank you to all of the Roverlanders but especially Pete, Chris, Pete's unimog buddies, and Shawn and his wife whom I was told put it all together.
With the weather extremely cold everyone headed off to bed about 10pm. It was a cold night, but not too windy, and only an occasional pitter patter of precipitation on the tent. We woke to a light dusting of snow and the sun rising over the hills. There were still a few clouds in the sky, but it looked like we were going to have reasonably good weather. Roger and I quickly made a cup of coffee to warm up. I enjoyed walking around looking at the sunrise and taking a few photos with the good light. Roger, Paul, and I got things packed up and were able to break camp with the first group of trucks heading out to run the rest of the Whipsaw.
The Whipsaw is an amazing trail. It has everything. Sections that require you to wind your way between trees, splashing through puddles, hill climbs, rock shelves, steep decents, moguls that get you cross-axled, etc. All of this, and the scenery is fantastic too. After leaving camp, the trail meandered through alpine grasslands, crossed muddy gullies, and picked its way through the trees. The first serious obstacle was a decent where the trail had a deeply eroded trench. The Defender 110 2 trucks in front of us lifted a tire about 4 feet in the air which made for a great photo. After watching another couple of trucks decend I decided to try and saddle the ruts. This worked well and I managed to get down without lifting a wheel. We followed the trail through deep puddles, across rocks and roots until we took a break at Wells Lake.
As we were the last ones into the lake, the break only lasted a minute or two. Just enough time to get a drink and get back into the truck. This was OK though, because there would be plenty of time waiting as each truck went one by one up Falcon Hill. Falcon Hill receives it's name from a couple of guys that brought a Ford Falcon out there and made it up the hill a long time ago. After making it up the hill, they erected a plaque with "Falcon Hill" stamped on it. It is a moderate loose rock hill climb with a drop on one side, but includes a shelf about 2/3s of the way up. The trucks without much articulation really struggled with this obstacle, but only one in series rig in the entire group had to get strapped up. It was great fun watching everyone get through. I hustled back to my truck and waited for my turn. I pulled the auto transmission lever into D for Drive and started heading up the hill. My dog, Khuno, noticed the bouncing and stood up to keep his balance. In doing so, he stepped on my "sport mode" button which turns my Auto transmission into a 4 speed manual when I'm in low range. D was now "4th" gear. With a serious lack of power, and almost stalling the truck managed to get through the obstacle. Love that 4.6!
The next obstacle was only a short distance away. And since Dave's DII had strapped someone on the last hill-climb he was near the back of the lineup. That put the series rigs in the front of the line and they weren't able to make it up the shelf. The LR3 made it up, which gave us a vehicle at the top to strap with. Paul made a great effort to get his RRC up. Backing down and trying different lines a couple of different times. Eventually, he wound up pretty far off the side of the trail and we decided to just strap him up. Dave Blair went next in his D2 and with a couple of tries managed to find a line that truck without lockers could make (the LR3 has a rear locker). My air compressor had failed about 10 minutes earlier rendering my locker inoperable. I tried a similar line that I had taken 2 years ago w/ a locker, but smacked my diff guard on the first try. On the second try I followed the line Dave succeeded with and managed to pop right up. The rest of the trucks seemed to just pop right up and we were on our way in no time.
The balance of the Whipsaw is without any serious obstacles but especially with a little snow on the ground, and a little falling from the sky it was still very scenic and an absolute joy to drive. I drove the entire way with my window down enjoying the fresh mountain air. As Dave said, "Everytime I drive this trail, it just puts a smile on my face." I couldn't agree more. The Whipsaw is an Amazing Trail.
Summary
Three members of the NW Overland Society join the BC Roverlanders on the Ashnola Traverse, Whipsaw Trail, and for their year-end Whipsaw BBQ. The BC Roverlanders maintain the Whipsaw Trail which was nominated as a BFG "Outstanding Trail".
More photos are available in my gallery.
AN AMAZING TRAIL
On Friday, the trip from Washington State up to Keremeos, BC was uneventful other than running into one of the BC Roverlanders, Andy, filling his RRC with water about 5 minutes before the rendezvous point. He assured us that it was a hairline fracture in the block and that he was watching it carefully and regularly putting in more water. We waited for him to finish and drove the rest of the way to Keremeos with him.
After filling our tanks with gas we joined the Roverlanders and caravaned out to the campground. The drive was very scenic with vivid yellow leaves, bright red shrubs, and fresh mountain water of Ashnola Creek flowing over the rocks. We camped in a primitive campground near the creek. The dogs ran around and played while we setup camp, made dinner, and introduced ourselves to the people we hadn't met before. There wasn't any rain to speak of, the stars were out, and the campfire conversation was very lively until about 11:30 when everyone headed off to bed.
The next morning we talked about the weather over breakfast, broke camp, and had our drivers meeting at 9:00. After spending a little time to get Andy's RRC started, we headed up the Ashnola Traverse. This road is narrow, steep, and filled with a lot of switchbacks but is otherwise quite easy. About 1/2 way up the traverse Andy stopped to put more water in, and it wouldn't start. After fiddling with it for about an hour it magically started; nobody is really sure why. We reached the summit shortly thereafter where the Roverlanders took a moment to visit a plaque commemorating a member who had passed away a few years prior. We continued the traverse down the other side, but the original trail had been erased by a clearcut. The Ashnola Traverse has a few good views, is a nice drive through the woods, and is a very easy non-technical trail.
At the bottom of the Traverse, we met up with a few more Roverlanders and touched base via the HAM radios with a few more that had already arrived at camp. The report was that there was freezing rain and snow at the top. Sounds like a cold night. A few guys headed into town to fillup on petrol, while the rest of us had lunch. Bill, noticed that his green D90 was leaking coolant and narrowed it down to a bad water pump. Fortunately, he had a spare! Bill, Don, John, and ??? dove in and started replacing it. A really big and dark cloud started blowing in, so we decided to get most of the group moving on towards the nights camp. Shawn quickly erected a shelter over the hood so the guys wouldn't have to work in rain while the rest of us headed out.
Dave/Pam Blair led the group up in their DII, and included a stop at an old ore mine a little ways before the trailhead. The sun was out again. The ore mine was kind of interesting. There were remnants of an old sorting area and a conveyor belt. The most interesting part by far though was the shrapnel embedded in the trees. With a little bit of detective work, we decided that a boiler exploded sending the shrapnel in all directions. After a few photos, we headed off to the cabin near the beginning of the Whipsaw Trail.
At the cabin, a plaque was mounted in memory of Shawn's dog Charlie and the Blair's dog Willow both of whom passed away this last year. Watching Pam and Shawn hug as they mourned the loss of their old friends choked me up a bit, so I headed back to my truck to pet my dog and give him a good scratching behind his ears. Shawn, Dave, and Pam I am really sorry to hear about your loss.
After putting the plaque up, we pushed on to camp. The portion of the Whipsaw trail that leads into camp is relatively easy but like all of the Whipsaw is amazingly beautiful. We splashed through a few puddles, climbed a couple of small rocks, and rolled into an alpine lakeside camp with plenty of daylight left to setup camp. Several of the guys were already there. They drove two Unimogs up fully loaded with tents, generators, barbeques, and everything else necessary to provide a feast for all of us. And a feast it was! It was really cold and windy at the top, but they had a really nice fire going with a rain shelter next to it. People quickly gathered here after setting up there tents. The guys doing the cooking started sending down trays of chips/salsa, veggies, and dip, and sausage before calling us all over to the big tent for the feast. They had prepared a meal of BBQ'd ribs, chicken, sausage, Caesar salad, potatoe/carrot vegetable mix, wine, boiled or roasted corn, ice cream, and cookies. It all tasted great! Thank you to all of the Roverlanders but especially Pete, Chris, Pete's unimog buddies, and Shawn and his wife whom I was told put it all together.
With the weather extremely cold everyone headed off to bed about 10pm. It was a cold night, but not too windy, and only an occasional pitter patter of precipitation on the tent. We woke to a light dusting of snow and the sun rising over the hills. There were still a few clouds in the sky, but it looked like we were going to have reasonably good weather. Roger and I quickly made a cup of coffee to warm up. I enjoyed walking around looking at the sunrise and taking a few photos with the good light. Roger, Paul, and I got things packed up and were able to break camp with the first group of trucks heading out to run the rest of the Whipsaw.
The Whipsaw is an amazing trail. It has everything. Sections that require you to wind your way between trees, splashing through puddles, hill climbs, rock shelves, steep decents, moguls that get you cross-axled, etc. All of this, and the scenery is fantastic too. After leaving camp, the trail meandered through alpine grasslands, crossed muddy gullies, and picked its way through the trees. The first serious obstacle was a decent where the trail had a deeply eroded trench. The Defender 110 2 trucks in front of us lifted a tire about 4 feet in the air which made for a great photo. After watching another couple of trucks decend I decided to try and saddle the ruts. This worked well and I managed to get down without lifting a wheel. We followed the trail through deep puddles, across rocks and roots until we took a break at Wells Lake.
As we were the last ones into the lake, the break only lasted a minute or two. Just enough time to get a drink and get back into the truck. This was OK though, because there would be plenty of time waiting as each truck went one by one up Falcon Hill. Falcon Hill receives it's name from a couple of guys that brought a Ford Falcon out there and made it up the hill a long time ago. After making it up the hill, they erected a plaque with "Falcon Hill" stamped on it. It is a moderate loose rock hill climb with a drop on one side, but includes a shelf about 2/3s of the way up. The trucks without much articulation really struggled with this obstacle, but only one in series rig in the entire group had to get strapped up. It was great fun watching everyone get through. I hustled back to my truck and waited for my turn. I pulled the auto transmission lever into D for Drive and started heading up the hill. My dog, Khuno, noticed the bouncing and stood up to keep his balance. In doing so, he stepped on my "sport mode" button which turns my Auto transmission into a 4 speed manual when I'm in low range. D was now "4th" gear. With a serious lack of power, and almost stalling the truck managed to get through the obstacle. Love that 4.6!
The next obstacle was only a short distance away. And since Dave's DII had strapped someone on the last hill-climb he was near the back of the lineup. That put the series rigs in the front of the line and they weren't able to make it up the shelf. The LR3 made it up, which gave us a vehicle at the top to strap with. Paul made a great effort to get his RRC up. Backing down and trying different lines a couple of different times. Eventually, he wound up pretty far off the side of the trail and we decided to just strap him up. Dave Blair went next in his D2 and with a couple of tries managed to find a line that truck without lockers could make (the LR3 has a rear locker). My air compressor had failed about 10 minutes earlier rendering my locker inoperable. I tried a similar line that I had taken 2 years ago w/ a locker, but smacked my diff guard on the first try. On the second try I followed the line Dave succeeded with and managed to pop right up. The rest of the trucks seemed to just pop right up and we were on our way in no time.
The balance of the Whipsaw is without any serious obstacles but especially with a little snow on the ground, and a little falling from the sky it was still very scenic and an absolute joy to drive. I drove the entire way with my window down enjoying the fresh mountain air. As Dave said, "Everytime I drive this trail, it just puts a smile on my face." I couldn't agree more. The Whipsaw is an Amazing Trail.
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