Jasper/Prince George/Victoria/Tofino/Banff 2011

[KIRUXA]

Hello, this is my first post on this website as far as completed expeditions go. My name is Kirill and i imported myself a 1994 Toyota Land Cruiser VX Limited 1HZ NA Diesel from Japan in December 2010. I always loved the looks of the 80 series and after doing some research for the best overland vehicle decided that the all mighty cruiser would be the best. Its almost nearly stock, but its a work in progress. In the meantime, after i bought it, i was to start planning my first trip. The trip had to be long enough to get a taste of adventure and self dependance however not too long and not too far away so i could get myself into big trouble as an unexperinced explorer. The reason for the trip was to self educate in surviving, navigating and communication skills for both of us as well as to test out the rig and see some new landscapes, which would in return prepare us more for more challenging expeditions.
We decided for a month of August as the bugs are at minimal and the creeks are low, but still very nice and warm and set out journey from Edmonton, Alberta to Tofino, BC. The plan was to make a nice big loop forth and back and catch as many dirt trails and not beaten paths on the way. We gave ourselves up to 14 days of travel time, while camping in the tent and occasional stay in the hotel to treat ourselves to a hot shower. The total distance was about 4000kms, it went Edmonton/Prince George/Williams Lake/Whistler/Victoria/Tofino/Vancouver/Banff/Calgary/Edmonton. The morning we were going to leave, we snapped a few shots of Me My girlfriend Delia and our trusty 80): to be continued......

 

[deadly99]

:lurk:

 

[Christian P.]

Beautiful Land Cruiser. If that was me, I would keep it stock as much as possible...

what kind of mpg (or l/100km) did you get on your trip?

 

[hack99]

Look forward to your adventure.

 

[KIRUXA]

Beautiful Land Cruiser. If that was me, I would keep it stock as much as possible...

what kind of mpg (or l/100km) did you get on your trip?

Thanks! The temtation to make an overland vehicle out of it is too tempting but im not planning on cutting corners to get the vehicle to where i want it to be. Only quality. The mileage wasnt that great due to mostly mountain roads and especially NA Diesel. For an 85L tank, the best i did was 600kms. Which is 14L/100kms haha its pretty bad! Hopefully ill get a turbo from HD-T soon...

Anyways im resizing the pictures right now and will continue with my report!):ylsmoke:

 

[iRagedoYou]

Man thats a great FJ, I lived in Japan for couple of years and tried to import a car or two but it didn't work out for me. Would you mind sharing how exactly you went about to make this happen? I hope thats not too much of a trouble.
Enjoy that beautiful ride!

 

[achampagne]

Great looking truck, looking forward to the pics.

 

[KIRUXA]

Day 1:

We were set to leave early in the morning as planned, the night before ive spent a while overlooking and double checking that we have not forgotten anything that we might need. We decided to drive all the way from Edmonton to Prince George which is about 740kms though some flats of Alberta, Jasper National Park and then onto some windy roads through The Rocky Mountains all the way to Prince George. Anyways onto the pictures:

First sights of mountains

Definitely moving WEST! (I have purchased the trusty compass and 500 Page Back Road Atlas of Canada, which both proved to be very handy later, rather than fancy gadgets)

 

[KIRUXA]

After providing ourselves with some quick lunch and some fresh diesel for the LC in the town of Jasper, we started to drive through some really windy areas......when we encountered an accident involving a motorcyclist who seemed to have lost control of his bike and was just sitting in the middle of the road while getting assistance. (No better picture for privacy reason), this definitely reminded us how things can go wrong quickly and how we still have 5000kms to go.

And past some gorgeous mountain lakes:snorkel:

P.S. If anyone wants high resolution pictures, let me know (Not that im a great photographer or that my camera is nothing special)

 

[Railvan]

"Edmonton/Prince George/Williams Lake/Whistler/Victoria/Tofino/Vancouver/Banff/Calgary/Edmonton"

Wow. I hate you... OK, not really... I could spend months on that route!

I just LOVE that country and even though I am reasonably close I have not had time to get up there in waaaay too long. Looking forward to the photos!

 

[KIRUXA]

Man thats a great FJ, I lived in Japan for couple of years and tried to import a car or two but it didn't work out for me. Would you mind sharing how exactly you went about to make this happen? I hope thats not too much of a trouble.
Enjoy that beautiful ride!

Well Im from Russia and always wanted one of these, so i have a couple of friends who advised me a company and a very good owner of such who does this for a business. I dont want to get in trouble so pm me if you want the website. These guys have been bringing vehicle for the last 13 years i think. So i contacted the owner who gave me the most detailed breakdown of how things were going to work as far as search of the vehicle though blind auction ( blind means that you tell him your max price landed with taxes in and the base the purchase of that minus all the charges). It was a fun process, especially when you get the access the the auction data base and you can find your own vehicle and let him know about it. Then 2 of his men go and do the initial inspection and let you know if its any good or even worth bidding. Then if it is you tell them your max price range and you go to bed. Next morning you wake up and they tell you whether you won or not. I have lost twice by $300. The one version of LC was "Camping Edition" came with stove and sink inside of it! But again because its blind you cannot raise your price. This black one i got for cheaper than my max price. Then they bring it to their shop in Japan and do the diagnostics. Then you pay full price to allow the vehicle to leave Japan. 2 weeks on a boat in enclosed container + 1 more week for customs. Then they call you that the vehicle is free to go. You can pick it up or put it on the train for $500 almost anywhere in Canada. I picked it up myself for the experience. Theres quite a but of paper work and registration out of province inspection hassle involved. But that again depends on where you live. The whole process took about 1.5 months. From the purchase to the time when i started that diesel engine for the first time on North American Land

As long as you go though the proper middle man and have some patience its fairly easy. I have done it once id do it again in a heartbeat (I was thinking of 70s skyline to be next).

Hopefully this helps, let me know if any other questions.

 

[KIRUXA]

Next was Mount Robson park, the highest mountain in Canada, truly spectacular!

So after finally getting to Prince George, the camp ground that we have booked appeared to be a RV parking lot with a bench under a fence and a highway 50feet away from a highway. We lost the $20 bucks but decided to leave and search another spot to spend our first night. We ended up at buckhorm lake and a forestry campground which is not maintained by anyone right along a forestry dirt road. The spot appeared to be a bit sketchy but good enough.

Had a meal with russian raviolies

Broke out our pop up tent but he while getting wood i noticed two things:

1. the bear marks everywhere
2. we were surrounded by saskatoon berry:Wow1:

To stay on the safe side we figure to move all the gear on the front seats, blow up our double mattress out of compressor and sleep inside the Bruiser

(no back seats and plenty of room)!

Good Night!

To be contunied...

 

[KIRUXA]

Day 2:

Woke up the next morning to a beautiful morning view, quick breakfast and back on the road.

The spider made a little web

The destination was to be Williams Lake and to find a campground somewhere in the area.

Before we got there, we decided to take the back road as per advice of one of the members on this site. Anyways onto the pics:

visited the town of Quesnel!

Then onto the dirt back road with some amazing views:

 

[KIRUXA]

Later in the day, we found a great campground just south east of Williams Lake:

It was time for steaks, rum and warm sleeping bags!

 

[Toycdn]

Great photos. FYI Mt. Robson isn't the highest mountain in Canada. Not even close http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highest_mountain_peaks_of_Canada