OORA 2012 - NOW CARIBOO/CHILCOTIN

[DaveB]

This Event has been Cancelled. However a viable alternative has been planned. Scroll down for details.

b]When:[/b] July 19-22, 2012, Thursday through Sunday. (Camping available Wednesday night)

Where: Cooke Creek Recreation Site is the base camp and runs in the north Okanagan. Details Below.

Cost: $40, please read on for details.

Hey everyone, time to start thinking about what you & your Land Rover want to do this summer! Nothing like the North Okanagan for great fun & great trails!

So here we go with year #6!! Plans are well underway with our crew: PG's Gerry & Margaret Bolduc and our Okanagan Boys to host the Okanagan Off-Road Adventure on July 19-22nd.

This event replaces the Rover Ranch event up here that, due to us moving in November 2011, is... no more.

Base Camp for 2012 will be at the Cooke Creek Rec Site, 25 mins east of Enderby and on the banks of the Shuswap River and directly across from the entrance to the Cooke Creek FSR. Some of you will remember this trailhead from 2011 when we went up and did the Jeep Trail.

We've been able to reserve half the recreation campsite with the Ministry of Forests. Most sites will have to be doubled up, but the sites are of an adequate size. 2 onsite outhouses. Picnic tables in each well treed spot.

GPS coordinates: 50.605157°N -118.846036°W

This Rover-Landers of BC event is open to all on a first come first serve basis, but due to limited camping spots we will be capping it at 20 trucks camping onsite.

However, if you are not camping onsite we still have lots of room for you to participate in any or all of the event. We'll post alternate camp info once these sites fill up.

Don’t leave it too long to reserve a spot, we already have several paid reservations in!

Trails & Schedule: easy, moderate & hard
July 19 - Day 1 - easy
July 20 - Day 2 - easy to moderate plus GPS Run
July 21 - Day 3 - moderate to hard
July 21 - Pot Luck Supper & Fun Awards
July 22 - go home

Cost: $40 per truck for the full event - sorry no exceptions! This event is being run out of a BC recreation campsite so it is a pre-book & pre-pay event only.

To pay via PayPal click this link: http://tinyurl.com/7g6z72z or you can send a cheque in the mail. Email us for the address.

Note: This is the only charge for the event – including the cost of camping. (If you are not able to register before we're full at the campsite the cost is still $40 plus you'll have to pay your own accommodations at an alternate camping venue or local motel/hotel.)

Most likely there will be snow/slush/mud/goo still at the upper levels here in July, so we just have to make the best of it. Come prepared, as we're still determined to get through the Jeep Trail!!

We're looking forward to this new venue at the Cooke Creek Rec Site on the banks of the Shuswap River and have some new trails & activities planned for the event.

Please contact Pamela or Dave if you wish more details.

We hope to hear from you soon!

Dave & Pamela Blair
Armstrong, BC
e: roverpups [at] gmail [.] com
or 66rover99 [at] gmail [.] com

[DaveB]

We have enough attendees to proceed. We're having a trail meeting next Monday night, and will be meeting with the rep from MoTSA in another week or so to finalize the details.

Still room for a few more trucks.

Dave

[unimogfever]

still have room for one more rover? thanks

[DaveB]

still have room for one more rover? thanks

Yes, theres still room for 3-4 more. cheers, Dave

[DaveB]

Hello OORA2012 Participants!

Bad news first...

No doubt most of you have caught the news in the last couple of weeks and have heard about all the flooding up here in the North Okanagan.

Due to the heavy snowpack and the cold wet spring up here, the result is massive flooding in many areas all over the Okanagan. Swollen rivers and creeks, washouts and... huge amounts of unmelted snow above the 5500 ft level.

We drove up and checked the snowline again yesterday (July 1st) and our calculations tell us we still have over 1500 vertical feet of deep snow to melt in just over 2 weeks to get to the destinations we had in mind for OORA. Trails we wanted to offer on Days 2 & 3 will definitely not be accessible in time and trails below this level just do not offer anything worthwhile for this type of event.

So… we've made the tough decision to cancel OORA2012.

A full refund will be sent to all paid participants.
(Let us know if you don't want it sent back via PayPal and want a cheque or cash instead)

Wait!... now here's the good news!

Not wanting to leave you all in a lurch as many of you have booked off holiday time or a couple of days off work to attend the event and some of you were willing to travel great distances to attend – Dave & I have come up with a Plan B of an exploration type that keeps us in the 1000-1200 metre altitude range (3000-4000 ft). We hope this will appeal to you but understand if it does not.

Plan B – Overland Off-Road Adventure
Dates: July 20-22
Meeting Spot: 9:00 am Shell Gas Station Hwy 97 Clinton on July 20th (No other meet spots will be arranged. In other words, use Thursday afternoon/evening to get into the area and prepare for a Friday morning departure as a group.)
Destination: South Cariboo/Chilcotin - exploring new areas and trails
Sites along the way: Gang Ranch, Churn Creek, Farwell Canyon, the rest to be determined.
Camping: We will set up a new camp each evening, depending on where the day's exploring has taken us. Off the trail well before suppertime for camp set-ups, dinner and relaxing time.
What to bring: Your sense of adventure!

We will send out further details such as GPS waypoints, possible camp spots for Thursday night, etc. in the next couple of days.

If you think this would work for you and you would like to participate with us, let us know.

We are truly sorry to have had to cancel OORA2012 (Okanagan) but there is definitely no way we can get through the deep snow still on the upper trails now or by the event.

thanks, Dave & Pamela

[unimogfever]

is the plan B still happening? thanks

[DaveB]

Yes, meeting time 9 AM Clinton Shell on July 20th.

Dave

[JC]

Hey Dave and Pam, sorry we've been quiet but busy so... we'll be coming along if that is OK, we'll come up Thursday and then meet you in Clinton on Friday. Looking forward to seeing you both.

J&S

[DaveB]

Additional notes regarding this event:

1. Camping Thursday night. If you don't want to do the drive to Clinton very early Friday morning the alternative is to drive part way Thursday night and camp somewhere. Unfortunately theres not a lot of recreation sites on the way up the Canyon for you guys coming from the coast, but there are a number of pull-offs close to the river, so please find your own spot for Thursday night. We'll be coming from the Okanagan so we'll find something from our direction.

2. Meeting spot and departure time will be FRIDAY morning, JULY 20th, 9:00 AM at the CLINTON, BC SHELL service station.

3. Joining us late. Some have indicated they can't leave until later in the day on Friday. The GPS coordinates for our intended camp spot are 51.432200° -122.411665°. This is Koster Lake. Providing we can find a reasonable camp spot for all of us, we intend to stay in the same location for both FRIDAY and SATURDAY night. If you don't find us at Koster Lake, continue down the road as we will set up camp somewhere between Koster and Clear Lake, a few KM further. (Rough directions: Make your way from Clinton to the Gang Ranch/Churn Creek Bridge using Meadow Lake Road, a main access road north of Clinton. Cross Bridge and turn left (south) and follow Empire Valley Road for roughly 12 KM until you get to Brown Lake. On the NORTH side of Brown Lake turn right onto Koster-Clear Lakes Rd. About 10 KM to Koster Lake. These roads are all marked in the Cariboo Chilcotin Backroads Mapbook)

4. Saturday our plan is to explore the Churn Creek area, including Yodel Road which heads southwest and links up with Poison Mountain Road, and back to the same camp.

5. Sunday we will explore north of this area, including Gang Ranch, the western cut banks of the Fraser, Farwell Canyon, Mt. Goat Lookout and out to Riske Creek in good time for your drive back home. I'm aiming to have you back on pavement by 3 PM, but of course theres lots of potential for this schedule to run amok… :o

6. I have a file of Waypoints if anyone wants them. It's attached below.

If you are going to be arriving Friday night, please let me know so we can watch for you. We'll monitor channel 4 on the CB although we all know that doesn't have much range.

thanks Dave

Cariboo Waypoints.zip

(7.9 KiB) Downloaded 137 times

[unimogfever]

finally got my brand new bfg mounted today :D , see you guys out there

[chrismac]

I'll be coming up late Friday.

[FvanWeelderen]

Hi everyone,

How did it go?

Sadly, the virtual Roverlander....

[DaveB]

I think it was a pretty decent outing... :wink:

We got to Koster Lake mid afternoon on Friday, then explored from there in a big loop Saturday and stayed at Fletcher Lake close to Hanceville Saturday evening.

Sunday we explored around Farwell Canyon and Junction Sheep Range Provincial Park. Neat park, very limited access, and of course you have to stay on the trails. Trails were easy, however definitely 4x4 only. We didn't see anyone else in the park, or any wildlife for that matter. Arrived in Williams Lake around 3 for gas and air before heading home.

cheers, Dave