The Rover-Landers of BC

Hey Gerry,

Glad to hear you get to enjoy Northern BC,
So does this mean you will be able to fit our August trip
into your busy retirement schedule?

Kris

Kris , I'm sure going to try to fit it in . thx . Gerry

Hi again from PG ; Mike Allan this past weekend managed to get to Poplar Mountain from Titetown covering 9 kms in 3 hours . Poplar Mountain is approx 3700' above sea level . There is still a lot snow [ 2-2 1/2 ' ] here . The trail to this point is dead fall free . Getting to Kluskoil Lake from Poplar Mountain [ another 9+km ] may be a different matter as we do anticipate dead fall in this section . We will see .

On another note , we plan to visit Nazko and take the Baezaeko and Coglistiko FSR's to another entrance of the Mackenzie Trail head [ the Kluskus Wagon Trail ] . Mike Allan has informed me that a 50 km gravel road was built [ fall of 2006 ] as a branch off the Baezaeko FSR to the Klukus village bypassing the Klukus Wagon Trail . The old Kluskus Wagon Trail has not been used in 2 years ? and surely will be dead fall alley and a bit over grown . To me , having driven this trail , this was a fantastic 4x4 trail and test . We plan to ascertain what the current state of this part of the trail is actually like .

Gerry of PG .

Thanks Gerry for the advance scouting!

Dave

Dave , the ' scouting ' is on hold till it warms up . This am is cool [ -5c ] with blizzard like conditions that are off and on up here in the Hart . The veteran locals tell me this is worst winter in 15 years in terms of snow conditions ???? All I know is that we still have 2'+ of snow in the yard and need Vancouver weather-like conditions here for a week or 2 to eject winter's strangle hold on us . Other than that , Prince George is all good ; winter clothing is fashionable and having no traffic here compared to the Lower Mainland is a positive .

Gerry B

I don't think you need Vancouver's weather right now as it has just snowed all day here in Abbotsford
Andrew

Does anyone have GPS tracklogs they would like to share of the trail?

I could put together a Garmin compatible overlay map that is fully routable. I've picked up a copy of the trail guide so that should help me a bit.

Are there any good printed (or online) maps of the area that have more up to date road data than the Federal Topographic maps? Does the BC government do maps? I have all the federal topo maps plus the national road networks so can include whatever roads are on them, but I assume they are out of date. They sure look it.

http://www.tsa.gov.bc.ca/sites_trails/f ... ve_map.htm

Try that. Once you move into a specific area you can put in topographical overlays, and view all forest service roads and such. Interesting to look at.
Not sure if you've seen it before.

It's plotted out a few trails for me. :)

After I posted, I did some digging and found that. It should help. On first glance the roads look the same as what I have. Once I get into the project , I'll go through it carefully to see if there are any useful differences on there.

If I get a GPS track, I'll have a better idea what route you guys took. Waypoints of any interesting locations would be of great help on the map as well. These will be searchable on the GPS.

Unfortunately, it looks like the BC government data is all a pay (a lot) service. And there I thought you guys had a socialist government... :wink:

I should note that a free Garmin compatible topo and road map set for the whole country will be available online very soon. This will contain all of the information on the federal topo maps plus up to date roads. Just a little teaser....I'll post a new topic when it gets out of beta testing.

I do have a full GPS track from last trip, however its hard to post here due to its format, so if you send me an email with your email address, I'll be happy to send them out to you.

cheers Dave

daveblair [at] blackpress [dot] ca

Thanks Dave. I sent you an email.

For anyone else red90 at shaw.ca

Thanks, John

Dave sent me a very comprehensive and well documented list of waypoints for the route. It looks great and with the mapping I have available, I can hopefully estimate the track you took fairly well.

If there is anyone else with data, please send it on over. The more I get, the better map we end up with.

I've also had a brief look through Woodworth and Flygare's guide book. It has quite well detailed maps of the original route. I may "try" and sketch that out on the map in addition to the driving route as I think it might prove interesting during the trip.

I had a note from one of the AMVRA people that there has been quite a bit of Pine Beetle damage and the associated logging along the route which may impact route finding.

These were Kris' Waypoints from our last trip through. Kris will undoubtedly be leading us along a similar route this time as most places there's only one road.

Dave

Here's the plan,

Meet at Whatcom Rd. on Sunday afternoon as several people need time to make it over from the island.
From there we will take high way 1 to Cache Creek where we can meet up with people coming from Alberta,
OR any one who wants to drive to our final meeting destination in Extra Foods parking lot at a crack of noon on Monday , August 4th..
This will be our last chance for last minute grocery shopping and last fuel stop till we get to Anahim Lake hopefully six days and 400 km later.
We will camp at Kluskoil Lake that night.
From there on we will push on thru and take it as it comes till we make it to Gatcho Lake and from there take the Beef trail to Anahim Lake where we will get our first glimpse of civilization.
From here on some of us will take Hwy 20 towards Williams Lake and return journey home.
For those of us who will continue on the second leg of this trip we will take Hwy 20 to the end ! Bell Coola about 140 km .
Camp for the night and board ferry on Monday at 8 am for an all day journey arriving in Port Hardy @ 9 pm that day.
If for any reason we wont be able to make it in time for Monday morning ferry departure , the next ferry will leave
on Wednesday night at 7:45 arriving in Port Hardy the next morning at 7:45.
We will try very hard to make it for Monday as a day trip would be much more enjoyable and the Wednesday schedule is only a back up plan.
Here's link to the ferry schedule
http://www.bcferries.com/schedules/disc ... rrent.html
We do have to make reservations for this route and I will find out all the details .
The fare for this ferry ride is $288.55 for a vehicle and vehicle only.
Plus $143.30 for an adult.
here's link to ferry fares
http://www.bcferries.com/fares/Discover ... _2008.html

From Port Hardy we will make our way to Nanaimo which is about 400 km away .


This plan is still in works so if you have any concerns of ideas, this it the time to speak up!

Sounds like things are coming together well. Ferry costs haven't come down any in the past 10 years hhahhahahahhhahahhah

Question to ponder (and I'm sure you are considering it already)... if we make the reservations, which I assume we'll have to guarantee with payment are we committed to that schedule or do we have an out if we are late getting off the trail?

Many thanks for making all the effort to organise our sorry asses!


cheers,bill

The last time when we did the trail and took the ferry out of BellaCoola, we booked the ferry on Sunday the day before it sailed and had no problems getting on. The trip during the daytime is well worth it.

Good Luck and have fun
Bernie

Checked with the ferries today,
If we make a reservation and we don't show up, we lose $30 .
Full payment must be made at the time of reservation.
Maybe we should just wait and see what happens, If we can't make the ferry on Monday at 8 , we should just drive home .No point in a ferry ride at night at this price.
I would like to go and visit Bella Coola regardless of the ferry.

What do you think?

Although regrettably I will not be able to join you this year, I thought I would chime in with some info.

Two years ago my son Scott and I did the backroads from Lilloet all the way to Bella Coola and back. Went through the gang ranch crossing, and back roads most of the way to Anaheim Lake, then the run down the "Big Hill" to Bella Coola.

Theres not a lot to see in Bella Coola...It really just is the end of the road. The campsite in Tweedsmuir just at the bottom of the hill, is a great place just to hang out. It's right beside the Atnarko RIver....otherwise known as the Grizzly Bear Highway to the coast.

Fishing is great in August (cutthroat and the occasional salmon), and you can be sure to see at least one of two bears per day. They wander down the river (and sometimes through the campsite) an their way to the dog salmon runs coming up from the end of the inlet.

As long as you practice "no trace" camping (that is don't leave food stuff around your campsite) the bears will leave you alone. I did pack bear bangers and had bear spray wherever we went as a precaution. Siing little songs, take a bear bell or just make noise as you are wandering through the scrub by the river. If you see one approaching huddle up, wave your arms, look big and they'll just walk away...they are generally pretty full of salmon.

I may see you all there as Scott and I had such a good time, that is where we are heading to mid August time frame.

Pics of our trip and our big fuzzy friends are here...for your viewing pleasure.

http://s112.photobucket.com/albums/n167 ... 0Coola_06/

Guest password is Fluffysnow

Any questions feel free to ask.

Cheers and hope to see you all up there in August.

Hey Kris,
I would like to go all the way to Bella Coola either way but agree that there's no point in taking the ferry at night if we miss the first one. Based on Bernie and April's experience, I think we should not make advanced reservations either, just do it the day before as well. If we make it, great, and if not, no worries, we just drive home from there, I'm sure we can find another interesting route.

Pete

Hey no worries you guys will make it out on sunday and get on the ferry monday
I have a good feeling about this
Have fun see ya all at the ABFM
you to Kris
Bern

Speaking of the ABFM,
it was suggested that while attending the show we should have a meeting regarding Alexander Mackenzie trip .
How many of you would be interested in coming to the show for this meeting?


Dave,
Would it be possible to get a sign up form set up like we did last time.
It would be nice to have an idea how many people are planning on attending this trip.
Thanks

Kris

Hi Kris,

The forms take a bit to produce so I don't know if I'll get one done any time soon. but for now, if you could edit your first post to show a list of those that have indicated they'd be coming that would be great. You can then add people to the list as others let you/us know.

cheers, Dave

That will do.

So, anyone interested in coming on this trip could you let me know your name, where from, how many people in your party and what kind of a vehicle.
I will keep updating the list as I get new names.
You can find the list in my first post.

Have you received a list from ALRE?

John Barge
Calgary
2 people. Myself and my 11 year old son.
90 - 200TDI.

Hi John,

You are the first one to reply with regards to my last post.
Who is ALRE?

Kris