Canadian Backroads

[ld50]

...

 

[ld50]

The tracks up the first pic is where my front pass side outer shaft gave up the ghost I figure. The only original part of my d44 donor axles I had left, I should have known.

 

[ld50]

 

[carsonm]

Looks like fun, sorry I was out of town and couldn't do it with you. I'm in next time though for sure!

Carson

 

[ld50]

It was pretty tough, but would get easier later in the year. Definitely needed two days to complete it man, and when we stopped and the adrenaline cooled off you realized how mentally fatigued you were, and how much you wanted one of those cold beers swirling around in the ice chest, taunting you with that ice in a cooler sound.
Bummer is the real photo op areas were not really places to stop, since you get in the zone and just concentrate on getting through those tough areas.

The mosquitos were insane, that was the worst part -aside from the fire.

 

[IZwack]

Looking awesome up there!! Including the food!

 

[ld50]

I love a good breakfast when camping, lol

 

[manousos]

Not quite backroading, but still camping in BC - Kettle River Provincial Park. Wedged between the Oakangan Plateau and the Monashee Mountains

Site # 36

This is what was behind our campsite

Historic Kettle Valley Railway trestle, now part of the Trans-Canada Trail

No jumping

Except from here!

Dinner

 

[ld50]

Right on!
Some of the areas I go to are the Hope end of the Kettle valley railroad.

 

[manousos]

I might be in that neck of the woods next month - trying to plan a camping trip at Harrison. Maybe at Sasquatch..? Don't know the area too well so we're still researching - any recommendations..? Friends will be joining in a sedan

The Myra Canyon section of the KVR re-opened last month after the big Okanagan fire in 2003. Over 8000 people attended during the opening day - it was bananas!

 

[ld50]

Harrison can be pretty crazy at this time, and it`s a long drive to get to a decent place a sedan can access, like lakefront anyway.
I`m not sure what you mean by sasquatch, but to get to harrison west you come down hwy 7 from Hope and turn left at the sasquatch inn and follow the road behind it.
It depends if you want to be on the lake or not, and wether you want a government campsite. There is a lot of cool campsites along the Coquihalla river if you travel hwy 5.

This vid starts at my favorite campsite beside the coquihalla river -well I drive up into the site anyway..

 

[manousos]

Sasquatch Prov park...
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/sasquatch/

 

[ld50]

Ahh, in that case there are some hotsprings further up that way that may be worth checking out. look up "clear creek hotsprings".
I`ve never been in the sasquatch campground specifically, but it`s nice up there.
Clear creek has been opened up too much and very idiot and his dog ends up in there but there are a few tubs people built to capture the spring and it is pretty neat.
Another neat thing which I think is before the park on the Harrison east road is an old mine shaft. You drive past a logging camp and watch on your right. You`ll see just the vaguest impression of the road being a little wider, not so much a shoulder but an area to park at the side of the road. The shaft starts only 15 feet or so off th eside of the road and goes in only a hundred feet or so, kids seem to enjoy it, it`s pretty neat.

http://www.bc-alter.net/dfriesen/mineintro.html

That link is where the info I used to find the shaft I spoke of. IO can't remember exactly where but it`s an awesome link to check out!

 

[manousos]

Sweet - thanks for the info.
Looks like we'll be there weekend of Aug 16

 

[manousos]

Harrison trip was canceled, so instead we decided to tour the central/west Kootenays
Left Kelowna Friday night, went through Vernon and took the Monashee pass (never do this after sunset).
Camped at McDonald Creek Provincial Park, 12 kms south of Nakusp on the shores of the Arrow Lake Reservoir.
Visited Halcyon Hot Springs (highly recommended) and then took the long way back home through the West Kootenays - New Denver, Silverton, stopped by the Sandon town site (ghost town) and Summit Lake

This is why I love BC so much

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McDonald Creek Provincial Park, 12 kms south of Nakusp

Lot# 41

The view from our campsite. Arrow Lake Rrservoir and the Monashee Mountains

Nakusp

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Halcyon Hot Springs. 30 kms north of Nakusp. In the background are the Arrow Lake Reservoir and Monashee Mountains. The pools are fed with hot spring water

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Slocan valley - New Denver, Sandon, Silverton, Slocan Village

Paddlewheeler station. Ore would be brought here by train then loaded onto paddlewheelers that transported it to smelters.

Roseberry Provincial Park, Wilson Creek - just south of Silverton

Lookout point along Hwy 6 between Silverton and Slocan Village. Slocan Lake & The Valhallas. New Denver Icefield can be seen to the left. Only accessible by boat. Maybe next year

 

[ld50]

Nice up there, hey what are you using to produce those panoramics?

 

[manousos]

a program called Hugin - It's an open-source photo stitcher. Still learning it, the two images above were my first (relatively) successful attempts

http://hugin.sourceforge.net/

 

[ld50]

That`s neat, I`m going to try it out, thanks.

 

[manousos]

Labor day run - a local hill top called "Towers". HIghest point in the Okanagan Valley - about 2200 ft - best view in the valley, completely unobsrtucted as far as the eye can see.

Trail head is at the 2.8 (or so) km mark on Bear FSR, past the Westside Rd turn. The climb is 7kms, took me about 50 minutes to climb - I iz novice, in a stock truck, so it was low range all the way.

The climb was great, a steady and steep incline with deep ruts, completely unmaintained - lots of fun for a stock ex. The wife loved it

Just past the trailhead

About 2 kms in, Lake Okanagan in the background

Danger! Danger!

This is why I live here
Okanagan Valley. Kelowna is nestled at about 2 o`clock. The bridge is the William R Bennet floating bridge, recently replacing the old Kelowna floating bridge - first of its kind in Canada.
Past the bridge to the right is Okanagan Mountain Park, burned to a crisp in the 2003 firestorm.
To the far left is Wood Lake and beyond that the community of Oyama and Kalamalka Lake (the picture didn't quite capture it) featured in N. Geographic as one of the world's top 10 most beautiful lakes

it's pretty up here

 

[ld50]

That`s awesome!

Hey I tried that Hugin panoramic program, it is pretty amazing and easy to use.

Just put in 6 pics from the backyard, and this is what I got.

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