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ATV/BC Poker Ride 2006Logan Lake AreaJune 21-25/06 Written by Greg Photos by Greg, Bruce, Downtown, and Highcountry This is the personal experience of just one person. I originally wasn't planning to head to this event due to financial reasons. Then on Monday in ShopTalk (the Quads.ca chat room), Highcountry and Roughcountry offered to take me up there, give me a place to sleep in their 25' Jayco travel trailer, and cook for me! Hm, let me think about that. Okay, twist my arm. Everyone else had been planning and packing for a week or more. My quad was sitting at Carter Motorsports in Coquitlam getting a service and front end alignment. On Tuesday I managed to book the rest of the week off work, and Tuesday night I started packing/arranging things. WednesdayOn Wednesday I slept in until 9:30am, did my shopping and running around, then headed home to load up my truck. While I was carrying something, I managed to slam my right elbow into an open door edge. *ow* Starting things off in fine fashion, as usual. I hooked up the trailer, and headed over to Carter to pick up my quad. Then it was off to Highcountry and Roughcountry's place. We loaded up our gear, then when Roughcountry was backing their quad out of the garage, he accidentally hit the trailer's screen door, ripping out the bottom end of it. *doh* The rest of the loading proceeded without incident, and we finally hit the road around 8:30pm. We made a quick stop in Sardis to visit our good friend Tim Horton; I thought I spotted Singleton across the street at the Husky with a couple of bags of ice over his shoulders, but the guy got into a minivan with a quad on the trailer, so I assumed it was somebody else. We pulled in to the campsite around midnight; everyone was asleep except for the guy in the minivan, who was rummaging around inside. Everything that had been inside the van was now sitting on his trailer as he was making space to sleep. With all the stuff piled on the trailer, it looked like he was a homeless guy living out of his van, except for the fact that he had the quad. He wandered over to say hi, and it turned out to be Singleton after all. He was in the minivan because his "real" camping rig wasn't ready yet. I had a difficult time falling asleep; I usually do when it's my first night in an unfamiliar environment. Plus, we hadn't set the levelling jacks up yet, so any little movement by us or the dogs shook the trailer (felt like an earthquake one time!). By the time I was able to fall asleep, it was already getting light (somewhere around 4:30am). ThursdayAwoke bright and early to the campsite starting to stir (that's me saying that I woke up when Singleton started his engine and moved his van). Roughcountry headed off to Kamloops with the truck to pick up a rental quad from Variable Rentals (HC and RC only have one quad between them, for now). I took a photo of Highcountry and Roughcountry's two dogs, Lilly and Princess. I was eating something, so of course the dogs' eyes were fixated on the food, hoping I'd either drop something or give them a piece. My two Very Best Friends (at least while I had food in my hand) wouldn't leave my side, and if I didn't know any better, I'd swear that they hadn't been fed in a week. Highcountry and I joined a bunch of riders for a ride; we followed the start of the red trail for a bit then branched off into parts unknown. I was following and was just along for the ride, so I don't know the exact route we took. Along the way at a T-intersection, we encountered a mama bear and a little bear cub (which scampered up a tree as fast as it could). We patiently waited while mama sniffed the air and pretended she didn't know we were there. We could see baby bear clambering around a large tree, then peeking out from behind it. Eventually it climbed down and they wandered off in the same direction that we wanted to go. We waited a while longer for them to disappear, then we made some loud noises before proceeding cautiously up the trail. We headed towards Bose Lake and Forge Mtn. When we stopped at an old mine shaft and log building, I suddenly realized that I'd been here before with my Toyota 4x4, probably about 10 years ago. Forge Mtn, home to a microwave site, offered a good view of the Highland Valley Copper Mine. The wood platform that Oweee and I are parked on is a helipad for use by the radio techs. 
On the return trip, we passed through a 2 km section of cross-ditched road. Some of us just flew over the cross-ditches as speed, as we knew that if you hit them fast you'd barely feel them. Others slowed down for every cross-ditch, and carefully bumped over them. I tried telling some of them that if they hit them fast they would hardly notice them, but they didn't believe me. Highcountry mentioned that she had a new noise in her quad that she was trying to figure out. Somebody else who also owned a Bombardier 400 took it for a test ride, but reported that not only did he not notice anything unusual, it was actually quieter than HIS quad. This day's ride was an easy route, suitable for 2wd and novice riders (provided that you knew where you were going, of course). The "toughest" part was the start of the trail, where it wound through the clear-cut and forested section before hitting the powerline. 
I should mention that all Poker Ride routes were all marked with prominent signage, which was great for us tourists. So if you were to wander off onto other trails, as long you as you were able to find just one trail marker you knew that you'd be able to get back to camp despite being unfamiliar with the area. And since the routes criss-crossed all through the area, the chances of spotting a marker were pretty good. 
When we got back to camp, we found that Roughcountry had repaired the screen door with some brackets and screws. I also found Purdy's chocolates on my pillow, courtesy of Highcountry. :) Roughcountry and Highcountry rode their quads into town for fuel; I stayed behind and babysat my Very Best Friends. 
FridayI originally started writing this trip report shortly after the event, then I got busy, and now it's August 17. So the rest of the trip report will be much less detailed! Highcountry, Roughcountry, and I were planning on heading out for a quiet ride to visit a few lakes that they knew of. A few others decided to join us, and suddenly we had about ten quads in our group! We started off by heading to Jack's Lake, the first lake on the red run. Then we got onto some little trails through the forest that occasionally criss-crossed the red trail. Most of us had no clue where the heck we were, but it was pretty obvious that our trip leader Highcountry had run these trails many times. There was one trail where we turned around as she figured we had taken a wrong turn; Roughcountry went down a different trail to check it out and reported via radio that it was the correct one. If I recall, that trail was one of the coolest of the day; a bit of twisty forest riding, a bit of off-camber traversing, and assorted other stuff that makes a trail great. Due to the pace, I didn't get any trail photos. Then it was north to Dairy Lake, then to "Four Corners" (an intersection of two mainlines), then onto Gotten FSR and to what we think is Gotten Lake. Somebody had built a catapult of sorts there, so we attempted to launch Treds into the lake, with limited success. We got onto Dominic FSR for a short while, and eventually found ourselves at Duffy Lake, where we stopped for lunch. One of the quads had a stuck winch cable; after fiddling with it for a while, they hooked it to a tree via a tree saver strap and freed the cable by putting the quad in reverse and giving it a bit of gas. There were some other ATVers camped at the lake; we said hi, and during one of the conversations were informed that they were looking for but were unable to locate a geocache that Roughcountry had hidden in the area. After lunch, we left the lake, and headed for the geocache site. It was in fact where he had left it. We headed back towards camp via the Dominic FSR, with a bit of exploring and only one wrong turn. 
Back at camp, more people were arriving. A steady stream of vehicles were pulling in, and I spotted a motorhome being towed in by a tow truck. I chatted with the owner; apparently the motorhome's transmission had died on the Coquihalla, so rather than miss out on the weekend, he had the tow truck take them to Logan Lake. When the tow truck driver was getting ready to leave, the motorhome owner said "Be back here on Monday morning!" 
I'm not sure if this next occurence happened this evening or on another evening, but I missed it and was told about it by Roughcountry. Apparently somebody was travelling with their guinea pig, and it somehow got out of their camper or trailer, and the hunt was on! Everyone in the area was running every which way, chasing the guinea pig as it ran from truck to truck, scooting beneath trailers and other obstacles. Roughcountry found it hiding behind a trailer tire, and grabbed it. The guinea pig was wriggling and squealing as loud as it could, and it's owners were yelling "Don't let go! It always does that!" lol Would have been good to get it on video. SaturdayI had been volunteered to work a checkpoint during the actual Poker Ride, so after a hearty breakfast at Gwen's cook house, we headed off to where we were supposed to be, which turned out to be a few km's up the road from Four Corners. Getting there was a bit of an adventure, as Rhino Bob got wedged between a couple of trees in a narrow section, and couldn't move forward or backwards. That got some of us separated from the rest of the checkpoint squad, so we did a bit of guessing to figure out where we were going. 
The checkpoint was located on both the red and yellow courses, so we were kept fairly busy pulling poker hands. I think Highcountry, Roughcountry, and Richard were the first quads through, riding the red route. Larryjj came by shortly thereafter, and after we pulled his poker hands, he headed off down the road. A few minutes later, a quad approached us from the opposite direction, so we figured it was a yellow-route rider. Nope, it was Larryjj, slowing down with a big smile on his face. I said "Larry! What are you doing here?" "Checkpoint!" he happily replied. I said "No Larry, you were just at this checkpoint a few minutes ago!" Apparently he had circumnavigated the lake down the road like he was supposed to, but missed a sign and ended up on the checkpoint road again, and thought he was at a new checkpoint! We had a good laugh at his expense, then sent him on his way. 
There were a few mishaps out on the trail; a few quads on the red route had experienced difficulties in the mud pit, such as Downtown getting bucked off backwards into the mud. He took a "bath" in a nearby creek to clean off some of the goo. 
Downtown showed up with Troy's disabled Polaris Sportsman 700 in tow; Troy had broken a front axle in the mud hole, then blew a coolant line because his rad was plugged. We loaded it onto Kpal's Chevy to give it a ride back to camp. We got a report that a girl had crashed and been injured at the lake down the road; a few of us grabbed first aid kits and headed off. She was bandaged up and transported to the checkpoint; we called the "ambulance" which was a Tirecraft pickup manned by members of Logan Lake Search and Rescue (SAR), who took her back to camp. Apparently she had broken a rear axle on her Polaris, which tossed her off the quad. She left the broken quad at the checkpoint for her father to pick up later with a truck and trailer. After the last quads had passed through, one of the red-route sweep quads limped into the checkpoint, having gotten a flat tire on the route. He was going to try to ride it back to camp like that, when somebody noticed that his Polaris had a similar wheel and tire to the broken quad. After some discussion about whether anyone might mind, we "stole" a good wheel and tire from the broken quad, and installed onto the sweep's Polaris. Good to go! By this time, the girl's father had arrived with his truck and trailer, so we told him what was going on and helped him load his broken Polaris (which now had a flat tire as well) onto his trailer. 
I made a point of taking a photo of this pretty flame-red Polaris, which I know for a fact was quite dirty just earlier. The owner has an outdoor shower and used it to clean his quad! 
Some time around 6:00pm, everyone headed over to the rodeo grounds for the prize draw. Lots of great prizes were given out to many happy riders. The grand prize, a Can Am DS250 sport quad, was won by Rene Owen of the RidgeRiders ATV Club in Prince George. Thanks to all the sponsors who donated prizes to the event. Sorry for the poor quality of the photos, but my little camera couldn't handle the low light in the building. 
Back at camp, while sitting around chatting, I attempted to get a photo of Ed's beautiful chow. Unfortunately, it was camera shy, and even knew the sound of a camera getting switched on. When I powered mine up, it looked around, suspiciously. As soon as it spotted my camera, it ducked away. I decided to be sneaky; I walked away, powered up my camera, then came back and sat in my chair. When the chow came to visit, I pulled my camera out from under my shirt and fired off a quick photo as the chow quickly shut it's eyes. 
After dinner, I was wheedled into leading some of the younger riders on a night ride. I started off on the red route, then once past the residential area got onto the powerline road. We followed the powerline road as it dipped and wound generally north (I think), and checked out a side trail which ended up getting too rough for my entourage so we turned around. We got onto a mainline for a bit, then got onto a gas pipeline road heading south (I think), which I hoped would lead us in the general direction of camp. Phoenix said that at one point when we stopped to let the others catch up, there was a snake right there. She originally thought it was a stick, until it started moving! She said it sent chills up her spine for the rest of the ride. I totally missed it. Amazingly enough, the pipeline road turned into the original powerline road, saving my bacon and making it look like I planned the loop. We got back onto the red route to bypass riding past the residential area. I'm still not exactly sure how the roads joined up, but I am guessing that there was a fork or branch that I missed in the dark when we first headed out. SundayAfter breakfast, Roughcountry headed to Kamloops to return the rental quad. Highcountry and I decided to check out the blue route. Along the way we caught up to Paul Mitchell and some others, chatted briefly, then continued on. We checked out a few side trails and lakes; I don't remember which ones but Chattaway and Dot Lakes come to mind. We ran into Paul again in a different area, but he was heading in the opposite direction this time. Not sure how he did that! As we were nearing camp, I stopped to chat to a lone rider sitting at an intersection. He said he was waiting for the ambulance, as a rider had ridden off of a cliff. Logan Lake SAR quickly arrived with the rescue basket in tow, and they departed back up the road. I caught up to Highcountry, who was waiting at a wire gate for me so she could close it behind us. After speaking to John from JMC Industries later on, the gist of the story was that a young first-time rider was on a Yamaha demo ride, and somehow rode off the cliff, known by the locals as Suicide Hill or something similar. It was a long and scary ride down the rocks, but apparently he was okay, suffering non-life-threatening injuries. Other than the minor mishaps, I think most had a pretty good time. I was told that there were approximately 400 quads in attendance. Thumbs up to ATV/BC, the Logan Lake ATV Club, and Logan Lake SAR for putting on a great event. And a big THANK YOU to Highcountry and Roughcountry for their hospitality. |
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