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ATV/BC's Logan Lake Poker RideLogan Lake areaJune 22-26/05 Written by Paul Mitchell Photos by Paul Mitchell and Joebear  Late last year, it was announced that the Quad Riders Association of BC (ATV/BC) was going to have a poker ride, and the location was going to be Logan Lake. After hearing much positive feedback from people who attended the annual poker ride that the local Logan Lake ATV Club puts on, Bruce and I decided to include this in our trips for 2005. As you will read in this report, it was a great choice, not only for the riding terrain, but the organization and hospitality was top-notch!John Blinston, the president of ATV/BC, was the chief organizer for this event. He was assisted by local ATV club members and numerous other volunteers, without whose help an event this size would never have happened. Bruce and I also volunteered to help, and we rounded up some Quads.ca members who were going to pitch in and man a checkpoint. As you will read later, it was a great day, but first I will work through the trip day-by-day. WednesdayWe left home at 6:00am to miss the traffic, as getting out of Vancouver is sometimes as challenging as getting in. The drive was pleasant and we arrived after about 4 hours, and found ourselves to be the first ones at the campground. After meeting Gwen, who runs the canteen, we pulled into a spot while she rounded up some horses in the field. Quite the character she is, and we had some great fun. After some bantering back and forth, her friend came over all hot to trot thinking I was picking on her, but she settled him down after explaining that we were joking around. Bruce thought it was just great; only in town half an hour and already the locals were pissed at us! Anyways, we settled in and went for a ride on the White trail towards the Highland Valley Copper Mine to the east of town. This was one of the easiest of the 5 runs that were laid out for the poker ride. After winding our way through the bush, we came around a corner and were startled by what sounded like a 747 right next to us. Slowly we crept ahead, until we saw that it was a large excavator equipped with a blade, and he was weed-whacking the trees under the power lines. He saw us and let us get by, and we stopped and spoke with the on-site welder. This thing was amazing to watch as it chewed through trees, and pieces flew through the air a hundred feet. Lucky we didn’t get clobbered by this thing! 
We continued on and had lunch at a rec site by Gumph Lake, which was located at about the halfway point along the route. Returning to camp we saw that Warren and Bill had come in from Sheridan Lake where they had been staying. With them was Gord, who was also an ex-BCTEL worker like us. We sat around chatting for awhile and noticed some very dark clouds headed our way, and placed bets on if it would rain on us or pass us by. Well, I won, and Bruce and I had dinner inside my camper, and then spent the evening in Warren's motorhome telling stories. 
ThursdayDay two dawned clear. After coffee, Cal (Singleton) arrived and we had a short meeting with John. Then along with Tom from the Logan Lake ATV Club, we went out on the Grey route to make sure it was okay for Sunday. There were a few trees down, which we quickly removed. The Grey route was the utility route (no 4-wheel drive needed), and we did half of it along with half of the Blue (sport) run. We then got to the checkpoint that we were assigned to man on Saturday. It was set up so that all three rides (sport, utility, and 4x4) came through this spot, but the ride lengths were such that riders were spread out and arrived at different times. Great planning on their part! Carrying on, we took the red route (4x4) home. This was a very entertaining trail with some mud thrown in for fun, but was blocked at two spots by downed trees. Warren and Bill had some fun in a mud hole that, on ride day, had quite a number of spectators watching the fun. There was a tree root at the end that foiled every attempt to pass through! Getting back to camp, we ran into Gerry from the Lower Mainland ATV Club. He has a spot on Leighton Lake, and he said he would show us the trail out to Bose Lake which was on the utility run. 
FridayFriday started out nice, and half of the gang went on the red route to clear the deadfall, while Cal, Jerry, Bruce and I went east to check out the grey run. Again, another excellent trail with great views along the way. We stopped at Bose Lake for lunch, and returned to camp around 2:00pm. That afternoon, John had arranged for a run into town to the ice-cream parlour, and about 30 riders took part. Great fun was had, until the sky opened up and a downpour soaked us all. Oh well, it was worth it! 
In the evening, the guys attended a meeting for ride volunteers, but I stayed back as Linda and Eric were scheduled to arrive at 7:00pm. After settling them in, we had dinner and some drinks while meeting people wandering around camp. Joebear was there along with Marv (Quadx4), Bluerider from Lilloet, and others from the Lower Mainland ATV Club and the Valley Trail Riders. 
SaturdayWe awoke early, and wandered over to the canteen for a $5.00 breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and sausages, then headed off to our checkpoint. Manning our station along with Bruce and I were Dale (Powerstroke), John Field, Cal, Eric, Linda, Warren and Bill. By the time the first riders came through, we had practiced our routine to process them as fast as possible. The day went pretty smooth, and we were back around 3:00pm. We then headed off to the canteen for a few beers and snacks. Here we had our only accident, as Joebear forgot about the laws of physics and sat on the same side of the bench as Chris, and food and beer went flying! Chris got the worst of it, and had a lap full of salsa. The draw took place, and a young fellow from Maple Ridge took home the new Honda utility quad. After all the prizes were drawn we headed back to the trucks and had a small pot-luck dinner. 
SundayOn Sunday, Gerry said that he would lead us to Greenstone Mtn, so off we went on the Red route which was now a pretty well worn trail, and carried on through more muddy sections and beautiful forest. Joebear would have liked this as I got stuck, and Eric pulled me out, or should I say sprayed me out. I was covered and so was my machine. I’ll know better next time when he gets that evil look in his eyes! After I got out, Marv showed how it was done, winding up his Polaris 800 and skimming across the muck. We took the long way back, and after several wrong turns we arrived back at our checkpoint and did the run back into Logan Lake. We returned to camp at 1:00pm. It was time to pack, and we were on the road home by 2:30pm. 
The event was well-organized, the trails were entertaining, and the people who we met were great fun. Hopefully this will become an annual event as everyone seemed to have a great time. |
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