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The Quads.ca Unofficial BBQ/Camp-out/RideCoquihalla AreaJuly 21-25/05 Written by Greg Photos by Greg, Paul Mitchell, Rich, Outback, and John Dryfhout On February 7, Paul Mitchell posted the following message: "Would any of you guys be interested in a weekend camp and ride at Larson Hill in July. Good place for family and kids." About 20 members responded, and it looked like we had ourselves a ride. Every time I spoke to an ATVer, I mentioned the ride. Paul and the others did the same. As the date grew closer, we realized that we were going to have more than 20 riders, maybe a lot more. I started mentioning the ride to a few ATV dealers that I spoke to on a regular basis, both to see if they'd be interesting in coming and to see if they'd be willing to donate a door prize. A couple of weeks before the ride, Paul estimated that we'd have about 100 people showing up. I knew it was going to be big when I was in Hope on the highway, heading back from pre-running Larson Hill with Tmax and Jason, and somebody yelled "See you at Larson Hill!" as he spotted my Quads.ca-stickered Rincon on Tmax's trailer. That turned out to be Don Ferguson, who I'd never met before. In between things, I started a thread about getting some Quads.ca ball caps made up. Enough members responded to make the minimum quantity, so I ordered them in time for them to be ready for the event. ThursdayI headed out on Thursday; Paul and Bruce had been there since Wednesday. Bambam and Jeannie, TheHouse and TheHouseWife, and GPSFun had arrived even earlier. I should mention that GPSFun lives in Alberta! Just before Larson Hill, I spotted TheHouse's yellow Honda up in the hills along the pipeline road. When I arrived at camp, I was told that Bambam's Polaris had lost a bushing, due to one of his A-arm bolts backing off (a known Polaris problem). After calling around, they found a bushing, seals, and bolt at Alternate Cycle in Kamloops, where the dealer was willing to pull it off of a machine for them. They decided to head out bright and early the next morning to pick it up. I also found out that Jeannie, Bambam's wife, had rolled her quad earlier and was suffering from a very sore shoulder, a swollen ankle, and bruising that resembled a tire tread mark along her right side. She said she was done for the weekend, and spent her time reading, socializing, napping, and icing her shoulder. We later found out that she had torn the ligaments in her shoulder and had sprained an ankle. Kudos to her for sticking it out for the rest of the weekend; I know she must have been in pain but I didn't hear her complain once. GPSFun informed me that the day before, some kids over at the nearby "survival camp" had placed a thin rope across the KVR as some sort of boundary marker, and that John Kroeker had gotten highlined as he was riding his ATV. Fortunately he was only travelling around 20 km/h, and other than the nasty cut on his face, he was okay. The kids got a lecture, and the kids and the counsellors were very apologetic. 
Paul, Bruce, Oweee, and some others had gone on a ride to Murray Lake; they arrived back in camp later on. 
I didn't ride Thursday evening, so GPSFun gave me a demo on some of the mapping software he had brought. After dinner, we sat around the fire at Bambam and Jeannie's camp spot until the wee hours. I was unable to fall asleep that night, finally drifting off around 7:15am. I think my sleeplessness was caused by the fact that I was parked on an angle, so that my head was positioned at the lowest point, and the right side of the truck was slightly higher than the left side, and I had forgotten my pillow and air mattress so I was fairly uncomfortable, and I could hear the engine brakes from the semi trucks as they descended the Larson Hill portion of the highway... 
FridayI was woken around 7:30am by Paul and Bruce, who were preparing breakfast. *yawn* Others were starting to arrive, and the Lot Lizards were organizing camping sites and parking spots. 
After breakfast, Bruce led a trip of about 14 quads to Davis Lake. It started to rain right after they left; at first it was just a little bit of spitting ("don't worry, it won't last") but it turned into a heavy rain storm that lasted until the group returned, around 12:30pm. Bambam and TheHouse returned from their trip to Kamloops; the bushing they picked up had some wear on it and Bambam didn't really want to install it in his quad, although it would have worked just fine as a temporary fix for the weekend. In town, Acumen Machine Ltd machined up a brand new bushing for them free of charge (thanks Len!). Now that the rain was gone and there was no more dust, Oweee led a dozen quads on a trip to Thynne Mtn and the surrounding trails while Bruce's group dried off. There was still a bit of standing water on the trails, and along some sections of the road the muddy red clay flew high into the air as it was picked up by our tires. 
While this was occuring, Paul took Bluerider and his 4.5-year-old son Brett for a ride along the KVR. 
I stayed at camp for the rest of the day; more people were arriving and I wanted to try to meet as many as I could. Plus I was a little tired, not having had much sleep the night before. Others went out for a ride. I know there were a few people that I didn't get to meet; sorry about that. 
Rich wanted to take his wife Lorill for an easy run; this would be her first time on an ATV. I took them down the KVR, and gave her the option of taking a moderately-difficult side trail. After venturing a couple hundred feet, she decided not to attempt the hillclimb. With instructions from Rich and I, she successfully completed her first turn-around on the narrow trail and we continued along the KVR. We crossed a few trestles, checked out the view, and eventually turned around so that we could return in time for dinner. Lorill seemed to have a bit of difficulty with the Polaris' steering, so I told her that she should try out my Rincon before she came to any conclusions about ATVs. Lorill agreed that it would be a good idea. My dinner was a hamburger BBQ at Rich's campsite, with burgers cooked by Singleton and fixin's by TheHouseWife, Jeannie, and crew. Yum! Bluerider decided that his sport quad was impractical for this ride as he wanted to ride the longer runs and take his son Brett with him, so he loaded it up on his truck, drove back to Lillooet, and returned with his Wolverine. After dinner, I led a short trip along the pipeline road on the other side of the river with Gregory Mugford and his family. Stacyjd and her dad John had just arrived, so they quickly threw on their riding gear and joined us. We rode as far as the pit, then turned around as it was starting to get dark. Others went on a night run to Thynne Mtn. 
We hung around the fire until around 3:00am, and then I wandered off to bed. SaturdayI slept really well that night! Today was the big day; most of the planned rides would occur today, and we would have the largest number of riders on the trail. 
A rider's meeting was scheduled for 9:00am by Dan and Terry Bott, who were leading a ride to Cabin Lake, a 140km round trip. While Cabin Lake is a nice area with a large elevation gain and excellent scenery, I had previously camped there so I joined Paul Mitchell's run to Davis Lake as I had never been there before. We had about 20 quads in our group; Paul took us on a 4-hour tour through a myriad of trails that eventally led to the lake. The ride was excellent for those of us not in a hurry to get anywhere; we rode through so many trails that I had no idea where we were, and I doubt that I'd be able to find them again. I recognized some of the route from last year's LMATV poker ride, but then Paul took a different trail that led us to a new area. Along the way, I spotted many branches that we didn't take; obviously I have a lot more exploring to do. At the side of one of the trails, we found the remains of what I believe was an early-1940's Ford sedan. Somebody thought it would be neat to put Stacyjd and her Breeze on the roof for a photo; thanks for being such a good sport, Stacy! Then Glenn figured he'd try to ride up the back of it, and stood his Grizzly up on its end. We took a short break at a really long hill climb; some of the more adventurous rode to the top, while the smarter ones watched. The descent looked interesting; it was steep enough that the back ends of their quads were sliding sideways on the way down. 
 
We finally arrived at the lake, meeting up with Canucklehead and his entourage; although they had left after us, by taking a shorter route they were able to arrive ahead of us. We cooked a hotdog lunch on one of the BBQ pits. After lunch, we took the short route back, and arrived at the camp in about 30 minutes. What a great ride! I wish that I had GPS'd it, but, then again, exploring and finding trails is a lot of fun. 
I had just taken off my riding gear when Singleton walked up. He had been rear guard, doubling Rich's 13-year-old daughter Alise. I heard Singleton say something about rolling his quad down an embankment at the camp entrance although there were no serious injuries. A bunch of us quickly got back on our quads and hurried out to assist. Apparently, Alise was piloting the quad with Singleton on the back, and she got a little too close to the embankment. She reached for the right-hand brake lever, which wasn't working properly, and over they went. A large log broke their fall. Alise was pinned between the quad and the log, while Singleton was thrown over the log. Alise was able to get free by wiggling her foot out from her trapped running shoe. Rich got Alise to sit on the rolled quad for a photo, and then we got the two of them to pose by it. Rich is known for rolling his quad on almost every trip; I guess it runs in the family! We put two winch cables on the quad; one to right it and one to recover it. The quad ended up with a broken handlebar; Alise had a couple of scuffs, bruises, and a sore leg, and I think Singleton also had a sore leg. Dave, our resident first-aid attendant, cleaned up Alise's scuffs and scratches. This was Lorill's first ATV ride with a large group and it looked like she enjoyed the ride and the company. It was probably a good thing that she didn't see Alise's roll. Also, apparently somebody else rolled their quad at the end of Paul's run; I don't think there were any injuries or damage. 
Did I mention that there was a lot of dust? I like to think that ATVing is good, clean fun, but after seeing Stacy's face, I'm not sure about the "clean" part. I was borrowing Tmax's spare goggles, and I'm really glad I was able to do that. I'll be buying a set shortly. 
At the same time, Bruce led a group to Thynne Mtn; I believe it went well because I didn't hear about any mishaps. Bruce took the scenic route as shown to him by Oweee. When Dan and Terry's group arrived back at camp, they told us that there had been an accident on the Murray Lake FSR. Busdriver and his 17-year-old daughter Danielle were riding their Arctic Cat, when another Arctic Cat ridden by a 10-year-old and two 7-year-olds (not from our group) came sliding around a blind corner in the wrong lane, resulting in a head-on collision. Danielle had to be taken to the hospital, and both quads were write-offs. Fortunately, everyone was wearing a helmet. Busdriver has full insurance coverage on his quad, and hopefully the parents of the other kids will do the right thing and pay for his deductible. Meanwhile, Dave accidentally locked the keys in his 2005 Ford F-250. *doh* After several of us worked at it for about an hour, Claw'd was finally able to break into it, with no damage to the truck. While this was occuring, somebody told us that Tony Baker had returned with a rock in his eye and needed assistance. Dave went to help, and found that the rock was actually gone but that Tony had scratched his cornea. Apparently Tony had decided to wear his safety glasses instead of his MX goggles because the goggles were bothering him. He headed off to Merritt to visit the hospital. I noticed a new Kawasaki with new Mud Lites that had a rear flat from a sidewall cut; I comandeered Polecat (our resident "retirement" expert) to see if he could fix it. Polecat was actually repairing a bearing on Glenn's trailer at the time. The air was still escaping after several plugs, and we figured that the application of plugs might be further tearing the sidewall, so unfortunately we determined that the cut was not field-repairable. 
Mike and the crew from Greater Vancouver Power Sports arrived Saturday evening, with a trailer full of Bombardier quads in tow. A crowd gathered around the trailer as they rolled them out; we all wanted to see the new 800HO EFI that GVPS had said they might be bringing up. As Rich sat on the 800 with a big grin on his face, his wife Lorill said "The answer is NO!" :) 
Dave had to do some work at the Shovelnose Mtn microwave site, so after dinner Tbone and I joined him for a night ride. I led the ride to the site, taking the "direct" trail that crossed the switchbacks rather than the main switchback road. We encountered numerous cows, some more stubborn than others. They eventually MOOved off the trail, and we continued on. Dave led the ride back, taking the main switch-backed road. I got to experience dust at night, which made the road very difficult to see at times. Around the fire, BCTL500 and Charlene brought out their 8-foot-long hairspray-powered potato gun, and kept the kids entertained by firing glow sticks high into the air. I'm gonna have to make one of those! I hung around the fire with the guys from Greater Vancouver Power Sports for most of the night. They were drinking the wobbly pops right through 4:00am at which time I finally decided to hit the hay when I saw the sun coming up. SundayOn Sunday morning, many signed up to take the Bombardier quads out for a ride. I was impressed that the GVPS crew were already up and chatting to people, after the previous night's festivities. I think it was Chester who said "There was a lot of drunk out last night!" 
We had our prize draw at 10:00am. Our prize list was quite extensive! Paul and Bruce were instrumental in obtaining door prizes from various dealers, and we had some pretty great prizes to give out. 
• Carter Motorsports in Coquitlam donated 2 AFX motocross helmets, 2 $25 gift certificates, 2 Honda ball caps, and a camo tank bag. • Greater Vancouver Power Sports in Surrey donated a $200 gift certificate. • Ski & Trail in Aldergrove donated 2 Warn ATV trail light kits, 2 Bombardier cargo nets, a Bombardier fender bag, and a Bombardier rack-mount bag. • Princess Auto in Coquitlam donated a pair of galvanized-steel ATV ramps. • Hi Lite Truck Accessories in Langley donated 2 $25 gift certificates. • Penticton Honda Centre donated 2 Honda shirts. • Richmond Motorsports donated 2 hats and a coffee mug. • Big Top Powersports in Chilliwack provided 75 25%-off coupons for parts and accessories. • Ricky's All-Day Grill in Chilliwack (Al & Linda Partington) donated a 5-in-1 air compressor. • The Lower Mainland ATV Club donated a Polaris helmet bag, an Escape Auto Hammer, 3 garage door monitors, 3 Backroad Mapbook DVDs, and 2 LMATV ball caps. • The Outback ATV Club of Kelowna donated a Highland heavy-duty tow strap, a Mossy Oak inflatable hunting seat, and a camouflage flashlight set. • Quads.ca donated a Craftsman LED flashlight and a Quads.ca ball cap. • Paul Mitchell donated a Sanyo CD/MP3 player. • Oweee and Ozark Girl donated a pair of Yamaha ATV hand muffs. • Singleton donated 2 bow saws. • Canucklehead donated a set of ATV jumper cables. • For the kids, Bruce donated 4 flashlights, the LMATV Club donated fishing rods, soccer balls, frisbees, and other items, and John & Maxine Blinston donated candy, toy ATVs, and other miscellaneous toys. Every kid received something (very important!). Thanks to all of the businesses, clubs, and individuals who donated prizes.Your support and contributions are greatly appreciated. If I've accidentally left anyone out, I apologize, and please let me know.
Paul and I agreed that if our tickets were drawn first, as unofficial organizers we would not pick the big-ticket items. Jas won the $200 gift certificate from Greater Vancouver Power Sports, and is planning to purchase a chest protector. I had my eye on one of the sets of Warn ATV trail lights, and was lucky enough to get my ticket pulled to grab the last set. Very happy about that! GSRChrisU won the ATV ramps, and entertained us by taking a chainsaw to his old wood ramps and tossing them on the fire. 
At the prize draw, Singleton presented me with a very nice brushed-stainless-steel Quads.ca plaque. Thanks, Cal! No actual rides were scheduled for Sunday, and many began packing up for the journey home. 
It accellerated VERY quickly, and it felt pretty smooth. It did feel a bit tippier than my Rincon, but I got used to it very quickly. The steering was pretty light, similar to a Polaris. I had a brief panic situation when I was heading for a steep descent; being used to my Honda, I reached for the right-hand brake lever that wasn't there (whoops!), so I flew down the hill at a faster rate than I would have preferred. As I rapidly approached some rocks in the middle of the hill, I tensed up in anticipation of the impact, but the front suspension had no problem soaking up the bumps and I didn't even feel them (I was actually surprised). The back end did seem a bit light, and as I went over the rocks, the back tires came off the ground. On the trail, it was easy to toss the quad around; it handled well and didn't feel like a "big" quad like some others do. Despite it's engine size, its dry weight is only 639 pounds. This is due in part to a new frame design, which Bombardier calls "Surrounding Spar Technology". The SST frame incorporates steel beams which surround the engine, with aluminum supports for the floorboards and racks. This design reduces weight, increases stability, and allows the frame to slide over obstacles. Other interesting features include the auto-locking front diff and the Digitally Encoded Security System (DESS). This was the XT model, and was equipped with a Warn 2.5ci winch, front pushbar, rear bumper, hand guards, and 6-ply radial tires. The bright yellow colour was very nice. As this was just a "short" test-ride, I didn't get a chance to do any difficult trails or test out the EFI on steep angles. But from what I saw, it should have no trouble handling anything you can throw at it. The Outlander 800 HO seems to be a well-built, well-engineered quad, and if you're thinking of purchasing a big-bore in the near future, definitely check this one out. A big thanks to Mike and the gang from Greater Vancouver Power Sports for bringing up their new quads for us to test. 
As Rich, Polecat, and I were all on summer holidays, we decided that we'd stay an extra night. After the others had left, I took them where they hadn't ridden before, along the pipeline trail on the other side of the river. On the way down, I quickly came to halt as a 3-year-old black bear came crashing out of the bush about 50 feet away, ran across the trail, and disappeared into the brush on the left. I waited a bit in case there was a second bear, then continued on. Over the next rise, a deer ran out of the bush, crossed the trail, and disappeared into the brush in the same direction as the bear. We rode as far as the river, did some rock crawling along the edge of the river, and headed back. We saw two deer on the return trip; the first one just ran across the trail like before, but the second one slowly wandered up the trail in front of us. We stopped to let it wander off the trail, but it kept walking ahead of us, always staying about 20' away. If we increased our speed, it trotted a bit faster. When we slowed down, it would stop to nibble on greenery, look at us to see where we were, then slowly meander down the trail. After about 10 minutes of this, it finally stepped onto a side trail, and after we had slowly ridden past, it doubled back down the trail. We got the distinct impression that it was deliberately leading us away from where we first encountered it. I'm sure that if we rode faster, it would have gotten out of the way, but we were content to watch it as we don't often get that opportunity. I also spotted a grey-blue-coloured rabbit. It was at the side of the trail, and as I rounded the corner, I startled it, and it hopped over a small berm and hid in some weeds. I stopped and tried to quietly sneak up on it. *crackle* *snap* Dang, the ground was too dry. The others had seen me slowly sneaking over the berm, so they also dismounted and slowly sneaked over, the three of us looking like spies in a cartoon. They asked what I was looking for, and I said "A bunny!" Polecat said "A BUNNY?? I thought you spotted a bear!" I told him that if I'd spotted a bear, I certainly wouldn't be sneaking up on it. MondayWe slept in (yay!), and slowly packed our gear. Rich's 11-year-old son Nolen piloted Claw'd's Polaris 500 around the now-empty campground, and we could see that he was getting quite good. Rich was thinking about buying a Breeze or similar quad for the kids, but after seeing Nolen handling a full-size quad, he was wondering if they'd be outgrowing it too quickly. Lorill tried out my Rincon, and reported that she liked it a lot better than the Polaris. Rich was pretty happy that Lorill wasn't turned off by ATVs after her first experience, and in fact she said that she had a good time at the event, enjoyed riding the quads, and was impressed with the quality of people that she met. I suspect that there might be a Honda ATV in their future! 
During one of the ATV rides, my electric cooler drained both of the batteries in my Toyota. I got a couple of boosts from Rich and we hit the road. Then just south of the Juliet exit, my "charge" light came on, so I figured I'd blown the regulator in my alternator or something. I drove for a bit, but there wasn't enough charge in the batteries yet and the EFI computer kept rebooting. We pulled over in one of the exits and I installed my spare alternator. Another boost from Rich and it started, but the charge light was still on. Damn, must be something else. Rich and I swapped batteries, I gave him a boost, and we started driving back to town. 
Just south of the Othello exit, I either blew a tire or broke the trailer axle. I sensed something weird happening behind me, glanced in the mirror, and saw my trailer sliding sideways. I gave it some gas in an effort to straighten out the trailer, but it was already doing its own thing, and it did a 360-degree barrel-roll behind me. I realized I was heading for the embankment, and rode it out like we do on our quads. I was really surprised that I didn't roll the truck when I went down the embankment. The trailer somehow came off the hitch, which was good because if it didn't it might have flipped the truck. Looking at the pavement, we could see the marks from the side of the trailer, the top of the trailer from the folding ramp, and a round mark from one of the trailer wheel faces. All four hold-down straps broke, and the only thing holding the quad in the trailer was the security chain attached to the rear rack. Some people ran out of the bush at the side of the highway; they had heard the crash from the other side of the river, had dialed 9-1-1, then had swam across the river to see if they could help because "the crash sounded so bad". A number of people stopped to make sure I was alright, then helped me collect the gear that was strewn across the highway. One of the Paramedics who arrived just happened to be an ATVer, so we told him about Quads.ca and the Larson Hill event. He's now registered on the site as Glenlivet. 
So, my quad is damaged from the handlebars up, it has road rash on all of the fender flares, the rear rack is bent, and the quad trunk and 12v cooler were destroyed. I haven't gone out to look at it yet this morning. My trailer is all bent; the frame and sides have fancy new curves. But the story is not yet over! I called my buddy Gary who came out from North Delta with his tow truck, and he recovered my trailer off from the side of my truck and back up to the highway. I was able to drive the trusty Toyota up the embankment, thanks to the front and rear lockers. 
Then as we were driving through Abbotsford, there was a *BANG* and suddenly I had coolant all over my windshield. I quickly pulled over and shut the engine off. I didn't get out to see what was wrong as it was dark and everyone was whipping on by at 140 kmh despite my hazard lights flashing. After Gary dropped my trailer at Rich's, he headed back out to get me. I got in to Rich's around midnight. Thanks to Claw'd and Rich for helping to troubleshoot and repair my coolant and charge problems, and thanks to Lorill and Rich for cooking dinner and letting me stay overnight. What an adventure! But at least I had a great time at Larson Hill, and got meet many of you. 
The final total was 99 registrants. Pretty good estimate on Paul's part! People are already talking about planning for "next year's" Larson Hill event. I'm glad that some of the members of Quads.ca were finally able to put names to faces. New friendships were made, new trails were discovered, and I think that most had a great time despite the accidents that occurred. A big thanks to Paul Mitchell for suggesting the event, and for his work with greeting people and working the prize draw. Thanks to Paul and Bruce for their work on securing door prizes. Thanks again to the businesses, clubs, and individuals for donating the prizes. Thanks to Singleton for his administrative work with tracking the prize winners. Thanks to Dan and Terry, Paul Mitchell, Bruce, Oweee, and the other trip leaders. Thanks to Storm for proofreading this trip report. And finally, thanks to everyone who attended and made the event a success. See you next year! |
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