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East Harrison to Boston BarHarrison AreaAugust 24/06 Written by Summitrider Photos by Dylan Bryngelson and Paul T. On 2006-AUG-24 Jim Moir led a ride of 7 other riders from East Harrison Lake over to Boston Bar and return. In my initial message I noted to bring extra fuel. I carried an extra 5 liters of fuel over and above what I normally carry of 10 liters. My ATV fuel tank holds about 12 liters. I had attempted this ride a few weeks earlier but ran in to mechanical issues. Only made it 30 kms (btwn logging camp 1 and 2)... 60 kms return in less than three hours. When I did the math in my head for distance and what my ATV will do per tank I am glad I opted to carry the extra five liters of fuel for a total of 15 extra liters of fuel. One rider brought an extra 20 liters of fuel. Most had a minimum of 10 liters of extra fuel. The ride is expected to be fast and furious as the logging roads are believed to be in good to excellent shape. However they were very dusty. Breakfast was at 0800 hrs at Country Kitchen (or something like that) in the strip mall across from the Harrison Hot Springs public bath... the public pool... By 0845 hrs seven others met me for breakfast. One of them was Del who had made this trip about two months before. I had advertised the ride as a beginner ride. The first logging camp is about the 23 km mark from where the pavement and gravel meet. This is an active logging camp as there is some active logging occurring about the 18 km mark to the camp. 
  You pass a few high points that over look the lake. Very nice viewpoints on clear days so you can see the lake. The last few kms in to the logging camp # 1 is along the lake where people camp. Lots of garbage along the road... beach though was clean. Why people can not pack out what they pack in is beyond me. Perhaps a nice ATV project to do would be to have a bunch of riders clean the area and have a truck there to take the garbage or even pack it out on the ATVs. Just a thought. Continue past logging camp # 1, you come to logging camp # 2 which is now deactivated as of about a month or so ago. All that is left is a mobile home occupied by a guy and his dogs. I had a conversation with this guy and he has alot of information about the area as he has lived there for the last 12 or so years. 
Pushed on past this logging site to an intersection at the 11 km mark. Crossed over a more modern bridge. If you look closely you can see where the old bridge use to make the crossing... I am thinking I was much happier crossing where the new bridge is located. Great view of the river (up and down stream) and valley. Continued up the road. I noted on a bridge railing spray painted in orange "Boston Bar" with a spray painted arrow saying to cross the bridge. Again a great view up and down stream on the river. I believe the road we were on to this point is called the East Harrison FSR as noted on a sign at a turn to go across the bridge. This is where we stopped to have lunch and there is a trail to get along the river. Great views of what water can do to rock over time. Nice rock formations. 
Followed this road up over the saddle. This area was the only area where we encountered some well worn cross ditches or water bars. Started down hill in to Nahatlach Valley. About the 90 to 95 km mark was a slide area that had been cleared to allow for vehicle access. 
Arriving at the Nahatlach Valley at 100 kms one way. Del advised there was an old ranger cabin located up on the north side of the Nahatlach Valley which over looked the Nahatlach and Fraser canyon. While trying to locate the ranger station our group encountered Dept of Fisheries and Oceans officers (x2) along with a Conservation Officer. Doing patrols in the area. After some formalities they provided some clearer direction to the ranger cabin. So after a few trial and error roads we did find the ranger cabin. Great ascent and tremendous view from up there to see the Nahatlach and up and down the Fraser Canyon and Hwy # 1. North Bend and Boston Bar are to the south but out of sight because of the bend of the Fraser Canyon. From the map and talking with locals you would have to do a fair amount of road riding to reach North Bend-Boston Bar if you did not bring enough fuel. We calculated it could be as much as 20 kms. 
Stops made at bridge where we had lunch to make sure all of us made it that far and check on fuel. Next stop was by logging camp # 1. Again to check to ensure that all made it to that destination. Many of us were on reserve. Sharing of remaing 5 liters of fuel was done and all returned safely to the vehicles. During the final push to the vehicles we did pass a RCMP vehicle. No one stopped or chatted with the police. Not bad... most had never seen enforcement officials on our back roads, and in one ride saw three different agencies out there. Total ride distance was 245 kms. Some that made a wrong turn and were saved from going too far added another 35 kms on top of that. Fast good logging roads made for an open throttle ride. 
If you are going to make this ride... I strongly urge you to take extra fuel over and above what you normally take. I took an extra 5 liters and had no fuel left in any fuel containers and was on reserve for the third time this ride. To my knowledge there may have been a total of a liter or two between all the fuel containers that people brought. This is the first time I have been riding where I was wondering if we had enough fuel to get all back to the vehicles. We did, but not much extra for making a wrong turn or whatever that might eat up much valuable fuel to make the total distance. I would like to ride back up there again, but do some bush pushing rides on the many many branch roads seen during our trip. Thanks to those that made it out on a week day ride. I trust all had a good day of riding. Cheers Jim Moir LMATV Club - Safety Director ATV Instructor |
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