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Noble Canyon MeetVernon AreaAugust 30/08 Written by Greg Photos by Greg and Erin Tish and I have been trying to get together for a ride for a few years, and we've never been able to schedule it. So when she said "Let's meet in Vernon for the long weekend", I said "Okay!" She was also bringing Erin, and both would be riding their dirtbikes. Tish and Erin are my co-workers from our Calgary division, but Tish is originally from Vernon. She knew of a lake that she wanted to show me, and I wanted to show her the trails at Noble Canyon. Friday night was a nightmare. I left the house around 6:30pm, right in the middle of late-afternoon rush-hour and the start of the long weekend exodus. Hwy 1 was closed around Chilliwack due to a rock slide, so everyone diverted onto Lougheed Hwy. Which turned into a parking lot just past Agassiz. I was in miles of traffic with my engine off, lights off, sitting and waiting. Once in a while I'd get to start it up and move 20 feet, or 100 feet, and sometimes a km or two. I phoned Tish to let her know I'd be late, and for them to just go to sleep and I'd call when I hit Vernon. At one time we all had to shift over to permit 2 ambulances and 3 fire trucks to get by us. The parking lot continued right into Hope, which I got to at 10:30pm. Then it was clear up to about 20 kms from the Coquihalla toll booth, where it turned into a parking lot again. It took about 20 minutes to get the "16 kms to the toll booth" sign. I passed through the toll booth at 12:30am. Arrived in Vernon at 3:45am. I was TIRED. I phoned Tish as pre-arranged; she met me outside (in her PJ's, lol). We quietly snuck into the house so as to not wake anyone else or the FIVE dogs up. I couldn't really get to sleep; first night in an unfamiliar environment. I finally drifted off around 5:30-ish. At 6:01 the newspaper carrier woke me up with his loud POS exhaust. Didn't get back to sleep and just lay there until I heard others stirring. In the morning I was introduced to Tish's mom Ruby (who's house we were at), and to Sara who apparently was sleeping in her truck in the driveway (I saw it and parked behind it, but didn't know she was in it). Sara, also from Calgary, had phoned Tish earlier, asking what they were doing for the long weekend, and when Tish said "Riding in Vernon!", Sara said "I was hoping you'd say that!" I had already met Erin a couple weeks ago, although I've been speaking to her on the phone for a couple years. We headed off to Tim Hortons for breakfast and to grab a lunch to go. The weather was great for riding! It was a little cloudy, warm but not hot. So we ended up with 2 quads and 3 bikes. The other quad (Yamaha 350) was ridden by Josh and Kari; they're from Vernon. Tish was riding a Honda 150, Erin was riding a Honda 100, and Sara was riding a Honda 150. We started off with Tish and Erin climbing up on to my flatdeck to get changed, as I politely looked in a different direction. It turns out that the lake Tish wanted to show me was Becker, which is the same area as Noble Canyon, so the two places we wanted to show each other were actually the same place. I initially wore my goggles and Bandit dust mask, but took them off at the first rest stop because there was no dust. Five minutes into the ride, on the first steep powerline trail, Tish hit a rock half-way up, stalled her bike, and fell over. No injuries and no apparent damage.  Tish getting back on Everyone else made it up okay, even Erin who is a new rider. We checked out some side trails; it became obvious very quickly that the others preferred wider trails as opposed to the narrow dirtbike trails I was showing them. I think they were a little surprised at where I was taking the Outlander. I pointed at one narrow V-d trail that headed up, and Sara said "You first!" So I headed up it, and it got a little steep near the top, but nothing I wasn't used to. At the top I pulled over into a pull-out as there was dead-fall blocking the trail a little further past, plus I figured that somebody might have difficulty near the top of the climb. Sure enough, I had just parked my quad when Sara stalled and tipped over just before the top, with the bike on top of her. I ran over, lifted the bike off of her and we pushed it up the final 8 feet or so. Damn bikes are heavy when you're trying to heft them up a steep incline made of loose dirt. I commented "Riding with bikes is hard work!" Tish tipped hers over too, so we helped her up. Kari had no problem riding the quad up, and Erin elected to stay below. Rather than press on, we just turned around. We stopped for a break; some bike-swapping occured as some wanted to try out the others' bikes/quads.  Greg, Sara, Erin, Josh, Kari  Kari trying out Tish's bike  Tish and Erin  Sara mentally prepares herself for a hillclimb We checked out Barney Creek FSR (I think), where Tish discovered she couldn't shift out of 2nd gear. I inspected her bike and noticed that she'd bent her shifter during one of her spills, and it was contacting her engine case. Josh bent it back and she was good to go! After Barney Creek, Josh and Kari had to take off; the rest of us headed down to a grassy clearing for lunch. After lunch, we decided that we'd start heading back towards the trucks, and check out some of the side trails we'd seen.  Sara at Rhino FSR We spotted a neat-looking trail off to the right, but once we got into it we realized it was the same powerline trail that we first started on. Then we found a quad at the edge of the cliff, running, with nobody in sight. Never a good sign as it usually means the rider didn't have time to shut it off. I looked around, and spotted a couple of guys down below, on the trail where Tish had first tipped over. They were manhandling a quad trying to right it. I ran down the trail to see if I could assist, but they were done when I arrived. I spoke to a young lady there; like us they were 5 minutes into their day when they arrived at that trail. The lady was being doubled by her husband; by the tire marks it looked like they hit the same rock that Tish hit, got bumped over to the right, and flopped the quad. The lady had fallen off and had banged her tailbone, and was done for the day. I jogged back up to where the others were; well, I only jogged part way up because it was steep and I'm out of shape. Beneath the powerlines, we played around for a bit. Sara gave me a lesson on how to ride her dirtbike, and once I finally got the hang of getting it started I wobbled around some flat ground for a bit, finishing up with a cool doughnut like I'd planned it (in reality it was me not knowing what to do, dropping the bike almost onto it's side with the throttle still on, and spinning it around). Apparently it looked really good. lol Meanwhile, Sara was quite enjoying riding the Outlander. I had given her some instructions earlier, and she had taken it for a short ride. I showed her to use her body to induce slide; now she was power-sliding through the corners and at one point had all 4 tires in the air. Erin was taking photos and video of us playing, so she might have caught some of that.  Sara, Tish, Greg  Video still of me gettin' some air with the Outlander Then some guys in built Jeeps showed up, and tried to climb one of the hills. None succeeded, although they gave it a valiant effort (there was some peer pressure involved, plus all of the girls were standing around with their helmets off cheering them on, so there was the show-off factor as well, haha). The last attempt was by a guy in a locked TJ; he got to about 6 feet from the top before he yelled for help. All 3 bikes were leaning against my quad, so I hoofed it up the hill. Okay, bad idea, it was steep, and I was already tired from hoofing it up the last steep trail. Out of breath, I got to the top and took some photos while the other Jeepers (who had driven up) hooked up the winch cable.    Jeep stuck; you can see my quad and the bikes down below in the middle pic After the TJ was extracted from its predicament and the entertainment was over, we figured it was time to call it a day. We rode back to the trucks, and Sara and Tish decided they'd try to wheelie their bikes for a photo op.  Sara  Tish  Tish, Greg, Sara I was pretty tired from all that hoofing, and lifting bikes, so I was moving pretty slowly by then. Tish and Erin changed on the flatdeck again (bet you didn't think of THAT application), and we headed back to the house for dinner, where Ruby had made shepherd's pie for us. Yum! After dinner we decided to go to the fair in Armstrong, the IPE (Interior Provincial Exhibition Fair, Rodeo, & Stampede), and after a bit of wheedling ("oh come on, it'll be fun") we convinced Ruby to come with us. Actually, she did the driving. Saturday night was the busiest night of the fair, and it was open late. We wandered around and checked out all the displays and barns. The champion pig was 7 feet long! We learned about "fainting" goats and La Mancha goats (tiny ears). In the cow barn, Sara and I rounded a corner and came upon the back end of a cow that was peeing... we had NO IDEA that the volume of urine would be that huge, it was 5" diameter stream and we looked at each other with wide eyes and took a step back just in case there was a muscle contraction and something horrible happened. Hey, you never know. I spotted a sign that said "Rabbits and Poultry" and I said "RABBITS!" and headed in. Wow, I had no idea there were so many varieties of chickens. Some of their feathers and markings were quite amazing, at least to those of us who had rarely seen a chicken not wrapped in plastic on a styrofoam tray. They did have a very small rabbit section; the prize-winning lop (my favourite) looked a little overwhelmed and was huddled at the back of its cage. I think every rabbit had a ribbon; there might have been more categories than contestants. After checking out the barns, we headed out to the midway. Sara must have read my mind because she bought me a bag of cinnamon mini-doughnuts! I love those things; haven't had them for years. Mmm, cinnamon and sugary goodness. After watching some of the rides and listening to the screams, a unanimous decision was made for "NO RIDES". Tish, Erin, and Ruby spent a few dollars at the gambling games, while Sara and I watched in amusement ("go hearts, hearts hearts hearts, awww, clubs"). lol Some played the games where you could win prizes, but after looking at the prize offerings, we commented "Why would I want that??" All good things must come to an end, so we finally left for Ruby's house. I was happy that I got my "fair" fix in, despite having missed the PNE in Vancouver again. Ruby gave us the quickie-tour of Armstrong on the way out. Back at the house, Ruby showed us her collection of antique items; some pretty neat old stuff (I enjoy looking at those sorts of things, spending time in museums, learning about local history, etc., so that was right up my alley). Everyone was tired, so we all headed for our beds and quickly fell asleep. I was the first one up in the morning; and much to my surprise my muscles weren't all sore like I had thought they might be (although, I hadn't rolled this time, and we didn't do any hard-core riding). However, everyone else's muscles were sore, I think mostly from having to lift their bikes and push them up really steep inclines. It was a beautiful day, perfect for doing pretty much anything. We spent some time sitting on the back porch in the sun, with a coffee and a nice breeze. We decided that due in part to sore muscles, we'd head out for breakfast, then to Davison's (I didn't know what that was yet) then leisurely pack up and head for our respective homes to beat the Monday long-weekend traffic. The first place we tried for breakfast was closed (some place in Polson Mall). The next place had a huge line-up. The final place, Waddy's, had a table ready in about 5 minutes. After we ordered, it took FOREVER to get our food, and I think I was starting to fade away. But other than that, the service was good and the food was decent. Sara picked up the tab; wow, thanks Sara! Then we headed off to Davison's farm, a neat little place that is all set up for tourists and sells not only fresh fruit but all sorts of little things for your house, plus freshly-made pies, fresh-squeezed apple juice (the apple juice is AMAZING, just like biting into an apple but with less work, it's dark and thick and after trying it you'll wonder what the heck the manufacturers removed from regular off-the-shelf apple juice), and other good stuff. Just walking into the place is an experience for the senses; all these wonderful smells assail you and you have to wander around and check everything out. They also have free samples so you can try before you buy. Davisons has a farm tractor with a bunch of carts hooked up to it, and for a small fee the driver gives you a tour of the orchard (we didn't go on this). I sampled some of Tish's apple-juice slushie; it was AWESOME and if you go there you definitely should have one. So we wandered around Vernon for a bit then headed home, loaded our stuff, and said our good-byes. I phoned my friend Ralf to see if he was around; he was home so I headed to Lumby for a quick visit. Ralf had been outside, working on restoring the exterior walls of his log home with a grinder. I said, "Want some help?" So we worked until the the sun started to set; he was grinding off the old finish and I was sanding out the swirl marks. Yes, that's a Bandit mask I'm using; it worked great. I also played keep-away and tug with Kaiser the German Shepherd, 1.5 years old and full of energy, way more than me.  Sanding logs We had lasagne for dinner, then chatted until midnight. Slept great. Woke up at a reasonable hour the next day, and I finished up the section of wall I was working on, then headed for home around noon. Fortunately, it was clear sailing this time on the hwy. You know, I didn't do a heck of a lot of riding, but I think it was the best long weekend I've had in a long time. |
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