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Holiday Day TripsKelowna areaDecember 19-23/04 Written by Greg Photographs by Greg and Raptrguy Sunday  For our first trip, Dave thought that it'd be a neat treat for me to take the snowmobiles out, so we loaded up the sleds and headed to The Wart (a mountain just off Hwy 97C). My first snowmobile ride! Whoo! Well, the "road" was iced over, approx 3-4" thick, clear enough so that you could see the gravel road surface below. Interspersed with long patches of gravel. Not much snow! Oh well. On our way up, if we stopped, we had to back down until we hit a patch of gravel or we couldn't get going forward again due to the slick ice. We checked out a few trails, and I noticed the sleds had a LOT more get-up-and-go than my quad did. On the way down, my tail end was slipping from side to side slightly, and I realized I was approaching a 90-degree turn too quickly. So I figured I'd better slow down. I let off the throttle and applied the brake (now stop laughing!), and of course the track stopped. Which turned the back of the sled into a skate, which spun me around in a real fast 180, where the sled caught the only rock in the area poking up through the ice, tipped it onto it's side, and catapaulted me about 20 feet down the road, where I landed on top of the only OTHER rock poking up through the ice. Ow. As I landed, my only thought was to make sure the sled didn't land on me like my quad did a couple years ago. Fortunately, sleds don't bounce like quads do, and the slope wasn't nearly as steep. I did a real quick self-assessment, and realized that no bones were broken this time. I tried rising to my feet to show Dave that I was okay, then fell back down and rolled onto my back as I realized that my left side was REALLY hurting. Mainly my hip, which took the brunt of the fall, plus my elbow, shoulder, neck, and leg were all sore. I lay on the ice for a few seconds catching my breath, then slowly stood up. On the ice. Then in slow motion, I started sliding backwards, then falling forwards, hands in front, until I was prone on my stomach. I was laughing because it seemed kinda funny at the time. Dave said "Lesson number one: don't stand on the ice!".We righted the snowmobile, and after several pulls it finally started. No damage! We took it real easy on the ride back to the truck and trailer. Dave said it was the worst snow conditions he had ever seen; I didn't think they were too bad not having experienced anything else. And hey, I've always said that the worst day on the trail is better than the best day at work. :) TuesdayAfter a well-deserved day off from outdoor recreation, Dave and I headed to Penticton Honda where Glen Hall loaned us a pair of Honda Rincons. A green unit, which was bone-stock, and a red unit, which was beefed up with an aftermarket suspension, ITP 589AT tires, a K&N filter, and some performance tweaks. We headed into Naramata, where we unloaded at the KVR Motorized Recreation Corridor. Formerly the Kettle Valley Railway, the abandoned railbed now serves as an access point to many different trails and roads in the area. It's a shared multi-use trail, and is open to ATVs, 4x4s, dirt bikes, snowmobiles, mountainbikes, equestrians, and hikers. However, there were NO other users present when we were there. It should be noted the the actual railbed has a posted speed limit of 30 km/h at the Naramata parking lot; while this applies only to the railbed, you should exercise caution when on the trail as many other users do not pay attention to their surroundings, and think that they have the automatic right-of-way on "their" trail. Please show them courtesy, even if they don't reciprocate.   The KVR headed left and right from the parking lot, as it was merely passing by this location. We took the logging road in the middle, then took the first exit onto a smaller trail. The Rincons' IRS soaked up the bumps like nothing, and I noticed that they were well-balanced and easy to steer. Almost immediately we encountered snow; at first a light covering on the ground, then as we climbed to higher elevations, it became almost knee deep. We rode a number of little trails, some which dead-ended, and some which led to nice viewpoints. We noticed that stock Rincon's radial tires did quite well in the deeper snow, while the 589ATs tended to dig in too much, resulting in a lot more tirespin. Also, the 589ATs were harder to steer. In the dirt, the 589ATs provided excellent hookup, while still allowing induced oversteer during more agressive riding.On one trail, we found a recently-gnawed spine and rib cage of what Dave thought might have been a small deer; close by were some more remains and signs of a scuffle. Dave figured that a cougar had made the kill early this morning; the bones were completely picked clean. We encountered a downed tree across the trail; rather than remove it, we used the opportunity to check out the Rincons' crawling ability. One of my concerns had been the lack of a 4-low range; as it turns out, the first gear of the Rincon is low enough, so that in conjunction with the torque of the motor, the quad is still able to crawl over obstacles where other machines might require low range. One of the trails took us back to the KVR near the Adra Tunnel, so we took the short detour and checked it out. The tunnel cannot be travelled through by vehicle due to cave-ins, although the last time I was here one could walk through it. We took one of the Adra Tunnel bypasses (the long route), and at the other end, I shot a couple photos of the icicles dripping down the walls. 
We eventually worked our way over to Chute Lake Road, where we were able to open up the throttle a bit. The Rincons had lots of power, and I found them easy to control, power sliding around the corners whenever I wanted to. The Honda automatic transmission performed well; the feel of the shifts were fairly firm and car-like. When you touch the brakes, the transmission automatically down-shifts for you, which is a great feature. Unless you're trying to maintain a particular speed while descending on ice; switching to manual transmission control prevented unexpected shifts. The Chute Lake Road took us to the Chute Lake Resort, a rustic hideaway where we warmed up in front of the wood stove and had some wonderful home-made apple pie with ice cream (Doreen's own recipe!), and some hot chocolate with marshmallows. Thanks to Toy2 for recommending we do this during our ride. We headed back along Chute Lake Road, accessed the KVR railbed, and headed back towards our vehicles, stopping for the usual photos at the tunnel. A big thank you to Glen for giving us the opportunity to take the Rincons out for the day. Some final observations about the Rincon: comfortable seat, easy-to-read LCD display, bright headlights, and functioning brake lights are all positive features. This quad is a well-mannered, responsive machine, and can be enjoyed by beginners and seasoned enthusiasts alike. 
  Thursday  Dave and I met up with Jason (Raptrguy), and headed up to Postill for some more snow trail riding. Jason was familiar with the trails, and had agreed to show the area to Dave and I. Jason's 2wd Yamaha Raptor had almost no trouble in the snow, and was light enough for him to lift it out of whatever he got stuck in. We rode a lot of different trails; as I'm not familiar with the area I can't say where they went or what they were called, but one trail took us to Postill Lake Resort, which looked almost abandoned, and another took us to Beaver Lake Resort, which was actually populated. We were hoping to get some food at the Beaver Lake Resort Restaurant, but it was currently undergoing renovations and was closed. The cabins at Beaver Lake were really nice. We went for a spin on the frozen lake; we met some other ATVers at the far end who were using a plow-equipped quad to clear the snow off for a hockey rink.Somewhere along one of the trails, Jason lost a bolt for his left headlight, so we threw the headlight into my quad trunk. We all managed to get stuck in the snow in various places. On one trail, I drove into a ditch on the left side of the road; after finally freeing myself, I found Dave about 200 feet further up the road in the ditch on the right side of the road. After we freed Dave, I got stuck in the left ditch again while trying to avoid Dave's ruts. While we were recovering my quad, Jason came back down the road, having just unstuck himself as well. We decided to turn around at that point! 
One of the trails we ended up on was severely deactivated; the cross-ditches completely swallowed our quads. Another trail had some tight squeezes through the trees; unfortunately this one ended fairly quickly. Lots of good riding opportunities throughout this area; we are definitely coming back when the snow has melted. Again, we didn't see a single user on any of the trails. After the ride, Jason sparked up a fire so we could warm ourselves up while we had a bite to eat. Not something I've done before, but it sure was a good idea!  |
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