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Thursday

Dave H & Teri met up with Brian at the 17 Mile for dinner. I was still packing up my gear and picking up Jen because my truck had only come out of the shop earlier that morning. They took the harder bypass around the back of Crabapple, up the rocky washout with almost no effort. We arrived at the lake soon after they did, around 10:00 pm. I didn't play much along the way, so I hadn't tested out the Truetrac yet, but I had already fallen in love with my new Bigfoot XT's.

We set up camp (translation: unfolded the beds in the backs of our trucks) and I put up a "gear" tent. It was raining and we forgot dry wood, so it was voted to save our energies and not have a fire. Instead, we all stood around under a tree drinking and telling stories (yes Jen , I DO like ketchup with my sandwiches!!). Somewhere around midnite, it started snowing. Only slightly, but the flakes were there. Soon after that we all headed to our cozy, warm, comfy truckbeds. ZZZZZZZ

Friday

It's so hard to get out of bed when you're cozy and warm. Finally we all got up. Apparently it had snowed more in the morning, according to Brian and Teri who were up before me. Big white flakes, but by the time I got up, it was clear again. Chet arrived soon after our rise and shine so Dave H piled in with him and I took Teri, Jen, Xena, Pepper and Brian. Poor Brian - outnumbered by the girls and lovin' it!

The plan was to go down to the Shell to meet up with Dave G. Unfortunately he had problems with his slip yoke seal so he wasn't there. We were also going to meet some COMA Off Road (Crack Of My Ass) friends, but they were going to be delayed too long. Off to Eye in the Sky we went!

Up the front side, no problems until we hit the spot where I blew my spider gears for the first time. A little background - I haven't made it up Eye in the Sky in my own vehicle in 2 years. I've blown up 2 sets of gears on the one leg of the trail, within 50 feet of each other. Frankly, I was a little intimidated, but determined. Had to pick a few lines, was being too easy on the gas, a little too wussy 'til Dave H piped up with his, "You drive like a woman! Put a little foot into it!!"...GRRRRR!!! So a little bit of rubber and a lot of gas later, I made it! What a great feeling! Have I mentioned how much I love my Truetrac? Chet had momentary trouble, nothing that a new line and his locker didn't fix.

The next stop on our tour was going to be Hill35. We could pick up our cameras and grab some munchies. Just as we get up to 5 ways, we see this idiot trying to get his 2wd car up the far right side. Turns out the idiot is Alpo, with T riding shotgun. They got impatient waiting for people at the bottom of the hill and decided to see how far they could make it up. After much begging I pulled out a tow rope, and pulled the Lada up to the top. More begging, and I gave them 5 minutes to see how far they could go without getting stuck. Darned if they didn't keep going!

We followed them to the Waterfall, and then split off. Chet was halfway up the Waterfall when the big BANG happened. At the front of the rear right spring, the leaf snapped off. Momentary deliberation concluded with the decision to limp it back to camp and fix it there. The poor Sami was really saggy on the one side. Teri and I agreed that it looked like a bird slowly dragging it's broken wing back to camp. We took the Cherokee to the top of Cell Phone Hill (Editor's note: I still prefer the name Hubba Bubba Hill) to check messages again and by the time we got back to camp, Dave and Chet already had the wheel off and were waiting for us to unlock the tools from Brian's truck. I emptied my truck of passengers and started heading around the lake to help out the Lada boys, only to have them drive up right then. With relatively no body damage and only one tug, they made it all the way up to the lake!

To fix Chet's leaf, Dave H came up with the idea to use the bumper jack handle. The bolt hole in the handle lined up well with the spring-eye holes, and it was sturdy enough to take the strain after being strapped to the remaining leafs with the U bolts from his front bumper. Chet testified that he couldn't really tell it was broken.

Soon after that we heard the rumble of another Jeep. Scott had just picked up the Wagoneer that week, threw his bedding in the back, the canoe on top, and planned to head to the hills. When he heard we were going to be up there, he headed in our direction and there he was. Teri hadn't been feeling well all day, so Dave H decided to go with Brian to go get some wood before he took Teri (and the chainsaw) home. While they were gone Scott and I got the first fire of the trip going. And fantastic wood they had brought back!! They actually found some great dry stuff amongst the wet and rotten deadfall.

As Teri, Dave H, and Xena drove around the lake, they passed Tanya, nervously driving with Russ in the YJ. As soon as they pulled up and unpacked, they told us Sarah and Neil were waiting at the bottom. Not wanting to pass up any chance to do the Waterfall, Scott jumped in the Cherokee and we followed Russ and Tanya down. We left Alpo and T (quickly getting more and more intoxicated) to entertain Brian and Jen.

At the bottom of Waterfall was Dave H, trying to get up, but only succeeding in scraping up his bumper and pushing his front fender in. Apparently he had been there for a little while, but admitted defeat when we started coming down. Once at the bottom we loaded up Neil and Sarah into the Cherokee, and headed back up. At the powerlines was an RCMP car. It made me a little nervous because who knows what the RCMP's stand on the Harborview closure is, but the lady waved us on. At the last trail fork before Showoff Rock was another cop car and a pickup, both blocking the road. The cops got out as we approached so I thought for sure we were going to get shut down. Instead the really friendly officer told us we could pass soon, and that they were just blocking the trail to stop a truck from coming down. Seems a white beat up Toyota with no plates was chased off of Harborview Rd proper and onto the trails. The cops were trying to wait them out, assuming they were going to trash an burn the truck and then walk out, but moved so we could get by. I thought that was a good sign. We ran into that truck on Sunday. The boys had a shop on Harborview and were just getting the truck up to the trails to run it. Granted, the windshield was bashed, but that was cuz it's a bush beater.

I was already up 5 ways and waiting for Russ to come up the far left side when Neil noticed that his front wheels weren't turning. Russ's YJ was suffering from vacuum lock failure - again. So when we got up to the Waterfall he continued along the easy way, and I went up, then turned around and caught up to him. I just couldn't resist! It was so easy! Driving up the Waterfall, I mean.

When we got back, Jen had cracked open her flat of Kinder Surprises (Buying in bulk is so much cheaper!), and the boys were torturing the Kinder toys in the flames. Needless to say it was an interesting night around the campfire. By the time Remy and his car load showed up (How did you all fit?), we were almost …um…wild(?) enough to scare the newcomers. We must have scared Sheena a little, cuz we didn't see much of her. At some point during the evening, she was angry enough at her boyfriend Daniel, to throw his beer in the lake. I only mention this because it made for interesting canoe rides the next day.

It was great to finally get to talk to Randy, the Mrs. Remy-to-be. She's been so busy that she doesn't get out with us as often as she'd like. But the whole car load were diehards to come out, squished as they were with 4 people and gear in the Sami. They were definitely determined to be there.

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