When I first got back into four-wheeling in 1993, it was to explore trails and go camping. But somewhere along the way, I got hooked on doing harder and harder trails and my focus shifted towards doing the trails for the sake of the trails rather than for the scenery or destination. Years later, my interest in exploring trails is returning. When I got the invite from Rob Slett to join his group (loosely known as the "Fedexplorers"), I decided that would be my way back to the exploration side of four-wheeling.

The general plan was to do a tour of the Nicola Lake area. Unless we hit snow (a possibility in May), we weren't expecting any problems. It would be a relaxing camping trip and an easy start into the 2009 four-wheeling season.

Wil and I had never gone 'wheeling with the Fedexplorers before so we did our best to show up on time at Rob's house. It was with some disappointment that I discovered that a Fedexplorer trip was just like one of ours in that we hit the road an hour late. Maybe late starts are a universal four-wheeling phenomenon? In any case, we convoyed east on Highway 1 where I set the pace since my Jeep was the slowest. At Hope, we headed north along the Coquihalla Highway. Wil had some transmission heating problems in his Toyota (Chevy running gear) which required a half-hour break just before the toll booths (or rather, where the toll booths used to be). Not long after that, we turned off near Larson Hill to set up camp for the night. The campsite they planned to use was already occupied by some RVs and since it was after midnight, we found another spot away from them where we set up our tents. It was hard, dusty ground which I hate because it's hard to peg the tent. Wil had no problems, though, because he had his brand new Tent Cot which he set up in about 5 minutes by himself.

After setting up the tents, I was surprised to see that the Fedexplorers were chopping wood and building a fire. It was after midnight and I thought for sure that they'd turn in for the night. So after getting assurances that we were not going to have an early departure the next morning, I joined them for some campfire drinking and stories. We turned in around 4:00am.

I woke up in the late morning, unable to sleep due to the sun making my tent uncomfortably warm. Stumbling out of the tent, my eyes were assaulted by the direct sunlight reflecting off the dusty ground. It was a beautiful day. While Wil and I and my passenger, Brett, cooked breakfast, I became aware of a difference between the Fedexplorers and ourselves; they didn't cook breakfast. They just ate some cold food and were ready to roll. I made a note to try that next time.

The day before I was looking at a map of the Larson Hill area and spotted a lookout on Shovelnose Mountain, which was close to where we would be camping. I suggested that we try to reach it before continuing on to Nicola Lake and everyone agreed. Finding a route to the lookout was fairly easy. The only question was whether we'd be stopped by snow. Our campsite was at around 3500 ft and the lookout was at 5500 ft. Looking at the peaks around us, it looked like the snow level was quite high, so we were fairly confident that we wouldn't have any problems. As it turned out, we were right. The only snow we encountered was right near the top and it was off to the side of the trail. I was hoping that we'd find a fire lookout building so was a bit disappointed to see only communications towers. But I wasn't disappointed by the view. Wil decided to celebrate by flipping open his Coleman grill and making burgers and hot dogs for everyone.

Sitting around the campfire on the first night.	Awakening the next morning, I discovered that our campsite was much closer to the highway that I had thought.	A view from the top of Shovelnose Mtn.
At the helicopter landing pad and Wil's thinking about starting up his Coleman grill.	Heading down Shovelnose Mtn.
Click to view the Quicktime panorama of Shovelnose Mtn:

After the lookout, we descended Shovelnose Mtn. and headed back to the Coquihalla Highway and then north to Merritt where we tanked up and picked up some ice and cold drinks. Then we proceeded along Highway 5A which took us along Nicola Lake and then along the north side of Nicola Lake and past Monck Provincial Park. People who always go four-wheeling in the same old area are missing out on the beauty that British Columbia has to offer. In the Vancouver area, the terrain is mountainous, verdant, and punctuated with waterfalls. But drive three hours northeast and the terrain opens up. Valleys are wider and you're exposed to sudden vistas and bursts of wildflowers. Driving around Nicola Lake made me think about that. It was a completely different ecosystem and we're lucky to be able to experience it. Rob led us through the maze of forest service and logging roads and I was very glad to have my GPS so I could record our track for future reference. After an hour or so, we were led onto a picture-perfect grassy field beside a lake. I thought this would be where we would setup camp but Rob pointed across the lake to a cowboy camp and told us that that was where we'd be staying for the night. We circumnavigated part of the lake, went through a couple of cattle gates, and entered the camp. There were a few buildings in various states of disrepair. The bunkhouse was locked up and the only residents were a family of marmots who dug themselves a home under the cabin.

It had been an easy day of four-wheeling and I wasn't complaining. We were all a bit bagged from the lack of sleep and were glad to set up camp early. Once again, I experienced pangs of jealously as I saw Wil set up his Tent Cot in 5 minutes while Brett and I took considerably longer to put up our tent since we had to find level ground that hadn't been defiled with cow patties. Once the tent was set up, I napped for a few minutes and was awoken about an hour later with an invite to chow down on some home-made chicken wings freshly grilled by Rob and Doug. Wake up calls don't get better than that. (Well, I can think of some better ones but that's kind of beyond the realm of a four-wheeling website.) The chicken wings were a great appetizer to get us ready to grill our steaks for dinner. Meanwhile, Rob threw some monstrous hamburger patties on his grill and we all settled down to big dinners and drinks by a roaring campfire. Staring at the sea of twinkling stars above us, I was reminded of why I like getting into the back country. In this perfect moment, we had the forest as far as our eyes could see, all to ourselves. And at that precise moment, I'm sure there were thousands of other campers in BC enjoying the exact same feeling.

The next morning, Wil, Brett and I went through our usual luxurious breakfast ritual while the Fedexplorers quickly wolfed down their cold food. We made sure the campsite was spotless before heading out (and closing the cattle gates behind us). The only thing on the day's agenda was a visit to the Turlight mine (MINFILE name: TURLIGHT (L.4841), MINFILE number: 092ISE055). It took about an hour to get there, or maybe a bit longer. Some of that time was taken up with bucking some trees that had fallen across the trail. The mine itself was a bit of a disappointment because there were no shafts to explore, nor was there much in the way of building remnants. Just a few foundations and the usual piles of rock. Still, I always enjoy seeing new mine sites that I can add to my GPS files. For those of you who are interested in mines, the Turlight mine produced gold, silver and copper. It was in operation, off and on, from 1929 to 1956.

View from the north side of Nicola Lake.	That's our camp site on the other side of this lake.	Chowing down on chicken wings.
The monster hamburger patties.
It's not real a camp fire unless you need sunglasses (or welding goggles) to look at it.
Click to view the Quicktime panorama of our camp site:

After that, we headed for the village of Nicola where we would have lunch. Leaving the mine, Rob let me go in front, which was very fortuitous because about 10 minutes later, I saw a black bear cub drop out of a tree beside the road and go bounding up the hill to our left. I quickly stopped and watched it run off. Then an adult bear came down from another tree and ran up the hill for about 30m before it climbed onto a stump, turned around, and stared at us. It must've been the cub's mother. When the third bear, another cub, came down from another tree beside us, I finally had the idea of looking up into the trees to see if there were any other bears up there. That's when I saw another cub come clambering down a tree about 5m from my Jeep. Off he went, up the hill, following his siblings. He must've been the last one because after that, the sow ran off, too. Naturally, I was too slow-witted to get my camera out and shooting, so I came away with no photographs.

On our way to the Turlight mine.	Turlight mine.	A collapsed shaft.
Rock pile at the mine.	Aqueduct.	Walking along the aqueduct was a little bit unnerving since it was fairly high off the ground.

As we got close to Nicola, I spotted an aqueduct. For me, they're kind of rare so I'm always compelled to stop and explore the ones I come across. That was the last bit off off-road interest of the trip. After that, we had a tail gate lunch in Nicola and then four hours of cooking in my overly impractical and ridiculously hot 4x4 as we droned along the freeway at speeds that would make a military convoy impatient.

Thanks to the Fedexplorers for introducing us to another part of Beautiful British Columbia.

...lars