From epedersen@uniserve.com Fri Jun 2 11:50:09 2000 From: Ed PedersenJohn, This is a write up I did for my companies newspaper highlighting a trail ride a co-worker and myself did a couple of weeks ago. Feel free to post to your site and re-post to the list.. The river pic is the Ashlu River, and the Jeep pic is Maude Fricket Creek. Thanks John... A Jeep Day
Contributed by Ed Pedersen Reliable Parts Ltd. Coquitlam Phone Room B.C. is a beautiful province full of mountains which are traversed by Forest Service roads, a 4-wheeler's delight. In and around Greater Vancouver are numerous main logging areas which beckon those of us who are fortunate to own 4X4 vehicles. To the north-east is Harrison Lake, a 30 mile long lake with world famous Harrison Hot Springs located on it's southern shore: in the eastern Fraser Valley is Chilliwack Valley, a 40 mile long dog leg shaped valley with icy Chilliwack Lake at the end of the road, serviced by a large Provincial campground. Both of these areas offer untold miles of active logging roads, as well as overgrown spur roads, some which were first used in the 1920's. To the north lies Squamish, gateway to Whistler and Blackcomb ski resorts. All of these areas are prime playgrounds to be explored by Jeep. On a rainy Sunday in May, Ron Patrick (Coquitlam counter sales) and myself loaded up my Jeep and headed north to the Squamish Valley for a day's fun of poking around on the main forest roads in two of the side valleys. On the first one, the Ashlu, we were treated to a roaring river swollen with a weekend's worth of rain, trying to force it's way down a narrow canyon. Twenty miles in and several thousand feet in elevation we were stopped by snow drifts on the road. Good time to stop for lunch and take a few pictures of the glacier filled valley. Heading back down we came across a curious black bear standing in the middle of the road. He looked at us for a little bit, then sauntered off into the bush looking for a place to hide. The second valley we tried was the Elaho, made famous in the newspapers recently due to the demonstrations by groups against logging in the area. This valley has been logged for a long time, and, consequently the road has been pushed in to about mile 30. It's also a trail head for many hiking trails into the mountainous region, most notably the Stein Valley. The scenic highlight of the Elaho Valley, besides the narrow canyon gorge and wonderful wide valley vistas, was Maude Fricket Creek. This is a wild river that catapults itself off of a 30 foot rock face, then crashes noisely under the logging road and caroms off it's rock lined banks into the canyon. To stand on the forest service road bridge at the base of the falls, is like standing in the middle of a wall of water..everything in your mind tells you to run away and save your skin..it's that awesome, and that scary! All in all a wonderful way to spend a rainy weekend day ! Ed Pedersen Vancouver Canada ICQ 23536957