The Squamidian Report – March 21 / 09
Issue #356
Including:
Wildwood Warren Jumps to New Level
The Ontarion
Hi All,
You may recall how I had angered the weather gods but was hoping that they would forgive and forget. Well, I can assure you that they neither forgave nor forgot. In fact, they didn’t just come down on me, they came down on the whole west coast. Rain, snow, wind, you name. We got it all. In fact, early in the week we were forecast to get a meter and a half of snow spread over 4 days here in Squamish but all we got was a lot of wet flurries and a lot of cold rain. Whistler got a lot of the snow that they should have gotten earlier in the winter. So now the poor bike is sitting down there in the garage all shiny and ready to go, wondering what happened.
However, one aspect of spring is definitely here. The Alder trees are in pollen. From the south end of Squamish all the way out the Sound they have turned red and the buds are swollen, giving off the pollen stuff that makes my eyes itchy and my nose run. So even though the weather is icky, we are into the ‘box of Kleenex a day’ season.
*
You also may recall that I had mentioned that Warren had a solution that would enable him to drive his quad into the backcountry on top of the snow without having to rely on hard packed snowmobile trails. What he did was have the four wheels replaced with rubber tracks. The wheels will bolt back on quite easily come springtime and the tracks will go back on again for next winter. These tracks turn his ATV into a mini tank, able to go just about anywhere that he aims it (within reason of course, this is the mountains after all). I tagged along on a little run up the Swift Creek access road behind his place. He’s been attempting to find a route through the trees and over the ridges and canyons that will give him access up onto the top of Brohm Ridge.
We headed up on a day that those vengeful weather gods were punishing me for having being out on the bike a few days earlier. The valley was enduring a cold steady rain. The snowline was just below his place and from there on up is was snowing steadily, but it was a heavy wet snow that plastered the trees and bent the Alders right over. Young Alders grow very fast and are amazingly flexible. A burden of wet snow bows them right over. The trail is lined with Alders and every single one of them was bent over under the snow load. Just touching them would release the snow and the trees would spring back up, dumping the wet snow on our heads. By the time we had climbed as far as we could go given the weather conditions, we were soaks right though. Next time I’ll wear rain gear instead of my snowsuit.
There are numerous water crossings along the way. Some are flowing streams and others are cross ditches that have water in them. The deep snow forms steep canyon walls on each side of the cross ditches. That little ATV crosses these things almost effortlessly. Warren gently drops it down into the snow canyon until the front tracks have reached the bottom, and then gooses the machine and it practically flies up the other side. He makes it look pretty easy. The machine has to be kept straight, that is, perpendicular to the bank. If it were to slide sideways you’d have a devil of a time getting it out. I took some pictures while we were out on a side trail getting turned back around. You can check them out at:
http://www.thedougsite.net/Warren/trac1.htm
doug
****
Last year you might remember I wrote an article about about harvesting yellow cedar snags for the Rainbow Park Bridge Project in Whistler…
( http://www.thedougsite.net/Squamidian/2008/june21.htm )
The problems I encountered trying to get my wood out due to heavy snow pack had delayed my project. Snowmobile logging just doesn't cut it! I was determined to find a better way. After some research I discovered tracks might be an option to replace the wheels on my quad. I found out they are not cheap and that when they initially came available on the market they had plenty of problems in the design. I couldn't make up my mind over chancing the new, improved tracks or buying a work type snowmobile.
Anyway, early last December Janice and I were out quadding one beautiful wintry day and feeling very limited, I might add, on where we could go in the snow when we came across a guy riding his 'tracked' quad. I couldn't believe my eyes! We quickly flagged him down. Robert, the Frenchman was happy to share his experiences with us and even gave us a demonstration of what his Yamaha 750 was capable of with tracks on instead of wheels.
Wow! He was able to slowly climb vertical walls of snowbank and maneuver his way through deep snow in the woods without any problems. He also convinced me that his TatouS4 tracks made by Camoplast out of Quebec has ironed out all the bugs that quad tracks were infamous for in the past.
After talking with my BRP dealer they agreed to honour my warranty on my 800cc CanAm if I had the new tracks installed. About two weeks and $4grand later, my new riding buddy and I decided to test them on a ride up onto Brohm Ridge. Even though the company calls their tracks 'good for all season', I found the first kilometer of bare gravel road up the mountain to the snowline a bit jittery. Once into the snow it rides like a dream. And the deeper the snow gets that's where the real fun begins. I think if you click onto the link Doug has given you to see my pictures you'll best understand the incredible exhilaration I was feeling.
Once on the ridge we decided to find a route along Brohm's northerly direction where we could safely be able to get back okay. What I mean by this is that these tracked quads are unable to climb steep slopes where snowmobiles go. In steep mountain terrain snowmobile tracks are rigged with 2-inch long paddles. Not our quad tracks and we can't reach the speeds that they use to fly up these bowls. So we have to carefully pick our routes. I was happy to have a second machine riding with me both of which are equipped with winches and other gear needed in case we should run into any problems. Spare gas is a must also as it takes a lot more horsepower to turn these tracks.
The day was getting on so we set way points from Robert's GPS and emergency transmitter which will give us our co-ordinates by email and links to the google satelite map. I hope to find a route from this point on down through the old growth forest into the top of the Swift Creek cut blocks before the snowpack melts. This will give me access up onto Brohm Ridge from my place. Then one day I will be able to offer our guests staying in the chalet an ATV excursion into the alpine right from our retreat.
I have yet to try snigging logs with the quad but I am satisfied that I have made the right choice in purchasing these tracks. I now have an all year round pleasure and work bush machine and am ready to tackle new levels of wildwooding
.
Enjoy the pics and hope to see you all at the west coast family reunion.
Wildwood
Warren.
****
Hello
everyone!
If you
live in this area of Southern Ontario you’ve been enjoying sunny and warmer
than usual weather for the past two weeks and it’s a nice change. I figured
that spring was here because I spotted my first Robin the other day. Well, the
wind was taken out of my sails by a so called “weather specialist” from
Environment Canada today. He said that Waterloo Region is not into spring yet.
He said that we in this area have a history of receiving 1/6th of
our annual snow fall in later March or early April and also get hit with a
significant snowfall in one out of every three Mays. SHEESH! I hope he’s off
the beam on this one! I’d much rather continue this lovely warm sunshine until
it turns downright summery in a few weeks. LOL! Let’s keep our fingers crossed
that this “weather specialist” is thinking of some region of the North West
Territories and not ours!
*
I have a
story to tell you of a personal nature. Something I did today almost tossed my
lovely wife into shock. After 41 years I SHAVED OFF MY MUSTACHE! When I
graduated from high school I decided to grow a mustache. I had seen a few guys
wearing them and thought it might look cool to sport one myself. As it turned
out, I was able to grow a fairly substantial “stache” and even if I do say so
myself, it looked pretty good! (Or should that be “I” looked pretty good?) No
matter, I don’t want to sound vane and I admit that looks, good or bad are a
matter of opinion!
Anyway,
my mustache has been part of my persona for many many years. I’m not sure why
but I’d been toying with the idea of shaving it off for a few weeks now. This
morning as I stood in front of the mirror getting ready to face the day, it
suddenly struck me that, except for one day back in April of 1973 I hadn’t been
without my “stache” in 41 years. On that occasion I had to clean myself up in
order to appear presentable for an interview I had early that morning with the
Chief and his committee at the Waterloo Fire Department Head Quarters in an
effort to get hired as a fire fighter. I decided that I might as well go clean
shaven in order to make the best impression possible. I figured, what the heck,
it won’t take long to grow it back and that I did from the moment it was shaved
off my face it was growing back in! The Deputy Chief did realize that I had
changed my appearance and commented on it during the meeting. I think I made
the right decision because he seemed impressed with my willingness to sacrifice
my “stache” for the cause. Of course within a few days the regrowth was evident
and I never looked back! So with the exception as I said of that brief day or
so without my lip cover it’s been 41 years of upper lip grooming until today.
The other realization that hit me this morning was that my son had never seen
me without my mustache. So, I decided right there and then to take the razor to
it and go bare for a while. I took the clipper edge of my electric shaver to it
in the beginning and when I got it down to what amounted to stubble, I broke
out the Shick Safety Razor and finished it off! I did stop at having a thin
what I call “Dan Backslide” ridge of a
mustache along the edge of my lip for a moment but decided that was too…….lemme
see…..??? FRENCH to suit me so off went the rest of it! WOW! What a strange
feeling to suddenly have no insulation on my upper lip! The air that passed
over my bare spot as it went up my nose was like rubbing an ice cube on your
armpit, SHOCKING to say the least! It’s amazing how well that ol’ mustache kept
the lip warm! After I slapped some after shave on my now bare lip and finished
cringing with the pain it was time to make my naked debut to Carole. I could
hear her down in the kitchen and thought I’d sneak in without her noticing my
change. I wondered how long it would take her to notice the missing feature. As
I took my first step into the room, she literally shrieked and screamed in
shock! I thought she was going to die laughing! She actually screamed in horror
as she blurted out “OH MY GOD, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE???” “I’m not going out in
public with you until you grow it back!”
Hahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaa…………………!
We both stood there laughing like a couple of dorks until the shock wore off a
little. It took a couple of minutes to get her to make sense of what had
happened. I explained why I had done it and all she could say was “You look
like you don’t have an upper lip!” “You look like a totally different person!”
“You don’t even look like yourself anymore!” “Oh my God I HATE it, grow it
back!” At that moment, I almost decided
NOT to grow it back but then I took another look in the mirror and realized I
agreed with everything Carole had just said. I hate the feeling and the look of
my bare upper lip and I’ve already started growing it back! I wanted to see
Adam’s reaction to my new look so I could hardly wait till he got home from
work. I had to run some errands so I headed out for an hour or so (by myself of
course) and when I returned Adam was home. Carole hadn’t told him anything
about my new look because she wanted it to be a surprise for him as well. As
Carole and I stood in the kitchen, Adam entered the room and was already
telling me something. I don’t remember what he was saying I was just waiting
for him to realize what I’d done. He turned and walked out and headed up the
stairs to his room without having noticed. I followed him up and walked in
behind him. He suddenly turned and took another look at me. He didn’t say
anything right away but started to laugh in a subdued manner, like just a quiet
chuckle to begin with. I said “Well, do you notice anything?” Then he laughed
and said “Man do you ever look different!” Either he was not as shocked as
Carole was or he was being a tad more polite about my sudden change! He did
admit that he thinks I look better with a mustache than without. I prefer to
think he was pleasantly surprised rather than in SHOCK! LOL! After talking
about it for a few minutes things got back to normal and most of the shock
effect was over. That is, except for every time Carole has to look me in the
face! Hahahaha….neither one of us can keep a straight face at that point and I
guess we’ll have that reaction until the damned thing grows back!
That’s it
for this week folks!
Thanks
for tuning in and I look forward to talking to you all again next week in The
Ontarion Report!
Bye for now… Greg.
PS:
Something To Think About>
Change
isn’t necessarily a good thing!
****
Have a good one..
the
doug
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are the sole property of the persons writing them and should be respected as
such.