The Bushman Chronicles!

woods smoke, and Kabar



there is like a 1000 little chirpy birds ripping around in these trees, but you can't see them, they are too fast





mountain boob



couple macro shots







carried on with the document destruction, and heard a couple hikers talking as they came walking down the FSR. Said hi, they said hi, they seemed weirded out by me. "what are you doing?" they asked. Oh just burning some documents, old tax stuff i said. I think they might have been weirded out by the 5 knives stuck in the log, or maybe my load bearing setup....LOL

After another hour of campfire. I doused the fire and headed back down to the HWY,and headed towards Pemberton North of Whistler BC.

drove thru town, and started heading up the 15 km's of 35% grade switchbacks towards the Duffy Lake area. These switchbacks are famous for killing your brakes.........Too many people do not use their transmission (gear down in manual or drop to L2 or L1 in Auto and make multiple on/off applications, giving the pads and rotors time to cool. )

sure enough....as i was headed up , there was a Subaru Forester coming down, too fast. Smoke billowing from all 4 brakes, and the acrid smell of seriously burnt brake pads. The driver was visibly panicking trying to slow the car down. They almost hit me but I veered into the dirt. I could smell the burning pads even though my windows were rolled up, it was one of the worst cases of burning brakes i've ever seen/smelt.

They were heading into the last corner , a hairpin, they left black rubber on the pavement as they drifted sideways and almost hit the concrete blocks. They managed to straighten the car out and rode it out down to the valley floor. I turned around and headed after them, driving thru a thick dense cloud of burning brake smoke

They were pretty freaked out. The heat from the rotors was hot enough to melt the tires on the front, some aluminum and plastic parts of the calipers and the rotors were still glowing when I pulled up behind them and got out. Grease from the wheel bearings was running out like water.

after asking if they were ok, i gave them the local tow guys number. They asked me how this could happen? I said, well, its a 7000 foot descent, down a 35% grade and 20 + switchbacks, and said that you cannot brake the whole way down, you have to gear down and pulse the brakes, on for a minute, off for 3 etc etc. They were surprised, and said they have never driven in the mountains like this before.

anyways, tow dude arrived and i left.

Pemberton pics













headed back and checked out the Lil Cabin In The Woods, the snow was gone from the FSR. Surprisingly, the cabin was clean, no garbage . I was quite surprised.

Thats it. back home after 400 KM's of driving. Now i'm drinking Japanese SOUR beer. Its really refreshing actually.

 

Yup. Bah' Hab'bah is about 100 mi SE.

Good stuff there <except the tourists in summer -- 10's of thousands by ship per day
-- but winter makes them go away --> .

Better stuff here. Need to score one of them diesel lighters. Looks like Burning Man.

<So tempted to post that Robot Heart BM video, but I'll restrain myself ... >

But I could post some Guy J instead. JLMK.

 

LOL!

 

Just catching up with the Chronicles.

Those old foundations have a story to tell. Part of what I do is title work, I search out who owns the lands and minerals for clients. I don't know how the records are maintained in Canada, but down here, if you can determine the legal description of the parcel of land, you would be able to get some names of former owners and through probate records, you might be able to get some tidbits of information about what used to be there.

I was searching a parcel in a county east of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and was having trouble bridging a gap in the chain of title. The records showed it belonging to a guy up to about the 1860's, but someone else had sold it around 1911. I couldn't figure out how it got from the one to the other, until I searched an adjacent parcel and there was a reference to the property having belonged to guy number one and that guy number one had turned it over to guy number two to take care of it while guy number one went west. After more than 30 years of taking care of the property and paying the taxes on it, guy number two figured he owned it. No idea what ever happened to guy number one.

 

hmm, never even thought of that. There is the Land Titles Office in New Wesminster BC, should'nt be hard to find that parcel of land and backtrack.

 

It may have ended up on the government's balance sheet. When people quit paying their taxes on the land it will end up being put up for sale or just kept by the government.

Look for some type of current tax map for that area and see if you can locate those parcels. They may still be listed as individual tracts of land, or they could have been joined into one large parcel.

 

I always enjoy reading Bushy's trip reports shored up with good photos.
Keep them coming!
I'm looking forward to the next one!

 

Man I check this thread twice a day, as always great posts and excellent mix of uncommon meal, knife, mountain, water and gear pictures

 

May 6 2017, sunny .LETS GO FOR ANOTHER ADVENTURE! DESTINATION UNKNOWN!

Fueled up on a big greasy meat and eggs breaky, threw the ruck and load bearing rig into the Jeep and off we go.

trip report late Sat or possibly sunday!

 

Make sure get lots of knife pictures this time! Haha

 

No Knife Pics For You ClamSquatch!

I'm Back! WARNING!!!! MEGA BANDWIDTH AMOUNT OF PHOTOS........

TRIP STATS!

13 hours of continuous driving. 875 KM trip. Burned 45 liters of diesel . 6 large trucker coffees drank, 1lb trail mix eaten, minus a cup of it that I left for a wheeee little chipmunk! 2 large sammiches and a bag of bacon / sour cream ripple chips eaten. RPM's held steady at 1900 RPM 95% of the day. Turbo spooled at 130,000 plus RPM's for pretty much 13 plus hours straight. (Approx 101,400,000 revolutions....this is why it is CRITICAL to use a full synthetic oil in your diesel rig. The oil feed tube to the turbo bearings is only 1/4" ID..........food for thought)

Started in Metro Vancouver BC, cranked up MALHAVOC loud and sat in traffic for a bit, trying to get to the Sea To Sky Hwy. Finally got going. Drove straight thru just past Whistler BC, and detoured off the SOO RIVER area and up the Rutherford FSR



3' wide tracks on the sno cat.



cool old truck



couple years ago, this river was 15 feet OVER the height of the train trestle and it washed out the Hwy 99 bridge just below it! For scale purposes.......that railway bridge is 50 feet ABOVE the river. Very Humbling......they now have a emergency warning system that automatically shuts / blocks off the Hwy 99 each direction if the river blows out and reaches the Hwy Grade.....



proceeding deeper in the Rutherford FSR valley



one feels very small and insignificant here in BC........big mountains, steep mountains, deep valleys and just WOW!

















started hitting snow on the FSR













MORE LOADING

 

5 LB CO2 Powertank, tire repair kit PLUS in the orange Pelican case, Level 2 Industrial FAK plus a GSW/chainsaw TRAUMA KIT in the tan Pelican case.



explored Rutherford FSR until the 8 KM mark, where the snow on the road was 2 feet deep and there was a stack of big pickups parked (popular sled area , lots of glaciers)

turned up a spur road off the main trunkline and was greeted by a locked gate.



turned around and headed back down. Spotted a wheeee little chipmunk riiiiiipiiiinnnn' across the FSR,so i stopped and took some photos. Left a pile of salted sunflower seeds, nuts etc. Lil dude STUFFED his cheeks with so much trailmix he could barely zip around.







I watched lil buddy for a bit, then moved on. Had many miles to go still and it was already approaching 1700 hours.

worked the new oil hard engine braking down the FSR back to Hwy 99



drove onwards and UPWARDS, to Pemberton, on my way to the Duffy Lake Road.



driving thru the Reserve (First nations), always makes me sad..........broken down derelict vehicle scattered about on properties, half finished tar paper houses, fallen down rotting old houses, garbage, abandoned farms and rodeo lands.....Hwy 99 USED to be one of only two MAJOR highways leading into central and northern BC. Used to be a MAJOR TRUCK ROUTE.......however when the HIGHWAY THRU HELL (COQ) went in....99.5% of the trucking business vanished from this area. And with that, so did many businesses .







now its just grey old wood. Nothing ever happens here on the Rez except for the monthly cheques from the Canadian Government. Homes and trailers are slowly decaying. Time marches on, tick tock, tick tock, If a young native is lucky and gets schooled or joins a local logging company , and gets out of here, he/she will do okay. Most reserve residents in Canada live in poverty and on welfare.

i'll save that for another day. I have a real aversion to taking pictures of the reservations............It just does not feel ok for me to do that. I would love to document every house, trailer, farm etc i come across, and chat with the First Nations elders , teens, and adults, document it, but for now i take pics on the sly. I have driven past these old rodeo grounds for a little over 20 years now. Nothing has changed. Buildings slowly succumb to gravity, the wood gets more grey every year....
Canada has truly ****ED over the people that were here first.

I hit the start of the mega switchbacks that lead to the Duffy Lake Road, a two lane paved road thru a stunning mountain range and valley. I start up the mega switchbacks/ 35 % grade and hit a Provincial Highways Road Block - ROAD CLOSED DUE TO SEVERE AVALANCHE!

chatted with buddy manning the road block and he said the avalanche was near the boat launch by the Duffy Lake area. Said it was the worst avalanche they have seen in 50 years. (we did have a record breaking snow pack in that mountain range this year,over 30 feet base on the peaks). Buddy said that I looked like i was fully prepared for anything, so he radioed up and asked if he could send a local "Company Truck" to the secondary road block at the summit. (crew only allowed). He said I had clearance but would have to wait an hour at the Grader/SnowShed at the summit.

I thanked him and he opened the barricade to let me thru. Pays to have FAK/FIRE EXTINGUISHER on board decals and a safety vest in your rig

15 km past the first roadblock









Secondary road block at the summit


parked my Jeep and threw a blaze orange marker panel onto the back for safety.

you can see the many avalanche zones on the mountain above us





MORE LOADING

 

AVALANCHE SCENE

The road block finally ended, and the Hwys Dept dude lifted the gate. I gave him a wave and thumbs up and he waved back.

Drove past the summit and down the Duffy Lake Road.......into this:

JUST ******* WOW!!!!!!!!!

first of many avalanches....








this one had been cleared yesterday......






and then this......the one that actually shut down the highway! massive amounts of snow and tree debris went into Duffy Lake...



rounding the corner



HOLY ****!!!!! like 75 feet DEEP





HOLY ****!!!


looking back as i past the scene



the view from the Duffy Lake Boat Ramp, over 100' INTO the lake





MORE

 

Mesmerizing!

 

Like the mountain side sloughed off! Dang! Keep em comin.

 

Very nice bushy! I will add though that I've spent a ton of time on reserves and it is not the government screwing them

 

True. Band councils and chiefs are also to blame. But Still.

More pics loading.

 

Carried on past the avalanche area and headed further into Cayoosh Creek Canyon. Diverted down a gravel road and stopped on the bridge. Its gated off, private residence and there is electronic weight sensors and cameras. Dude that owns this place is very lucky......its a huge property on a gold bearing creek. I knew i was on camera, but figured that themseeing me take photos of the creek would be "ok".



on the Bailey Bridge


Cayoosh Creek. Starting to swell with the hot weather and snow melting.



heading up the 99 to Lillooet BC, sheer MASSIVE solid rock mountains. This entire area used to be covered with ice and was partly submerged underwater, millions of years ago. Its strange finding sea shell fossils at 10,000 plus feet above sea level....makes one feel very small and insignificant in the grande scheme of things.



1000 plus feet down, looking at Cayoosh Creek. Its really hard to describe the size of this place....you have to see it in person. It blows your mind.



years ago, a brave and ballsy motocross guy ripped straight up that scree slide on a modified bike.Made it to the big tree on the right then spun the bike around and zig zagged it back down. He crashed at the bottom but was fine. Bragging rights.








dropped down to the valley floor and topped off the diesel tank at the local Chevron, run by the First Nations. Love stopping here and supporting them, handmade sandwiches, fresh hot samosas and chicken, and they are just down right friendly people.

carried on

man i could live here. ENDLESS FREE pine and douglas fir and jackpine firewood. Endless FSR's and open range to hunt and explore.









Drove from Lillooet , then turned down Hwy 12 South towards Lytton BC,another favorite place.

Lillooet Bridge over the Fraser river, heading towards Hwy 12



Turned up the KIRBY'S FLATS FSR and explored for a bit.....this FSR parallels another off road "hwy" in the area, that jumps over a mountain range and into three separate valleys and very rural areas. Typical Emergency Services response time is an hour plus. So your on your own.



time marches on, old gate



it was getting late, and I had at least 350 KM's to go before i slept. Thought about camping overnight, but PipSqueak gets super depressed when i'm gone too long. (Might have to just bring the little bugger with me next time). So after about 10km's of exploring and finding tons of places to camp,i turned around.

Spotted a little shelter someone built! I almost camped over.......next time,next adventure.







more loading

 

spotted this grouse fanning his tail lots of these up here. Big enough for one person to eat hearty.



old abandoned buildings. Kinda sad.....its very alone here. Lots of ghosts. Just the wind and the animals/birds are all you really see. Hardly see people. I pass by hundreds of homes and farms and properties, and never see anyone. Where are they? It feels odd being on the outside looking in, to speak.



free range roaming horses





A pair of massive Ravens croaked just then and woke me from my thoughts. Time marches on, relentlessly and with brutal efficiency. Time to move again. SUN is about to lay his weary head in the mountain folds and Night is awakening to cast her darkness over the lands.



onwards

single lane Hwy, 1000' + above the river. At least twice a year this Hwy simply falls off the mountain and into the Fraser River. The RCMP do not ticket speeders in this 4 KM section. Everyone rips thru here on a wing and a prayer.







endless miles of road.


Deer. Lots of deer. Herds of deer all feeding by the roadside at dusk and all night. Not uncommon to see bloody blotches all over the roads here. I flick on the two 100 W pencil beams , angled slightly left and right to light up the roadside banks.....I see hundreds of deer in less than two hours driving time. And then a big farking moose steps out and stops in the road. 110km/h to zero in 20 feet. Moose snorts and wanders off.

On and on I drive, strangely NOT tired......Finally hit the Hwy 1 west bound at Hope BC and settle in for another 2 hours of driving .

get home, crack cold beers at 0100 hours Sun, and play with PipSqueak. Lil guy is all happy to see me.

Fin.

 

May 14, 2017, Monsoon Rains, Sunshine. 430 KM trip - WEDGE CREEK - WHISTLER, SOO RIVER FSR South, Rutherford FSR, The Mind Overload Tour, and a Juvenile Grizzly too.

Started in Vancouver, loaded a few kit bags into the Jeep, and headed out and up the Sea To Sky Hwy99.

pouring rain......then sun, then pouring rain, then sun. Weather was like this all day.


Stopped at the Lions Bay General Store to buy lunch stuff and a few cold reebs. Carried on past Cheakamus and diverted up the Chance/Roe Main FSR to check on the little cabin. My original intent had been to fire up the stove, kick back and chill. However there was a few BCJEEPCLUB members in the clearing south of the cabin, target shooting. The target was 50 feet from the cabin and i did not feel like an incident. The cabin walls would have been MORE than adequate to stop their .22 rounds, but I did need to go outside to get fire wood. So I decided to come back another day.

gathered and prepped some dry wood with the Cold Steel Frontier Bowie



HDR shot



HDR jeep shot



endless peaks of basalt and douglas firs



Diverted down the new BC HYDRO service road.


Steep.



swamp road. Hydro basically filled in 10 feet deep of crushed rock and sand and gravel to build this road thru the bog







lo lo going up.



Carried on to Whistler and diverted up the Wedge Creek FSR to explore.




new IPP (Individual Power Project) going in. Basically a small run of the river or lake at mountain top, drops 7000 feet thru a steel tube to the power house . Lots of these in BC.





I though i should build a proper BC Bushcraft fire.



looks flat, but this was a slow crawl. Very very steep grade, for many KM's.



looking up the IPP water supply pipeline FSR. It went from a 15% grade to a 35% grade, skidder/excavator only



zoomed in a bit



looking down the IPP road



end of the line (for me anyways). Look back up the IPP road, over 3 KM's to the top of the project.



new park / camp area (hike in camp) . relocated parking lot (4 KM's further INTO the forest) , more crappers, better access to more of the MASSIVE mountain range area.



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