New Year for New adventures

i know yesterday i was literally sitting on a beach getting a tan, but now it's time to get back to the reality of canada. Can't let a bit of snow stop me. We were going to go icefishing, but a lack of volunteers and a bit of a late start. better late than never.

i met up with louie and we hopped in my truck, heading up to chute late.

our 1st stop was at the top of gillard on the KVR. we whole valley was covered in cloud, and we were well above it. looked like a valley full with snow. pretty cool.

panorama of the cloudy valley

sunday is for firewood

sunday was time for more firewood, so i met norm at the bottom of postil and up we went.

our usual firewood spot

a lot of the wood in the usual firewood spot had been burned.  not cut and burned at home, but burned on the spot.  not sure why the forestry compamies do this.  it they leave it there, it will all get cut up and brought home by someone.  probably me.

we got bored this weekend

This weekend it was time to make more woodchips, and boards.

Saturday, Kris and i headed up to the wood storage facility up postil and got the chainsaw all set up.

1st cut

Our mission this time was to make a sweet post.  pretty much the same procedure as boards, just wider cuts. 

cutting up the post

whats latin for adventure?

this weekend it was time to check out a new lake.  mike had been talking about it for a month or so, and we believed him that it was cool, now we just needed to experience it for ourselves.

we got prepared for the adventure by opening a keg at mikes on friday night for his birthday.  happy birthday dood.  thanks for the party.

saturday, it was time to get going in the direction of away from it all adventure.

going up bear creek

saturday, home by noon... with firewood

 Saturday morning, Wes calles me for a firewood mission.  not many pictures, but it really was an epic trail.  lots of mud, bumper scraping and road deactivations.

We went up postil past the mud pits and onto some old road.  there was mud, and lots of it. 

wes's truck was supposed to be in the shot.  more than just the tires.

1st run of the year

Tuesday evening, 6:00. seems like the perfect time to ride postil. pulled the bikes out of the shed for the first time. they were ridden hard and put away wet so they needed a bit of love. loaded them into the truck and off i went. met some friends and we were off. we were ripping too fast to stop and take pictures on the way down, so there are none.

at the top

at the bottom

This is the start of another epic okanagan summer. you should come and ride.  or shuttle us, that would be ok too.

cutting wood on beaver lake road.

Had some time and the need today to cut some firewood. Donald came too. we packed up the truck with implements of adventure and headed up beaver lake road.

the advancing army

Even though there was no snow in the valley, the mountains are still a winter wonderland.  wood was going to involve a trudge through some deep snoe unless we found a primo log that somehow fell off a random logging truck.

lots of snow still.  and random minty firewood

behold!!! a sweet random log that looks like it fell off a logging truck.  that will do nicely.

the road up

wood, chainsaw, pelletgun, 4x4.  this picture has it all

We shot the gun, sawed until the truck was full and headed down.  it was warm enough that we didn't bother lighting a fire.  and we had nothing to cook anyway.  the firewood pile is good to go a for a bit.  can't wait for the next adventure.

feb 24, in which mikes new truck gets stuck

so mike got a new 4runner. we went and picked it up on saturday in vernon. he decided to get it stuck and i needed more firewood. all the winter adventures have run my stockpile to almost nothing. we headed up to postil. the mud pits were pretty much frozen, except for this one spot near the edge. mike parked it in there. i towed him out.

first stuck for mike.  maybe the first one ever for his truck.

After getting the truck out.  we shot these guns.  mike can hit a moving balloon at 300 yards no problem.  any colour too.

12ga. and sks

Also, it appears postil is still a parking lot for unwanted/stolen trucks.  someone left the keys in this one.

wanna race?

2 trucks. and the tow strap.  i left it like that all morning.  might need it more.

that bumper looks sweet.  another part of truck 1 re-incarnated. 

This truck guards the entrance to the playground.  has a larry's cycle sticker on the dash.  thats funny because i used to work there.

We were home by 2 and it was a solid mission.  trucks got stuck, guns were fired, and firewood was collected.  good times.

getting stuck for the last time in 2012

With only 3 days left in 2012, there wasn't much time left to get stuck. Saturday, we decided to give it a try. Ian, mike and I headed up to beaver lake for some ice fishing, and i figured it would just be best to get stuck right away and get it over with.

last stuck of 2012.  ian was not surprised.

After getting the truck out, we had to find a way to get all our stuff, including firewood, from the road to the lake.  its a road in summer, but a trail in winter.  While we deciding how to get 60 pounds of firewood and everything else to the lake, a dood showed up on a snowmobile.  a trade was made.  2 beers for the transportation of the firewood.  he turned out to be a cool guy that we hung out with on and off throughout the day.

we were fishing in the rich neighbour hood apparently.

There were a few other people out fishing on the lake.  we didn't feel bad when we found out we weren't the only ones not catching any fish.

some new friends of ours having a good time in the rec site

mike checking for fish.  no dice.

We drilled 3 holes and made ourselves comfy.  not as comfy as if we would have brought chairs.  they are on the list of things to bring next weekend.

our spot.  no big tents here.  just holes and firewood.

the frosty shore of beaver lake.

didn't realize there was a rally going on in the area.

chilling with our new friends.

We took dood's snowmobile out for a spin.  drank some beer, and pretty much did everything but catch fish.  that doesn't really bother us.  we'll be out again next weekend.  you should come.

some new tracks around beaver lake

today we had time for a quick rip around beaver lake here ya go...

The first thing mike and i did was run into my neighbour.  all the 100's of km's of road, and we run into someone i know.  He was out for a rip with his dog.  We were out for a rip with some fire wood.  a good match, so we convoyed.

following bob along a new to me rd around beaver lake area.

parked for a bit.

After a bit we stopped for a fire.  we dug out a foot of snow and got it ripping.  it was cloudy but not too cold.

our cooking spot.  we had smokies, of course.

some shooting ensued and after smokies and a box of ammo and some general hanging around, it was time to head back.  this sweet spot was only 14km from my front door and very worthy of returning to on a future adventure.

you should come.

the dog.  he was friendly and awesome.

first snow

It was snowing sunday morning. not at my house, but i could see it falling in the mountains. since i never took the winter tires off my truck, might as well go get them white. the snow started falling on the truck about 15 minutes up from my place. mike lau and i were pumped. fishing gear and pellet guns in the truck, and we both had long underwear on.

doreen lake.  same view as last week, just whiter

parked on the way up

we decided to head back to aberdeen lake.  we didn't really give it a good explore last weekend, so we went back this weekend to take care of unfinished business.  we drove almost completely around the lake and ended up at a sweet little camp spot.  it was sweeter after we put the old tires littering the site into the back of the truck for a proper removal.

finally settled at a sweet spot on aberdeen lake

Needless to say, it was a little chilly.  the roaring fire really helped.  we fished (mike got 2) and shot some guns and generally dominated the situation. 

mike casting into aberdeen lake

On the way down, we decided to take the awesome way.  its a trail we'd done before, and this was the perfect time of year to do it... so we did.

the trail down was a bit wet in places.

We stopped for firewood near beaver lake, and headed back home.  another solid week.  why weren't you there?  really.  i want to know.  you can come next weekend.  should be good.

mission: doreen lake

Sunday it was time to see what the forestry sites on the Thompson PLateau were like. could we drive in? were the lakes still frozen? whats the deal in general? to find the answers to these questions and more, tom, louie, mike lau and danny and i headed up towards doreen lake to meet natasha and wayne.

the road into beaver lake site. someone went to town with a chainsaw, presumably a logging firm of park clean up crew. the site was barely recognizable. 

louie and his beer checking out the still 95% frozen beaver lake.

mobile mike owning the "road" to doreen lake.

our view for the 5 hours we spent at doreen lake.

the gangs all here.  why aren't you?

the mission was a mad success.  mike brought his honda trike and that was a source of sweetness.  also, wayne and natasha brought their pellet gun.  everyone left with their eyes.  Wayne tried fishing, but no luck.  

it's good to know the sites up there are open and ready for business.  you should come next time.

biking, 4x4ing and firewood.

Saturday, I dusted off our bikes and Christine and I went for a little rip up on some trails on Quail Ridge. Felt good to pedal, but I hate breaking in my ass at the beginning of the season.

Sunday was firewood day. Tom and Rita and I went up Postil Rd for some wood. then we used the wood to cook some chicken and some potato/oinion packets that Tom and Rita brought. Delish...

We chose a dry sopt, but there were many spots still not dry. It was 26 degrees, so it felt mega-hot since it was the first really minty day of spring. I wished i had shorts.

toms and i both wished we had shorts. so muc, in fact, we sat in this snow to cool off. our asses got wet.

the repercussions of sitting in the snow. and the best way to dry off. it didn't take long in the heat.

on the way down, we went up. tried to get into bullman lake, but there was still too much snow for a stock truck full of firewood.

it was sweet. and we'll do it again next weekend. stay tuned....

another firewood friday

not that i was short on wood, but it was friday, the 2nd day of holidays. donald and i went for firewood. here are the pics.

here you can see the elusive 1969 homelite xl-1 in its natural habitat. a rare site.

donald, the truck and the pile of wood. chipping away at it every weekend, it should be gone in 3 years or so.

the fire, donald and the axe. a sweet triple threat.


what the pictures don't show was that when we were about to leave, our 2 person party had turned into a 6 person party. 2 random trucks showed up. one full of dogs. one full of guns. after unleashing a few clips of doods sks assault rifle, we headed down. i will send the next 2 days splitting and stacking the wood and finding unique ways and places to burn it.

firewood fryday

turns out this friday was a firewood friday. Met ian and oscar and we headed up postil to a spot i knew. The bumper denting trail from a few weeks ago ends just off pstil. the road out from there is pretty good because of the logging activity. I knew there were tons of large slash piles around there, with sweet sweet wood, so we headed up in that direction.




this was our spot for the afternoon. parked by the road, lit a fire and spent the day eating smokies, drinking some beverages, and cutting firewood.


the big slash piles i was talking about. tons of mint wood all around.


le premiere etoile (the first star) goes to the 1969 homelite xl-1. best 25$ ever.


we piled wood all along the road and just picked it up on the way out. ian's truck 1/2 full. it was full by the end. so was my truck.

so one of the main results of this mission is now i have tons of wood. that means tons of fires. stay tuned to see how ryan and friends are gonna use all this wood.