|
|
October 1999
Volume 2, Issue 7 |
|
On Friday Sept. 10th and Saturday Sept. 11th,
Tracy Zala and I attended a symposium on the Green/Blue Spaces Strategy put
on by the HAT (Habitat Aquisition Fund) and the Provincial Capital Commission.
Andrea deLange
The Classic Chevelle, Beaumont and Mustang clubs of Victoria invited the IRC to join them for a Toy Run on Sunday, September 26. Attendees included Steve Johansen and Dean Bradley in the Ford WunderTruk, Dave and Joel Podmoroff in the Shiny Blue Chevy, and Rob and Andrea in their primer-black Cruiser.  We met at Mayfair Mall at 9:15am., and spent some quality time ogling the beautiful cars and some really cool vintage army vehicles, including a Jeep-sized armoured car with a gun turret! We need one of these! I'll bet that people dumping garbage in the bush illegally would think twice if more of us were driving rigs with turrets! At 10:00am., we headed on out. The Toy Run route took us down Blanshard to Dallas Road and then back up Douglas to the A&W, where we all had breakfast. Lots of toys were collected for distribution to needy kids at Christmas. We hope to see more club members out for this quality event next year! |
Upcoming Events South Island Contact Events Co-ordinator
October 99 November 99 Mid-Island Contact Steve Duifhuis for more information. October 99 November 99 |
|
On the Labour Day long weekend, the Island Rock Crawlers held the first annual Rock Creep.
This event was organized to provide club members a chance to camp and run some of the
trails from Rock Crawl, but without the added pressure of taking care of guests or doing
any chores. On Friday afternoon, Garrison and Wyatt arrived to pitch their metal tents,
and a few others pitched their nylon tents.
On Saturday morning, the rest of the attendees arrived: Chris in his Mog, Paul and family in their ‘Zuki, Wyatt and Joan in the Willys, Garrison, Sandra and DJ in the Hummer, Troy in his Toyo pick-up, Al and Stephanie in the CJ, Rob McF. in his CJ, Tim Wright, Steve Duifhuis, Berry and Jenny, Dean in his TJ, Ian R. in his Scrambler, Ron White and Brandon in his YJ, David Bryson and John in a Toy pick-up, and Rob d. in his Cruiser. We were joined by guests Steve and his family in their Trooper, and David Hope in his YJ. First on the agenda was a driver’s training session, hosted by Dean Bradley. Dean had prepared a number of items for display and a course curriculum that covered trail guiding, spotting, and general etiquette. This turned out to be a very informative demonstration, which reminded all those who attended that everyone can stand to have a little refresher on the finer points of four-wheeling. Thanks, Dean, for a very well-prepared course—I think your future lies in educating! After we viewed some examples of the types of tools and equipment a serious four-wheeler ought never to leave home without, we readied our rigs for a cruise up Harbourview. Robin and David, whose grandparents are the campground hosts, asked if they could ride along with us. As always, the more the merrier, and we soon had the whole crew aired down and rolling towards Show-off rock. We travelled all the way up the Harbourview Road, and continued on over Hill-35. The kids seemed to enjoy giving a play-by-play (or was bump-by-bump?) account of the ride over the CB. Don’t know if my ears have recovered yet! The best thrills were provided on the last drop back down to the Crabapple Lake road from Hill-35. Ian had some great hang-time, and after that his passenger requested a change of vehicles (and shorts too!). I wonder why? On Sunday, the day started with some rain showers. Those of us without hard or soft tops (except for die-hard Steve D.) tarped our vehicles and started begging rides from people with real roofs over their heads. Ron White had room for Andrea and me, and David piled in with Al. Then Dean and Garrison found some more willing victims (I mean passengers): Ann Marie, Shannon, and Debbie, who were also camping at the Sooke Flats that weekend, wanted to experience the Sooke Hills IRC-style. I’ll bet they didn’t know what kind of trip they were in for! Leaving roofless vehicles at camp looked like a great idea as we were driving up Butler Main towards DSS because the skies got darker as we climbed in altitude, and by the time we hit Kennedy Main, it was a regular monsoon. The trip up Wyatt’s Hump went fairly smoothly—the only vehicle that required a re-evaluation of the line was Garrison’s Hummer. Whenever we’re on the DSS, I am reminded of the poker run two years ago when a guy who had a sticker that read, “Go Big Block or Go Home!”, blew his clutch on this hill. Maybe that sticker should have said “Go Big Block AND Go Home!” One of our passengers, Ann Marie, has put up some great photos of this run on her HMCS Regina Network site. Click on the four links at the bottom (Network Camping Trip #1 thru #4). |
Dean got a flat tire just below the summit (ruined sidewall on a Goodyear—what’s
that, fourth one this year?), but the rest of the Hump was smooth sailing for
everyone except Vern, who had ridden up the hill on his mountain bike. Before
long, he found a vehicle to ride in. It was too bad that the only guy with an
available seat happened to be Steve, whose Jeep offered no more protection
from the elements than Vern’s bike!
After crossing the river at the bottom, and bouncing up the next hill, traffic came to a halt. Many of us took this opportunity to answer the call of nature. We didn’t find out until later that we had stopped because someone had spotted a bear. Coulda been ugly! Just how fast can you run with your pants around your ankles? Later, when we arrived at the mud pit, we all jumped out to inspect the famous waterhole and the two bypasses. No one had driven through bypass #1 for a few weeks, so it was kind of hard to tell how deep the mud was. It looked fairly innocuous, so Tim volunteered to go first with his Cherokee. Looking back, maybe a little more throttle would have helped, but then again, maybe he would have sunk that soon anyhow. Tim made it about halfway through before the muck sucked him down. Time to winch. Troy decided to brave the water hole on the right. He gave it some throttle and launched into it, but water has a funny way of killing ones momentum. Once Tim pulled himself through the bypass, he winched Troy the rest of the way through the water hole. Everyone else that followed Tim though the bypass needed a cable to get out. Steve Duifhuis figured he stood a chance of planing across the water hole, but about 10 feet in, his motor inhaled a bunch of puddle, so he shut it down lickety-split quick. After removing his spark plugs and pumping the water out of the cylinders, it took a couple cans of WD-40 and about thirty minutes before his engine would run again. The highlight of the bypass was watching Garrison sink his Hummer in the gumbo just about up to the windows. After jockeying back and forth a few times, it looked more like a D-9 Cat had been at work—there was a huge wall of brown stuff keeping the White Rhino from climbing out of the hole. The lowlight of the bypass was watching Al cave in his fender on a tree, having gotten a little wild on the throttle after getting winched through. With the major portion of mud behind us, the next obstacle was Neil’s Knoll. Everyone gave it their best to get over that tricky old rock, but only Al’s CJ made it past without a tug (that made up for the crumpled fender, didn’t it?). We moved on toward the Bitches Ditches. The ditches didn’t seem to pose as much of a threat as they had the last time we drove through them in the dark, even though the rain was coming down fairly hard and steady by this time, making them deeper by the minute. Before long we found ourselves back on the Kennedy Main. Wyatt tried convincing us to continue on to Devil’s Drop, but it was getting late and most of us were really looking forward to a warm meal and a chance to dry out a little. The whole crew descended on Mom’s Café for a great wind-up to our successful odyssey through the DSS. Later that evening, since the weather was threatening to stay crummy, most of us with nylon tents packed up, leaving only the metal tenters to stick it out until Monday. Rain not withstanding, it was a very enjoyable weekend. Hope to see the whole club out for this event next year! Rob deLange |
|
Island
Rock Crawlers Four-Wheel Drive Society P.O. Box 48034 3575 Douglas Street, Victoria, BC Canada V8Z 7H5 | |||||||||||||||
| The Rock Review is produced by the IRC Newsletter Committee: Dean Bradley, Dave Podmoroff, and Rob deLange. Questions, comments, or kudos are welcome! | ||||||||||||||||
Island Rock Crawlers Home Page
