When Debbie Gordon headed out on a quad adventure with her husband, two grandchildren, nephew, and two sons, she was expecting to go on a nice short ride through the wilderness and then come home to their campsite in Skookumchuk, B.C. to finish making dinner.
Little did she know, a nice little joyride would take her and her family deep into the wilderness on an epic adventure that would test each of their limits.
The family ventured onto a logging road in the picturesque Purcell Mountains and found a quadding trail that intercepted it. After much discussion, they decided to follow it to see where it would take them.
The trip ended up taking almost seven hours since these discussions kept taking place, but also because of the extreme conditions.
"This trip was a perfect example of how preparation is key," said Gordon. "We hit every kind of condition you could encounter from nice dry roads to mud holes to snow. I was covered in mud by the end of it all."
At one point, Gordon's Honda Foreman 400 got stuck in a massive snow drift way up high in a shady draw. The snow was up to her seat on the quad. Luckily, the quads were equipped with tow ropes, winches, and shovels, everything they needed for such a situation. It took about an hour for the men to winch Gordon out and then they had to winch each other to get out of the drift.
"After getting through the snow, we came up to a deep mud hole," said Gordon. "I told them I think we've gone far enough!"
The men insisted the family continue to see what was at the end of the trail. Gordon reluctantly gunned the machine in order to get through the mud.
After triumphantly making it to the other side, Gordon looked down at her quad to find one of her tires was completely flat. A sharp rock had punctured the tire.
"Again, luckily we were prepared and had a repair kit and a pump," said Gordon.
After repairing the tire, Gordon said the family kept going. They almost ran out of road when they came upon an old cabin in the wilderness.
"Right away we were uneasy," said Gordon. "It was a guide outfitter cabin nestled deep in the forest. The trail leading up to the cabin was covered in snow and in the snow you could see huge Grizzly bear tracks no more than a day old. The tracks led right to the cabin where you could see the bear had sniffed all around it and then went up onto the porch. There were big paw prints on the windows and the chair on the porch had a perfect Grizzly claw swipe."
The family, feeling uneasy, left the area and decided to head back to camp.
"Once you've gone through all that, you wish you were at the end of it but instead you have to go back through all the same stuff you've already conquered," said Gordon.
Gordon was very glad though, that on this journey, someone always had the equipment they needed to get them out of every situation. If they didn't have the tools to pump a tire or a winch to get them unstuck, the situation would've been horrible.
"If you're not prepared, anything could happen," said Gordon. "You may not go out thinking your ride is going to last seven hours and if you don't have the proper safety equipment, you could run into big trouble. It's also about having a good riding sense and always wearing a helmet."
Gordon was relieved to finally make it back to camp at the end of it all.
"All I wanted to do in the first place was stay home and make potatoes," Gordon laughed.
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