Al Obrigewitsch, otherwise known as Three Valley Al, is the president of the Revelstoke ATV Club and his club and the surrounding clubs are taking an active role to ensure that responsible ATVing is reported in the media. I received a call from Obrigewitsch a couple of months ago asking if I would like to accompany the Revelstoke ATV Club and members of the Sicamous ATV Club for a ride and hang out with the club members.
I thought it was a great idea and on a sunny morning in June, my boyfriend, Ben Trommer, and I headed out to Revelstoke for a fun day of ATVing and hanging out with just about the nicest guys around. Ben and I arrived in Revelstoke around noon and met with Obrigewitsch.
He took us out to the landing destination where we met with Ed Jaatteenmaki, Tom Dickson, Brian and Colleen Thurgood, Wayne Kells, Gus Fugman, Ed Herrmann and Wayne Davis. Now, I must admit that I am a rookie ATVer. I brought a sturdy pair of shoes and a sweater. Food, water and more warm clothing did not even cross my mind and I merely watched as these men packed and repacked face masks, chainsaws, garbage bags, wood, food and other things that no one but a seasoned ATVer would know to bring. But believe me—we needed it all at least once throughout the day.
A mountain view
We all set off around 1 p.m. and it was a beautiful, warm day in Revelstoke. There were 12 riders in total and we set off into the great backcountry making our first stop at Frog Falls. Obrigewitsch happens to be the chief electrician at Three Valley Gap Lake Chateau and the entire resort gets its power from the waterfalls.
We got a private tour of the Three Valley hydro station and took a break to stretch our legs and gaze at the crashing waterfalls. As Ben and I didn’t have quads of our own, we doubled up with club members. I spent the majority of the afternoon with Wayne Kells and Ben sat double with Ed Jaatteenmaki and his dog, Ricky.
We headed up a 25-kilometre-long power line trail and gained 1,500 feet of elevation in a short period of time. The trail up to the lookout winds and bends with the mountain scenery and is laden with leaves and shrubbery. We got to the top where we had a snack of nuts and fruit juice. Again, the club members saved Ben and me from being hungry as we hadn’t thought to bring snacks—they were more than generous with their peanuts and orange juice. The view from the top of the mountain was like no other. The green trees covered the entire mountain and seemed to go on forever.
A satisfying journey
I started out the day by thinking I would get a fun day out of the office, see some beautiful scenery and I hoped that I would get to see a black bear—all of those thoughts came true. As we were coming down from the lookout and rounding a turn towards Kidney Lake, a black bear watched us from a distance.
As soon as we got closer, it became startled by the noise of our machines and took off. We sat quietly for a few minutes on the ATVs, hopeful that it would come back, but we soon gave up and continued on our ride to Kidney Lake. We arrived at Kidney Lake and only stayed for a few minutes as we were all getting hungry.
We jumped right back on the quads and drove down to Noisy Creek where we set up camp and built a fire. Obrigewitsch had brought hamburgers and hotdogs and we ate like kings, allowing for the fact that a true outdoors meal contains no vegetables and a little grit on your meat. Ben and Ed Jaatteenmaki’s dog helped finish off the leftovers and we took off again back to the staging area.
Getting in the driver’s seat
After dinner, Brian Thurgood, a member of the Sicamous ATV Club who was on the ride with us, asked me if I had ever driven a quad before. I said no with more than a little nervousness and excitement in my voice, thinking he just might let me drive his quad, and I was right.
“Well, we’ll have to change that then, won’t we?” said Thurgood.
I hopped into the driver’s seat and Thurgood sat down in the passenger seat and after a quick explanation of where the brakes were and how to use the hand gas pedal, we were off. Needless to say, I was quite nervous and went about 15 kilometres an hour for the first 20 minutes. After a while of cruising at a snail’s pace, Thurgood started encouraging me to go faster.
“Try to get up to 25,” said Thurgood…“OK, now try to get up to 35.”
Near the end of the ride I started to get the hang of steering a quad and before I knew it, I was going 35 to 40 kilometres an hour. The thrill and exhilaration of speeding down small dirt roads was riveting and I will never forget driving a quad for the first time. We stopped at a cabin maintained by the Revelstoke ATV Club on our way back and for a photo opportunity at a small lake close to the staging area. It was dusk when we returned and people took off for home pretty quickly. We were dusty, dirty, tired and in great spirits. We had just had a great ride and I had the pleasure of discovering the undiscovered in Revelstoke.
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