Gordon Vogell of Cranbrook organized and guided the ride through the Rockies as a prelude to the ATV/BC Jamboree in Elkford. The following seven riders took part: Gordon Vogell and David Hoover of Cranbrook, Ed Jaatteenmaki of Revelstoke, Lisa and Steve Bowell of Nanaimo (and their yellow Lab Shelby), Dale Steedman of Edgewater and Brent Wilson of Invermere.
The ride started on August 15th at the south end of the Bull River forest service road (FSR) riding north to Cross River and then south to Fort Steele.
Day One: 126 kilometres
We all gathered at the start of the trail, leaving our quads, and then drove our vehicles to Gordon’s friend’s place at Fort Steele. Then Gordon’s wife drove us back to our quads. We started up the Bull River FSR in a rain shower, stopping for a photo-op at Bull River Falls.
Lunch was at Quinn Creek rec site and then up the Quinn Creek FSR, down the Blackfoot Creek FSR to the North White River FSR, then east on this road to camp No. 1 at the junction of the North and East White Rivers. Our mascot, Shelby the yellow Lab, was everyone’s friend and we all enjoyed having her on the ride. The rain started again and I had a miserable night with a leaky air mattress and water seeping in under my tent.
Day Two: 84 kilometres
We rode north to the end of North White River FSR and then over Palliser Pass on a one-kilometre, challenging ATV trail to the Palliser River FSR. Lunch was at the Gorge where the Palliser River water falls into a 10- to 12- foot wide by 100-foot deep gorge. A must-see sight!
After lunch we headed down the Palliser then up the Albert River FSR to the start of another ATV trail to Miller Pass. This trail had a difficult spot at a slip-out where we had to winch some of the quads through. Further up the trail I almost put the RZR on its side in a deep off-camber ditch—it was a little scary for a few seconds!
Camp No. 2 was set up on a wide part of the trail in Miller Pass, with an elevation of 5,200 feet. Our tents were all in a row and it looked like a Chinese railway camp. That night I set up a tarp to sleep under instead of the tent. My camp was the first one in the line and I kept my loaded rifle beside me because we were in grizzly country.
Day Three: 83 kilometres
We rode north on the ATV trail and an FSR to Cross River FSR. There is a gypsum mine just off the Cross River FSR and there are many big trucks hauling the gypsum on this road to Settlers Road and then to somewhere via Highway 93. We had lunch at a natural bridge over Cross River.
The river at this location also flows through a very narrow and deep gorge—another must-see sight. After lunch we continued down the Cross to the Kootenay River FSR and on to camp No. 3 overlooking the Kootenay River and mountains beyond.
A beautiful campsite at 3,100 feet elevation. Six brave riders went for a swim in the cool Kootenay River! After the swim we had a lovely community dinner—because at this site we had a table to sit at! A nice sunny day with some dust on the Cross River haul road.
Day Four: 88 kilometres
Under sunny skies we headed south on the White River FSR to Whiteswan FSR then west to our lunch stop at the west end of Whiteswan Lake. Our lunch was cut short when an efficient parks lady told us to leave—no stopping in the park with ATVs. Seven drivers headed west on Whiteswan, then south on old FSRs along Lussier River to Ram Creek hot pool. The camp spot for the pool was taken so we had to double back to another spot. After setting up camp we all rushed up to the hot pool to soak off four days of road dust!
Day Five: 67 kilometres
Today we woke up to another sunny day. Gordon, Steve and Lisa went for a morning dip in the hot pool. After breaking camp we drove east along Roam Creek where we encountered some water on the road caused by a beaver dam.
Past the dam we drove up the Lussier River FSR then up the Nicol Creek old road and up to Wild Horse Pass, the highest point of the ride at 6,345 feet. We enjoyed lunch in the pass, which was a very scenic spot.
The ride down from the pass was on more of an ATV trail—until we arrived at the top end of Wild Horse River FSR. At East Wild Horse River we crossed over to an old road on the east side of Wild Horse Road. This road took us on the east side of Lone Peak with the ride officially ending where the FSR joined onto the paved Wardner-Fort Steele Road.
Gordy did a great job of guiding us on a great ride. We all enjoyed the trip and want to do another one with Gordy. Some of the highlights were: the evening campfires, the gorges on the Palliser and Cross Rivers, the never-ending scenery, the mountain passes and the Ram Creek hot pool.
The group was a great bunch to ride with. We had lots of laughs and were constantly joking around. Dale summed it all up at the last campfire when he said, “I never had so much fun sitting around a campfire in the bush.”
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