Big Timothy Mountain - Feb 20th

The weather forecast for Wed. was for sun.  A golden opportunity to ride back into Big Timothy via Hendrix Lake.  I can't say enough about this riding area, especially on a glorious blue sky day with fresh powder.

Check out the photos of our day taken by Jeanne and Kathi (click to enlarge if you wish):

Made it to the top this time!

Specks of sleds in a marshmallow world

Eric joins the day with a flyover

Off to a new area

Peak of Big Timothy in background

Ready to shred...

"Doo" meeting

Jeanne in the wide expanse

Formation riding

Endless views

What a way to spend the day!

Fun Day - Sat. Feb 16th

Don't we always choose the days for our rides!  What a mix of weather - sleet, hail, snow, fog, and yaaay - a little bit of sunshine.

We decided to head out to Smith Lake again since the snow conditions are always good out there.  Marcel informed us - "no playing or detours along the way - we'll save that for the afternoon."

When we headed up into the logging slash that takes us over to that side, we could barely see the riders in front of us.  It soon cleared up for our lunchtime campfire and was feeling quite warm.

Not a dead tree to be found here for a campfire.

Finally - one dead tree beside the road!

Lunchtime  at last.

 After lunch, we set off to do some exploring.  The weather quickly changed to blizzard like conditions.

Jan decided that the guys needed some exercise after lunch.

Janet got tired of waiting so was practicing some sidehilling....

Back to the Thuya side

We did several detours onto side roads on the way out and rode back into the "taj mahal" tree fort area again.  This time it was easier to get into since we had a base from the last time we were in there.
The day went much too quickly and it was time to head back to the parking area to load up.

Funny how both Geoff's couldn't seem to find their brakes.

No cooking again.  We all went to the Opax Mountain Cafe for an early dinner of lasagna, salad and breads.   What a delicious way to end the day.

Thanks to Jeanne, Syd and Geoff for submitting the great photos.

More Pics

Here's a couple more photos from our ride on Saturday, Feb. 9th to the Hendrix / Big Timothy area.
Photos taken by Jeanne.

Scenic and great snow conditions.

Hendrix - Big Timothy Ride

What an amazing riding area!!
Untouched powder, awesome scenery, hills, meadows and challenges (if desired).
11 sledders met on Sat. Feb. 9th and rode into this area via the Hendrix Mine Road.
Weather was intermittent with some sun, windy at times and poor visibility at other times.  We didn't make it to the peak of Big Tim due to poor visibility....but there's always a future ride.

Check out these photos taken by Marcel and Kathi.  Click to enlarge (as with any photo on this blog).

Getting our bearings



Wouldn't want to get stuck in this draw - looks a lot tamer now that the sled's out.



Trying to keep up with the experienced riders.





Looking for adventure...

108 Mile Trails

When:  Wed. Feb. 6th

Who:   12 club members

Where:  108 Heritage Site

Views:

Lunchtime:

  

Playtime:

 

Stuck time:

8200 Road Loop Ride

A perfect sledding temperature of about -5 C encouraged 14 sledders to meet at the 8200 Road junction on Sunday, Feb. 3rd.

The ride was perfect for big sleds, small sleds, old sleds and new sleds.
Norm (who knows the back country so well) led our group on a big loop.  First stop was Cougar Lake.  No one ventured onto it due to the wet conditions.

We continued on the unplowed logging roads with great snow conditions.

 

This beautiful view was looking down towards Taweel Lake.

We backtracked a little, and then made our way to Hager Mountain for lunch.

  

Don't let this photo fool you - normally Greg's skis are not on the ground!

Hennie & Ken had a hot pot so enjoyed hot sausage rolls for lunch (without sharing)!!

After lunch, we made our way to the "burn" area.  We had to cross a slushy swamp but lucky everyone kept the power on and made it through.

Break time at the top of "the burn".

Paul helps to get his new Cat unstuck , even if he didn't get to ride it.

We went part way up the Windy Mountain trail joining back onto the 8200 Road and then out to where we started the day.  Just over 100 kilometres of riding....a little shorter than anticipated.  As usual, an excellent ride.

 

Friendly Lake Ride

The club started off the month of January with a ride and we ended the month the same way!  On Thursday, January 31st, we met at the Opax parking lot with the snow falling around us.  It was a rough start on the trails with all of the moguls but it soon smoothed out.  Our first stop was "Cow Camp".

By then, the snow had quit and the sun was out.  We continued on to Friendly Lake, which we hear does not have a friendly access at other times of year.  It's a large lake we so we had fun playing around on it and then stopping for lunch in the sun.

From there, No Name Lake is accessed by a short trail.  It's also a large lake but we only rode the perimeter since it had a lot of slushy spots.  Lucky, there was no swamp diving on this ride!

We didn't have to backtrack since there was yet another trail out from Friendly Lake.  We then detoured up a logging road overlooking the area.

We stopped a few times on the road out since those ditches kept getting in the way.  Turns out that Syd had bent the A-arm on his sled, so it kept pulling him to the right.

Looks like a deep hole - only Norm's head is showing!

We quit riding earlier than usual for an early dinner at the Opax Mountain Cafe.  Kurt and Karen did a great job of providing us with a hearty soup, salad and buns.  This was Harry's idea, but unfortunately he had work commitments and couldn't join us. 

We'll have to do this again.....with Harry.