Rockin' the Crib 2011

by Richard Walker

After a one year hiatus, Rockin the CRIB returned to the provincial camp site at Missezula Lake. The previous year took us to Apex and it just didn’t quite measure up. Don’t get me wrong, it was still a great time with great people, but Apex didn’t offer the same amenities that Missezula does. Aside from the array of wheeling to suit any rig or style, the setting of the campground is perfect. The lake is gorgeous, there’s lots of room for trucks, trailers and rigs, there are outhouses, and everything we could possible want is close by.

People began arriving as early as Thursday night this year and that was good as we were afraid with the popularity of the site we would have other guests. Not that it’s a big deal, because as always, anyone is welcome to join us, but we like to warn people of what’s going on. By late Friday afternoon, people were steadily rolling in and camps were being set up until later that night. The group campfire crackled till the wee hours of the morning (like that ever happens!) and a drink or two may have been enjoyed!

This year I had Sue running, so for Saturday, I was going to lead a more of a stock friendly run through the hills with a stop for a BBQ and what not, while the more hardcore guys played on the other trails. Turns out everyone wanted to tag along on the stocker run first so we ended up with a good 20 rigs meandering through the FSR’s. I took everyone to a nice lookout of the lake, before dropping down what we call the “short cut”.

Everything was going pretty smooth, but Brian’s XJ developed a leaking radiator. We were only a short ways from our cabin, so my Dad took Brian down there to use this gnarly epoxy we have to patch it up, while the rest us continued on to the BBQ spot. With a good shady spot for lunch, burgers and dogs were grilled, sandwiches were eaten, bug spray was shared, and convo’s passed the time. Right after lunch, we all decided to book it back to camp to regroup and head off to the other trails.

It was a super sunny day, so some people decided to stay at camp and enjoy some time in a camp chair and enjoy each other’s company. Quite a few of us packed up and made our way over to Manana, a staple trail for ROTC! New this year, was a small lake right at the foot of the trail. And it was deep. Sue’s 36” Iroks were completely gone! After everyone ran the trail the normal way (down), it became the challenge to drive back up. There had to be 10 or 12 rigs down there and although some gave in to breakage, lots of them were able to drive back up. Again, something new to ROTC!

As the wheelin’ wound down, the lively hood at camp got turned up a notch or ten. I can honestly say, I have never seen a plumb bob used as a tool to shotgun a beer! In typical ROTC fashion, The Bloodhound Gang could be heard throughout camp and war stories were being swapped around the growing lake side bon fire.

Sunday morning began with the now annual pancake breaky and prize table. This is a great way to get everyone together before we part ways for another year. As usual, I have to thank all the people who helped cook and clean for almost 80 people, you guys and gals rock! In addition to the prizes, we had some fun trophies donated this year by Dave and Carli at Alsek Spring and Fab. We had some fun during the prizes giving away the “Carnage”, “All 5 years” and “JJB” trophies. To see what the “JJB” trophy is, you will have to join us at next year’s Rockin the CRIB!

Camp slowly diminished and another great ROTC had come and gone. Thanks to everyone (new and old) that attended and we sure hope you had as much fun being there as we did hosting it! If you haven’t been yet, log on to CrawlinBC.com to find out info for next year’s event and be sure not to miss it.

Check out the full story and photos in Volume 14 Issue 1