Mercedes Lilienthal
“As large limbs pounded our roofs and bounced off our hoods we quickly realized it was best to turn back - better to be smart than sorry.”
Words by Mercedes Lilienthal
As explorers who travel through remote areas via 4x4 vehicles, we need to be prepared for anything. Blown tires, broken parts, crazy weather, sickness, or lots of bears—the possibilities of challenging instances are limitless.
However, what often comes with risk is great reward. Being able to see spectacular mountainous vistas, campsites so remote not many dare to venture to them, or even conquering loose terrain you didn’t think you’d traverse successfully are just a few of them. This is all part of off-road or overlanding travel. Push your boundaries, but push them in a smart and thoughtful manner.
A small group of us set out for a multi-night off-road BC trek in between the Northwest Overland Rally and BC Overland Rally events. The trip would take us from Langley, through rural towns including Lytton and Minto, to Whistler. Five vehicles of four various auto manufacturers were present; three of them right-hand-drive and two of them lefties. Our unique collection of vehicles made for a fun excursion.
Nick and Tina brought their Nissan Xterra with home-built rooftop tent trailer. Spencer donned his UK-imported Land Rover Defender 130, and AJ with his two sons drove a Toyota FJ40 with home-built living quarters on the rear. My husband, Andy drove our Mitsubishi Delica van and I commandeered the Mitsubishi Pajero. Both Mitsubishis are also right-hand drive, as well as turbo diesel stick-shifts. All rigs were 4x4s with various upgrades.
After we attended the Northwest Overland Rally in Plain, WA, we went home to Vancouver for a quick, overnight trip to pack up and gather supplies, before starting our journey in the congested metro traffic. Four of the five rigs stuck out like sore thumbs as we were loaded up with jerry cans of fuel and water, MaxTrax and spare tires atop or behind our vehicles, and plenty of food, tools, and emergency supplies.
We weaved in and out of traffic and proceeded via the Trans-Canada Highway through Hope until we arrived at our first destination, Lytton (a rural town that sits at the confluence of the Fraser and Thompson Rivers). This is where we met AJ and his two boys with his FJ40. We collectively switched gears and traveled to our first small roadway.
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Camping in the deluge, Callaghan Lake
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Our group snaking through BC’s remote roads.
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Stopping for the free-ranging cows.
After a journey through Lillooet and logging many miles of tarmac, we came upon our first off-pavement thoroughfare, a hard-packed, dirt road amidst the Bridge River Canyon. This scenic area boasted bulging hillsides that were dotted with tons of pine trees. Upon further investigation, we discovered a deep canyon, which kept us company until we hit our first overnight destination, the foot of Terzaghi Dam. We then broke for camp, set up our tents (or in our case our van) and after a cozy campfire and quick dinner, called it a night.
The morning greeted us with slivers of sunshine as heavy clouds drooped from the sky. We packed up and drove along striking Carpenter Lake to reach our next place of interest, Minto. This would be on the way to the historic gold mining towns of Gold Bridge and Bralorne.
Minto, now a ghost town with very little remains, was popular for its unearthed gold in the 1930s, but became nonexistent due to the overflowing waters of the Carpenter Lake Reservoir, following the conclusion of the Bridge River Power Project. This planned project drastically changed the local surroundings. Not much is left but random rusted fire hydrants, broken bits of coloured and opaque glass, and partial sections of old buildings.
We parked and took a walking tour of the area and discovered Minto had an extremely fine silt bed along its waters. We hopped back in our rigs and proceeded to investigate. The silt was a challenge in 4-high but once in low-range, we successfully navigated our way through. I even had the chance to play around a bit.
After leaving Minto, our group trudged through deep, mud-filled waters to once again access the dirt road. We all made it through, even Nick and Tina with their little off-road trailer bouncing behind them as they swooshed their way through the muck. Our Delica’s 4D56 diesel engine roared as it bobbed its brick-like façade through the lake. It was an odd sight to see.
We picked up a few supplies in the very small community of Gold Bridge, which consists of roughly 36 residents, and made camp in the mountains above Bralorne, at Kingdom Lake. Unfortunately, the clouds thickened and teased us with drizzle before intermittent bouts of heavy rain came down on us through dinner.
The next day was typical for the Pacific Northwest (but normally in the winter) with wet, rainy, and dreary conditions. That didn’t stop us from experiencing Kingdom Lake FSR and its surrounding trails. Spencer found an un-marked trail off the lake prior to the trip and wanted to check it out. Nick and Tina dropped the trailer before venturing down the “rabbit hole” in hopes of seeing spectacular mountain vistas. Thick brush and overturned trees lined both sides of this uber narrow track, and its green canopy curled atop of us by mere milometers.
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The Land Rover Defender 130 at Carpenter Lake
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Our Mitsubishi Delica near Minton.
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The Mitsubishi Pajero Minton running in the silt bed.
This unnamed trail continually scratched at our doors. We bumped and lurched in an erratic fashion as we crossed over several stumps and fallen trees. Large limbs were pounding our roofs and bouncing off our hoods and we quickly realized it was best to turn back. Better to be smart than sorry. We didn’t want to hack and slash all day nor award ourselves any more body damage than a hefty dose of tree pin-striping. We found a tight spot to turn around and got out safely.
Our last remote day together was filled with exploring remote roads and forgotten mining towns of the past, like Bralorne. Rain kept us moving but stopped long enough for us to explore mining ruins and rubbish. Thunder clapped at our heels as we wondered what life was like in this region many moons ago. Our group kept pushing and we eventually we made it into Pemberton. We had a quick lunch, aired our tires, and headed to our last camp destination, Callaghan Lake, which is situated not too far from Whistler’s Olympic Park where the BC Overland Rally was held.
As we ventured along the Sea-to-Sky highway to Callaghan Road, we stopped quickly along the paved road and saw what might have been a lightning strike fire that just started in the mountainside to our right. Tina and Nick called it in, just in case. A vertical skinny plume of smoke rose up from the steep pine-filled hillside. It wasn’t raining at the moment, but all we could hear was the yipping of several sled dogs lower down in elevation.
We kept driving and turned onto our last stretch of dirt road. There we were met with a few wandering black bears. We gave them their space after shutting off our engines, watched in excitement, and proceeded to our campsite for the night.
While setting up camp, it started raining hard. We’re seasoned campers but this was the worst rain yet during our trip. It deluged the entire time we cooked, visited, and eventually slept. After a long night of our gear being rain-tested, we packed up our waterlogged belongings and went to the BC Overland Rally.
It’s not an adventure until something unexpected or challenging happens, right? In this case, we were prepared for everything except for a severely unmaintained trail that ended up not being worth exploring. It doesn’t matter if you’re running solo or in a group like we were, being flexible to adapt to such changes when traveling in the remote wilderness is paramount. Going with the flow, but most importantly, having fun and being safe while doing so will turn any trip into a grand adventure.
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The Toyota FJ40.
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Relaxing after a day on the trails.
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Scenic Callaghan Lake.