~ jbjeep & MudBall's webpage ~

Okanogan Jeep Jamboree Canada @ Apex Alpine, British Columbia, August 2006

3 August 06 We loaded up the rigs in the morning and headed north for S&N Fab, where I had to have some adjustments made to my Atlas. From there we crossed the border at Sumas and headed east. We drove thru Manning Provincial Park just before it started to get dark. It’s a very pretty place, some spectacular scenery along the road. I hope to get to spend some time there someday and explore it a little bit. We found the west end of Green Mountain Road (in the dark) and took it, hoping it would be shorter than going into Pentiction and up from the east side. What we could see of it was a very pretty drive. No problems with wildlife, although we almost had a collision with some loose horses. We found Apex Mountain Road and headed up. It’s a long, slow trip getting to the top, lots of switchbacks, curves, and very steep. We pulled in about 11pm, and headed over to the hostel for the night. The nice lady there stayed up and waited for us to come in (I had called earlier to say we would be in late). Getting there took about 15 hours total.
4 August 06 After a good nights sleep we got up and unloaded the rigs and headed over to tech inspection and then to registration and trail signups. Once we had that taken care of, it was time to line up our rigs and then off to breakfast and then to the drivers meeting with hardly a moment to spare. Once that was done with there was some wait time as they got everyone sorted out and stuff. After a bit we headed out for the trails. For this day I choose to run Black Powder while Steve ran Green Draggin. Black Powder is one that has lots of mud, all year long. Nothing on it is too big or too hard, or too deep, but when you put the mud with the roots and the steep parts, it all adds up to a nicely challenging little trail. In addition to that, there is an optional rock crawl called “The Boulder Field” on the way back from this trail. The boulder field is a completely natural section of rock down below the road. It’s quite challenging and very much fun. Thanks to some good spotting I made it thru with just a few scrapes on my underside. Our trail leader told me later that I was the first women driver to ever attempt the boulder field.
					Stitched together group shot
Black Powder  Rating: 8 Requirements: 33" or larger tires preferred skidplates, recovery gear, limited slip or lockers highly recommended, working winch mandatory. This is our most distant trail head, but well worth it for the hard core jeeper. The first section of the trail climbs up through tight trees, across a small creek with a steep bank and some off-camber sections and finishes with a climb up a muddy bank that stops most jeeps, ending up in small alpine meadow. The trail returns the same way downhill to the lower section, which drops down to the valley bottom where a river crossing is followed by mud, mud and more mud! The locked up jeep with tall tires may make it through without winching, but the less well-equipped can expect to use their gumboots and winch.				Green Draggin  Rating: 6 Requirements: 31" or larger tires preferred, skidplates, limited slip or lockers preferred. The trail starts with a hill climb of loose rock, gravel and moguls. Tight turns through the trees take you to the top of Green Mountain and great views. The brave ones can try the optional Fools Corner, a short but challenging rock climb. The Connector, an off-camber forest trail, and Dean's Corner, leads you to the steep up hill switchbacks of Geby's Cut, and finally up the open Alpine of the Apex Bowl.
5 August 06 Steve and I had both been scheduled to run Ohh-la-la, however when I saw how many people were signed up for the trail, I started looking for something different to run. A couple of trails only had a few rigs signed up, and Winchester was one that we felt that I would have fun on and that Steve would be able to run with out too much troubles also. Winchester  Rating: 7 Requirements: 31" or larger tires, skidplates, recovery gear, limited slip or lockers preferred, working winch mandatory. Winchester is a technical trail that is a test of equipment, skill and sometimes nerves. In the morning we do Winchester loop, which climbs up steep sandy switchbacks and has more than 30 degrees of off-camber at times on open slopes. After dropping back down we'll do Dean's Corner and The Connector in the more difficult direction, where more off-camber through tight trees is especially challenging for tall rigs. Next we do Recoil, with even steeper and tighter switchbacks, and end up at Fools Corner for play time on the rocks. Winchester is a very deceptive trail. It’s not all that technical, other than in a few spots, its not all that tight, other than in a few spots, the off camber isn’t too bad, other than in a few spots - where it is downright scary! We spent a lot of time winching during the day. Much of the trail was loose silty material with rocks in it. It made the switchbacks in the trail very nasty. If you were a carbureted rig, and already having issued due to the altitude (aprox 7000 feet), it seemed that Murphy was along for the ride and would bog you down at the most inopportune moments when you needed power the most. Much of the parts of the trail in the trees required watching both sides of your windshield frame..trying to catch it before it was caught on trees that you didn’t think you were going to lean into. We had a fun day, although we skipped the last portion of trail (Recoil and Fools Corner) in the interests of getting back in time for dinner.
Tow Rigs and Jeeps on our return home			6 August 06 We got up and had breakfast and hit the road for home… I smoked the brakes on the big Dodge on the way down the mountain, but no permanent damages. Steve had no troubles on the way down, but then he was driving a manual and not an auto. We crossed the border at Osoyoos and took Hwy 97 all the way down to Hwy 14. Blewett pass was worth the time and extra miles. The drive back took about 10+ hours, even with the additional stops to pick up fruit. We rolled in at about 8pm.

	~ NEW ~ Just received these pictures of me from our tailgunner on Black Powder

Home