Day trip to Caw ridge, north of Grande Cache sept 5

[binch]

August is almost over but I want to try and get out to Caw Ridge, North of Grande Cache for a day.

Anyone interested???  Saturday, Sept 5

With possibility of overnight in area.

[binch]

Anyone.....???😟

[binch]

NOW THAT WAS AN ADVENTURE! (1/5)

Caw Ridge is nestled in amongst the Rocky Mountain eastern foothills, where the flat lands of the prairies smashed into the mountains.  And the trail head starts about 30km NW of Grande Cache.  This region is riddled with back country trails and random campsites, and VERY popular with folks from the Hinton area 140km SE of there.

1 Caw Ridge Route Map by ALRE Club, on Flickr

Our group was to meet up at the big Petro Canada Station/A&W of Hwy 16 at the Acheson turnoff, at 0630, for what is supposed to be a 4.5hour drive up to Grande Cache.  Our original group consisted of:

David in his D90
Abdu in his D110 exmod  'Tiger"
Emad in his newer Bronco
Michael in his 4dr Jeep
Dillon in his 4dr Jeep pickup
Bill & Barry in Bill's 110 exmod

Barry is a fellow Landy enthusiast with the Discovery 1 club in the UK.  He, his good wife and her mother are in Canada visiting with relatives, and asked if he could join the Edmonton Gathering on the Wednesday before.    As I had an extra seat in my  landy  I asked if he'd like to tag along on our trip.  Little did he know...LOL

2 A2C Barry by ALRE Club, on Flickr

A very respectable size group, complete with 4 winches and a reasonable level of off road skill.    Unfortunately for David he had developed a rear main seal failure not far from home and was forced to retire from the trip.   

We left the A&W around 0700 with a bit of mist in the air and cooler temperatures, and made it to the UFA fuel facility in Hinton, where  Abdu, Emad, Mike and Dillon topped off their tanks.  As we set off we made it to the top of the hill (east of valley in Hinton) when Abdu signaled and pulled off the road.  In his very casual voice he announced on the radio, "I've just heard a whining noise and a loud bang".  So there we were....five vehicles pulled off to the side of the road with one pair of legs sticking out from under 'Tigger'.  "It appears the drain plug has come out of the transfer case."  By the picture he took it appears he may have been a bit over zealous in tightening the drain plug when he changed the oil. 

3  Drain hole by ALRE Club, on Flickr

Barry, being a mechanic went in town with Michael and and Abdu to pick up another plug and oil in hopes that maybe, just maybe......  With a loss of gear oil Tigger was now off the road too.  All that was left to do was to arrange an AMA tow to take Tigger back to Edmonton.

4 Abdu and his defender by ALRE Club, on Flickr

[binch]

NOW THAT WAS AN ADVENTURE! (2/5)

Our group is now down to four.  Barry, myself and Dillon took off again for Grande Cache with Michael, Emad and Abdu planning to follow once 'Tigger' has been pickup.    The time is now somewhere about noon and we are 2 hours behind schedule.... quite normal.   

On our way through Grande Cache Dillon topped off his tank and we continued onto the trail head 20 minutes up the road.  By now the sky is no longer overcast with the sunshine starting to peak out through the clouds and the day is beginning to look very promising.    A half hour, one sandwich and a root beer later the rest of our crew arrived.  It's been a long morning but arriving at the trail head spirits were high and folks were itching to get started.  So off we went!

Now... I did this trail some 15 years ago with Emad and Abdu but this trail head didn't look at all familiar to me this time.  In fact much of the lower trail didn't look familiar at all as the original section near the highway paralleled the highway for several kilometers before gaining in elevation.  But time has a habit of changing things, with active mining in the area and a huge influx of quads, side by sides and other 4x4's the trail has taken on a whole new character.  From the highway the trail is pretty much a decent gravel haul road, just a bit on the narrower side.  This ran up for 10km or so before we turned off on one of the many side trails.  What was once an access road has now degraded into a worn and eroded rough trail.  Having had 60+mm of rain on Thursday there were lots of water holes on the road to splash through.

5 Haul road up by ALRE Club, on Flickr

Eventually the map told us to turn west onto a much narrower, and well eroded trail, where the alder were starting to overgrow the edges of the road. On our way up I vaguely recognized an almost perfectly rectangular pit dug out of the rock face, now filled with water and looking somewhat like a public pool.    Further up we came to what once was a narrow, deep creak crossing with a very crude log bridge.    The banks have now been cut back and the logs are laying on the creek bed.  Now I know I'm on the right track and we're starting to climb!!! 

6A FIRST LEG OF UPPER TRAIL by ALRE Club, on Flickr

6B OLD bRIDGE CROSSING by ALRE Club, on Flickr

A little further up the trail we had to stop....I can't recall why, but while we were waiting there I noticed steam coming out from under my bonnet.  I'd over heated and the reservoir was releasing coolant, seems the electric fan didn't appear to be functioning.  This is a problem....but only a small problem.    Barry pulled the relay and used a piece of wire to bridge the connect to bypass the relay and turn on the fan full time.    Did I mention that I have a "FAN ON" button on my dash...?    Ha! Do you think I can see it without my glasses on?  Hell NO!  In the end it really was a none issue now.

7 Bonnet up overheat by ALRE Club, on Flickr

It was about this time I thought I'd turn over the controls to Barry, and let him enjoy the section up the switch backs where we broke the tree line and came up on the alpine meadow.  The further up the trail we got the more the trees opened up and the views just kept getting better!  The trail itself seemed to improve a bit as well.

8 Lower panaramic view by ALRE Club, on Flickr

click on pic for short vid
9 michael's drive up by ALRE Club, on Flickr

[binch]

NOW THAT WAS AN ADVENTURE! (3/5)


Looking around now the views seem to go on forever.

10 into upper alpine looking back A by ALRE Club, on Flickr

CLIK ON IMAGE FOR MOVIE
11 Arriving at the top by ALRE Club, on Flickr

Ahead of us was another familiar site....The Univerite Laval Mountain Goat study field camp Research Hut.  The longest running study of mountain goats going on for 35 years.  Walking around the area you can plainly see the cloven hoof prints, scat and clumps of hair from the local goats.  We had seen this on our last trip years back.  Unfortunately with all the traffic up there the goats were no where to be seen.  We found a spot to have our lunch nearby and enjoy the views.  For Abdu, Michael and Dillon it was time to breakout the BBQ and cook up some lovely Shish Kabobs.  I liked their style!!

12 BBQ at top 1 by ALRE Club, on Flickr

CLIK ON IMAGE FOR MOVIE.
13 BBQ at top 2 by ALRE Club, on Flickr

14 PAnaramic from the top by ALRE Club, on Flickr
   
15 view from the top  11 by ALRE Club, on Flickr

15b Emad at top by ALRE Club, on Flickr

16 view from the top 4b by ALRE Club, on Flickr

17 view from the top 5 by ALRE Club, on Flickr

[binch]

NOW THAT WAS AN ADVENTURE! (4/5)

With the time coming up on 17:15 we 'herded up the cats' and we all packed up to leave this beautiful space, starting to make our way down the track again.  On our way down there was a track ahead of us leading up to the left, one of many we hadn't traveled today.  The call came out and the tangent was taken, with a turn around time of 1800.  It didn't take long for 1800 to come around so we began our descent down off the ridge.  Leaving everyone with a keen interest in coming back for more.  And once against Barry got the chance to take us down the mountain to the trail head where I would take over for the final drive back to Edmonton.

18 heading down 2 by ALRE Club, on Flickr

19 On the way down by ALRE Club, on Flickr

CLIK ON PIC TO PLAY MOVIE
18 Barry on Caw Ridge 7000' by ALRE Club, on Flickr

[binch]

NOW THAT WAS AN ADVENTURE! (5/5)

It took us about an hour or so to get down from the ridge again, and my 110 did it without the need of the fan as the engine was under compression for the majority of it.    With a stop at the trail head to grab a bite to eat, and air up for some we began our long drive home again.  As I didn't need to air up again Barry and I headed off at a leisurely pace to the UFA in Edson, where we would meet up with the rest of the group.  Funny thing...I couldn't remember if the UFA was at the east end of town or the west end so I drove all the way through, only to find out it was at the west end of town.  After getting back to the UFA  we only had to wait about 20 minutes before the rest of the group was able to catch up again.  We filled up our tanks and started off for Edmonton. 

Hinton at 1am by ALRE Club, on Flickr

Since things were going so well at this point someone had to throw a wrench in the works, and today it was my turn.  Turns out I left my filler cap on the pump and I didn't realize it until I got to the rest stop east of Edson, 30 minutes down the road.  So after explaining to the rest of the group I spun around and raced back for my cap.  The rest of the group pulled off to the side of the road and had a nap while we did the hour round trip.    By the time I got to Spruce Grove to drop Barry off it was around 0400 in the morning.  I hung out for a wee bit to make sure he wasn't locked out of the house then off I went, getting home 40 minutes later. 

It was a very long day, having driven more than 900km that day.  But ask me if I would do it again...?  In a heart beat!!  But maybe I'll drive up the day before LOL