This article was published in Land Rover Monthly along with photos from many NW Overland Society members.
October 6-8, 2006
Back in early October a few of us from Washington State and British Columbia who hang out at the Northwest Overland Society website took a 3 day trip on the Whipsaw Trail in British Columbia. The trip was very scenic, the trail was intermediate in difficulty, and we all had a really great time. It's not a "hardcore" trail but it is one that I'm definitely going to come back and enjoy with my family someday.
We headed up on Friday after work and got into camp after dark where we met Shawn, one of the many BC Roverlanders that maintain the Whipsaw Trail. He was our "guide" making sure we stopped in all the right places, and that we selected the best camping spots. :-) After setting up tents and getting something to eat we enjoyed some good laughs around the camp fire. We had to stand around under an awning while a few rain clouds passed, but we had good conversation until about 2am (which was about 4 hours after our guide went to bed).
Saturday morning was an early one. What seemed like only a few minutes after I fell asleep, we were getting up making coffee and breaking camp. Everyone was eager to get on the trail. It was right around freezing in camp, with clear blue skies. After a few people ran to the closest gas station to re-fuel, and everyone aired down we managed to actually be on the trail about 10am.
The Whipsaw trail was originally built and used as a Hudson's Bay Company fur brigade trail. The nearby Hudson's Bay Meadows name stems from the days when they used to stop over with pack trains of animal furs heading for Yale. The trail was only used for a few season's before it was abandoned because of excessive snow and cold temperatures. The famous Dewdney trail, that was made to encourage gold miners to stay inside of Canada rather than crossing back into the US, crosses over the Whipsaw trail multiple times. With fur trading, mining, and a few cattle drives the Whipsaw Trail is dotted with remnants of a bygone era.
The trail started by gaining quite a bit of elevation. At about 5000 feet there was a small amount of snow on the ground. Not enough to be a problem, just enough to decorate the landscape and remind us that we were near the end of the alpine offroading season. It was beautiful... one of those times when you remember why you got into this in the first place.
After about 45 minutes on the trail all the coffee drinkers were glad to come to our first stop; an old church leftover from the days when there was active mining in the area. Set in an alpine meadow, surrounded with weathered fir trees and an old grave right in the middle. Getting out of the truck here was the first time where I took in the mountain air, exhaled all the stress of the week, and realized I was finally starting to relax. I always love that moment. A few more minutes for the dogs to run around and we were off.
The trail stayed pretty easy for most of the morning. There was one mild off-camber section, and a couple of shelves but nobody had any trouble. I don't think anyone even used a slider. The trail continued on through snow powdered sub-alpine meadows and forests all morning. We had a bit of water on the trail, but nothing to cause any concern. We stopped at another old cabin, and eventually took a break at Wells lake for lunch just after noon. There is usually a pretty deep water crossing here, but the water levels hadn't replenished after a hot summer. Over lunch Shawn indicated that the trail would get a bit harder before we got to camp that night.
The trail heading up out of Wells Lake had one shelf and a hill-climb with a rocky basalt surface. Everyone popped right up the ledge, and we did the climb up Falcon Hill one at a time. Dan, being the second to go, got caught up in a little bit of loose stuff about 1/2 of the way up. Without backing down, he picked another line and made it the rest of the way up without any trouble. Everyone else made it up without incident, even Andy in his 99 D2 w/o a CDL linkage. Falcon Hill gets it’s namesake from some guys that once drove a Ford Falcon up the hill.
After the hill-climb there was a more difficult ledge that gave a couple of people trouble. Shawn bounced around and dented the left side of the bumper on his 109 but made it up OK. Mike and Dan both have Detroit lockers in the rear and along with picking the right line went up nice and smooth. Scott in an ‘04 D2 had a more difficult line and gave us a good show. On his 4th attempt, with a lot of throttle and a good bounce or two managed to hop on up.
Andy was up next in his 99 D2 (w/o CDL). After watching Scott I'm pretty sure Andy thought he was going to get a chance to try out his new winch line, but he picked a good line and used consistent throttle to let the ETC do its job. He made it up on the first try. Being last, I was out of the truck taking pictures, and had a chance to pick a really good line. I'd also just installed an ARB locker in the rear. Between the locker and going last, I was able to just drive right up it. Going last always makes you look better than you really are. 
The rest of the trail to Lodestone Lake was very straight forward. One water crossing with a big ledge banged the rear bumpers or receiver hitches on the D2s but there wasn't anything difficult, but it was very scenic.
About a mile before camp we came across a Dad and his boys on quads. In their finest Canadian accent they warned each of us as we drove by of a cougar in the area and wished us luck camping that night. The cougar tracks went right down the middle of the trail for quite a ways until eventually they and a set of deer tracks headed off into the woods somewhere. Being that I was sleeping in a bivy sack that night, I thought to myself, "I hope he caught his dinner."
We pulled into Lodestone Lake about 4:00. After picking campsites and a location for the fire pit right next to the lake the trucks were parked and everyone got to work getting camp setup. Shawn, Dan, and I headed a ways away from the lake to collect some firewood. After completely filling my arms with dried branches I headed back to camp. Feeling like I'd set a good example, I encouraged everyone that if we each got an armful we'd have enough for the whole evening. One by one everyone went out to collect a bundle. Each person that came back seemed to have a little more than the guy before them. Typical. Then in come Andy and a friend of his from Alaska, Amy. Being the last one to bring in wood, Andy's making up for it by carrying in a good size bundle of wood... I'm impressed. Then I seem Amy coming up behind him and she has a huge log thrown over her shoulder. One by one everyone starts laughing as they realize that she's made a mockery of our chest puffing ceremony. You gotta love Alaskan women.
With a good amount of firewood we had big hot fire until pretty late which was a good thing since the temperatures were dropping significantly. By 6:00 everyone had eaten, was sitting around the fire, enjoying a few glasses of beer/wine. I think we were all a bit tired though. Mike fell asleep in his camp chair next to the fire at 8:30. Shawn turned in pretty early at 9:30 too... then again, he was probably tired of hearing our lame Canadian border crossing jokes. A small group of us made it until about 1:00 before crawling into our tents/bivy sacks for a much appreciated night of sleep.
With a suggestion from Amy (the Alaskan) I threw a few hand warmers into the foot of my sleeping bag. Boy, this is a great tip. My feet stayed nice and warm all night even though temperatures dropped well below zero. I didn't wake until I heard people rustling about around 7am.
It turns out that about 5am the snow started lightly falling. By 7am it was falling hard enough that we knew we should break camp within a reasonable amount of time. Everyone came prepared with winter gear so we weren't worried, but we knew we wouldn't be hanging around camp until noon like we sometimes do on the last day of a trip either. After finding my winter clothes in the bottom of my pack, and getting a nice hot cup of coffee things didn't seem so cold anymore. I finished my breakfast, rolled up my awning, rolled up the bivy sack, and was ready to hit the trail. Everyone else was ready about the same time. We took a group photo, and hit the trail for the drive out.
Snow is a funny thing, and by the time we were ready to go there was about 3" of it. The trail heading out was supposed to be pretty easy. 4x4 pickups with campers occasionally do the section of trail from the lake to the main road. Add a little snow into the mix though and even a flat paved road in the middle of the city can get exciting. That said, our group has done quite a bit of snow driving and everyone seemed to do OK. There were a couple of small slides and over-corrections as everyone got used to the snow again which got everyone's adrenaline going a little bit. There weren't any mishaps though, and we were back to the pavement in no time.
We aired up, and hit the road back to the states. After a 1.5 hour wait at the border we decided to stop for burgers and beer in Hope, WA. With our stomachs full we agreed to each head our own way home. We wound up staying in convoy for about another hour until one by one people took off and I waved goodbye as I excited I-5 in my hometown.
Good friends, good trail, great scenery, and mountain weather. If you get a chance, spend a couple of days on the Whipsaw Trail in BC, Canada. It's worth it.