Lost in the West

[Lem Lamb]

MX lead me to areas that were not open back in the day, these dunes are opening up more as the duff retreats to the main tree line.




Awesome area to bring the family as there is a variety of place to ride. beginner to X.

 

[Lem Lamb]

Apr 3rd. 2016

MX showed me one of his fav areas, so it was time for me to do the same ! Ha. This would be the Nordegg area.


MXOldtimer and his brother NOTmx. Ha.


Limited photo ops that day.




What a awesome way to spend time with good folks that enjoy seeing the happenings one day at a time.

 

[Lem Lamb]

Apr 4th. 2016

Those of us from the RMH area know this bridge as its 1 way in/out,,, knida... "Bridge to No Where."


The area has opened up a lot over the years, and many new trails with oil/gas/ logging that is under way.




Lots of old houses from the days gone by.


It was spitting rain, so early fire time to dry out a bit. Ice rain I should say.


This is a threw road when frozen, not so much with the thaw !


The big river is cross-able in the later parts of Fall when rains are not present. If it rains up stream, then there ain't no return trip for many hours. Best to pack lots of gas to do the 150 plus km loop around.

 

[Lem Lamb]

I rapped up the day at my fav out-look. Racked up the most kms to date on a 4 day outing, so best to relax spotting stuff below.




Just starting to fit the nitch of what works. Plans under way with the crew for this weekends ride now that much of the snow is gone.

Pal Lem with many more miles ahead !

 

[MADKAWI]

When were u out at Brule Dunes? I sure hope u got to ride the nice trails around there. would take u a couple days i'm sure to ride them all. Most out of towners don't know some of them exist they just think Hinton only has dunes... Boy are they wrong lol

 

[Lem Lamb]

When were u out at Brule Dunes? I sure hope u got to ride the nice trails around there. would take u a couple days i'm sure to ride them all. Most out of towners don't know some of them exist they just think Hinton only has dunes... Boy are they wrong lol

Yes to trails as they need more sun on the Easterly side of hwy to melt things off. MXOltimer has been riding the area for many years, so he lead me in the safe way since there are some spook'em climbs back there. Main ride was sand dunes, but I'll be back to see much more. I've had the chance to ride the North/ West areas around Hinton, and lots at Robb/ Cadimun. awesome just doesn't express the area.

Pal Lem

 

[Lem Lamb]

I had time to clean up my new to me 1972 GMC, old unit was blue & white, so this project needed different coloring.


The Cows like to go for a ride once and a while, so we did the 383 cid Chevrolet crate motor from out of the USA, then a re-con tranny from National T.


The old chevy will be my live in home as I get some small work done on my live home,,, Ha...
She took a lick'en on the last quad ride off 4 nights out. Lots of extra gear in-case the weather turned cold.


Clean rigging fits under mattress so there is room for many things on the outings. 2 sets of riding gear plus rain-suit for the nastiest conditions.


1000 watt geny for all things electric. 1.7 liters per 7 hours,,, 9 hrs on ECO mode. Chained into place to secure in the event of a roll over and to make it hard for pecker-heads to walk away with. 12 years running time on this unit.


Electronics on this side.

 

[Lem Lamb]

Water and cooler in box for transport till I get to staging area.


Need now stuff in both doors.


Office paper work in center arm rest.


High Artic winter gear for mountain riding, and 2 tool boxes of standard & metric. This under seat on this side is for dry mix food and canned goods.


Motor oil, booster cables and other odd-ends are under the hood for easy access. Unit has been the get away thing when it was new in 05, and the back seat was needed once when packing some snowmobilers out of the woods. Ha. I was their best friend that night.

Home away from home with cooking tools in box. A trick for me is packing gear and food that are easy to work with, like to pack 5 to 7 days worth of food, and 3 extra days of "if" I have to live on meals. TV/ WiFi is free in most towns and cities, and smart phone when on-top most mountains.

No need for most electronics since I'm pretty much done after a full day of riding, Nothing like watching the same movie for 10 years that I've never seen the end of as I fall a sleep with in minutes. Happy dreams planning the next ride when day breaks comes.

Pal Lem, one day at a time.

 

[Lem Lamb]

April 6th to 10th. 2016 Ride of Discovery

Thanks to MadKaw idea of pin pointing gps tracks to map files that I've been meaning to do for many years, MXOldtimer got me up to speed on some of it as I learn new tricks. Ha
The 6th day ride started in the Chungo.


Had good weather for the David Thompson discovery run.




I staged at Chungo Out-Fitters for my first mapping of cut/slash-lines, Most pipe lines are placed be-side the roads in this area since there is limited oil-works the further one travels North on Chungo. Cut-Off Creek run is a one-way in/out with 4 slash lines running North and 3 doing the West to East direction.


I have all the mileage points to these now, so when the snow/ice melts down I can find out if they are dead-enders.

 

[Lem Lamb]

One thing can be said about the Chungo.

Very steep going down


And steeper going up. The North of km marker14 and on is not younger friendly, limited ohv riding from marker 30 to 50, but there are a few cut-block trails at the farthest end.


Its very think bush with very little logging and next to nill for the 1 oil company up there. Not sure if they are doing any more drilling up there, but it would seem un-likely since it is pretty pricey dealing with forestry due to water and environment impact. Doo-Noo as it looks limited with what is there.


Hunters keep the odd slash lines open, but most have returned to nature since the wind blown trees and some are tree stumped to prevent access, more stumping now since the 2015/16 micro cut is impassable. This is a West/ East line.


One can see that it ends, I would "guess" that it is very steep back there.


I pack a chain saw, but one never know how many trees are downed from high winds and limited ohv users. Most stay close to the bridge area at km 12 since there are more trails down there. from marker 31 ish to 50 is limited riding less the odd slash line and the oil-field road.


This is the pack horse route in/out as it ends for ohv users where the dirt mound is/ truck and trailer turn around spot.




There are 4 North running slash-lines, they will be steep, and swampy at the bottoms since old duff has washed down into the lower lands.


Too much snow to make it to the end, so I returned to the Y and followed it to km 10 dead end.


Forestry welded the gate closed. I road it years ago when it was logged out many years ago. I dead-ends about 5 kms in.

 

[Lem Lamb]

Very limited areas to ride from this bridge on.


Over grown slash-line with not that many ohv riders up that way. Only makes sence since there are better places to ride that offer more off-roading.


These look like hills in the photos, but they are any thing but... Gnarly small Mountains, steeper too the West, and slightly not as steep to the East. This is one of the East ones.

 

[Lem Lamb]

I like the Chungo since it has some awesome view from a few out looks, and the road is impassible when raining. ohv's will be packing 200 to 400 lbs of sticky clay. Oil-patch trucks limit their access since the few wells up there are hooked up to computer controls. I see them up there one in a blue moon as they too have a tuff time getting to the sites.






Pipe-line looks smooth in the photo, but you can be the judge if you see it for your self.

 

[Lem Lamb]

Nice to have a stop at the trappers cabin.


I didn't see any one the whole day back there.




One can see the wind blown trees up there. Most the area to the West of Chungo road is under the Blackstone PLUZ any ways.


This is the battery operators road in, and the gate is always looked with tree line barriers.


This is the T junction

 

[Lem Lamb]

This is one of the out-looks I sit on for lunch break or just looking around with spotting scope.


N/W looking up the Cardinal area.


This is West looking at the dead end leases.


Zoomed in on the South section of the Mountain Park road.






To much snow on N/E facing valley, so I'll wait for another day, it is very steep dropping down to creek.


Many more photos to load over the next few days since it was an eye opener marking the openings to the limited slash lines on the South Side of the Small-Boy Camp/ Cardinal.

Pal Lem taking the day at what come my way.

 

[Lem Lamb]

I use this oil trail to access the farthest North River since it is hardly used, and it easy going less the wash-outs.


The hill in the back ground is East of the Small Boy Camp.


Good view of the river before the washes.




This was the access back in the day, erosion did it in, but.


The good folks on the other side of the river cut a new path to access it.

 

[Lem Lamb]

from km 0 to the T is 50 kms un-less one detours the Cut-Off Creek area,,, works out the 100 + kms with it added in. Then 50 ish kms return if staging at the ) mark.
My stag was at the bridge that saved 12 kms each way.


I've only spotted 2 oil-company trucks up there over the last 5 years of running up there, and a hand full of camping folks since it is pretty much thick bush with very limited ohv riding up there. KM 30 on is mostly road with very steep over grown slash-lines.

 

[Lem Lamb]

There was a bailey bridge crossing way West of this old crossing, and I would only guess that this one is pretty deep since it's not a wide area. The waters gets flowing pretty fast when its raining up stream in the Eastern Slopes.


1 km from the river is the 3 wash-outs, and a slip of control will land one in the trees bellow. Lucky my Q is narrow. A little bit of side hilling as the day will come that it will be no longer ride-able when the bank gives way.
I did not stop till I got to the safe landing as it was glare ice in 6 spots on each side of wash-out.


I had to have a break since that was a-lot of stops marking slash-lines by gps and paper, plus the Cut-Off Creek ride in/out. Pack gas since its a long run in and out.


Nill for ohv riders has let most trails become non-riding as the wind blown trees are many. It wouldn't matter much any-who since they dead end after a few clicks.


Gate to the PHUZ with no ohv units beyond this point.


Micro cut block that is root-stumped to prevent folks from riding in there.




This cut is on the East side of Chungo as it is root-stumped too with gates at both ends.

 

[Lem Lamb]

There are no slash lines from the last leases to the West since this was not the oil-companies plan to go in further then there are pipe lines.
The chunk between FTR and Chungo is large enough, so from the Donsan Creek road all the way to Cardinal Band road the gates are plenty to keep all users out.

Most pipe/ slash-lines run West/East with vast expanses of swmps between the ranges. Small mountains they are as I would only guess there are 3 to 5 of them on East side Chungo, and about the same on the West side.

West side is Blackstone PHUZ that is a no for ohv's.

 

[Lem Lamb]

There were 2 forest log-cuts this year in the Chungo, one on the West side would be classed as a micro-cut as the other to the East is todays standard removal.
It is behind locked gates at both ends, unless I seen another cut of this size from the FTR across from this one.


It has bee a few years since the last logging activity back there less the farthest North end cut "maybe" 10 ish years ago. One can see this once you get on top of a look-out area.
One of the not many pipe-lines that is steep, snowed in on the back shaded in side down below.


Thick bush, and steep angels.

 

[Lem Lamb]

This is looking South at the Chungo side from Small Boy, the wash-outs are to the right side of photo.


The North bank-road is narrow less truck/car traffic that was not repaired after 2012 floods, not much room to turn around at last switch back up top, and drop-offs on both sides of remaining goat path down. Looks wide, but its not, tech drivers might try it in the jeeps.


Looks like the brand new 2017 ski-doo, but I could be wrong.


This would be looking WW/S from this Small Boy side.


My first group of wild Moose I spotted, Ha.


Un-loaded Q at Grave Flats/ or junction of Pembina Road/ Cardinal-Mountain Park access road that is in the South area of Cardinal Look-Out that is 50 ish kms from this staging area.


Nice area around there, I can see why it is a awesome rec area for Edson/ Hinton folk. Most riders form Red Deer, Rocky, Nordegg don't "normally" head up that way since there are so many other places to ride that are closer,,, yes that many do head up that way, but I seen lots of others that like to stay closer to our areas South of here. Each rider or group chooses their areas on their own needs and likes.


The sun was setting, so I racked up some miles to get a better look at wash out.


I seen lots of trails in different directions from this road, need to return to check them out.