Greater Kamloops ATV Association in part with the
Salmon Arm Nature's Nomads took part in the www.quads.ca annual
Provincial Trail Clean Up Day. Saturday morning we all met at Ink's
Lake riding area. As Nick tells me this place has 1500 miles of
trail so you can imagine the amount of people who use it. As
mentioned Nick and his wife Ingrid arrived 1st and scouted the area.
Rick Vowles and myself not long after. Then Allen, Brenda, and their
two daughters Martina and Kathryn. We were all early so we unloaded
the machines and got ourselves figured out as to what we we going to
do. We decided to concentrate on the main parking lot only. Nick
suggested that this area alone would fill up a truck which at 1st
glance looked small but he was 110% correct. There was a ridicules
amount of garbage only meters from the edge of the tree line.
Someone's garage doors off their house, washing machines, and tarps
off lumber. All this garbage within a 100 meter circle. Collected
the garbage in smaller bags donated by ATVBC and collected them up
in large bags for pick-up by Rick with his ATV trailer. It work
flawlessly!! We collected so much garbage in such a short period of
time. I couldn't imagine how much more we could have done with a few
more people... We would have needed a dump truck (next year Rick).
After the clean up I made sure everyone was well fed. Started up the
BBQ and grilled some burgers, had some chips, cheezies, and pops
(Orange pop for Kathryn, she took 2 at a time, LOL).
After lunch and a nice sit down and chat Nick set out to lead us on
a nice trail loop about a 3 hour ride he figured. However as we were
cleaning up to leave these two dirt biker kids about 13 or 14 were
whispering to one another about "should we ask them?" or "I wonder
if they have a cell phone?". Well as it turns out they spotted the
beginnings as to what could have been a major forest fire and I
proceeded to tell them to "TAKE US THERE RIGHT NOW!!!" So we all
roared down the trail to the site where sure enough some
irresponsible campers had built a fire in a open pit right only
meter's away from a enclosed pit. They left a great big long log to
burn and left. When we got there some of the flames were already
reaching up to 3 feet high. We ran in as a group and dispersed into
all 4 corners. Rick yelled "kick the fire in on itself". As we were
doing so I called 911. Funnily enough the fire service people didn't
answer their phone the 1st time the 911 operator tried them but she
tried again and they called right back directly to me. I explained
the situation and assured them that we would stay with the fire
until they arrived because it kept flaring up even after Allen
doused the main fire area with a water bucket he carries on his
quad. We sent Brenda to the the Coq to meet them and told them
they'd be 15 minutes.... Thanks again Brenda for your patients
because it took almost an hour. The forestry sent out 1 man and a
half ton pickup which I am sure was enough but we just see fire and
panic. We left the man to do his work and off we went on our trail
ride.
This was a relatively easy ride but even for me being the 1st ride
since my front 1st rollover there were some sections where my
confidence was still lacking and my knuckles were as white as chock.
However i sucked it up cause if the 8 year old Kathryn could do it
on a 90 Polaris so help me God so can I.... (Really a couple times
my heart was pounding on the descent's). It was a round trip 50km's
or so and Nick was very good about stopping and knowing when to
stop. Almost like he's been doing it awhile, eh Nick!! (Wink). I
tell you it was scenic and some fun here and there for Rick and
Allen. We went all the way up to Connolly Lake and another lake that
the name escapes me Nick you will have to email me.... It was a
beautiful day and a perfect ride. When we got to the trail that lead
us straight back to camp Nick gave the route instructions to Rick so
he and I could speed it up a little. Little did I know that the
worst of the descent's were to come (Worst for me at least....)
Thanks to Rick for waiting for me to crawl my way down. I really
appreciated it! Anyway we got back to the lot. Rick had to leave
right away and so i waited around for the rest of the team. Everyone
got back safe and sound and everyone had a great day! Thanks again
to all you guys for participating. We did a great job!
Check out the pictures on
Photobucket. |
