Valley Trail Riders ATV Club Newsletter The CAMPFIRE

Transcription

1 Volume 12 Issue 3 May 2016 Valley Trail Riders ATV Club Newsletter The CAMPFIRE Photo courtesy of Jim Tredwell, VTR Moab tour, 2011 Upcoming Events Next Meeting Wed, May 11 th at 7 p.m. at Tynehead Hall Victoria Day Long Weekend Miners camp on Lamont Rd Camp & Ride June June 30 July 9 Davis Lake Camp, Ride and Fish Osprey Lake area Camp & Ride Caribbean style

2 Valley Trail Riders ATV Club Executive 2016 Mailing address Suite #233, Fraser Highway, Langley, BC V3A 4G7 Phone: President: Norris Smith Phone: Vice President: Rick Sparrow Phone: Treasurer: Albert Ehbrecht Phone: Membership Secretary: John Field Phone: Newsletter: Christine Nichols Phone: Recording Secretary: Debbie Sparrow Phone: Ride Coordinator: Ken Gould Phone: Club Meetings held second Wednesday monthly March to November Tynehead Community Hall, th Street, Surrey B. C. 7 p.m. Sea to Sky Motorsports Your local Polaris, Victory, and Indian Motorcycle Dealer Business Hours Tue - Fri 9am-6pm, Sat 9am-5pm

3 President s Message May 2016 We seem to have had a slow start to our season so far with the snow & ice in the high country, but it s coming as the snow is on the way out. We had our first Dealers meeting at Sea To Sky s new facility on Fraser Highway. It is quite the place with lots of room for future expansion. Nick gave a short presentation on their products which include the full line of Polaris products, Indian & Victory motorcycles & all of the accessories that go along with these products. I m sure we all wish them Good Luck at their new location. We were also fortunate to have a brief visit & informational talk from Kim Smith the new ATV/BC General Manager. I look forward to hearing good things from Kim in her new role. I must commend Jerry Hudak for leading a day ride from Grace Lake, Thanks Jerry. Raffle tickets are here & are selling out fast; we are trying to get more. Remember. both new & old members will make this club fun & strong. Ride Safe Norris Smith President VTR Editor s Report Christine Nichols vtreditor@hotmail.com Rick, Norris and I visited a friend from another club to discuss our website. Rob was very helpful as he showed us how we can customize and update the site to help inform the public about our club. The trick appears to be to have everyone visit the site often so Google learns we exist! Why not check it out and then send one of us a note with your ideas to improve the site? Thank you to all who contributed write-ups and ride previews for this issue I filled it right up! Enjoy! Website: Valleytrailriders.net (work in progress!) Facebook: Valley Trail Riders ATV Club public viewing Facebook: Members Only ask Rick Sparrow G. A. Checkpoint Yamaha Your club sponsor at 3034 St Johns St. in Port Moody and now in Abbotsford at # Mercantile Way. Why not drop by and consider a new ATV or some tires? We have a full parts and service department to serve you as well as racks of clothing and helmets. Get off road with Yamaha - Conquer dirt and own the off road! Real world tough!

4 Minutes of VTR Meeting of April 13, 2016 VTR Meeting was called to order at 7:20 pm on April 13, 2016 with 22 members present. This month s meeting was held at Sea to Sky. No new members were present. Minutes of last meeting were read by Rick, no errors or omissions adopted by Karim and second by Brian Presidents Report: Not much new to report other than Norris had been extremely busy and was having issues adjusting to his new computer with Windows 10 as it takes some getting used to. Special Thanks to Sea to Sky Motorsports for hosting our meeting and commented on how nice the new facility is. Norris introduced Kim Smith from ATVBC and thanked her for joining our meeting. She spoke about what her new position is and what is in her future with ATVBC. Kim also talked about Spring F2F meeting Saturday April 23, See website for more details. This year's ATVBC poker ride is in Merritt on July 11-17: lots of activities planned with town of Merritt getting really involved with events such as a pancake breakfast. Kim also spoke briefly about the ATVBC AGM and ride event in Kamloops in August. She also supplied tickets for ATCBC raffle -$10 each. Some nice prizes again this year, CanAm ATV, Yamaha generator and a pressure washer. Williams Park BBQ this Sunday 12-4pm baron of beef instead of pulled pork. Norris spoke about government grants available for trail building/repairing. This is not something that VTR is involved with but if anyone has ideas for applying for a grant to let the exec know. It was mentioned about building a bridge at Siwash Creek for Al. Vice President Report: More info about the website: Website still a work in progress will be meeting with Rob Shantz to discuss some changes. Face book site is working and invites have been sent to everyone on the membership list. Please respond to the invite to get access to the private members page. If you don't have a face book page you will have to set up an account which is free, you don't have to fill out all of the personal profile information spots.you only have to fill in minimal information to activate your Facebook page. Just remember whatever you put on the page becomes public info unless you set it otherwise. Treasurers Report: Albert, balance is $ , all bills paid. Membership Report: 47 Primary, 20 Secondary, 2 Assoc, 3 Corp 4 Family Editor Newsletter Report: Send Christine something, rides for May long weekend, Miner camp, June newsletter will be tight will be on vacation in Princeton. Please contribute. Ride activities Co-ordinator: Ken was absent Ride Schedule: Miners Whipsaw /Lamont rd May Map to be supplied. Pot Luck May 21 Camp, Fish and Ride June 10/11/12 at Davis Lake, details to follow, see Facebook site for details. John will be going up June 9th if anyone wants to go early. Osprey lake area campout July long weekend-more details to follow below. Old Business: ed past members to ask about membership and reasons why they left and try to convince to come back. Business cards are a success, will be ordering more for members to pass out. New Business: We are looking for suggestions to encourage new members. All clubs having issues retaining members and their memberships are declining. Osprey Lake Snowheelers snowmobile and atv club has been declining as members are leaving the area, family members not taking over cabins and the population is declining. They will move ATV members to the Similkameen ATV club this year.

5 The Snowheelers Club and volunteers have plowed and leveled the KVR bed from the Osprey lake bridge to the trestle at 20km. The trail is now extremely wide and some trees have been removed. There have been reports of someone possibly dropping nails on Siwash Road near the placer claim with resulting flat tires. Lots of fires now burning from 70 Mile all the way to Prince George but hopefully the fire season will not be as bad as last year. ATVBC is sponsoring a poker run in Merritt on July 16. Who might be going? Norris will be going to the Salmon Meadows outing that same week and won't be going. Kamloops AGM Aug 17-20th at Pendleton Creek Campsite West of Kamloops -limited space approximately 50 rigs $10 to camp. There is free camping approx 3kms down the road, no services, no washrooms. Norris is heading up early to save some space for club members but will need to know how many people might be attending so he can save as many spots as possible. Theme for this year's Osprey camp was discussed. Karim suggested a Caribbean theme-vote taken, it was accepted. This year's Osprey camp will be Caribbean (get your imaginations going, Karim already has his costume). Bill & Kathie are also celebrating their 50th Anniversary the same weekend. Another Osprey entertainment item was the annual auction. Did we want to continue the tradition? It was a unanimous decision to have another auction so remember to bring your auction items and cash. Pot luck will be on July 1st - suggestions needed for the main dish for the Caribbean theme. Pat Smith agreed to look into getting club clothing, t-shirts, jackets. She is looking for input and info for logo design and cost to supply and print. Ideas or suggestions required for what type of clothing everyone might, t-shirts, jackets, etc. She is also looking for suppliers if anyone might know where to get this kind of stuff for a reasonable cost. All items would be prepaid upon ordering. Karim to find info on our previous supplier. Rick also to check on place in Port Kells. info to Norris if anyone has suggestions Nick from Sea Sky Motorsports thanked us for joining him at their new store, twice the size, a new sign is coming when City approves it. Lot of stuff coming in. they have a full board/meeting room. Nick spoke about a group that was organizing some kind of weekend off road Jamboree in the Whistler area but didn't know much on details and will look into getting more info. Break for 8:20 pm donuts and coffee supplied There were ATVBC raffle tickets available courtesy of Kim and DDLM tickets Resumed Meeting at 8:45pm Jerry spoke about the ride to West Harrison on Saturday April 16 - arrive at 8:30am 20 Mile Bay to slides, dam, stop for pictures, weather should be good. Jerry spoke about riding up to Stave Lake a few weeks ago. Weather was good and dog had fun playing out on the sand flats and lunch was at the end of the road above. It was a beautiful day sitting and looking at the scenery. Jerry was there prior and just missed a land slide that almost cut off the road for them to get back. Werner talked briefly about going to Boss Lake the week before and the ice had just come off the lake and Davis still had some ice left but was gone by the time they left. Some trails were still blocked from dead fall trees and he had cut a few down before turning back. Paul Torres talked about seeing the new elk herd towards the end of Harrison Lake and there were also a few new elk calves present. It was really impressive to see. Darcy reported seeing a 6 point elk around Hayward Lake area a few months ago. DDLM draw and Rick won $40 "again" Next meeting is Wednesday, May 11 th at Tynehead Hall 7pm. Motion to end meeting at 8:55pm accepted by Terry and seconded by Bryan.

6 Harrison West ATV/UTV ride April 16 Submitted by Jerry Hudak Jerry and Erika Hudak camped at Grace Lake on Friday night so they would be all ready for the VTR day ride in the morning. The large staging area allowed our members a big space to park and unload. People started arriving around 8 am. Gill, Rick and Debbie, as well as an old member Verna, came out with his Side by side for the day s run. Verna said he does not get out for long distance runs but likes to ride locally if possible. We also had a guest Mel, a friend of Jerry s who is interested in the club and wanted to meet some members. We got away under sunny skies with light clouds around 9:10 am and headed for 20 Mile Bay. The main camp is closed but the beach area was open. After a short stop for repairs from a loose rad cap on Rick s machine we headed off down the road. Along the way we discovered large scale logging and the road was torn up in many places. This made the trip interesting and challenging to get to the end of Harrison Lake to our lunch spot. After lunch we headed back to 20 mile Bay for a little stop over. The group wanted to take a side trip to the north end of Chehalis Lake. Mel had been there before so he led the way. We ended up on the beach for a nice walk and visit before heading home. All had a great trip covering 175 kms before finishing up back at the trucks about 4:30pm. Thanks for coming out. Vice President s Report: ATVBC Spring F2F Meeting April 23 Submitted by Rick Sparrow ATVBC Quadriders Association held their spring meeting this past weekend at the Cascades Hotel in Langley and hosted an atv ride at West Harrison on Sunday afternoon. We had three members of our club in attendance John Field, Al Carmichael, and myself. Special thanks go to ATVBC executive in attendance for putting on the event: Moira Jaatteenmaki, Ralph Matthews, Allen Walker, Kim Smith, and others I likely have missed. There were several guest speakers primarily John Hawkings, Director Recreation sites and trails; Tennessee Trent, Manager Recreation sites & trails BC; and Vera Vukelich, Manager Land policy and programs from the provincial government. The meeting was well attended by various members of several clubs throughout BC. There were people from almost all parts of BC. It was quite impressive to see the amount of people attending that are dedicated to our sport. It was an interesting afternoon with the guest speakers giving an outline of what their roles were or still are in relation to the new regulations for orv use and the licensing of off road vehicles. The two individuals representing rec sites and trail spoke quite extensively on what their roles were in regards to managing forestry camps and trail and the resources involved. It was surprising how much money was spent on managing and maintaining the trails that fall under ministry jurisdiction. There are approximately 18,000 kms of usable trails in BC and a huge amount of serviced forestry camps designated for off road use, far more than I would have imagined. Vera Vukelich spoke at length about her role in developing and implementing the new orv licensing and regulations and the circumstances surrounding how and why some of the new regulations came about. At times the discussion got quite animated especially in regards to kids under 16 operating an atv without a valid license. It seems there is still a lot of confusion on where and how kids can ride and what the province is doing about looking into to allow kids to ride legally. A couple of interesting items to note: Vera spoke about a couple of useful items that can be found on the orv web site. The first is a link that enables you to do online vin searches. It links you directly to the RCMP cpic computers and as long as the stolen item has a vin and has been registered with the RCMP, it can be searched to verify the item isn t stolen. There is also an online statutory declaration that can be used to get your unlicensed quads registered. It is considerably cheaper than getting a stat declaration done by a notary. It is supposed to cost $15 and can be used for multiple atvs or motorcycles on one document. I have attached the web link to get into the government orv website, I recommend everyone to have a look at the site as it has a lot of interesting links that can be helpful if you need information on the new orv licensing and registry. You can copy and paste the link to your web browser and search for the info you require. The link is

7 Springtime in Princeton - Snow at the Edges and a bit of Dust Submitted by Christine Nichols Darcy and I dragged our camper and trailer up to the PS Road out of Princeton on Friday, April 22. We stopped at the Erris Volunteer Fire chief s house to drop off some snacks for their fire training sessions they had scheduled for the weekend at both halls (Hayes Creek). It is a good idea to treat the fire departments well if we plan to live in such a dry area! Anthony and Bonnie from our corporate sponsor GA Checkpoint Yamaha joined us for some R and R. They brought up a travel trailer and a couple of Yamaha blue dirt bikes. After a tour of our dirt in the dark we sat around a big campfire swapping stories. It was fun to hear some new tales from our guests. Eventually everyone headed off to bed. It was a clear day on Saturday and the resident squirrel found the fresh peanuts and birdseed in the replenished feeders. I was concerned that he had been trapped under the fresh dirt fill that the backhoe operator had moved last October but he survived the winter in style. After a lazy morning of coffee and another tour of the yard we geared up for a ride. A three hour ride! Darcy led Anthony and Bonnie and I was tail end Charlie. We started off on the KVR at Siwash Road and rode to about 13 km and down a windy trail down to the highway. We scooted past the Jones to Red creek road and up to Red Finnegan to the north. At we climbed in altitude it got a bit chilly. I should have put my long johns on! Darcy pushed on but slowed down a little so we would not freeze in the cool air. We turned off on to a trail that seemed to cut across the valley behind Chain Lake. At the bottom after a really nice trail with a few cross ditches we came to a narrow ATV or snowmobile bridge that spanned a raging creek. Bonnie nearly missed the entrance to the bridge and drove into the creek. Whoa, the creeks are impassable right now with the swings from 29 down to -1 C in temperatures. It was a long climb up the loose rock and sand trail on the other side. This took us to Trout Creek Main and over to Link Lake. We went towards Osprey Lake to show our guests the cabins and boardwalk part of the KVR. As Darcy is always so far in front and Anthony was drafting him they were both nowhere to be seen when Bonnie ran out of fuel. I could not help as the 2 stroke machine uses mixed gas. We took a break and I assured her that there was no point me trying to catch up. They will be back, as Arnold would say! We took a snack break consisting of a big block of Gouda cheese that Darcy managed to carve up with a 12 inch flat blade screwdriver and some chocolate bars. Finally we rode back on the KVR to sit around the campfire to warm up. There is already some dust near Osprey Lake on the rail bead. 80 kms and three and a half hours a perfect first ride of the season. Bonnie brought out some yummy appetizers and Darcy made us monster moose burgers and apple pie with ice cream for dinner. We burned stumps and sticks until it was time to retire. It was raining a bit on Sunday morning so we were late getting out of the sack. The sun came out so Darcy took Anthony and Bonnie up Siwash Road and had to cut a few windfalls. They could not get across the raging Siwash Creek so it was a short ride. It was an uneventful drive home with a bit of a snow flurry in Manning Park. A wonderful camp and ride weekend was had by all of our small Team Yamaha Conquer dirt and own the off road! Real world tough! Here is Darcy s Yamaha Grizzly at work a year ago moving the old crapper giving new meaning to Ride it like you stole it!

8 Our one week Excursion to Fish Lake, Wash. with Bill & Kathie Submitted by Norris, Pat & Bryan Precious, myself & Bryan Alexander arrived Monday, Apr. 18 th to temperatures ranging from the mid seventy s to the mid eighty s, It was sunny for the first four days but lots of wind morning & night. We set up camp on as I called the side hill gouger slope. After finally getting set up we all enjoyed a fine meal prepared by Kathie, followed by a fire in the old stainless expensive washer tub (ask Bill about the meaning). Riding the next day was a little limited due to higher elevation snow drifts but we just picked alternative routes, great scenery, still lots of evidence of the last two years forest fire devastation. On this ride we almost lost a friend of the Johnson s who was riding in a Razor. He had slid off the trail on an icy patch almost putting his right rear wheel over the edge. Before I could get beside him to winch him over to safer ground he moved forward. The momentum sent him over the edge sideways. The only thing that saved him from rolling over was the presence of mind to floor it which now put him 90 degrees to the road but slowed him down enough to butt up against a small tree. This stopped the decent which could have been a 60 foot fall. At this time I was able to run a snatch block up to a tree & with Kathie s side by side hooked onto my quad we pulled him out of danger. Fishing season on the lake opened on Sat 23 rd and the place was alive with young & old fisher man & fisher women, I had never seen so many rainbow trout caught in such a short period of time (bag limit 5 per day). The kids were the most fun to watch oh, to be young again. The group had lazy days, riding day, fishing days, running home to feed the animal days & lots of eating great food days, that Kathie sure can cook up a storm. Bill s (yes, Kathie knows her way around as well) knowledge of the trails, roads & cross country stuff is to be admired, to say the least. Thanks for the guided tour & sharing your experience with us. May Membership Report Membership sign-ups are coming along nicely this year. We ve had a few new signings and several renewals for the year already. I expect quite a few more at the May meeting as most everyone will expire at the end of May. I would like to thank Sea To Sky Motorsports for hosting our April meeting and to all the members who came out to make it a success. Our June meeting will be held at G.A. Checkpoint Yamaha in Port Moody on June 8th. Don t forget to fill out those membership forms that came with your March and April newsletter when you are renewing as it make the process go smoother. Membership Director John Field Miners Camp & Ride Weekend Thurs. May 19 to Mon. May 23 Directions; Travel east along Highway 3 past the Kennedy Lake turnoff towards Princeton, At the bottom of the mine hill there is a very sharp corner over a bridge with a wide pull out on the right. The Whipsaw Road is across from this pullout on the left. There may be logging trucks running but there is a RR radio frequency posted at the bottom if you have a VHF radio. Proceed up the Whipsaw Road with caution to 2km, At this point the road splits Whipsaw Road continues to the left and Lamont goes straight ahead. THIS IS THE ROAD YOU WANT. At 5.7km at a fourway junction our camp will be visible through the trees on your left. There is lots of room to turn your rig around and camp. Pot luck will be roast ham (if available, Karim, I ll have some Kangaroo for you, little buddy) on Sat., May 21 st if you could bring a side dish or dessert. There are lots of riding areas and trails to keep us busy so bring gas it is 14 kms to Princeton, the nearest gas station. Please let myself or Pat know if you re coming, need more information or are not clear on my directions. Norris & Pat (Precious)

9 12th Annual VTR Camp, Fish & Ride June Pack your camper or trailer and get ready for this exciting event we are going to do it all. Camp, Fish and Ride. Bring your ATVs and get a group together to ride the extensive trails in this Nicola Valley area. Sign up now with John Field for the VTR Colonel & Fillet trout fishing derby on Saturday. Location: Davis Lake Time: sunrise to 4 pm on Saturday June 11 Hotdog Lunch: noon Dinner: 6 pm Saturday potluck sidedish or dessert, main entrée tbc Fee $5 per fishing person (members and immediate family). Everyone over 16 must have a non-tidal license. Fishing regs. apply for the derby: single barbless hook only, 9.9 hp motor restriction, perfect lake for belly or pontoon boats, car toppers. Directions: It is easy to find. Site Description: Located in the Voght Valley south of Merritt, this semiopen large recreation site is a very popular destination for camping, fishing and boating. The site is RV accessible and will accommodate rigs of any size. There are 2 boat launches located on the lake and three docks to tie your boats to or to fish from. Horse shoe pits as well and an ATV trail nearby. Driving Directions: Access off Highway 97C: Exit highway onto Highway 5A towards Princeton for 8 km then turn right onto the Coalmont Road for 11 km, then turn right onto Voght Valley Road (gravel). Follow this road for about 4. 5 kms until you come to Davis Lake. Access off Highway # 5 Exit highway at Coldwater (exit # 256), turn left on the Coldwater Road and drive for about 4 km, then turn right onto Kane Valley Road (pavement then gravel) and drive about 10 km, then turn right onto Voght Valley Road (gravel highways road) and continue on this road going past Tahla and Boss Lakes until you come to Davis Lake. Fees:$12.00 Camping Facilities: Boat Launch, Tables, Toilets Any questions call , John at jrfatv@shaw.ca or Christine vtreditor@hotmail.com Let John or Christine know how many are coming. Last year s winner, Darcy, is dusting off the trophy just for you! There will be some prizes for largest fish, hidden weight, and whatever else John dreams up. A fish judge will be announced so you can report your catch either in person or via FR50 radio if you plan to catch and release. Length (nose to mid tail) x girth (width right around). Plan to camp for the weekend and do some ATV riding and socializing around a campfire. Perhaps you or your business can donate a prize for the event th Ave Surrey, BC V4N3P7 Phone: (604) Luckakuck Way Chilliwack, BC V2R 3C7 Phone: (604)

10