Didn't Get the Jump on Jump Lake!

Had a terrific ride with Paul on Saturday.  We headed out to see if we could get to Jump Lake, one of Nanaimo's watershed lakes.  The route looked plain enough; through the traps, follow the logging road that runs the base of Blackjack Ridge, a short spell on Nanaimo Lakes Road and then follow a short route in behind (south of) Gemini and Green Mountains.  It was good in theory... then we ran into the locked "Nanaimo Water Shed District" gate shortly after we crossed the Nanaimo River.

The locked gate at Nanaimo's Watershed District.  Paul's trying out his new helmet, goggles and a fancy Swann digital movie camera.  Nice gear!

 

Looking east from the bridge crossing the Nanaimo River.  There were a couple of guys panning for gold off the other side. 

What now?  We were well on our way to the Nanaimo Lakes and we both had our fishing gear, so off we went to Fourth Lake to try our luck.  We were stopped at the entry gate by some little man masquerading as Hitler who demanded $2 entry to the lakes!  Didn't get that the last time we went through.  Just lucky the last time I guess since Hitler maintained that people always pay at the gate.

The ride to Fourth Lake was great.  Lots of dust out there already.  It was really interesting to have a quick look at the entry road to the gold mine on Mt. DeCosmos, an upcoming summer ride.  That's a big mountain as far as local mountains go and it looks quite intimidating from the Nanaimo Lakes Rd. side of the mountain.  The logging road that leads to the summit skirts around its edge and climbs up a much milder looking NW side.  

We hit snow at the final turn off that leads to Fourth Lake so we parked a short distance from the dam and walked up the rear slope.  Terrific day for fishing.  Beautifully clear up there; a bit breezy but comfortable sitting on the dam catching its radiant heat.

Panoramic (180 degree) down the length of the dam

 

The lake's water level was much higher than it was during our earlier visit in the fall.

 We didn't catch anything here and decided to continue with our ride with a stop off at Boomerang Lake to see if we might get something.

Boomerang Lake 

I fished at the usual spot directly forward of the trail that leads in and Paul fished off to the right.  I got skunked and Paul caught two small trout. 

I packed my Garmin's battery housing with memory foam for this ride.  It worked well and I didn't see anything of the bothersome cutting-out and rebooting that had driven me close to insanity on my previous two rides.  I was pretty pleased that the unit had stayed on for the entire trip while recording the entire ride.  That's going to work better in the bush!

Great ride!  It's really nice to get back out there with Paul after the winter hiatus.

Another Attempt at Okay Mt.

I had another go at getting up Okay Mountain today.  This time I decided to try another route since Paul recently met the same nasty pile of snow that I ran into a few days ago.  (He claims to have moved my difficult log, but I prefer to believe that the melting snow caused it to drift off the trail by itself).  Instead of using the "around Okay Lake" route, I turned right at Branch 142, (the Boomerang Lake turning), and headed to the Okay Mountain road from the northern end.  Success, but what a hairy road!  The steep sections are quite rocky and in this wet weather they pushed my riding skills to the limit.  I found myself going much faster than I really wanted to go just to prevent the back wheel from spinning and digging into the wet and loose road base.  (Actually, it was more of a creek bed at this point than it was a road).  Very steep, unstable and slippery, and close to the limit for my riding skills!  Eventually, I was stopped by snow anyway!

I think when the road dries up it will be a terrific ride; still difficult, but very do-able.  I turned and went back down with a satisfied feeling of having come that far.  Google Earth shows a steeper section towards the top of the mountain.  Might be a harder climb than I had envisioned.  It was a pretty slow descent in some sections on the way down!  I reached the Okay Mountain turnoff, took a panoramic photo facing the coast and turned right to see if there was any snow on the familiar road that circles Okay Lake.

Panoramic view towards the coast taken from the beginning of the Okay Mountain logging road.  Sadly, this isn't the heaviest logged section along this route.  There's a strong smell of freshly cut cedar in the air around here.

About half way along the route I decided to turn left on a well-marked logging road to see if it would take me back to Branch 142, (the road I had taken to get out here).  The quality of the road was pretty good and I think it would have taken me all the way back to 142 had I not been stopped by my GPS!

Once again this top-of-the-line Garmin product had taken me into unknown territory only to switch itself off repeatedly.  I refused to go further without knowing where I was and backtracked my route by memory, (which is very chancy for me I can assure you).  Too bad because I'm pretty sure I would have made it after looking at Google Earth when I got home.  I was steaming mad at Garmin who have taken a sizable bite out of my wallet to get me lost like that!

I googled "Garmin Montana shuts off" when I got home and discovered that the problem may be a poorly fitting battery and loose housing.  The battery moves when jolted over bumpy terrain and periodically loses battery contact.  I've addressed that and now I'm ready to give it another try.  I came really close to returning it to the store today!             

Their advertising says: "Built rugged, waterproof and tough. Includes routable maps, supports 24K TOPO maps. Paired with an ATV mount, is ideal for hunting and off-roading. There's nowhere Montana won't take you."   What a laugh; one bumpy road and the unit quits.  I guess the designers are not familiar with the real conditions when off-roading.  I'm not impressed!

I shut it off after the tenth automatic reboot and retraced my route back through the tank traps to civilization.  Aside from the Garmin annoyance it was a really good ride!

This elevation profile covers the whole ride from the tank traps to the unknown route leading back towards Branch 142, (where I shut the GPS off).  The orange trail travels from right to left and the elevation chart reads from left to right.

Okay Mountain... FAIL!

Tried to get up Okay Mountain again today.  This is one of four rides that I'm really keen to get at this summer, but it's too early yet...  I was skunked once again by fairly deep snow and a downed log.  I'm sure that it would be easy to get over that pesky log if it weren't for the snow around it!  Also, I heard a strange sound after stopping at the log that I could have sworn was a cougar...  Anyway, it spooked the shit out of me!  I revved the engine half a dozen times quite loudly to make as much noise as I could before turning back.  It was pretty clear that today's ride was going to be on more familiar roads.  I decided at one point to explore a few spur roads.  My Garmin decided to start turning off repeatedly once I got deep into unknown territory and ruined the fun completely.  Nothing like having an expensive tool that gets you deep into the woods and then decides to pack it in, expecting you to find your own way out.  Thanks Garmin!  I managed to find my own way back, but my sense of direction has never been that good.  I rely heavily on that GPS!

I recopied Garmin's firmware into my GPS and it stopped the constant turning off, but I'm not happy.  How can I trust a GPS that won't show you the way.  They get another chance and then I go to work getting a refund while producing "Garmin Sucks" YouTube videos .

Here's another nasty video of the Tank Traps section of Doumont Road, (real time).  This is the way heading out of our local logging roads.  Very bumpy!  The video actually makes me a bit motion sick because of the jumping about.  I think I need to body mount this camera somehow...  Right now it's in a bumbag around the headlight.

It POURED coming home and so I decided to give the bike a quick spray at the local car wash and spent ten minutes watching the rain come down in stair rods.  After deciding it wasn't stopping any time soon, I finally bit the bullet and rode home.  I've got stuff hanging up to dry everywhere.  :)

Fun ride, but I'm pretty cheesed off with Garmin!

Mounting Arrangements

I picked up a Garmin Montana and a Ram handlebar mount quite recently.  It doesn't position itself as low as I thought it would but it offers really great visibility when it's mounted in position near the left wing mirror.  I think the shorter riser might have been a tidier arrangement, but I'm really pleased with it all the same.  It's not wired in yet...  That's another project I need to get to before the spring.

The iPod Touch fits tidily into a bum bag above the headlight.  Vicki was kind enough to let me burn a hole through her bum bag with a soldering iron so the camera lens can see through!  :)  It wraps around the steering column tightly and points that sucker straight ahead.  It's perfect... even better than Paul's "Nancy Boy Man Purse."