Well, I suppose I should actually dust this thing off and write in it instead of just thinking about it. I was looking back at some of my older posts, and realized that in some respects, I've come full circle in my life. And it makes me wonder how often it will happen again. You see, when I was younger, 19 and 20, as a matter of fact, I was learning to drive truck. I started with a fella named Charlie, and he and I covered quite a chunk of territory around here with an old dog-logger (a type of log trailer.). Then I started running in the low-bed with a fella named Vern. Nice fella... Loved his coffee and his cigarettes. Both of these guys taught me that nearly anyone can learn to drive a truck... But it takes someone with something between their ears to do it safely.
So how do I say I've come full circle? Well... Now I'm trucking. And yeah, that's my ride up there. My cargo is a bit more exciting than logs, though... it's explosives. Find out more about where I work here. Now, don't get excited... as long as I keep following the rules, it's actually quite safe. And I like to make it home at the end of my trip. And the interesting thing is that I'm going up into some of the same places I went with Charlie and Vern. And where I went when I was with Rona, when I wrote about going over the mountain.
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| At 6km on the Bob Quinn Trail. |
Yeah... I get PAID to see scenery like that. In fact, I'll post a few more pictures showing you my office when I'm on the road...
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Up the North Kitimat FSR
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There's some steep terrain getting up here, and more bears than I've seen in years. It's common practice to announce on the road channel where you see bears so that workers can be aware. There's lots of activity performed by solo workers on ATVs or UTVs. Just a fact of life up there.
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| Near the back end of the Clore FSR |
Next year, if I'm up in there again, I'll make a point of stopping and snagging a few other pictures. The scenery is simply amazing. There's a couple of steep hills, and one of them is actually a sonofagun to go up when you're loaded. I've only ever encountered one other hill worse... but we don't have to deal with that one anymore.
39km on the Kwinithal FSR, going towards Kitsault
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| 39km on the Kwinithal FSR, going towards Kitsault.
Getting jealous yet? This is what the job is like in the spring and summer... But don't get fooled. These roads can get you killed, if you drive too fast. Or if you don't call on your radio like you're supposed to. Yes, these are all radio-controlled roads. Public access, which means anybody can get on them with or without a radio, so you have to travel these roads expecting to encounter somebody without a radio at any time. Of course, you announce their presence and direction of travel to everybody else, so others know what to expect. But nonetheless, it's beautiful, and the scenery is some sort of fantastic. Yeah, I get paid to see that. But I also get paid for this:
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| Going up the Kwinithal in the first snowfall of the year.
Yeah, you gotta take the bad with the good. This is the SAME ROAD as in the last picture, but lower down on the mountain, and later in the year. It's the first snowfall of the year up there, and I think this started somewhere around the 1000 foot mark in terms of elevation. This is about 8 inches of snow on the ground, and the grader hasn't made it out yet. How do you drive in this? Simple... chain up. Lots of truckers whine and snivel about chaining up, but to me, it's just a fact of life. And there's worse things than chaining up... like sliding off the road. In all honesty, I made the trip with one set of triples (which goes over two tires at a time,) and a single chain on the steering axle, which I might have gotten away without. But when you're hauling powder, why take the chance?
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| 10km on the Brucejack Trail, heading down. |
This road can be a bastard and bite you in the ass if you're not paying attention. During the winter, you stay in the centre of the road, and don't even think about trying to make time until you get to 37km. Going up, you start off with a 14% grade that you can't get a run at, so you make sure you're in the right gear to start with. And you go up from around 500 feet altitude to over 3200 feet altitude in under 6 miles, or 10km. Yeah... it's steep. And then you start to drop down when you hit roughly 17 or 18km, with a lot of little ups and downs, and a few semi-flat spots, and some wild switchbacks to bite you hard if you don't know what you're doing. This goes on until 36km, where it flattens out, but then you have avalanche zones to drive through. Fortunately, the avalanche technicians are always paying attention, assessing and performing avalanche control.
Kinda makes "Ice Road Truckers" look like a bunch of candy-asses, doesn't it? Don't get me wrong... I know damned well I'm going to get a lesson every day on driving. Every day is different. But I really do enjoy my job, snow and ice or no. On that note, I'll leave you off with a picture I took while I worked last winter in Fort Nelson for Dyno. That will be my next entry :)
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| Looking north from the Alaska Highway just west of Fort Nelson |
