Field trips 2.0

[bipedalist]

Sorry to hear of the mechanical misfortune for sure, what an ordeal but worked out as best as it could.   I burned up the head on an old Isuzu Trooper after a flush and fill as I cockeyed one of the hoses and lost it all going downhill less than a quarter of a mile even.  Doesn't take much for sensitive engines to seize.  Quite different from burning one up with 300K miles on it for sure.  Dealing with my own transmission death now so I feel your pain (287K so no tear obituary).  At least I still have a daily driver to deal with the pain.  

Edited August 10, 2023 by bipedalist

[gigantor]

On 8/8/2023 at 10:28 PM, BC witness said:

I'm waiting for a quote on a good used I5

 

I5 is a good engine too.

 

[BC witness]

3 hours ago, gigantor said:

 

I5 is a good engine too.

 

 

Yes, the original I5 served very well for the 3 years I've driven it, with no issues until now, and it was the fan clutch that failed, not the engine itself, until the heat killed it. I've located a good used one with full compression and similar mileage to mine for $2000 CDN, (about $1500 US), and a local mechanic who quoted $1800 for the re and re, so now I just have to scrape together the cash, not easy for a retiree working part time :-(

 

bipedalist,  I also have a daily driver for my part time business, a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, that has virtually paid for itself in fuel savings over the 5 years I've had it, and has been very reliable, even now, at 242,000 km (about 150,000 mi.)

Edited August 11, 2023 by BC witness

[norseman]

I have a solution. Diesel….🦾 Sip fuel and has low end grunt!

 

https://www.cummins.com/engines/repower

[BC witness]

I'd love to do a diesel swap, norseman, but that would cost 3 or 4 times as much as replacing the I5 gas with a decent used one. A Cummins 4BT would be amazing in the H3.

[Catmandoo]

With diesel power, one can add a 'parking heater'.  A large vehicle cabin can be kept toasty warm in bitter cold weather.

[norseman]

1 hour ago, Catmandoo said:

With diesel power, one can add a 'parking heater'.  A large vehicle cabin can be kept toasty warm in bitter cold weather.

I had one in my Brady Trucking Pete in Williston. It was constantly clogging up and wouldn’t fire. So we idled our emissions compliant paccar engines to keep from freezing to death which then caused problems with the DPF. 
 

I don’t believe the Cummins crate motor is bottled up….

[PNWexplorer]

I finally went out yesterday to a spot that I had some strange occurrences at over the past few years.  The last incident was earlier this spring and I was on the dead-end dirt road that ends at where I camped.  I was driving down the road and saw sitting on a stump, a

young attractive woman in her 20's in pioneer dress, doing cross-stitch.   Just sitting there, 5 yards off the road, smiling.  She didn't even look up or glance at me as I drove by.  It's like she didn't even know I was there.

 

I drove on down the road to the dead-end, searched for mushrooms for about a half-hour, then drove back out.  She was gone.  No vehicles around for miles.  Just weird.

This is the spot...

 

A couple of other times while hunting for mushrooms, I have gotten that creepy feeling of being watched.  And my dogs have always stopped and stared at one particular area of the hillside for no apparent reason.

 

So, I decided to actually spend the night there with just my dog and a few firearms.  I brought my "new" ATV in a utility trailer, and I also have a tent designed for the back of a pickup that sort of fits in the trailer.

I stayed up later than I wanted to, and was waken up every 45 minutes or so by my dog growling or barking at something.  He's a city dog, so is freaked out by cows.  I give little credence to his alerts when in the woods, lol.

But, a couple of times, there were sounds that I managed to record.  One was clearly an owl of some sort with a louder and deeper "whooo" and the other was likely a smaller predator.  Sounded like an odd bird at first, but then I recalled hearing similar sounds made by cougars and bobcats.  I'll have to enhance the audio to pin down what it was.

I heard my first definite tree knock at around midnight.  Not recorded, of course.  And I heard a tree being pushed over.  Also not recorded, but I have no doubt that it was pushed over.  I discussed why in the video I recorded today, and will have to get it put together and posted on YT.

I have been camping many times in the woods and have never heard so many sounds.  Maybe because there was absolutely no wind and I didn't have the radio on, nor was I talking to anyone.  I simply sat there by the fire and listened.

[xspider1]

Did you get any pictures of the Muse that was sitting on the stump cross stitching, or were those pictures too blurry to send?  Just poking fun, PNW, interesting post!   8^)

Edited September 18, 2023 by xspider1

[Twist]

On 8/11/2023 at 1:39 AM, norseman said:

I have a solution. Diesel….🦾 Sip fuel and has low end grunt!

 

https://www.cummins.com/engines/repower

Diesel is always the answer.  

[BC witness]

I finally got my Hummer back on the road on Thursday. The $2000 engine I had hoped to get was sold by the time I got the money together, so I had to search again, and the only decent one I found was 1500 km away in Alberta, and priced at $3000 CDN, plus $400 to get it shipped to my mechanic. He had to source a few extra parts as the one I bought didn't come with the fan clutch, which I needed anyway, as that was the item that failed and toasted the original engine, and the battery had died while the truck was parked for 2 months, and wouldn't recharge, so his bill came to $2400. All in, the replacement came to $5800 CDN (about $4250 US)

 

The new(used) engine had lower mileage than mine, and tested full compression on all cylinders, so I expected it to run well, and it certainly does, as I took a 300km road trip this Saturday to meet an old friend who called me Friday night to say he was camped at one of my favourite hunting spots over on the rain shadow side of the Coast Range. We spent the day cruising the extensive maze of logging and fire roads on Placer Mt., covering about 120 km, with several stops for hikes off road of 1 or 2 km each. I was very pleased that I have recovered enough from my hospital episode to be able to do those hikes at 6000ft elevation.

 

Some of the area was dramatically beautiful, with the aspens and poplars in full golden foliage, while several very large tracts were depressing moonscapes after this summers unprecedented wildfires. The hunting was unsuccessful, with only black squirrels , snowshoe hares, hawks and ravens sighted. We never saw a bear, deer, moose, grouse, or hairy biped during the entire trip.

[norseman]

9 hours ago, BC witness said:

I finally got my Hummer back on the road on Thursday. The $2000 engine I had hoped to get was sold by the time I got the money together, so I had to search again, and the only decent one I found was 1500 km away in Alberta, and priced at $3000 CDN, plus $400 to get it shipped to my mechanic. He had to source a few extra parts as the one I bought didn't come with the fan clutch, which I needed anyway, as that was the item that failed and toasted the original engine, and the battery had died while the truck was parked for 2 months, and wouldn't recharge, so his bill came to $2400. All in, the replacement came to $5800 CDN (about $4250 US)

 

The new(used) engine had lower mileage than mine, and tested full compression on all cylinders, so I expected it to run well, and it certainly does, as I took a 300km road trip this Saturday to meet an old friend who called me Friday night to say he was camped at one of my favourite hunting spots over on the rain shadow side of the Coast Range. We spent the day cruising the extensive maze of logging and fire roads on Placer Mt., covering about 120 km, with several stops for hikes off road of 1 or 2 km each. I was very pleased that I have recovered enough from my hospital episode to be able to do those hikes at 6000ft elevation.

 

Some of the area was dramatically beautiful, with the aspens and poplars in full golden foliage, while several very large tracts were depressing moonscapes after this summers unprecedented wildfires. The hunting was unsuccessful, with only black squirrels , snowshoe hares, hawks and ravens sighted. We never saw a bear, deer, moose, grouse, or hairy biped during the entire trip.

Glad to hear your back at it bud!👍

[BC witness]

It was wonderful to get out there again, especially with my old buddy and hunting partner, Murphy. We hadn't got out together in about 2 years, so we had lots of catching up to do. I didn't take any photos, but Murphy did, and he said he'd send them to me, so I'll post them as soon as I get them.

[Madison5716]

On 9/17/2023 at 7:03 PM, PNWexplorer said:

I was driving down the road and saw sitting on a stump, a

young attractive woman in her 20's in pioneer dress, doing cross-stitch.   Just sitting there, 5 yards off the road, smiling.  She didn't even look up or glance at me as I drove by.  It's like she didn't even know I was there.

 

That is super creepy. Wow! 

 

@PNWexplorer, what's your YT again?

 

@BC witness Glad you're able to get back out there!

Edited October 23, 2023 by Madison5716

[BC witness]

I went out for a late afternoon run up Dewdney Peak today. It frames the west side of the entrance to Norrish Creek watershed, the location of my sighting and trackway find 40+ years ago. I guess I keep hoping that lightning will strike twice in the same area, lol.

 

There had been a fair bit of logging on the slopes of the mountain in the last couple of years, so the steep access road had been in fairly good shape, but I discovered today that the road had been recently aggressively cross ditched to prevent longitudinal washouts, so the 6 km climb now takes about 90 minutes of careful driving to avoid damage to my 4x4. This also indicates that there probably wont be any more logging up there for the next few years.

 

It was a very clear fall afternoon, but cool, about 5C (40F), with great views in all directions. When I reached the end of the road, overlooking the upper Fraser Valley, I met a young couple and their 2 sons, both under 10 years old, enjoying a campfire after riding up in their SxS 4 wheeler. We chatted for a while, and after mentioning my old Sasquatch encounters in the creek valley, the young man mentioned having heard very heavy bipedal footsteps in the upper reaches of the next valley to the east a couple of years ago. I'll probably head up that way in the next few weeks.  

 

I saw no wildlife at all during the entire trip up and down, and no tracks in the few small patches of snow in the shaded areas near the summit. Here are a few pics of the views from the logging road; zoom in on the first one, and the far ridge shows the snowy peaks of Mt. Cheam on the left, and Mt. Slesse on the right, with the city of Chilliwack in the valley below. It doesn't look like much from up there, but it's a rapidly growing city of about 50,000.

 

 

Edited October 29, 2023 by BC witness