Plagued I am (use Yoda voice for effect).

After all the preparation and anticipation leading up to Wintercamp, six loose bolts between the engine and tranny stopped me - the force was not with me.

We made it to camp to find some excessive engine vibration, and once we saw the plates shaking we knew we were done. That's not to say we didn't have a fun couple of days - hearing the boys on the ham radio all day getting stuck, pulling each other out and the odd roar of an engine from the distant tree line (probably Kelly's 632cu hard at work) was fun. With a nice warm fire at our feet, food cooking on the logs and plenty of cold beer available, it was almost like a holiday.

We stayed until the Friday crowd rolled in then limped our Jeep back to the driveway where my buddy Dave let me hack away at his BFG Krawlers with my grooving iron - that's always fun too. The two-day break gave me a chance to get ready for the next week-long trip to Idaho for the Scott Frary trail tour.

However, living in the snow wearing long johns and wool pants for three days apparently fuzzed my head and all I packed for Idaho was regular wheeling gear. Little did I know that this winter they had 50-year record snowfalls- where is this global warming stuff they promised us? So the Canadian was the one without snow boots - go figure. It was tough being relegated to passenger status in all that snow while the big monster Jeep was at home. I should have fixed it, I had the time.

One thing I like about wheeling in the states is that Jeeping is accepted and encouraged. The sledding area we went to opens the gates at the end of the season so wheelers and quadders can take advantage of the snow while it is still in the hills. It's a different story up here in Canada, though. We have tons of areas that are perfect for motorsports, but almost no dedicated 4x4 areas. There is seriously something wrong with that.

I rounded out those two weeks with a night time drive back home, followed by two hours sleep before I loaded the Jeep back up for a run to Kamloops for the Sportsman Open House (see the ramp flex picture above). Despite the lack of the Krawler on hand for most of the wheeling it was a whirlwind two weeks - much of which you see this issue.

We have a seriously packed summer to add some great content so buy me a couple of beers along the way to keep me going if you catch me at your camp fire!

After a bunch of research recently I came across a very promising land use plan that covers the entire Okanagan Valley and a trails BC plan being cooked up by our BC government. Not surprisingly, they contacted 28 user groups for the trail plan committee and not a single 4x4 club or association was on that list. However, on the plus side, for once every government official I called actually returned my calls, from the BC Stewardship office to the BC Trail program coordinators.

Next week I hope to get a chance to call them all back with questions in hand to see where we stand with them. Where I can, I will request face-to-face meetings to show we are more than just a bunch of red-neck truck drivers with big tires. Wish me luck and much patience - I may need it.

Albert Vandervelde
Editor, 4WD Magazine