Eagle Mountain Off Road Trail
Mike Tishken
16 months ago
happiness
difficulty
When I get a chance to drive a trail that is far away from home, I definitely don't miss a chance. On this trip, I met up with some fellow YouTubers Unwinding Roads, Overlanding Overland, Chrimson Off-Road, Hummer Mob, and a couple of other friends.
Eagle Mountain trail (aka Cypress Lake FSR) has been a popular off-roading route in the middle of an urban area, with challenging obstacles and a spectacular view at the end. I was not expecting this trail to be in the middle of suburbia, our usual adventures are very far away from the city which makes this off-road trail so unique.
Today, Eagle represents the only wheeling to be had between Squamish and Stave Lake. So if you live in the greater Vancouver area it's a long drive to the backcountry for wheeling adventures.
This is a gated trail you must use a Bluetooth gate buddy app to access the gate with an annual fee of $53 (this fee helps to maintain the trail and the lock system on the gate is well worth the fee) (it takes a week to get approval for a gate key) access is limited to 5 trucks at a time due to the small area at the top of the trail to park and to keep traffic down on the trail because this is a multi-use trail system with hikers and mountain bikers. ATV or Dirt Bikes are welcome to use this trail system.
There are a few requirements for this trail: must be paid Individual Members of the 4WDABC in good standing. vehicles must have a minimum 33” tire size or 12″ ground clearance, lockers are strongly suggested.
I honestly did not know what to expect from this trail, I was told depending on the day could take 45 mins to the top or all day....well we did run into some issues but I'll get to that later.
It starts out on a paved road after the gate, feels like your driving up someone's driveway to a huge mansion, and you arrive at a spot to air down your tires. You definitely want to air down your tires it's a rough trail.
The trail quickly turns into a rough rocky trail with many drainage deactivations along the way. the first big obstacle you come to is a cropping of rocks in the middle of the trail, with 2 bypasses the more technical one to the right and the easy way to the left. I did not know this at the time but, only 2 door jeeps had made it over this obstacle, Teddy and Malcolm were in their lifted Gladiators made the attempt but quickly high-centered, Teddy had to winch his truck off the rocks, Malcolm and Colin to the technical line to the left made it with no issues and big smiles on their face because they had both recently purchased their Gladiators.
Then comes my group of Hummers, first to try is Ken in his H1, his truck is in stock form. He had a great line right up the center of the rocks, but then quickly slipped off the rocks to the right and did a quarter spin lodging a big pointy rock into his transmission pan. Well here is the issue I was telling you about, so Ken's truck is not equipped with undercarriage skid plates. This is the reason why he is now resting on his transmission pan. So this is where the difficulty comes in we can't winch him forward or backward because we will damage the transmission pan leaving fluid on the trail and towing his truck up the trail and then back down, this trail is narrow with very few spots to turn around. We are now holding up a group of trucks behind us. They also came to lend a hand in the recovery. Our only option is to lift the truck off the rocks and pivot the truck to the left to drive off the rocks. Ok so this is where I'm going to have to eat my own words about a Hi-Lift jack, I made a video about getting rid of my Hi-Lift jack forever......well guess what we really needed one at this moment along with my newly purchased Badland Off Road Jack from Harbor Freight Tools. Using the Hi-Lift on the left rock slider and the Badland jack under the front control arm we lifted the left front tire to stack rocks under the tire, then using two winches one from Teddy's Gladiator and one from my H2 (from behind the truck with a redirect pull from a tree) we were able to winch and pivot the H1 back to where he was able to drive the truck off the rocks with no damage. I'm so glad the transmission pan was stamped steel, not aluminum, it definitely would have been destroyed if it was aluminum.
Next was Chris in his H1 rolling on 40's, he gave it a good try and also got high centered with the help of a couple of guys rocking his truck he was able to drive back off the rocks.
So I made the decision to skip this obstacle this time, I most likely would have high centered too. I did not want to keep the trucks behind us waiting any longer, once we were in a wide spot on the trail we let them pass us.
The next obstacle is another group of rocks with only one tight bypass, Teddy, Malcolm, and Colin made it over with a bit of a challenge but no issues. Chris's H1 just walked right over the rocks like a champ. Ken's H1 caught a good-sized boulder between his left front control arm and wedged it into the body, taking a bit of maneuvering to release the big boulder from under his truck. This left him in a bad spot, just needed a bit of a tug from a recovery strap.
Now it was my turn at this obstacle, (I love a challenge if I don't give it a try it will be the only thing I'll think of for weeks... Could I have made it?) putting my truck on a good line over the rocks with some help of spotters, I got to the point of unloading my left front tire and I just could not make it over the rock. I also think my tires are getting a bit old and losing the sticky in the tires, so the lack of front locker and traction was not helping me get over this obstacle. I was able to back off the rock and take the tight bypass. I'm never defeated by not making an obstacle, I just love knowing the fact I've pushed my truck to its full capabilities.
The next part of the trail had a part that was kind of like trails called a tank trap, a big washout going down the trail with high sides. This part was definitely a challenge for my truck had to take a couple of different lines to get around big rocks getting quite off-camber at times. Once again a front locker I would have walked up it, but sometimes the challenge just makes it that much better.
The last obstacle was a creek crossing with a steep down section with two large boulders making a challenge for the wider Hummers, then a huge log laid crossways on the trail to keep erosion of the trail down. The Gladiators made it through this obstacle with ease with their narrower wheel track and the challenge of the longer wheelbase.
Chris and Ken's H1s squeezed through with a bit of rear tire lift going into the two big boulders, then made it up the log with no issues. Now it's my turn, I kind of underestimated the size of the two boulders, and not wanting to put my truck into the bolder on the left side I swung a bit too wide to the right side. Which put my truck very off-cambered to the left. This gave everyone there quite a thrill thinking my truck was going to flop on its side, but knowing the wide track of my truck and the amount of side slope my truck could take I was not in panic mode. Once I knew my truck would come down the side of the boulder and take my truck out of the very off-camber situation, I was confident of getting through and over the big log on the other side.
Then we were off to an amazing view of the city of Vancouver, unfortunately for this day there was wildfire smoke in the air and we did not get the amazing view.
This was a very fun trail that you could make very difficult or easier, I always like to take the more challenging side of trails as long as I think I can make it and not damage my truck, on this day I had to drive 5 hours home!
We had a great day on the trail and what some in our group thought was just going to be an easy walk in the park day ended up being quite the eventful day we all enjoyed.
I would recommend this trail if you happen to be in the Vancouver area take the challenge you will not regret it!
Thanks
Mike
The Unexpected Off Road
Eagle Mountain trail (aka Cypress Lake FSR) has been a popular off-roading route in the middle of an urban area, with challenging obstacles and a spectacular view at the end. I was not expecting this trail to be in the middle of suburbia, our usual adventures are very far away from the city which makes this off-road trail so unique.
Today, Eagle represents the only wheeling to be had between Squamish and Stave Lake. So if you live in the greater Vancouver area it's a long drive to the backcountry for wheeling adventures.
This is a gated trail you must use a Bluetooth gate buddy app to access the gate with an annual fee of $53 (this fee helps to maintain the trail and the lock system on the gate is well worth the fee) (it takes a week to get approval for a gate key) access is limited to 5 trucks at a time due to the small area at the top of the trail to park and to keep traffic down on the trail because this is a multi-use trail system with hikers and mountain bikers. ATV or Dirt Bikes are welcome to use this trail system.
There are a few requirements for this trail: must be paid Individual Members of the 4WDABC in good standing. vehicles must have a minimum 33” tire size or 12″ ground clearance, lockers are strongly suggested.
I honestly did not know what to expect from this trail, I was told depending on the day could take 45 mins to the top or all day....well we did run into some issues but I'll get to that later.
It starts out on a paved road after the gate, feels like your driving up someone's driveway to a huge mansion, and you arrive at a spot to air down your tires. You definitely want to air down your tires it's a rough trail.
The trail quickly turns into a rough rocky trail with many drainage deactivations along the way. the first big obstacle you come to is a cropping of rocks in the middle of the trail, with 2 bypasses the more technical one to the right and the easy way to the left. I did not know this at the time but, only 2 door jeeps had made it over this obstacle, Teddy and Malcolm were in their lifted Gladiators made the attempt but quickly high-centered, Teddy had to winch his truck off the rocks, Malcolm and Colin to the technical line to the left made it with no issues and big smiles on their face because they had both recently purchased their Gladiators.
Then comes my group of Hummers, first to try is Ken in his H1, his truck is in stock form. He had a great line right up the center of the rocks, but then quickly slipped off the rocks to the right and did a quarter spin lodging a big pointy rock into his transmission pan. Well here is the issue I was telling you about, so Ken's truck is not equipped with undercarriage skid plates. This is the reason why he is now resting on his transmission pan. So this is where the difficulty comes in we can't winch him forward or backward because we will damage the transmission pan leaving fluid on the trail and towing his truck up the trail and then back down, this trail is narrow with very few spots to turn around. We are now holding up a group of trucks behind us. They also came to lend a hand in the recovery. Our only option is to lift the truck off the rocks and pivot the truck to the left to drive off the rocks. Ok so this is where I'm going to have to eat my own words about a Hi-Lift jack, I made a video about getting rid of my Hi-Lift jack forever......well guess what we really needed one at this moment along with my newly purchased Badland Off Road Jack from Harbor Freight Tools. Using the Hi-Lift on the left rock slider and the Badland jack under the front control arm we lifted the left front tire to stack rocks under the tire, then using two winches one from Teddy's Gladiator and one from my H2 (from behind the truck with a redirect pull from a tree) we were able to winch and pivot the H1 back to where he was able to drive the truck off the rocks with no damage. I'm so glad the transmission pan was stamped steel, not aluminum, it definitely would have been destroyed if it was aluminum.
Next was Chris in his H1 rolling on 40's, he gave it a good try and also got high centered with the help of a couple of guys rocking his truck he was able to drive back off the rocks.
So I made the decision to skip this obstacle this time, I most likely would have high centered too. I did not want to keep the trucks behind us waiting any longer, once we were in a wide spot on the trail we let them pass us.
The next obstacle is another group of rocks with only one tight bypass, Teddy, Malcolm, and Colin made it over with a bit of a challenge but no issues. Chris's H1 just walked right over the rocks like a champ. Ken's H1 caught a good-sized boulder between his left front control arm and wedged it into the body, taking a bit of maneuvering to release the big boulder from under his truck. This left him in a bad spot, just needed a bit of a tug from a recovery strap.
Now it was my turn at this obstacle, (I love a challenge if I don't give it a try it will be the only thing I'll think of for weeks... Could I have made it?) putting my truck on a good line over the rocks with some help of spotters, I got to the point of unloading my left front tire and I just could not make it over the rock. I also think my tires are getting a bit old and losing the sticky in the tires, so the lack of front locker and traction was not helping me get over this obstacle. I was able to back off the rock and take the tight bypass. I'm never defeated by not making an obstacle, I just love knowing the fact I've pushed my truck to its full capabilities.
The next part of the trail had a part that was kind of like trails called a tank trap, a big washout going down the trail with high sides. This part was definitely a challenge for my truck had to take a couple of different lines to get around big rocks getting quite off-camber at times. Once again a front locker I would have walked up it, but sometimes the challenge just makes it that much better.
The last obstacle was a creek crossing with a steep down section with two large boulders making a challenge for the wider Hummers, then a huge log laid crossways on the trail to keep erosion of the trail down. The Gladiators made it through this obstacle with ease with their narrower wheel track and the challenge of the longer wheelbase.
Chris and Ken's H1s squeezed through with a bit of rear tire lift going into the two big boulders, then made it up the log with no issues. Now it's my turn, I kind of underestimated the size of the two boulders, and not wanting to put my truck into the bolder on the left side I swung a bit too wide to the right side. Which put my truck very off-cambered to the left. This gave everyone there quite a thrill thinking my truck was going to flop on its side, but knowing the wide track of my truck and the amount of side slope my truck could take I was not in panic mode. Once I knew my truck would come down the side of the boulder and take my truck out of the very off-camber situation, I was confident of getting through and over the big log on the other side.
Then we were off to an amazing view of the city of Vancouver, unfortunately for this day there was wildfire smoke in the air and we did not get the amazing view.
This was a very fun trail that you could make very difficult or easier, I always like to take the more challenging side of trails as long as I think I can make it and not damage my truck, on this day I had to drive 5 hours home!
We had a great day on the trail and what some in our group thought was just going to be an easy walk in the park day ended up being quite the eventful day we all enjoyed.
I would recommend this trail if you happen to be in the Vancouver area take the challenge you will not regret it!
Thanks
Mike
The Unexpected Off Road