I've hiked to the first bump on Arrowsmith, the hike was balls steep from the road, Pass main I think? Can't remember exactly. Climbed up a steep gully between Arrowsmith and Cokely, then up to the first peak of Arrowsmith on the right. Steep. Snowy section between the two mountains too, in August I think it was
I saw you driving just the other day and have never seen a truck like that before, so I remembered! The island is a tricky place to explore, as a huge amount of the back country on the south island is "privately owned" and we are "trespassing" by using their roads and simply being on their lands. That being said, many roads are open and you are typically fine to travel on them. It's a good idea to have a VHF radio and have it tuned to the posted logging company channels. Not totally necessary though, I don't have one. Drive slowly on the logging roads, don't outdrive your safe braking distances and watch out for all other traffic, especially logging trucks. Logging trucks can take up the whole damn road, and are not as maneuverable or easy to stop. Give them the right of way, no screwing around. Get safely out of their way and proceed cautiously. You'll get used to it in no time.
Always pack food and water, have a good spare tire and tell people where you plan to go and when you plan to be back, in case you get stuck or broken down. Better is to go out with another vehicle.
Buy the backroad mapbook from nearly any bookstore or gas station. That'll give you lots of ideas and places to begin.
There are lots of cool areas to explore and amazing wilderness here on our island. Pack out more garbage than you bring in, respect gates and you shouldn't have problems with logging companies. If you want to find the really cool stuff, you'll have to join up with some more experienced people and go on trail runs with them.
So I think the next step is a scouting mission to see about access and water levels. I could likely go out on the weekend of Feb 24/25, anybody else want to go have a look?
I've hiked to the first bump on Arrowsmith, the hike was balls steep from the road, Pass main I think? Can't remember exactly. Climbed up a steep gully between Arrowsmith and Cokely, then up to the first peak of Arrowsmith on the right. Steep. Snowy section between the two mountains too, in August I think it was
I saw you driving just the other day and have never seen a truck like that before, so I remembered! The island is a tricky place to explore, as a huge amount of the back country on the south island is "privately owned" and we are "trespassing" by using their roads and simply being on their lands. That being said, many roads are open and you are typically fine to travel on them. It's a good idea to have a VHF radio and have it tuned to the posted logging company channels. Not totally necessary though, I don't have one. Drive slowly on the logging roads, don't outdrive your safe braking distances and watch out for all other traffic, especially logging trucks. Logging trucks can take up the whole damn road, and are not as maneuverable or easy to stop. Give them the right of way, no screwing around. Get safely out of their way and proceed cautiously. You'll get used to it in no time.
Always pack food and water, have a good spare tire and tell people where you plan to go and when you plan to be back, in case you get stuck or broken down. Better is to go out with another vehicle.
Buy the backroad mapbook from nearly any bookstore or gas station. That'll give you lots of ideas and places to begin.
There are lots of cool areas to explore and amazing wilderness here on our island. Pack out more garbage than you bring in, respect gates and you shouldn't have problems with logging companies. If you want to find the really cool stuff, you'll have to join up with some more experienced people and go on trail runs with them.
Sorry man, I don't have any experience with this job, but do you have the 98 and are parting it out? I need all kinds of stuff for my 96
So I think the next step is a scouting mission to see about access and water levels. I could likely go out on the weekend of Feb 24/25, anybody else want to go have a look?
This looks like a great trip! Looks easier than Arrowsmith too, so bonus there.