By Ted Hlokoff
The morning of Sunday, Feb. 27 was a clouded snowy day when I started my sled at 9:30 a.m. for the Nimpo Lake Community Association’s annual poker run/hotdog sled day.
Gathered at the public boat launch at 10:05 a.m. were 18 snowmobiles of various colours, sizes and brands.
Twenty people braved the falling snowflakes to come and take part in a community ride.
Several people travelled by snowmobile from their homes in Anahim Lake as well.
Henry Sparks had come to his “favourite house” in time to take part in this event. Richard and Leah Simon led the group south across Nimpo Lake to some of the back roads.
Andy Baker and I had volunteered ourselves to trail at the rear and help out with any problems that may arise along the trail or dig out anyone unfortunate enough to get stuck.
My wife Deana had purchased a Personal GPS Transponder called a SPOT and I had turned it to “tracking.”
We all rode the lake, the bush trails, a meadow and then the old Nimpo Airport road to Hooch logging road.
We stopped at various checkpoints and counted all the sleds to make certain that the number stayed at 18.
By 11:45 a.m. we were starting the bonfire that several people had readied on Saturday for our hot dogs, smokies, tigerprawns, blueberry bannock, banana bread and a few other treats.
The sun came out for a while, which really added to the enjoyment of our little clearing in the trees.
Several people rode off to enjoy the fresh powder, but they did come back for the barbecue and libation.
One recalcitrant Skidoo did cause several mechanically-inclined guys to play and ponder the engine and wiring.
Eventually we got the tow straps ready and were trying to decide if it was safe for me to tow Don’s little 388 down the original planned route, or just be safe and tow him straight home.
That’s when the machine decided that it didn’t like the tow straps and started!
After Goat Lake we turned down the bush trail.
Some “Boondockin” was accomplished and although one girl stopped at a creek, Andy and I jumped several creeks, because they were there!
The trip back to Nimpo included a stop along Charlotte Main (logging road) where we said thank you and goodbye to our Anahim Lake participants, saving them an extra 25 kilometres of riding.
Once back to the boat launch we parked our sleds in a circle around the bonfire and again broke out the Cheezies and hot dogs — everything else had been devoured up in the mountains.
Everyone had fun and enjoyed the fresh powder.