Re: [Paddlewise] Tanks, snow and paddlin'

At 09:39 AM 2/4/2004 -0800, Alder Creek Kayak & Canoe wrote:
>Steve B writes:>>I hate SUVs because they are often driven belligerently and
>otherwise over aggressively. Nevertheless, I believe that the people who buy
>them have thought their decision through very carefully and buy the SUV for
>its tank-like qualities.<<
>
>hate's a pretty strong word.
>
>IMHO, more often than not, SUV's are purchased because they have 4 wheel
>drive.  In our 'storm of the century' on New Years most of the western
>portions of Oregon and Washington were covered with 3" to 8" of snow,
>covered by 1" to 2" of ice.  The only cars that could safely get around were
>SUV's and 4X4 trucks.  period.
>
>I don't think too many folks were thinking 'tank', like me they were
>thinking more like 'survival'.

Or just accessibility or ease of accessibility to areas where a 2WD sedan 
might not be able to go.


>(required paddlin' content)  My Honda CR-V (mini SUV) got me to a very sweet
>paddling location in the middle of that week and a half, and I enjoyed a
>very peacful time on the river amoungst the snow and ice.

When I lived in California I did a lot of snow skiing in the 
winter.  Unlike in the east, they don't salt their roads, and the CHP 
establishes various restriction levels on a particular section of road at a 
particular time.  I don't recall the exact designations but it went 
something like:

R1 - road open to all vehicles
R2 - road open to vehicles with snow tires
R3 - road open to 2WD vehicles with chains, or 4WD with snow tires
R4 - road open to vehicles with 4WD *and* chains only
R5 - road close to all vehicles

In the many years that I made numerous ski trips to the Sierra Nevada I 
only encountered an R4 condition once.  Typically R4 was for a very short 
period of  time before and/or after the road was closed to all 
vehicles.  The biggest advantage of an SUV or vehicle with 4WD was when 
many of the roads were at R3.  Driving from the bay area it was R1 for the 
first 200 miles, then it might be R3 all the way to the Tahoe basin (about 
50 miles).  On a Friday night thousands of people would drive up from the 
bay area, and about 4000' CHP would be set up to enforce the R3 
restrictions.  There would be hundreds of vehicles off to the side of the 
road installing chains, and on a very busy weekend, much of the slow lane 
on I-80 would have vehicles in the road.  In my  4WD vehicle they'd just 
wave me through.  Often by the time I reached the Tahoe basin, where most 
of the roads don't have much of an incline, a 2WD vechicle could get around 
fine without chains, so they were all removing their chains.  Driving the 
50 miles from 4000' with chains on is no picnic but driving around on clear 
pavement with them is even worse.  Taking them on and off as conditions 
change was a really big hassle.  In many areas, one could drive all around 
the Tahoe basin but need chains to get the last five miles to the ski 
resort or the place where they were staying.

The 4WD was even more useful for the miles and miles of offroad access in 
the Sierra Nevada.  One of my other passions is flyfishing and there were 
quite a few places I went to that would be inaccessible with a 2WD 
vehicle.  One of them was up a steep rocky road about 5 miles off the main 
road.  I had a canoe on top of my 4WD vehicle and drove up to this lake and 
had it completely to myself for two days.  There was another area on the 
eastern slope where there were 2-3 lakes only accessible by a vehicle with 
4WD and high ground clearance. These lakes held a good population of Golden 
trout.
***************************************************************************
PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed
here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire
responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author.
Submissions:     PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net
Subscriptions:   PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net
Website:         http://www.paddlewise.net/
***************************************************************************