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The Blizzard.

by expeditionbc

Recently I was out for a walk with my toddler on the trail at the back of our property. We have a lot of space here and tend to help out family/friends with parking or storage in the barn etc. My brother has his old Toyota parked out back while he has been moving around.

Now I’ve been past this truck dozens of times. It’s covered in grime, cobwebs and leaves – and I didn’t even know if it runs.

On this particular day while out on the trail, I glanced over and looked at it just as I had many times before, although for some reason it looked different. Maybe with fall here and the recent rain, it was just so much dirtier and more gross than before.

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Even being under all the leaves and sludge, I realized…. THIS THING IS AWESOME! It’s just so rad. 1985 styling, 37” mud terrains, turbo diesel, right hand drive! Why must it just sit here?

So I called up my brother to propose keeping this thing, called a Blizzard, alive!

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Out came the jumper cables, extension cord, hoses and pressure washer. After a 30 min battery charge, the 2.4L (“2L” motor) roared to life and idled happily. The slight exhaust burble of a 4cylinder diesel didn’t exactly instil thoughts of big power, but it was a steady, comfortable and quietly confident sound that was somehow reassuring. It was almost as if the Blizzard had a soul and was just overjoyed with the recent attention.

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Unfortunately, neither my brother or I have the time or space to keep this and see it to it’s greatest potential. It deserves the glory of cruising the rough back roads and rocky trails of the West Coast.

Therefore, sadly it is up for sale. It runs and drives, but will need some work to be a comfortable daily, or reliable back country bush pig. Either way, it’s been neat rescuing it from the forest and  spending some time getting to know its intracacies.

See the Expedition BC facebook page, or Vancouver Craigslist for details. We’ll finish off this memory with some photos we’ll hang onto for years to come.

2018 Expedition BC Open Invite

by expeditionbc

This year’s group trip is happening Oct 22-27th, 2018 in the wilds of British Columbia. We have an open-invite on our facebook page (see header for our link to facebook) and would be glad to have some of you join us for the trip.

We have four trucks going already and a limit of six or seven total due to logistics. There are some requirements described on the event page so please have a look or contact us if you are interested in tagging along!

Cooper STT Pro UPDATE:

by expeditionbc
Awhile back we announced a partnership with OutHEREadventure.com & Cooper Tire regarding a long-term test of the STT Pro off-road tire. We are well on our way into the testing, having run them for approximately 10,000 km’s already. Thousands of those km’s have included several long-distance trips – off-pavement on gravel, rocks, shale, mud, dirt etc., and while towing trailers at various tire pressures.

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So far they still look and feel new! Comparing to our previous Goodyear Duratracs of the same size (which we liked) we are enjoying the extra traction without any noticeable increases in road noise. Something unexpected was the awesome on-road traction, which gave us confidence on the twisty canyon roads while towing a 3500lb trailer, AND with the Sequoia’s front swaybar disconnected. We did not expect this performance from such an aggressive off-road tire. Rad.
 
Although not specifically designed for compact snow and ice, we are looking to seeing how they hold up as we head into our fall and winter trip season – including the Expedition BC group trip to the mountains in October!

Who is Expedition BC – What do we do?

by expeditionbc
Who is Expedition BC? What do we do?
 
Since we’ve had a bunch of new page followers over the past few months, we thought we’d take the time to explain a little bit of what we do and why we do it.
 
We are just a regular young family who is passionate about getting out and exploring the back roads and wild places in B.C., and beyond. We are fortunate to have the opportunity to head out on numerous long trips throughout the year and explore all sorts of regions.

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Why we do what we do:
 
For years we were publishing trip reports on various forums online and doing emailed reports to friends and family. Ultimately we didn’t have any control over the reports, and as forums became less popular and died off, we started our own website to ensure we could preserve our stories and photos for years to come. This is why we started http://www.xpedbc.com and this facebook page to preserve our stories, mainly so our kids can read them when they grow up!
 
What do we do?

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Trip and event reports:

All of our trip reports are published on the website proper, and each time a new one is posted, we share it to our readers through the facebook platform. We’ve been everywhere from the Arctic Circle in Alaska, to the trails of Utah/Colorado, and even the prairies of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. We have a large back-log of trip reports to publish when time allows…

 
Consulting:

Another thing we’ve unexpectedly have begun doing is informal trip consulting. Since XPED BC started, we’ve been receiving a steady stream of requests for information on where to go in BC, and details of our destinations and routes. These requests have come from people all over North America who are traveling through B.C. or planning their future overland-style trip here. This has been a pleasant surprise and we’ve enjoyed being able to help people plan their adventures.

 
Gear reviews:

This is something new we are just getting into. Right now we are doing a long-term test for OutHEREadventure.com and Cooper Tire on a set of Cooper STT Pro off road tires, as well as several smaller products. Our aim is to provide a real-world experience of products we actually use a lot and really put to the test.

 
Group trips:

Perhaps the best part of all of this, is the open-invite group trips we do several times per year! We do an open-invite to other family friendly adventurers to join us on multi-day overland style trips. So far these have been a blast and we’ve made good friends along the way.

 
Well, if you’ve read this far, THANK YOU for following along! We hope many of you can join us for an adventure somewhere in the near future.
 
The next group trip is being planned for mid-October and we’ll be heading to Northern Washington for five days of off grid travel, 4×4’ing up to mountain tops, hidden alpine lakes, and all the great coffee shops in between 🙂

-JC

2018 Northwest Overland Rally

by expeditionbc

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It’s OVERLAND RALLY season and our event report from the 2018 Northwest Overland Rally in Plain, Washington has been published. Check out our story to see why this event is the highlight of our summer! You can access the report in 2018 Trip Report drop down menu above, or click right HERE.

COOPER TIRES & OutHEREAdventure

by expeditionbc

Expedition BC is excited to partner with OutHEREAdventure.com and Cooper Tires Canada to do a long-term review of the Cooper Discoverer off road tire. We are now testing a new set of 285/70R17 Discoverer STT Pro mud terrains – Cooper’s most aggressive off road tire to date.

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We’ll be writing about the tires and how they are performing in our trip reports, as well as updating our Cooper Tire gear review page in the drop down menu above. Believe us when we say that these tires will be worked hard in a variety of conditions!