First Post - Intro and "Tunnel Blasting" in the Fraser Canyons

"TheStiggyOne" (thestiggyone) 06/18/2018 at 14:34 • Filed to: None

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Hi everyone! Long time lurker and now first time poster. I drive a 2013 Cadillac CTS-V Sedan (6MT, of course), owned since new and my first non-BMW after 5x 3ers (2x E46 330i, 1x E90 335i and 2x E90 M3).

I have a thread about my car on Final Gear’s Post Your Car section, but since the BBC “takedown” and then the new forum software, discussion seems to dwindle. I don’t really care about viewership numbers, but more feedback will be more fun :-) So, I applied here, got approved, and here I am!

If you want to catch up, feel free to peruse the thread here:

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My “thing” is tackling !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! here in Beautiful British Columbia, and coming back with photos and GoPro videos. Also, this CTS-V2 is the first car I’ve owned out of warranty, so I’ve started to make changes. Finally, I’m still a member of the BMW Car Club of BC (hey, this Cadillac is more “BMW” than most recent BMWs), so I will also provide some BMW content.

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With that out of the way, now for a real post. I recently had my exhaust fully done, and I wanted to record some footage. So, last Saturday I did a 1 day trip to visit the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

First stop was at !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the start and end of the loop, to sort the camera and microphone placements.

Right away, I got what I came for. Traffic was light, so I was able to go through the tunnels at my... uh... “leisure” :-D

Full video of this section here:

Then, I got to !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . As the confluence of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (which I followed to get here) and the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (which I will follow next) rivers, it is one of the earliest non-native settlements in the Southern Interior.

He waved and asked for a pic, so I took one

Year Built: 1912

Close-up of the microphone setup. It is a Rode Video Mic Go. For the videos through the tunnels, I did not put on the “muff”, and thus the sounds were “blown” :-(

From Lytton, I got back onto Highway 1, which now follows the Thompson. First, though, had to wait out the train:

This bit of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! gets right down on the river, and ducks underneath the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! tracks at several places. Full video here:

Now, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Here, I leave Highway 1 for !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (Nicola Highway), which is highly recommended in the Destination Highways book (it is #9). While here, I pulled over next to the tracks and across from the Inn for some pictures.

...plus, I have to cross the tracks for one last time just ahead, so might as well wait here for the train to finish passing.

Here is the Nicola Highway, so named because it follows the Nicola River, in full:

That brought me to !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the “country music capital of Canada”.

Year Built: 1908

Merritt is a major road junction in BC’s south interior. BC-5-S to Hope, BC-5-N and -5A-N to Kamloops, BC-5A-S to Princeton, BC-97C-N to Logan Lake, and BC-97C-E to Kelowna.

After these pics, I proceeded through downtown Merritt...

...to get to Coldwater Road, another listed Destination Highway. As captioned above, Merritt is the junction of 6 major provincial highways, and here I am leaving town using none of them ;-)

Coldwater Road runs parallel to the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (BC-5), and eventually merges back into it. The “Coq”itself is not bad... it is well-engineered and so can be done at quite a speed (speed limit = 110km/h). It is also the direct route from the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! to !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and then onto the rest of Canada, and thus it is favoured by truckers... and also is one of the highest elevation of any major highway in Canada. Hence, featured in the TV show !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

Here is me going through the Great Bear Snowshed:

And, a full video of this stretch:

Just beyond Hope, I turned onto !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (Crowsnest Highway) for a little bit:

...to visit !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the second largest landslide ever recorded in Canada. I usually get here late, so to be able to see it in the full sun this time was a bit of a treat. 47 million cubic meters came down, the road is now 55m higher, and 2 people and a yellow Chevy convertible are forever below.

Here, the “loop” ended, so I packed up the GoPro and the microphone and headed home.

AM3R, lost another burner > TheStiggyOne 06/18/2018 at 17:43

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Welcome! Love the V. I don’t see them too often around me, so I love reading about them online. I’m a big bmw fanboy, got any pics of the E9x’s?? My current DD is an E92 335i. Just changed the rear brakes on Saturday... then the waterpump gave out on the way back from my friends place :(

TheStiggyOne > AM3R, lost another burner 06/18/2018 at 18:03

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Yes... the one I traded in, the last one, was a Melbourne Red 2011 (thus, LCI) E90 M3 7M-DCT. Here they both are at the GM dealership while I was taking delivery:

Since then, I’ve had to re-do all of my trips again, to update the pictures. Woe is me :-P

August 2012, alongside Washington State Route 20 (North Cascades Highway), approaching Washington Pass , looking at Liberty Bell Mountain :

Same spot in August 2014:

I’ll be writing more posts to slowly catch you guys up.

BeaterGT > TheStiggyOne 06/19/2018 at 17:29

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Welcome! Great car choice, one that is definitely on my short list.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > TheStiggyOne 07/17/2018 at 12:04

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Helluva intro post! I starred it a month ago, but looks like I never got around to scrolling through the whole thing and enjoying the videos.