The Mighty Whipsaw
The Whipsaw Trail is one of the most iconic trails in Canada and one that I have wanted to attempt for a while now. Over the August long weekend, I got my chance. Through Ian, a buddy of mine, I was able to join along with a group of Hummer enthusiasts on their Whipsaw trip. Although being excited about going, I will be honest, I was a bit nervous as well.
Would the Jeep hold up to the conditions of the trail? What will I do if I break my Jeep? Holy crap I’m actually going!! These were some of the thoughts going on in my head at 2 in the morning the night before the trip!! But in true “Agatsu” fashion of confronting your fears and challenging yourself I packed up the Jeep and the pup and headed off to meet up with the crew.
Not quite sure who and how many people were going I was pleasantly surprised to see Terry from Unwinding Roads pull up in his Gladiator. I had never met him before but have been following his YouTube Channel for a while. He’s a super nice guy and if you haven’t seen his videos, definitely check them out! I was also happy to see that here were a couple other Jeeps in the mix as well for a total number of 10 vehicles.
After meeting up we all started to make our way to Princeton for the final fill up before hitting the trail. Unfortunately, once we got there Ian in his H3 noticed that his alternator was acting up. After being unable to track down a new one in Princeton he had to make the tough call and pull out of the trip. Was definitely sad to see him not continue on with us, as it was because of him that I was able to get on this trip, but it was absolutely the right call to make.
After fueling up and saying goodbye to Ian we made our way back up the highway to the trailhead and after quickly airing down our tires we were on the FSR and finally the Whipsaw! We made our way up the FSR trying to stay far enough apart to see the road through the dust from the vehicle ahead and not driving off a cliff!
Making our way past the old sawmill we started down the actual Whipsaw Trail where we started to run into the first of a number of obstacles. The hummers attacked all the obstacles we ran into but the main purpose of my trip was to get my feet wet, get some experience while also trying NOT to break my Jeep, so we did a select few but mainly chose the easier routes.
We eventually made our way to “Dick’s Cabin”, named after Dick Holding who built the cabin back in 1948 and spent the summers there until passing away in the 70’s. We all lined up our rigs for the classic group shot in front of the cabin before heading further up the trail.
We continued up the trail and as we got higher into the alpine the views became all the more beautiful. Only a few weeks before there had still been snow on the trail so it was more of a springtime feeling. There were thousands of beautiful alpine flowers in bloom which made the scenery all the more spectacular. One negative were the bugs. The mosquitos were in hoards with no chance to escape. I bought the pricey Thermacell and gave it a shot, still not completely sold on it but will try it again on the next trip.
We were slowly making progress along the trail enjoying every moment of it and with it getting later in the day we found a beautiful camp site next to an unnamed lake just off the trail and setup camp for the night.
The weather during the whole trip was beautiful but the time we realized this the most was a night. The skies lit up with countless stars, a couple shooting stars, and satellites also passed by every couple minutes including the latest string of Skylink satellites. The view of the Milky Way was the grand finale before heading off to bed. (I have to learn how to take pictures of the Milky Way!)
After a very relaxing night’s sleep we woke up to another beautiful sunrise. After a nice breakfast we slowly packed everything up and continued along the trail.
The first major obstacle we hit right after camp was “The Fins”. A formation of long and narrow rocks that are notorious for getting people high-centered! I wisely chose the go around while the hummer crew made their way through some challenges to make it over the obstacle.
The happy moment for me was watching Terry in his Jeep show them all how it was done, easily making it over the obstacle. Great job man!
The next obstacle is “Memorial Rock”, the most well-known of all the obstacles on the Whipsaw. This steep incline of solid rock is definitely one of the main reasons people come here. You need to have the perfect balance of speed and traction to be able to make it all the way up the steep slope and not end up sliding down bumper first! Again, I passed this one by but watched some of the others put their skills to the test and make it over this awesome rock.
The trail that led from Memorial Rock along the high alpine was some of the most beautiful driving I’ve ever done. The views were spectacular and the descent to Wells Lake was definitely some of the hardest trail that I’ve encountered.
The Jeep was a total trooper. By this time, it was around 2:30 in the afternoon and we’d been hitting the trail pretty hard with little to no breaks so we decided to stop for a quick lunch at the beautiful Wells Lake. This spectacular area is a popular spot along the trail with a number of campsites along its breathtaking shores.
Once lunch was done, we hit another difficult section of the trail called Falcon Hill a steep climb up and up to one of the last major obstacles along the Whipsaw Trail known as “The Step”. The step is a vertical slab of rock almost 3 feet tall that is protruding out of the trail that is already at a solid incline. Again, the Jeep and I pushed our way through the mud along the easier work around to the right of the step but definitely go out to support other members of the crew and they challenged “The Step”!
It was during the closing sections of the Whipsaw were one of the members started to have radiator problems. We think it was due to some mud from a deep puddle that got into the radiator and led to repetitive overheating problems which meant to A LOT of short sprints followed by long breaks to allow for cooling. This definitely slowed our progress but there was nothing we could do about it. We tried rinsing off the radiator with water, using high pressure air from compressors to blow out the debris but to no avail.
With the current radiator situation and the quickly setting sun the decision was made to peel off the main Whipsaw trail and follow the FSR back to the main road and get to a place where we could better clean off the radiator. Although we missed the last portion of the trail around the Lodestone lake area, given the issue we were dealing with and the time of day it was definitely the right thing to do.
The Whipsaw Trail was the most challenging drive I’ve ever done and was extremely happy to have been able to go and have both the Jeep and myself return unscathed! Special thanks to the Hummers of Whipsaw for allowing us to come along. The views were spectacular and I can definitely see why this trail is one of the most iconic and well-known trails in North America! If you ever have the chance and have the rig to go, go!