Quading

Forgive me for the title of this post.  I have yet to figure out if quading is spelled with one D or two, but I think it looks better with one, so that's how I spell it.  (If any English major, or any major actually, can shed some light on this predicament, your help would be welcome.)

Today we took Jonathan for his first quad ride.  At least I think it was his first.  If it wasn't, I'm quite sure he'll correct me in the comments :)  My dad took off from work early and we loaded up the quad trailer and drove up into the mountains about 45 minutes to McCullough Lake, also called Hydraulic Lake.

We unloaded our two quads and my dad and Tyler's dirt bikes at the main campgrounds, found helmets that fit everyone, decided who was riding what, and took off.  I rode one quad with Jonathan and my mum rode the other with Bryn. We drove down a trail several km's until we got to a big sand pit that my parents and some family friends had found last fall.  There my mum got out her camera equipment and started snapping pictures while the rest of us zoomed up and down the sandy hills.  After a bit I got off the quad so Jonathan could do all his daring feats without the burden of another person weighing him down.  Later, he let me have a chance to drive by myself.  Although it was a little freaky driving up some of the steeper edges of the pit, I managed to conquer the slopes, both up and then back down.  When everyone had their fill of sand-pit-quading/biking, we got ready to head back.

Me driving toward Ty's biking boots

First, I had to tow Ty's dirt bike a little ways to get it started since the battery wasn't holding a charge.  Then my dad gave Jonathan a little lesson in how to drive it.  I didn't wait around too long to watch and jumped on the back of my dad's dirt bike, which Ty was driving.  It was interesting riding on my dad's bike since one of the back foot holders has broken off, so I had to hold my right leg straight out, but pull it closer to the bike whenever the trail narrowed or we had to go between rocks or metal poles.

We got back to the campground first so, while we were waiting, Ty taught me how to drive the motorbike.  I've driven a 50cc and a 70cc bike before, just small ones with no clutch to worry about, but never a large one like my dad's.  Soon my mum and Bryn drove up, just in time for my mum to snap a picture of me falling over when I didn't have time to steer the large-for-me bike out of the way of an oncoming tree.  A minute later, my dad arrived.  We all waited around for Jonathan, but he didn't show up.

Rolling so the bike wouldn't crush me

Finally my dad was getting worried and decided Jonathan had missed the turn, so he climbed onto the quad to go find him.  Just as he was leaving the campground, we heard the sound of a motorbike and Jonathan drove into camp.  He had missed the turn, gone as far as a gazebo he didn't recognize a little ways down the trail, and turned around to come back.  Once we were all accounted for again we got out campfire food and made a supper of roasted hot dogs, veggies, beans, and, of course, marshmallows.

Soon the sun was starting to set, but Jonathan wanted to go out for one more quad ride.  He and I took out the two quads and drove back up the trail to the gazebo that Jonathan had found on his misadventure earlier.  We watched a loon swim across the pond nearby and then saw a beaver coming toward us.  We stayed really still and quiet as it got closer and soon it reached our end of the pond and pulled itself out of the water to preen.  Finally the sky was getting darker and we knew we had to get back, so we started up the quads, which sent the beaver rushing back into the pond.  Once we got back to the campground the males hurried to load up the quads and bikes before it got too dark, then we drove back home where we cleaned dirt off ourselves and relaxed for the rest of the evening.