If you are thinking about getting away from it all, the third edition of the Four-Wheeler's Companion will help you put your ideas into action. Featuring routes from all over southwestern BC - from the Chilliwack River Valley and Fraser Canyon to Squamish and Hope - this guide describes the best places to go, how to get there and what to expect once you're on the road.

According to Bostwick, "British Columbia may have the best four-wheeling in North America. The combination of great natural beauty and the constantly replenished legacy of abandoned roads provides us with an incredible abundance and variety of four-wheel drive challenges." The Four-Wheeler's Companion guides you through some of this spectacular back-country to secluded fishing holes, scenic wilderness summits and rugged wildlife viewing spots.

This edition contains 28 new trips, including a new section on routes off the Coquihalla Highway, and updates on old ones ("the logging roads of one decade become the four-wheel trails of the next, and the backpacker's bushwhack of the third"). The routes range from easy rides for the beginning off-roader to difficult and dangerous drives for the experienced only, when it helps to have a mechanic on board! The Companion also includes maps, photos, difficulty ratings and tips on equipment, safety and driving.

As always, Bostwick urges drivers to use existing roads, rather than blaze new ones, and his section on the ethics of four-wheeling provides ways to integrate the sport of four-wheeling into a wider environmental consciousness. His expertise makes the third edition of the Four-Wheeler's Companion bigger, better and more thorough than ever.

One of 55,000 British Columbian off-roaders, Mark Bostwick is an outdoors expert and a champion of the environment. He is a dedicated four-wheeler and a member of the Lionsgaters Four Wheel Drive Society. He lives in Richmond, BC.

Mark Bostwick's profile page