Middle Mountain Trail Report (A.K.A. Pete's Perspective)
     
     What made this trip cool, other than the Wheeling part of it, was that 
     it was a true Internet experience. The majority of us had not met face 
     to face until we arrived at Starvation Creek rest stop on Hwy 84.
     
     With a bit of trepidation I pulled into the rest area and spotted Rick 
     Anderson's Blazer sitting next to a nice 72 TLC which belonged to 
     Matt. Before Long Bill Lewey arrived in his Jeep(forgot what year and 
     make it was, CJ7 I think?). Three people came as ride alongs: Pete, 
     Phil, and Todd.
     
     Middle Mountain is an area outside of Hood River on Hwy. 35 that 
     nobody in 
     our group had any familiarity with, so this was an exploratory trip. 
     The roads varied from gravel to mud, and were constantly changing.
     
     The first spot was a long hill that had about 1 1/2 foot ruts that 
     were filled with mud. I was bringing up the rear and got to see the 
     Jeep throwing mud all over the place. My first and second thoughts 
     were "Oh crap, I don't want to drive up THERE!." With some urging from 
     passenger Pete, we motored up the hill only stopping once to back down 
     a little to gain some momentum. The other rigs didn't seem to have any 
     problems getting up the hill but my big old Fords tires were spinning 
     the whole way. Of course we all had to do it again, just 'cuz. 
     I was told to try it in 4-lo. I still spun all the way up throwing mud 
     all 
     over the place. By the time I got to the top the video was rolling and 
     everybody was smiling with excitement about the rest of the day. This 
     was a good place 
     to start!
     
     The next spot came when I spotted a road that led off to the right. I 
     radioed back that I was going to check it out. The road petered out 
     real quick. This was typical cascade forest. Big trees spaced out 
     every twenty to thirty feet so that you could see a ways into the 
     woods. The road didn't exactly end, it wound up the side of this hill 
     and made a quick turn to the left. I radioed back that this could be a 
     good spot for the Jeep and TLC. They motored by me 
     a minute later. The TLC just mountain goated right on up there and 
     then disappea d 
     over the rise. Then the Jeep did the same thing. So I'm sitting there 
     waiting for them to come back and they don't, and they don't, it 
     probably only took thirty seconds but it was enough time for my brain 
     to convince me that there MUST be something really cool up there that 
     had to be seen. Well I made it 
     to the top of the hill and was starting to make the turn when I slowed 
     down to miss a big old stick that would have gouged me in the side. 
     Slowing down to miss the stick the Ford went no further on it's own. 
     To make it short, I was sliding down and to the right every time I 
     tried to go. Finally deciding 
     to get out and assess the situation, I look in the rear view mirror 
     and discover a huge tree directly behind the rig. I had stopped only 1 
     inch from the tree. Rick and Pete, who were coming up behind me, 
     couldn't believe I hadn't seen 
     it. We got out two brand new fresh out of the bag tow straps and the 
     TLC easily helped pull me up the hill. Thanks again Matt!
     
     On the way to the next spot there was a big old mud puddle off to the 
     right. I didn't see it, but Matt took the TLC through the "puddle" and 
     immediately sunk up to the passengers side window. Reportedly he 
     gunned it and quickly 
     crawled out of the puddle. Kind of surprised both the driver and the 
     passenger :-O
     All I heard on the CB was "A little deeper than you thought?"
     
     The next spot of interest was a type of muddy landing on the side of a 
     clearcut that had 7 to 10 foot banks that were obviously used for 
     wheeling. We watched the Jeep and the TLC climb these banks with a bit 
     of effort. We then went up 
     a road that started out promising with a long deeply rutted hill, but 
     it didn't go any where. 
     We came back to the aforementioned banks and got out the cameras to 
     watch the action. At one point Matt BACKED his TLC up one of the  
     banks.
     And then Pete
     started to develop his reputation. Several of us heard Pete say to 
     Phil(who was riding shotgun in the TLC) "Get out Phil, it's my turn to 
     ride along." The TLC attempted an embankment that was a good ten feet 
     with an almost 90 degree 1 foot section at the top. The front tires 
     came up 6 to 12 inches off the ground at the top, and it looked like 
     he would get a good purchase and make it. But it didn't sound good 
     once the tires came down, kind of a ratcheting grinding sound was 
     coming out of the rig. After a lot of consternation about what could 
     be wrong it was discovered that  he had cracked part of his front 
     right Warn hub. Eventually he was able to get it into 2-wheel to drive 
     it home. The last email I got, Matt said that he was out searching for 
     a new front axle. Apparently the damage was worse than we suspected.
     
     Pete then moved over to Rick's rig. Farther down the main road Rick 
     tried to see how far he could make it up a long STEEP hill. After 3 
     tries the transmission transferred over to neutral and he couldn't get 
     it in gear (he has an automatic actually). He couldn't even get it into 
     park. Eventually the air filter was removed and a rag was placed over 
     the carb to kill the engine. Rick was then able to get it into park. 
     Once the engine was restarted everything seemed ok. Pete's pension for 
     breaking down vehicles was now well established. His reputation
     for being bad karma was enforced because he didn't have a rig, he just 
     came along for the ride, we now know why. Pete weathered all the 
     comments good nature y 
     and was a good sport about it. :-)
     
     The mechanical problems kind of took the wind out of our sails so we 
     headed into Hood River to try a couple of the Full Sail Brewery beers. 
     Didn't much care for the I.P.A.,but the Red was good, and there was a 
     good view of the mighty Columbia. I'll say it again, this was a really 
     "cool" experience. Everybody
     was friendly and willing to help out when help was needed. We are 
     planning to do it again next month, probably in the Coast range!
     
     I discovered some things about my rig and my lack of driving 
     experience. For one, when going up deeply rutted and muddy hills it 
     seemed to help to steer into the side of the rut. The truck would 
     still follow the rut, but I would 
     get better traction doing this. I seem to heat up my clutch alot, just 
     inexperie e 
     I guess. And finally, a light bar is really not a good idea for the 
     trails I've seen here in the NorthWest.
     
     Maybe not the greatest trail report but thought some of you might find 
     it intere ing. 
     Sorry it was so long.
     
     Brian Heifner