Oregon Trip #3 - Jones Creek  (April 22, 1995)



This was the third time that a few of us had put together an off-

road trip for other members of the off-road mailing list in the 

Oregon area.  The inaugural trip, to Middle Mountain near 

Hood River, had four attendees.  The second trip, the Ghost 

Town tour near Falls City, had four attendees.  And of course, 

this trip was not one to break the mold.  In addition to the past 

veterans (Bill Lewey and his stock 78 Jeep CJ-5 sporting his 

new jamboree rack, Brian Heifner and his friend in Brian's stock 

94 Ford F-150 pickup, and myself and my "someday I'll get it 

completely rebuilt" 77 Chevrolet Blazer), we had a brand new 

Oregonian join us for this trip.  George Reiswig and his wife 

(Angela) recently move up from New Mexico to test their 90 Isuzu Amigo 

on the Oregon terrain.  George clearly outclassed us with respect 

to experience and vehicle (lockers, on-board air, sway-bar 

disconnect and of course that 2.3 liters of raw power), but I think 

he found Oregon challenging enough.  At least he'll be able to 

learn a little about trees up here.



This trip, primarily organized by Brian, put us in the Tillamook 

State Forest at Jones Creek.  Jones Creek is located between the 

more famous Lees Camp and Jordan Creek on the Wilson River 

Highway (Oregon 6).  The appropriate USGS 7.5 minute map is 

the Jordan Creek topo.  These trails are perfect for those located 

in Portland as it only takes about an hour to get there.  One word 

of warning - this is considered an Oregon off-road area (we 

didn't know Oregon had any of these, but good to know they are 

working towards them) and a $7 permit is required.  This permit 

can be obtained from the DMV.  It is good for two years.



Although few signs remain, most of the Tillamook State Forest 

was burned in the nations worst forest fire back in the 1920's.  

From the Jones Creek campground, our first destination was 

Triangulation Point.  The trip up North Fork Road was 

uneventful, although it was clear we were going up fairly 

steeply.



After several miles of uphill descent on this dirt road, Brian said 

the fun was about to begin.  A short, steep road disappeared into 

the woods.  Everyone sized it up a bit and then one after the 

other powered up.  We had no problems on this hill and it served 

it purpose - getting the adrenaline pumping.



About 1/2 a mile from the top of Triangulation Point (3,146 

feet) we encountered snow.  While this was somewhat expected, 

it was deeper than I personally expected.  Average depth was 

about a foot with some drifts being larger.  This snow was also 

quite wet from the recent rains.  I was in the lead with the Blazer 

and quickly ran into trouble.  While there was plenty in my 400 

ci engine, the 19 year old springs and ancient shocks were 

having serious problems putting the power to the ground.  

Analyzing the video tape after the trip, it was clear both the front 

and rear were bouncing up and down like a jack hammer.  

Looks pretty funky and felt pretty funky while driving it.  It was 

like the rig was goning to fall apart.  Luckily I could back up, 

get a run at it, and make another foot or two of progress.  Airing 

down to 22 psi helped a bit.  Probably should of went down 

farther, but I didn't have any on-board air and the situation was 

not critical.  I continued backing up and making a run for it 

quite a while as the (automatic) transmission temperature gauge 

continued to climb.  After much hard work, I found a place to 

pull off to the side and let George in his Amigo break trail.  His 

18 psi tires and suspension were better equipped for the snow 

and he made it to the top of the peak right next to Triangulation 

Point without problem.  Those following the leader had a much 

easier time, but still had to keep on their toes.



From Triangulation Point we decided to head down to Cook 

Creek via some trails marked 4x4 on the topo.  Even though the 

topo was last updated in 1984, we could not find those 4x4 roads 

and had to stick to the unimproved ones (primarily East Fork 

Road).  Bill got to try out his ability to break trail in the snow on 

this downhill trail.  The technique of leaving one tire on the road 

and one in the "ditch" next to the mountain seems to work for 

him (clearly keeping him away from the steep downhill side), 

although others preferred to go straight down the road, using 

only one of his tire tracks that broke trail.  We reached Cook 

Creek and the South Fork conjunction and had a nice lunch with 

the alders and cottonwoods.



The next step was to find Post Canyon Road - which was marked 

4x4 on the map.  It was clear we would have to cross Cook 

Creek to do this.  After finding the road, everyone wondered just 

how deep it was.  Bill volunteered his boots and jeans and 

walked across.  About crotch level.  Hmmm.  Immediately 

everyone started calculating.  George volunteered to go first and 

conveniently turned off his electric fan.  The river was about ten 

car lengths across and George made it without problem.  The 

water crested the top of his 31" tires a couple of times, but no 

water entered the cab.  While George was up checking out the 

trail ahead to make sure it was passable, Bill was positioned 

mid-river ready to take a picture of something or another.  

Needless to stay, it you walk in the river long enough, you are 

going to fall in.  And of course, Bill went left, went right and 

went in - camera and all.  Luckily the camera was waterproof 

and it was about 75 out, so Bill wasn't too miserable.



After much discussion, we decided to skip the river crossing (too 

many belts to remove to stop fan splash for the rest of us) and 

George came back across - again without problem.  A little 

farther down the road was Clammers Road and a bridge across 

the river, so we decided to head up it.  After several miles of 

good road, we ended-up back by Triangulation Point.  A tank 

trap amused Bill and George a while here, while the longer 

wheel-based vehicles watched.  Eagle-eye George noticed that 

Bill was leaking something or another.  A quick stop found that 

it was transfer case gear oil, but it was unclear where it was 

coming from.  After checking the fluid level, it was clear the 

service garage who worked on Bill's rig a few months ago 

overfilled it and it was just some extra coming out the overflow.  

That was definitely good news.  The next destination was Kilchis 

Falls.  The trip here was uneventful, but the falls were 

spectacular.  Dropping about 250', it is a highly recommended 

visit.



It was starting to get late, so we decided to head out.  On the way 

out, I noticed Bill slowing near a rock quarry.  It never fails, that 

last minute urge to get a bit more four wheeling in bit him.  Over 

the CB we hear "Wait a minute, guys."  Brian and Rick turn 

around to join Bill and George playing in the rocks.  Everyone 

had to point their nose up the 20' rock pile.  No one could climb 

up it (not that we really wanted to).  This yielded a 30 degree 

mark on George's level gauge.  Just when we thought we had 

attempted everything, George decided to relive his Moab days 

and found the biggest rock in the place to head over.  On the way 

up his front bounced over a little too far and he got caught on his 

transfer case cross member.  After his wife gave him that evil 

eye, we all assessed the situation.  Although all four wheels were 

on the ground, they definitely were not touching much.  The rear 

locker didn't seem to help either.  We decided to jack up the front 

and George pulled out his 48" hi-lift.  After getting it aligned up, 

it was clear he needed a real jack, so I pulled out my 60" hi-lift.  

The whole time Brian is razzing George about these Oregon 

rocks being much different than those he experienced in New 

Mexico and he should of known better to mess with them.  We 

first tried to jack up the front and launch it to the side, but 

couldn't get enough jack under the vehicle to lift the cross 

member.  In analyzing the situation, George noticed his drivers 

side CV boot was split.  It was unclear when that happened, but 

was a bummer.  After jacking up both the front and rear and 

placing rocks under everything, we tried to back him down.  

Unfortunately the cross member was still in the way.  We 

decided to hook the tow strap (actually three of them) up to Bill 

Jeep and give him a slight sideways pull.  This just seemed to 

pivot him at first, but finally everything clicked at the same 

moment and the cross member was free.  After checking the 

rocks again, George backed down without problem.  Of course, 

George had to point out to his wife that if he had that lift kit, he 

wouldn't of been in that predicament.  Somehow that didn't seem 

to hold much water with her.  On the way out, George found that 

he worked his exhaust system loose a bit was it was a little 

louder than before.  Needless to say, he'll have a few days in the 

garage ahead of him.  Bill bent his front bumper slightly while 

pulling George out.  Somehow over the years the lower bolts 

disappeared.  A quick wack on a downed tree righted the 

situation.



In all, it was a great adventure for all of us, combining great 

scenery, several different types of terrain and good camaraderie.  

I have grabbed a few pictures from my 8mm video tape and will 

put them into the picture archive for those interested.  I promise 

to include the "George versus the Oregon rock" picture for those 

interested.



Pictures that will be uploaded to picture server:

  or_3_1.jpg      Rick Anderson and his 77 Blazer in the snow

  or_3_2.jpg      Brian Heifner and his 94 F-150 in the snow

  or_3_3.jpg      George Reiswig and his 90 Amigo crossing Cook Creek

  or_3_4.jpg      Bill Lewey and his 78 CJ-5 going backwards into

                  some tank traps

  or_3_5.jpg      George stuck on the Oregon rock