Oregon BushHackers 1995 Trip 6 Report. August 27, 1995 
 
Squaw Mountain / Promontory Park / F.R. 4610  
Mt. Hood National Forest near Estacada, OR 
 
 
By Tom Brown. 
 
 
Here's the announcement: 
 
                       O F F R O A D   T R I P   N O T I F I C A T I O N
 
 
Date:  Sunday, August 27 
Time:  8:30 am  (please be on time) 
Where:  Bedford Point / Squaw Mountain (see below)  
Meeting Location:  Estacada (see below) 
 
Between the Fish Creek Mt. Green Trails map and the Bedford Point and
Three Lynx 7.5 Topos I have spotted several trails marked primitive or
abandon.  Calls to the Forest Service have been somewhat helpful in
pinpointing a couple of 4x4 trails.  The top two on my list are (1) Bedford
Point (elevation 2359) - an old lookout tower that has a nice round-trip
unmaintained trail.  Rumor has it that this is gated, however.  (2) Squaw
Mt. (elevation 4771!) - another old lookout tower road that is sometimes
gated.  I have a call in right now to see if it is currently gated.  If both
of those fall through (they are within five miles of each other), there are
at least five other trails in the area that look interesting.  So we'll be
doing some exploring (as usual) to find that ultimate trail.
 
All of these trails are north of Oregon 224 (which goes along the
Clackamas River).  Look for Promontory Park Campground.  Forest
Service Road 4610 is just before that and it leads to these areas.
 
Supposedly in the middle of Estacada, right before the only stop light in
town, is a Century Market.  This is on the left side of the highway.  This
will be the meeting location at 8:30 in the morning.  Should be fairly
easily to spot a motley crew of four wheel drives in a grocery parking lot.
 
And as usual, CB Channel 28 will be used for pre-trip communications. 
If you can't find us in Estacada, just holler on the CB (George...).
 
Trip is open to all 4x4 trails - stock or modified.  Tow straps, tow hooks,
and CB's are recommended. 
 
Please do me the favor of letting me know via return email if you will be
joining us or not. 
 
--- 
Rick D. Anderson  (intsys!ricka@ormail.intel.com)  
Interactive Systems, Inc.  503-627-0149 
 
 
Here's what Rick had to say after the trip. 
 
"We had a great time.  Good mix of mud, rock and hill climbing made for 
a fun time by all involved.  We had 8 vehicles this trip.  Had the greatest
lunch spot in the world on top of Squaw Mt. (elevation 4,700) and 
overlooking Mt. Hood." Rick D. Anderson 
 
 
 
Here is the roster: 
 
     Guy Hammer              '79 Bronco 
     Bill Lewey              '78 CJ5 
     Rick Anderson           '77 Blazer 
     Tom Brown               '88 Cherokee 
     Mike Millen             '94 Ram 1500 Standard cab - short bed 
     Roger Christal          '78 Ramcharger 
     Roger's son Cory         rode with dad 
     Mark Davis              '86 Isuzu Trooper 
     Mark's daughter Madeline rode with dad 
     Allen Veal              '6? CJ5 
     Allen's son Jason        rode with dad 
     Allen's daughter Tina    rode with dad 
 
 
	It was a bright sunny morning as I hurried to Estacada to meet
up with everyone.  As I roll into town looking for a Century Market, I'm
thinking that surely that can't be the one stop light in Estacada that I just
went through.  As I realize I am leaving town on Highway 224 I notice a
bunch of burned out flares and a sign saying " Road Closed 7 Miles Ahead Due
to Slide".  I turn around and proceed to the Food Forum where Rick, Guy,
Roger, and Bill are looking at maps and such.  Turns out that late last night
there was a head on crash on 224 between us and where we are heading. 
Rumor has it there was at least 2 fatalities.  Rick passes out copies of one
of his maps to everyone (way to be prepared - thanks for the planning, Rick). 
I volunteer to take notes and  write this report, so I scramble to find paper
and pen to scribble some notes. Mike shows up and goes to gas up.  Allen
arrives and spews antifreeze in the parking lot, then goes for gas or water
or something.  As we get ready to head out, a couple of flat beds go by
with the wrecked cars from the accident of 5 hours earlier.  First one has a
car with smash front and top.  The second one had a Toyota 4x4 that was
lifted with large tires that had it's front axle torn half off and the frame
in the shape of the letter "A".  Well, at least the road is now open and we
switch back to the original plan.  We head south on 224 to Promontory 
Park Campground, then up Road 4610.

	We head out with Rick in the lead a little after 9:00.  After half
of us miss the turn, someone radios us and we turn around.  The jokes
start flying as we head up a very nice one lane black top road.  It was a
pretty drive, but we all feel better when the pavement ends.  We feel even
better when a mud covered step side pickup passes us after talking to
Rick.  We  continue up 4610 looking for a good spot to play.  We pass by
one spot that looks tempting because there is someone camping there. 
Farther up 4610 we get to the first play spot, a hole filled with water of
unknown depth.  We all  (except Allen) air down and get ready to get
serious.  Bill pokes the water with a stick and seems to feel it is not too
deep.  Roger is the first to try.  We quickly realize it is just a water
hole with a solid bottom.  Still somehow Roger still manages to acquire the
first damage at this hole.  Nobody seemed to know exactly when or what
happened, but his license plate was bent straight out and his bumper
suffered some addition damage.  As we decide to  look for better wheelin',
I wash the Cherokee in the puddle (still in 2WD).

	We continue up 4610 to the 4613 off shoot.  We head up 4613
looking for the turn off to Bedford Point.  The first few turn offs are over 
grown.  The next one looks like it, so in we head.  This trail starts off as
a gravel road down the hill and turns into a smooth dirt path with trees on
both sides.  The trail is nice and flat with few rocks and little mud.  The
bigger trucks are rubbing on some of the hanging trees and branches.
Someone asks "is it too late to order hot wax with this car wash?".  We
continue up the trail to a T.  We decide to leave the big trucks and take
the smaller trucks up to the point (except Roger, we forgot to tell him he
has a big truck).  10:30 we head up the trail to the point. It is very over
grown.  At the point are the footings for a look out tower, but the trees
are so tall there is not really a view from here.

	At 10:47 we are back to the big trucks and continue on.  Allen
notices smoke coming from his CB, so he  disconnects the speaker, but it
still smokes.  The end trucks are not even rolling yet when the word
comes over the CB for a chainsaw or the like.  It seems a tree was
blocking the trail.  After some quick work with a hatchet and ax, some of
us manage to push the tree from the trail.  But, before I can get back to
my truck the word that it looks impassable comes over the radio.  Looks
as if we head back the way we came.  As everyone is turning around I
notice that Mark's truck has a dent that I did not remember.  I must not be
that old, since he says it didn't used to be there.  As he backed up he got
against a log that caught on the back edge of the front quarter panel and
crinkled it pretty good.  Mark how did the spouse take it?  I lead  the
group back to 4613.  As we head back down 4613, Roger heads off on a
trail to the left.  Bill and Allen have gone ahead and are coming back on
the same trail Roger is on  The rest of us wait for them to come out of
the woods.  Soon we are all back together.  At some point Roger has
broken his CB antenna, so he can't transmit. We get back on 4610 around
12:00 and continue toward Squaw Mt.

	We pass a gravel pit where people are shooting on the left and
continue to the next open sandy hill area with several trails leading up it. 
As the CJ's head up the left side, Mark and I head up the right side.  We
meet at the top of the hill.  I head down the right side and try to go up
the middle which is a very steep angle with some rocks and a gully.  I make
it a little over half way up before I run out of power.  Even with my foot
to the floor in 1st 4lo I'm not even spinning the tires.  I have enough
traction, but not enough power.  Meanwhile Guy is going up the left side
(see picture or_6_1.jpg).  Rick is next in line behind Guy. Rick had trouble
when the carb flooded the first try, but he got more of a run the second
time and made it.  I think Roger had some problems with this hill but I don't
rememeber if he made it or not.  Mark decides to go down the steep middle
trail that I tried to climb.  He makes it okay.  I follow Marks lead down the
middle and back up the left side.  At this point I am really liking my new
Lock-right in the rear.  Some of this may be out of order since I was
having a hard time keeping track of what everyone was doing.

	We notice 2 CJ's, a YJ, and a scout go past.  Someone said they
came out of the gravel pit a ways back.  Bill and Rick said they had
talked to them this morning while they were wait for everyone to show up. 
They return a little later and asked if we want them to lead us to the mud
holes.  We are all wanting to join them, but we decide instead to head up
Squaw Mt. to have lunch and then look for the mud holes.  Allen tries to
climb the steep middle a few times, but can't make it.  One of the older
CJ's tries also, but he kills the engine and rolls back over a very large
rock.  Only the tires hit, no damage - he was lucky.  Allen loans Roger his
antenna since his CB is not working.  Bill's CJ continues to not want to
start so we roll start him down the hill.  We split ways with the other
group, as they head down and we continue up toward Squaw Mt.  Allen trys to
tell me I need to drive with my windows down to get the feel of being
outdoors.  I explain that the AC does not work well with the windows down.
I think he just wanted me to eat some dust like everyone else (Which I was
already doing since the cherokee has no filter on the vents).

	Despite what the other guys told us the trip up to Squaw was
mostly uneventful.  That is except for Rick.  He was trying to test the roll
angle of the Blazer on the left turn that had a huge gully down the middle. 
I think everyone else did okay straddling the gully.  The trail is rocky, but
not too hard.  It reminds Guy of Universal Fire Power.  The area at the top
was also bigger than we had been told.  Don't trust information  about
somewhere someone else doesn't want to go.  I think they were just trying
to talk us into going with them.  We have lunch on top of Squaw
Mountain with a beautiful view of Hood (see or_6_2.jpg), Adams,
Jefferson, St. Helens, Rainier, and the surrounding forest.  We noticed the
view at our feet left something to be desired, so we policed the area for
litter before we head back down around 2:00.  I decided to conserve fuel
on the way down and test out the braking and steering without power.  I was
surprised that I had no problems going most of the way down the trail without
power.  We pass some berry pickers on the way down and head for the gravel
pit the CJ's had come from.

	As we pull into the gravel pit and onto the middle trail, Bill is in
front with Rick second and me third.  Bill heads up the trail and has to
make a few tries to make the top part of this trail.  The trial goes straight
up for 100 yards and then turns up to the left with a big hole in the
middle.  Bill makes it and Rick tries.  The hole is not a problem going up,
but it is a problem when you are backing down to get another run at the
steep part.  The steep part has enough flat rocks and  cross-up to give Rick
a very hard time.  He gives up after smoking his tires some.  I'm next.  I
try, but can't seem to get up over a rock 3/4 of the way up the steep 30
foot section (see or_6_4.jpg).  After boring everyone with my many
attempts, I let Allen give it a shot.  He makes it up after only a couple
tries.  I decide to try again.  I am able to get enough momentum to get
over the rock that was giving me problems, but once over it I just spin on
the flat rocks as I try to push my front differential through the ridge in
the center of the trail.  I am offered a pull since they figure I'm not
going to backing down.  Allen hooks a strap to the front axle and eases me
up.  

	At the top of this trail is another hill with several paths up it.  I
take one of the paths and after one reposition I make it to the top.  At
this point I lose track of who is coming up the trail and who is coming up
the alternate route.  Allen tries 3 times and makes it up one of the harder
trails.  I follow close behind and with some momentum and Allen having
cleared the top, go right up making it look easy.  Allen challenges me to
try an even harder route.  I try but can feel my cross member hitting, so
I won't be able to make it over the top.  That path wins... this time.
Roger goes up one of the shorter paths a few times since he likes getting
the front tires off at the top (see or_6_5.jpg).  Sorry guys I can't
remember what everyone was doing at this point, since I was too busy trying
to show off.
 
	We decide to go look for the mud hole.  When we get to where
we think it should be, Bill takes the last trail on the right and I take the
middle.  Both are dead ends.  A couple other trucks take the first  trail on
the right so I follow them.  It goes back to a flat spot with a big mud hole
filled with thick mud at one end and water at the other end.  The guys in
the other trucks tell me it is deep at the watery end with tires and such in
it.  I wait for everyone to show but no one is coming.  Seems they found
some mud on the other side of 4610.  So I head over to see what they found,
excited to tell of my discovery.  On the other side Allen is just coming
through the mud hole, so I ask where do you go in.  As I head in, Allen is
getting ready to pull Bill out since he is high centered in the mud hole.  I
go around the back side to check out the situation.  The hole Bill is stuck
in looks like a 33" or bigger type hole, so I bag trying to follow Bill and
head back the way I came.  I noticed a deep half dried mud hole that we all
have gone around.  Jason has noticed it too and proceeds to lose both his
shoes in it.  He spends the next few minutes trying to clean off in a mud
puddle.  Bill breaks out his new battery cables to fix his starting problems.
Meanwhile Roger wants to go through the mud hole.  The call comes for
the winch and I walk to investigate, since we can't see Roger in the hole in
which Bill was stuck.  Roger had decided to try the hole none of us had
attempted (see or_6_6.jpg).  He was stuck good.  There looked like no
way he could have made it through, since it kept getting deeper and just
stopped with a near vertical wall at the end.  It took Allen some doing to
pull Roger out, mostly because the CJ didn't have the weight to pull the
Ram Charger.  With Roger out and Jason cleaner, we head to the other
mud hole. 

	Since I had discovered it I made a b-line right for the mud.  Once
in the hole I waited for the rest of the group to arrive.  I went across the
hole and turned around to come back across.  This is when I started to
become stuck, but I managed to get turned around before I was stuck.  I
rocked it and rocked it and would make some progress.  Then I all of a
sudden wouldn't be able to move again.  Mark calls on the CB saying not to
open my door cause the mud is higher than the bottom of the doors.  After
much rocking and jockeying I finally made it out of the mud hole.  There
were cheers from the crowd.  Allen headed in and took a few  tries to get
over a hump in the bottom.  Roger decides to start at the other (water) end
and come all the way through the hole.  He makes it in a ways before he
sinks a couple of feet down in the hole.  Allen gets ready to winch Roger
out.

	  Meanwhile I decide to try the path Allen took and get stuck
again.  This time as I back up to get a run at whatever is stopping me, my
left front tire falls in a hole in the bottom of the mud.  Now I am stuck
worse than the first time, but manage to back up some more and get out of
the hole while still in the mud.  Roger gets free with a little help from
Allen.  I head right back for the spot Allen was having trouble with and I
am able to make it up with little problem.  My charging light is coming on
so I decide to check under the hood.  Mud is everywhere and a big chunk
falls from the hood on to the engine.  I decide to wash the alternator off
so it does not give me any problems.  Guy has a water jug and I try to get
some off with my hand.  It is hot and the mud is very sticky, so I head for
the water end to cool and wash the alternator.  I pull in about half as far
as Roger did and feel as if I'm hung up on something.  I try to move, but
I'm hung up.  I can't even back up.  I try rocking to no avail.  Then I
notice that I had taken it out of 4WD.  A little rocking after putting it in
4WD and I am free again.  I rock back and forth to clean the alternator.
Then some clean water from Guy's jug and the alternator light is off for
good.  I park out of the way to watch the rest of the action.  Mike and Rick
head through the mud hole to grace their trucks with a veil of mud.  The two
trucks that were there earlier come back through the mud hole.  I'm
probably forgetting some here and some I just missed by being stuck and
trying to clean the alternator.

	By now it is 4:40 and people start to air up and head out.  Allen,
Jason, Tina, and Cory have fun throwing mud clods at each other.  Soon it
is just Guy and myself left as we finish filling the tires.  We enjoy a
pleasant drive back down to 224 and back to Estacada.  I head to Eagle
Creek to show off my "clean" truck at the Drop Zone.  I have been getting 
lots of looks and comments on my mud covered truck.  I'd think that these
people are not used to seeing dirty trucks.  I guess we'll just have to
expose them more often. 



Pictures from Squaw Mountain / Promontory Park / F.R. 4610  
Oregon BushHacker Trip #6 - August 27, 1995 

These were frame grabbed using a PC-based video clipper from 8mm  
video tape.  They are a tidbit fuzzy, but color and quite viewable. 

OR_6_1.JPG - Guy Hammer in his 78 Ford Bronco crawling up a fairly 
             steep hill about four miles down Forest Server Road 4610  
             near Estacada, Oregon. 
OR_6_2.JPG - A spectacular view of Mt. Hood from Squaw Mountain.  The 
             elevation here is 4,700 feet and Mt. Hood is 11,237 feet. 
OR_6_3.JPG - Tom Brown in his 88 Jeep Cherokee with nearly installed 
             LockRight.  Tom received the self extraction award on this  
             trip for getting stuck and then getting himself unstuck  
             without assistance.  His tires lost half their tread though...
OR_6_4.JPG - Tom again, this time tricycling up a hill.  He eventually 
             required assistance to make it up this one, but he sure  
             tried a bunch. 
OR_6_5.JPG - Roger Christal in his 78 Dodge Ramcharger catching some 
             serious air.  His new Skyjacker suspension and BFG MTs  
             handled the chore. 
OR_6_6.JPG - Roger getting stuck in some real Oregon gumbo.