Who: Oregon BushHackers Trip No.: 9B; Trask Area in Tillamook State Forest (Oregon) Date: Saturday, December 3, 1995 Attendees: Rick Anderson (77 Chevy Blazer) Guy Hammer (Suburu Brat - really!) Doug Carmen (89 Chevy Suburban w/ 35" tires) It was typical Oregon weather for this time of year. Cloudy, a bit cold and of course our famous rain. Indeed, it has been raining almost constantly in Oregon the whole month of November, so we expected much water and mud. Guy Hammer had prescouted the trip the week before, so he knew the juicy spots in the area. Most of the BushHackers were going to try this area on Sunday, but Doug and Rick couldn't attend, so the three of us set out a day early. The first area we tried was about 3.5 miles in on some motorcycle trail. While it started out big enough for our big rigs, it eventually petered out. That didn't mean it wav void of excitement however. A 40 foot section of 18" deep water was our first challenge. Luckily (?) it had a hard bottom and both Doug and I made it through. Guy, in the "pace car", decided to bypass. A side trail provided a bit of excitement due to the large 25" rut on the drivers side. Doug, with his 35", made fairly easy work of this, but Rick's 31's weren't up to the task and he quickly became stuck. Doug commented that he could see about 4" of my front tire. A few pulls from behind with the mighty 4WD Brat and Rick was free. Who said power doesn't come in small packages? After several exploratory trips down non-eventful roads, we headed-up Spar Mountain. The left trail was rated about a 2, but the right trail was about a 3-, given its steepness and all the loose rock. The weekend before only the CJ-5 made it up the right trail. Picking the right line is sometimes everything, and the Blazer motored right up without event. Doug's Suburban had a bit more trouble, as he tried another line. After much tire spinning and multiple attempts, the brute horsepower method seemed to work and the Suburban made it to the top. Guy opted to leave the Brat at the bottom and rode with me up. This was a great spot for lunch. The view was good in every direction, yet the clouds seemed to surround you too. We had lunch here and did some litter patrol to boot. After passing Murphy's Camp the best trails were to be found. Ginsberg Point provides us with some good fun. Once again you could pick your route - the right side provided steepness and mud, the right side provided steepness and mud. Hmmmm. Rick tried multiple times up the right side, but just couldn't quite make it up. After a while his brakes started fading, so he conceeded defeat. Doug took the left side in his mighty 350 ci Sub. With 35" tires, this thing looks like a beast off-road. Despite several valant tries, Doug couldn't get both the front and rear tires over certain strategically placed roots. The group agreed this was a 3+ section of trail when it was muddy and required lockers of some sort. Guy wanted to get home early to fix his Bronco for the next days run, so we headed out. Along Toll Road on the way out was a Jeep Trail. It looked like many Jeep trails in the area - mainly a motorcycle route. When we queried Guy if he had enough time to take it out, he said "Sure, it's a short cut, right?". It ended-up being quite a bit more than a short cut. Rick's brakes continued to be weak for some reason, so he continued to take it easy. The first major obstacle was a 25' section of water and mud. The bottom was a little soft, but the Blazer made short work of it. The Brat followed. I think Guy floats through that stuff. The water level was above the bottom of his doors and front bumper level. Doug sailed through the "lake" without issue. Not far beyond this was another water and mud section. This one had water up to Guy's headlights at one point. Luckily it was only for a second, because his air intake is up there somewhere. No problems. About mid-trail Rick found a rock nicely placed in the middle of the trail and proceeded to place his front differential squarely on the rock. He was pretty sure he was going to hit it, so he was going slow along this section. A quick pull backwards and he was off. By putting the tire up on the rock as he should of done in the first place, this was an easily obstacle. The final stretch of trail was clearly the motorcycle part. Although it was wide enough for 4x4 vehicles, the ruts were not strategic placed in their favor. In addition, this was prime Oregon clay mud. We had difficulty even walking on the stuff. The route was downhill which cause Rick much concern given his breaks. With some good spotting, Rick made it down the first step. The second step was even steeper and more off-camber. He tried to get his wheels up out of the rut, but couldn't. Luckily his passenger wheels got out of the rut on the other bank a bit. Unfortunately the drivers side rut was quite deep and with the pressure of the entire vehicle on his 31" front tire (at 20 psi), the bead popped-off the rim. Now this is getting interesting. More of this downhill, muddy and rutted section to go, blown front tire, no chance to change the tire and fading brakes. As Guy put it, "Not much choice but to keep going." So going Rick did. With the rim carving a nice little path in the mud, Rick let gravity do the work and made it to the bottom without further problem. His whole 10x15 rims was "cemented" full with mud. While Rick changed the tire, Doug went next. Those 35" tires where a big help on this section as well and he made it down easily. Unfortunately I didn't see Guy go down this section in his Brat. About I heard him "gun" the engine and something that sounded like a pinball machine - the Brat dantily bouncing from wall to wall down the sluice. When Guy showed up, he thanked his skid plates for doing their jobs. Must of been like a sled going down... All in all, it was a fun outing with a little something for everyone. The remainder of the group probably had similar experiences on Sunday (although early reports coming in are saying it was vehicle extraction 101, huh guys?)