Subject: 4x4 Trip #21 Report Date: Mon, 7 Oct 1996 14:02:57 -0700 (PDT) From: Rick Anderson To: bushhacker-l@teleport.com (Oregon BushHackers) Trip #21 of the Oregon BushHackers took place on Saturday, October 5, 1996. Trip leader, Rick Anderson, called for the group to meet at Lee's Camp (milepost 23.7 on the Wilson River Highway, aka Oregon Hwy 6) at 8:30 am. Seems those who wanted breakfast at the Log Cabin stopped there prior to this, and amazingly, everyone was on time. In attendance were: Guy "Pinball" Hammer and Babe, the Blue Zuk (Suzuki Samauri) Bill Lewey and the ever reliable 77 Jeep CJ-5 Rick Anderson and his 77 Chevy Blazer Doug Carmen, who rode shotgun with Rick The team ventured down the highway another 8-10 miles to Jordan Creek Road (which is before Keenig Campground). Half a block up Jordan Creek Road was the first offroad trail. Rogers Road is 2.7 miles in length and classified as More Difficult (there are easy trails, more difficult trails and most difficult trails). The Tillamook State Forest Off-Highway Vehicle map said this road was an old, deeply rutted road. With Bill Lewey in the lead, the team ventured down Rogers. While the road climbed high into the woods, traction was not a problem at this point. It was a beautiful day outside, although at this point in the morning, it was foggy and mysterious outside. Friday's rain made the ground slightly slick, and fall was taking its toll on the trees: the ground was covered with maple and alder leaves. Approximately a mile into the trail, the ruts became visible. After stopping to eye a line up a 15 degree hill, Bill took the CJ-5 up without problem. Guy then followed suit. Thinking "no problem", Rick then headed-up and quickly found out how slick the mud was. Whenever Rick gets stuck, we must point out that his ancient Yokohama Super Digger V's are in serious need of replacement. Nothing new there. Rick is still hoping to win the lottery, despite not playing. After airing down to 18 psi and shifting to the low side (which, by the way, kept his auto tranny much cooler all day), Rick tried again. About this time Bill decided it would be a long one and lit up a stoggie. Slowly but surely, Rick did the "forward and backward dance" and made it past the small stump. Getting him back on the line that Bill and Guy took was impossible, 'cause once in the ruts, you are there for the full ride. Soon his front Dana 44 was doing a nice job of grading about four inches of topsoil. This continued for about 300 feet. Luckily there were no rocks to be found here. Rick was triumph and Bill pointed out that no tow was necessary. Four motorcyclists came roaring by, waving as they went. The group continued down Rogers without incident, although the trees slowly began to close in on the big Blazer. A couple of places in the trail, both mirrors had to be pulled in to make it through. The group, now on Fox Creek Ridge, headed down to Fire Fox, a 1.2 mile trail marked More Difficult. Somewhere along this road a recent washout caused a little concern. Bill aired down and the short wheel-based vehicles made it up the adhoc "bridge" without problem. Rick was a bit wider and almost put his rear tire on the outside of the log (which wouldn't of been a good thing), but with expert driving (ah, what else can one say?), got his tire on the log and made this quesy section one of past history. Always a little concerned about those wash outs, especially since the downhill side was 100' down... When we made it to Fire Fox, we found both ends of this trail were unmarked (signed taken down) and blocked by varying sizes of downed trees. Despite his best effort, Bill couldn't find any trails around here. Looks like this is even closed to motorcycles. The group then decided to head down Smith By-Pass and head-up to Hembre Lookout for lunch. Good choice. Us BushHackers always seem to find great lunch spots. This trail, marked Easy, is about 3/4 of a mile and presented no problems for the group. Part of the ole Hembre Lookout still remain, partially burned. Today was a sunny day, about 70 out, and the group ate lunch with a picturesque view of Mt. Hood looking at them. A few motorcyclists joined us here for a few minutes and then quickly departed. After debating where the Wilson River Hwy was and looking through the new Oregon OHV book (not worth the money, me thinks; not enough detail), the group decided to skip Bobcat Cut-Off and Zig Zag and instead head to Archers Firebreak. This was really Doug's fault as he left his car back at Lee's Camp. Someday we'll make it to Bobcat, which we hear has some interesting trails. The group passed two other 4x4's going down this trail; this was the only other 4x4's seen on the trail today. The group took Hembre Ridge Road to Phipps Creek Road to Jordan Creek Road. If you want an excellent fall drive, take Phipps Creek. With the creek on your right, it is very beautiful. Watching Guy's little Zuk tool down the road with the leaves rustling behind him reminded me of playing with my old Matchbox cars in the front lawn. Oh, just kidding Guy. The little Zuk did pretty good this day and Guy was very impressed that he finally got his stereo to actually stay in the dashboard. The caravan then jumped on Archer's Firebreak. Archer's consists of about 10 segements of trail, all but two are marked More Difficult. These other two are marked Most Difficult. The team successfully negotiated all the More Difficult segments, but decided that the Boulder Field and the other one were beyond our capabilities (at least in the west-most direction). For those on previous trips, Al Temple took us down one of these Most Difficult section last year. Al and George Reiswig also made it up the Boulder Field. One of the More Difficult trails presented some good challenge for the group. There were several large rocks that had to be negotiated. The rocks happened to be right before a steep downhill section, so the rocker panels of all rigs were clearly in danger. With some expert directing by Guy, Bill made it down without issue. Guy then followed. With a little pushing of his 2,300 pound rig in one spot, he also made it without problem. This was one of three spots during the day where Guy managed to show some air under his tires. Those Suzuki's are just so darn light. With brakes squeaking, Rick attempted this obstacle next. After much debate, Rick decided to take the same line as Bill and Guy. About this time some motorcyclists join us and watched the fun. Taking it slow and easy was clearly the right choice, and Rick made it with only a little kiss of his rear bumper. The motorcyclists must of been impressed, as they clapped. It was about 4:00 at this point, so we departed, heading out Archer's Road to Jordan Creek Road and back out to Highway 6 the same way we came in. Stopping off to pick-up Doug's car, the group then stopped at the Log Cabin resturant for dinner appetizers and beer. We aired-up about 15 miles from the trail head at the BP station (around milepost 43). Rick was also pleased to see that his hubs must finally be torqued properly, as they were not hot to the touch at all. This is a relief. It was a perfect fall day, and as Bill said, it was also a relaxing day. In looking at the topo maps, a future trip to Windy Point (see the Gobblers Knob topo) might be in order, as Rick found no less than three trails which were marked 4x4 and actually connected with another road. All the trails noted herein are located on the Jordan Creek or Trask topos. As time permits, I'll see what we captured on the video and try to post pictures. ------- Rick Anderson (ricka@mdhost.cse.tek.com)