Tillamook State Forest

Jordan Creek

Mar ??, 1998

Attendees
Name	Rig	Roll
Rick Anderson	77 Chevy Blazer	Driver, Report Writer
Mike Ames	??	Driver
Tom Brown	??Jeep XJ	Driver

Here is a summary trip report. Rick Anderson, Mike Ames and Tom Brown met at the Log Cabin resturant at 9:00 on Saturday, March 8th. Joining Mike where his wife and daughter. Actually everyone was quite early, so by 8:30 we were on the road. Now that's gotta be a record, huh? An early start.

First stop was Roger's Road (#36), which is in the Tillamook State Forest OHV area over by Jordan Creek. Bill, Guy and myself had run this "More Difficult" trail during Trip #21 (Oct '96). I think it is fair to say the winter has taken its toll on this road. It seemed a bit more difficult than last October.

Roger's is basically a steep uphill trek on a very narrow old road. It consists of a good number of loose rocks, and in a few cases, some slick stuff (albeit not deep). The road is 2.7 miles in length. The first part of the road is fairly simple, although 4WD is good to have as it is steep and loose, with a few shallow off-camber ruts here and there.

About half-way up is the toughest part. A muddy corner (which posed no problem) leads to a 15 degree uphill descent that is both slick and rutted. Last year with my bald Yokohama tires, I had quite the time getting up this. The tires just couldn't bite and I was reserved to travel in the ruts. 31" tires in the ruts aren't enough, so my front diff did some good plowing. Indeed, I made it up the hill by moving between forward and reverse and progress was 2-3 feet per attempt. It wasn't a pretty site!

This time, with my 32" Super Swampers, I was hoping things would be a bit better. I made it up half-way (last time even the bottom part gave me trouble), so the tires helped. However, about half-way, I was back in the ruts with few options. Never one to give up peacefully, I struggled with several different lines, at one point getting almost sideways on the trail. Note that we did not air down on this trail, which might of helped.

After much effort, I made some forward progress here and got to a point where my front diff was again plowing. Bummer. Progress was finally made in 6' increments by going forward and reverse. Regardless how hard I tried, I could not get out of the ruts. This whole section probably took me 20 minute to negotiate (it was about two city blocks in lenght I guess).

Tom Brown, with rear locker and narrower track, despite running his BFG AT tires, didn't have to ride in the ruts (guess they were full-sized vehicle ruts), and made it up without issue. Mike, sporting his new TBI, 33" tires and rear LSD, also made it look easy.

A little farther up this trail, the winter seems to have eroded more ruts. Tom found some SUV ruts and had to take a few go's in two different spots. I didn't witness this too closely, as I was in front and decided not to stop for fear of getting stuck myself. Maybe he can report further.

At one point on the trail my carb didn't seem to get any gas. Either my five year old fuel pump is going, or my fuel tank inlet is clogged after 20 years. I'm beginning to wonder if this isn't the problem with some of my up-hill stalls. Another thing to look into I guess. A little start fluid got me going again.

Almost at the top of the trail a huge 95/96 winter mud slide took out the road, but it was rebuilt previous to our Oct 96 trip and continues to serve as a slightly scary but passable alternative.

At the top of the trail, we took a gravelled road back down to the Wilson River Highway.

We then ventured to Sand Lake. At Sand Lake, Brent and his friend found us in their Samurai's. I was busy airing down, but Brent's spring-over Sami is looking pretty good. His friend looks like he had a fairly nice Sami as well.

We aired down and hit the sand. I've been doing lots of small vehicle modifications, and my recently rebuilt carb and adjusted timing were not in sync, and on-trail attempts to solve this problem were fruitless. After 15 minutes, I decided to head home. I question how the Super Swampers will do in the sand too. They sure like to dig, and at one point, while in 2WD, I was buried up to 3/4 tire in 1 second flat, with Tom Brown laughing hysterically. I did air down to only 18 psi for fear of losing a bead, so maybe lower tire pressure would help. But for those participating in the Sand Flea's adventure, you might consider different tires or at least trying yours out on sand prior to the event.

Anyway, Tom, Mike or Brent will have to comment on how the dunes were and maybe how the sand compared to trip #12a back in Feb 96 (which Tom attended).

The only video we got was me on Roger's Road, so don't expect any frame grabs.