Estacada / Squaw Mt.

Nov 9, 1997

Attendees
Name	Rig	Roll
Doug Carman	89 "Killer" 'Burb	Driver, Trail Boss
Charles Hetzler		Passenger
Katie Antoine		Passenger
Matt Bateman	78 CJ-5 "Popper"	Driver, Report Writer
Tom Vaeretti	70 GMC Jimmy	Driver; Assistant Report Writer
Matt O'Brien	79 CJ-5	Driver; Assistant Report Writer
Trevor Limbocker	96 Hummer	Driver
Meghan Limbocker		Passenger
Cody		Passenger
Jim Williams	80 CJ-5	Driver
Dan Williams	51 CJ-3b	Driver
Cristy Fix		Passenger
Brian Fix	84 Toyota Pickup	Driver
Roger		Passenger
XXX XXX	xx Bronco	Driver
Ujahn Davisson	81 Toyota Pickup	Driver
Glenn	75 Cherokee Wagoneer	Driver
Martin		Passenger
Dan Patrick		Passenger
Brit Adams	86 CJ	Driver
Max		Passenger (Canine)
Jason Henshaw	73 CJ-5	Driver
Roger Henshaw		Passenger
XXX XXX	xx YJ	Driver
XXX XXX	xx TJ	Driver

Wow! 15 rigs and 22 people. Quite a turn out. By 9:00 we were all gathered in the parking lot of the Estacada grocery store and actively looking over eachothers rigs. My new rig with its new D44's, ARB's, and on-board air was getting quite a bit of attention until the Dan Williams showed up in his red & white '51 flatfender and stole the show. Alas, even he lost out when our first ever Hummer rolled in.

Once we were all gathered, we headed up the road a few miles to our destination. We turned off Hwy 224 onto Rd. 4610 which would be our link to several play areas. Once the pavement ended, we stopped to air down and wait for our trail boss, Doug. It turns out he had some electrical problems back at the store, but quickly resolved them and joined us as we finished airing down.

Our next stop was a quick little run through a mud pit that served to get everybody loosened up and little dirty. Back on the road, we headed to the real mud play area. Here there were several mud holes of various sizes and people started testing the waters in some of them. Doug took the 'Burb through one that led to another part of the play area. A few minutes later, we heard comments on the radio about the need for SCUBA gear. ;-) Doug must have taken literally the word "Sub" in the name of his truck, because he had it buried deep in a mud hole.

This first on the scene was Matt O'Brien in his CJ-5 with an 8K PTO winch. He hooked up and proceded to pull himself toward the pit of dispair. The 'Burb did not move. Several people then crossed the first hole to see what was going on. Among them was XXX in his Bronco which also had a PTO winch. Before he could get set up to help, Jason in his CJ-5 got water in his distributer while crossing over and died in the middle of the hole. After much advice from the peanut gallery, XXX winched him out and they proceded to work on getting him dried off. XXX then got the Bronco setup to help with the real task. While he was hooking up to the 'Burb, Matt O. was using a tow strap to connect to a large bush behind him to try to get some traction. When both winches were ready, they fired them up and both vehicles were drug toward the pit. Still no movement from the great stuck one. Finally the Cherokee was hooked to the Bronco and with three truck pulling, the 'Burb began to move. On the second pull, a loud bang was heard from the front of the Bronco. While he was turning the wheels hard to get some traction, he broke a u-joint in his front knuckle and was done for the day. Luckily, the 'Burb was out far enough that he was able to get the rest of the way out on his own. When Doug opened the door, a wall of water rush out of his cab and he showed us the line on his carpet and pants to prove that he had over a foot of water in there with him.

Once everyone was running again, Ujahn decided to try the hole next to the one Doug was in. Even with his massive lift and big meats, he did not get very far before he decided to back out. Unfortunately, the hole had no intention of letting him out the way he came in, so he had no choice but to continue forward. After much flying of mud, he crawled out of the hole and ... into the next one! ;-( Now he was far enough from the crowd that there was little hope of help, so he just kept plowing forward a little at a time. He finally popped out and parked on the far side. No one knew for sure how he was going to get back, but he eventually did.

We next headed up the road to our next play spot, a quarry with lots of hills and loose gravel. On the way we passed lots of interesting little trails that looked interesting. They deserve a scouting trip someday. At the lower quarry, the hills were small and everyone could conquer most everything. At some point, the Cherokee had a problem and it was pulled to the side to assess damages. It turns out that the fan had hit the radiator and done some serious damage. While Dan, Glenn, and Martin were working on repairs, the rest of us headed up to the upper quarry to futher test our trucks.

One route up was just a dirt road, but another was a trail that seriously crossed you up. Those of us with lockers made it up fairly easily, but none of the open diff trucks made it. Most of the upper area was a test of traction. Lockers definitely proved their worth here, but several stock rigs did fairly well too.

• XXX surfs backwards on the dirt wave. - Cowabunga dude!
• Stealth-mode Hummer - How many blades of grass does it take to hide a Hummer?
• Dan in his little engine that could. - Raw power
• Matt O. comes down locker hill - Look ma, no hands...

Tom V. had this to add:

There is one little correction to the rock quarry section of your report. That 'alternate' route to the upper rock pit was conqured in the second try by the Jimmy. Treavor can back this up. (Wait, maybe it was the third.) Anyway, no lockers. Just a lot of 'go' pedal and as Treavor said some pretty good flex. I'd like to think it was all in the suspension, but the creaking roof and fan rubbing on the shroud tell me different!

As we were leaving the quarry, Matt B. and Matt O. test their articulation and clearance. Brit offers to follow the Cherokee down the mountain to make sure it is OK, and the rest of us head up the road for more adventures. At this point, the group splits up into small packs and explores some of the side trails off of Rd. 4610. Ujahn and Matt B. head up a rocky road that jars our teeth out but doesn't get very interesting.

Another group heads up a small trail that has some good ruts. Matt B. catches up with this group and they continue 'til the trail ends in a small clearing. Along the way there are a few obsticles that challenge the stock rigs a bit. The flatfender has a bit of trouble at one ledge, but he eventually makes it over.

Doug headed up a spur road (4610-150?) and found some interesting hill climbs near the top. He radioed down and the previous groups heads up to meet him. At the base of the monster hill, a couple of trucks try the climb but get nowhere. Matt B. decides to test Popper's new gears, lockers, and tires. In low-low he motors up without spinning a tire. Unfortunately the hill just keeps going and going with no place level enough to safely stop and turn around. Eventually it levels out a little and Matt is able to get back down.

The rest of the group explored other trails. Here is Tom Vaeretti's account of their exploits:

Jim, Treavor, Matt O., Jason, someone else and myself took the road to the summit of Squaw Mtn. We didn't know that's where we were going. We thought we were catching up with the rest of the group. It was a rocky road and just kinda neat, then suddenly got rutted and steep. It came to an end just large enough to turn around all 6 trucks, and we could see trails up to a ridgeline. What a spectacular view. You could see Portland through the trees, but the bes view was to the North-East. Acres and acres of trees, hills and valleys. It was beautiful. Very windy though. Apparantly there was once a fire look-out there as evidenced by the concrete steps leading to nowhere, and a geological benchmark.

Here is Matt O'Brien's version:

After we split up, a group of us who later became known as the 'party of five' explored some trails that left the main road. Most were short and dead-ended very soon. One looked promising, however, it had multiple blockages due to fallen trees. Jim Williams tried crossing a blockage that consisted of 2 or 3 trees beside each other, but got high centered when his front tires failed to drop to the ground on the other side. I gave him a quick pull backward and we rejoined the others on the road. Turns out his log ride left him with a slightly bent front driveline.

The only good trail we found turned out to be the one to the top of Squaw Mountain. It left the road through an open yellow gate and at first was just a rocky road, not enough to be challenging, just enough to be annoying. Eventually, as it climbed higher, it became rutted and had a few mud holes (nothing like those down below). We all made it up ok and it ended in sort of a cul-de-sac area. We all got out and hiked up a small embankment to the most spectacular view I've seen in a while. there was a rock outcropping and the remnants of some concrete steps the at one time apparently led up to a lookout. There also was a Corps of Engineers marker with an arrow pointing north and the word 'Squaw' marked on it. Also the dates 1947 and 1987. We all enjoyed the view but were quickly overtaken by the strong cold winds up there. We headed back down and met up with the group just below the quarry.