Stevenson & Carson, WA

Jan 24, 1998

Attendees
Name	Rig	Roll
Doug Carman	89 'Burb	Driver, Trail Boss
??		Passenger
??		Passenger
Trevor Limbocker	97 Hummer	Driver, Report Writer
Brian Fix	84 Toyota PU	Driver
Roger		Passenger
Dan Williams	51 Jeep CJ-3B	Driver

We arrived at the 'gathering spot', a medium/small market on the main drag in Stevenson. I showed first followed shortly by Doug n' Friends. We waited for 35 minutes for any late-comers, since it was quite a ways out. At 9:05, with two rigs, we fired up and headed east to meet up with Brian, Roger and Brians' dad, Dan, in Carson. Picked up some distant chatter on channel 28 on the CB on the way to Carson and thought that it may have been some other 'Hackers rolling through, but it was Brian testing the range on his radio. After inspecting Brians' new 3" SkyJacker lift and new 33" tires, we headed north into the mountains...

As the snow became deeper and deeper, we began to look for play areas. Dan led us to the entrance of one trail that looked resonably easy. Har. Order went: Willy's, Toyota, Suburban, Hummer. After a few feet, Dan began the BushHacker manuever of the day: forward, reverse, forward for 10", reverse, forward for ten more inches, reverse, etc etc... This snow was wet and sticky and you could not get any momentum going to muscle thru it. Brian seemed to have an easier time of it. His combination of light weight and newly-found ground clearance, coupled with them big new tires gave him an 'edge' in this stuff. Bouncy, for sure, but he got through without to much hassle.

Let me digress for a moment and describe this trail: it's straight and level as an arrow for about 1/4 mile, then it curves to the left, resumes it's straightness, crosses a bridge, dips slightly, then heads up a shallow hill. Total length, maybe 1/2 mile... maybe.

Doug is currently contemplating a new tread pattern for his rig :-) He, too, was performing the a-forementioned 'Hacker manuever. But those big Swamper block treads really didn't agree with the snow and Doug found himself strapped to a blue Toyota being yanked back. However, he did make it thru the fresh stuff for a ways after getting around Dan and Brian. I missed how he did this. It just happened. I found that the Hummer just liked to chug thru it slowly. I tried the speed-route (get a run at it and then ride up on top of the snow), but I went the same speed when it was in Low and 1st. and idling thru.

Up near the left-hand curve, Dan bogged down and Brian stopped behind him to yank. I waited for a bit, then decided to go around them to see what was going on around the corner where Doug was. Well, I too began the go/back thing, but upon one of the 'go' parts, I gave a bit to much gas and chewed what snow I had under the tires away. Rig settled on the big flat bottom. A little bit of diggin' and out comes the cable up to Brians' tow hook on front for my turn at being the 'yank-ee'.

Yank Score at this point: Dan: 0 for 2? 3? Trevor: 0 for 1 Doug: 0 for 1 Brian: 4 or 5 for 0

Once freed, continued on around the bend, over the neatest bridge yer ever gonna see, to find Doug n' Co. standing around the open hood warming themselves on the new steam-bath Doug has installed on his radiator. For some reason, the 'Burb overheated and they were letting it cool down to see if it was a temporary ailment. I got out, threw my worthless .02 cents worth in then continued beyond them up the hill to the Y in the road. After I let air outta my tires, I found that the snow was much more friendly, and you could co-exist in harmony. At the Y, it was a flat area so I began to chew it up for a bit. Dan and Brian had caught up to Doug around then, and the consensous (sp?) was that the overheating was temporary, and we should continue on. Well, Doug winched while Passenger #1 operated the steering wheel for a ways, then found some traction and clawed up the short rise. Brian/Roger and Dan followed...

To recap, 1/4 to 1/2 mile: 'bout an hour. And we didn't leave till 7 p.m.

At the Y, we decided to make an attempt up to Dans' cabin he has stashed up the trail. So, Doug n' Friends hopped in the Hummer so they could let the 'Burb make a full cool-down, and we set off: Hummer, Toyota, Willy's. Unlocked and opened the gate 100 yards down the trail, proceeded thru in Low and 1st. The snow was about 2 to 3 feet deep, and you had to go slow. We continued up the narrowing, twisting trail, going slowly but surely, until we came to a fallen tree across the road. After a short pow-wow, Doug and Dan sped off in the Willy's, in reverse, for the 1/2 mile that we came up to get the chainsaw in the 'Burb. I don't even want to think about the motion-sickness inducing ride that musta' been :-) Returned with saw and we all proceeded to help out with clearing the road. The tree was over a foot in diameter, and was covering fully 100% of the trail, so it took about 20 minutes or so to get everything 'passable'. Believe me, it's fun running around in 2 foot snow, trippin' and fallin'...

Onward up the trail... Sometime around here Brians' bumper fell off. Reattached with tie-downs.

After slogging our way past other cabins, and the only tracks in the snow were from some snowmobiles (and they wern't too fresh), we arrived at Cabin #53. Brian n' Roger needed a yank at the top of the rise just shy of the driveway, and Dan was stopped close enough to walk.

Let me tell you, nothing is more inviting out in the cold wet snow then a nice cozy cabin with a wood stove and a propane powered range to boil up some fresh, hot coffee. Everyone dried off, ate lunch, warmed up and chewed the fat. Dan's wonderful wood work inside made it very easy to relax, and the heat slowly sank in...

After about an hours worth of recuperation, we decided to attempt to turn around. A huge fallen tree (like 6 feet or so in diameter) a little ways up prevented a further expedition, but there was a 'flat' spot to attempt to turn around in. It's hard enough going straight, so I was a little leary (sp?). But, with lots of forward/reverse, dah Hummah chewed the area up so that it was easy to turn around in, and we all headed back down the trail. Back thru the gate, and down to the Suburban. Doug n' Friends remounted the faithful steed, and after determining that the heat-up was not going to return, we headed out the way we came in.

To recap: 1.5 miles, 2.5 hours. Loads of transmission work...

Now, for some, that would've been enough. Wheelin'... some mechanical stress... lunch... male bonding... For some, that's a full day. For the BushHackers... it's only the beginning!

Travelled further up the road and left onto a road the led us up, way up, the mountain. It was paved at this point, but snow began to fall. Then, over the CB, Doug hailed us to report a car spun out into the berm. We rolled up to the scene and found Doug attaching a tow strap to a Chevy Citation that had negotiated a turn to fast. Other then some front-end damage the car and driver were fine. Guy thanked us, and proceeded to Autobahn it to the top. The closer to the top we went, the heavier the snow fall. It was coming down good! We attempted the road after the pavement ended, but it would've proved to be to difficult for the purpose of the trip. Doug needed to be yanked twice, within 3 feet... and he was only a few yards from the blacktop.

Deciding that we've had enough "hard" work for the day, we went in search of some fun... and boy, did we find it.

There is a parking lot on this mountain. And this particular parking lot is rather well plowed free of snow. There is even an open restroom at the end of this large parking lot. And what do you suppose the Forestry Dept. did with the plowed snow? Cart it off in a dump truck? No, they piled it along the outer edges of the lot. What you ended up with is a ring of snow, easily 12 feet high, around the lot.

Now, Brian is a good guy, and you could say he's a great driver off-road. I didn't know that he wanted to fly, tho.

He and I started to see how far we could climb up this ring in our rigs. As we lost traction, we would back down and get a running start at it again and climb a bit further since the snow was becoming packed down on our tracks, making it pretty easy to scale this 12 foot wall of snow. Note that this wall isn't vertical... close, but not quite. More like 60 degrees, or so. After a while, I stopped due to fear of actually *clearing* the top and tucking the front end over the ridge, and not being able to get out. Brian harbors no such fears. He and Roger smoothed their way to the top, backed down, looked at it, verified with Doug that Doug could winch him out, and hammered it. All them hamsters/gerbils/rabbits in that engine were screamin' as he hit this "ramp", shot over the top, and slammed front down into powder snow on the other side.

Evidently, it was such fun, they did it twice.

It was gettin' late, so we turned back down the hill. On the way down, we found another semi-snow covered road and took it. It lead up to Trout lake. We took a short detour up a dirt track that dead-ended, but began our way to the lake. I almost slid off the road in one area... not terrifyingly close, but it took a few minutes to ensure truck/Trevor safety, got to a point when the headache/dark/fatigue/funny smell from exhaust/increasingly impassable trail became to much, and turned around and headed for home.

Left home at 7:00 am, pulled into driveway at 8:30 pm. Dirty dog tired, but had a blast.