Tillamook State Forest

Lady's Day

Oct 23, 1999

Cast of characters:

• Jennifer Baker (Trip Leader) - Green '98 TJ (North Bonneville)
• Janet Redhawk & passenger: Vickie ?? (Report Writer) - Intense Blue '99 TJ (Portland)
• Donna Vulin & passenger: Wildman (Rick White) - Green '93 Sahara YJ (Seattle)
• Cathy Kabanuk & Kodiak (dog) - White '85 4-Runner (Gearheart)
• Kevin (passenger) & Daughter Stephanie Beck - Burgundy CJ (Salem)
• Sharon Spatz - Green Cherokee (Seattle)
• Brit Adams (Tailgunner) - Light Blue CJ (Portland)
• Susie ?? (Tailgunner) & passenger: Gil Meacham & Sharkey (dog) - Green '98 TJ ( Camas)

Pretty dawn - misty fog - trees turning colors (cold!!). We met for breakfast at the log cabin, (about 3 minutes before Brit, and Janet and Vickie pulled in the parking lot had been full of 4x4's - there for the poker run I guess, but when they got there, the place was almost empty) and as we were finishing up with breakfast Donna, Wildman and Sharon arrived. Apparently they had gotten lousy directions from the hotel in Forrest Grove. And said that "we were heading back into town watching all the rigs passing us" and saying "We are going the wrong way!" After breakfast we stopped at the store to get OHV permits for the Seattle folks and then we were off to the waterfall, were we stopped to see if there was anyone else to pick up (no one was waiting so we unhooked Jennifer's swaybars, messed with some CB's, and waited a few more minutes, and then took off). It seemed like we were driving halfway to Tillamook before we turned off (we went a little more than ½ way I think ) at Jordon Cr. Rd., and then up a very sharp steep switchback onto the trail (Rogers Road). The Cherokee and 4 Runner struggled a bit to make the turn. We were perched on a hillside airing down (The sign for the trail said it was closed due to fire danger, but ODF had said that everything south of Hwy 6 was open, and I knew that 2 Big Broncos Club had run it the week before so I figured we were pretty safe. While we were airing down, ODF came along and took the fire danger sign down). Finally everyone was aired down and we were off on our adventure. Pretty easy climb, little rocks, sticks and cutouts for runoff. It was obvious that big rigs had been in here before us (in the middle of the trail was a nice rutted section that is very slick when it is really wet-for us it was no problem this trip). Toward the top there were lots of hungry branches waiting to scratch the paint off our rigs. We ended this trail with a tiny tank trap and photo op. On up Rogers road to our next destination, Firefox. Now this was a bit confusing because we passed a Firefox (two actually) that said that it was for motorcycles only and then up the road a ways we found another Firefox with the same trail numbers, but open to 4x4's. It was a steep, narrow entry which we hit bottom on. No matter what Jen said this was not for the novice driver or stock rig for that matter (I was pushing their limits a little , but I had never been here before either). There were deep ruts logs and stumps to negotiate over (but, having checked the trail out on foot, I knew they could all do it, and they did!! To be honest, a few of those sticks jumped up and thumped me also). At one point there was an area that had several small tree stumps sticking up and it was time for the spotters to get out and help us height challenged rigs through it (truly, I didn't see any stumps…where did they come from?? ). After that there was a series of switchbacks and a rather tight hill to climb but every one powered right through it without much trouble. At the top we stopped for lunch, and as everyone got to know each other and check out each other's rigs, the men got bored and the next thing we knew they were crawling around under Susie's rig with tools. I guess it's a gene and they can't help themselves (ends up they were taking her sway bars off…. they got bored I guess). The next section of the trail was like a gauntlet of branches to remove paint. It was like being in a car wash with really hard brushes. The Land Rover that passed us wasn't even nice enough to break any of them off for us. So we finally figured out why we had brought the guys along. Wildman and Vikki got out and broke off the ones they could reach so the rest of us could keep our paint (except me, being in front of them). At the end of this trail we spotted our only wild life for the day - a small (log) deer. Jen wanted to take us up to Hembre Lookout for the view, although it was over cast and at times very cold out. We took a wrong turn and went down a private logging road with drainage ditches cleverly spaced every fifty feet. Which we scrapped on every single one! (Oops! I took a wrong turn-the map only had 2 roads on it, not three, honest!) Finally we found the right road and Jen said "For once the map didn't lie!" meaning it was as easy as the sign said. (it was also where it was supposed to be!) It was a very smooth dirt road (fairly recently graded it looked like). Even though there was no sun the views were very spectacular! Kevin and Steph turned off just after we left Hembre Lookout, to head back to Salem (leaving from there and heading into Tillamook was going to save them a lot of driving time) around 3pm. They didn't have a top on their rig and were wrapped up in blankets. This was the first time Steph had driven a stick and she didn't get stuck once all day! She did great!! The rest of us took off to the do the same trails (backwards) and then home. We stopped on Fox Creek ridge road to take a group pix. But the photo op soon turned into a chat session and then the rain came in. Brit, Vikki and Janet decided to take off while the rest of the group headed on to Firefox. (Firefox was uneventful going down, although the comments from the Wildman kept it lively in spots. After that we headed back to Rogers Road, and down the trail. No problems, but the rain kept picking up. By the time we got down to the staging area, it was raining hard, people gradually started taking off. I aired up, and got Donna aired up and by then it was pouring down rain). We had a great time and loved being out with the ladies. It was nice to see the different rigs and driving ability. I hope we can organize one of these several times a year! (Great day, glad everyone could come, hope to do it again soon!!!)

--Vickie (with comments from Jen)