September 28, 1997 & October 11, 1997
Yamhill, Oregon
Trask River Basin/Tillamook State Forest
Trails: Old Toll Road/Murphy's Camp/Ginsberg Point/Spar

This report actually covers two seperate trips to the same area. The first was an official Brush Buster's run with a few Oregon BushHacker's along as well. The second trip two weeks later with just four BushHacker's. Some attendees (myself included) are members of both clubs. The Brush Busters have been around since the late 1950's and are comprised of some of the best 4-wheelers in the Pacific Northwest. A club of mostly Jeeps, although any rig is welcome, these guys know their rigs inside and out and aren't afraid to push them to their limits. The Oregon BushHackers are an informal group of over 80 members who communicate via email. They hold runs once a month and are always good for a great day of wheeling.

NOTE: Most of the pics are of me not because I'm selfish, but because nobody else was taking photo's and my passenger happened to shoot me more than anyone else.

The parking lot behind the feed store in downtown Yamhill was the designated meeting location. After 30-40 minutes of hello's and introductions of those meeting for the first time and some tech-talk about various rig mods, we headed west out of Yamhill toward Trask and the trails.

Eventually, we came upon a nice trail known as 'Pinball'. I'm not sure how it got it's name, but after all the bouncing around I did, I have a pretty good idea. We followed each other down the trail which is essentially a large 'V' carved into the earth. Obvioulsy the result of an old logging road after years of erosion. It had sections, usually near the curves, where the drainage had carved notches accross the trail which caused the off-camber to switch from one side to the other. This is where the bouncing came into play, as you manuevered your rig from nearly laying on one side to nearly laying on it's other side. Going down was pretty fun. Each rig tried to straddle the center rut but each eventually dropped one side down in. And once it had you it wasn't letting you go.

The first trip had 13 rigs total (10 Jeeps, 2 Toyotas and 1 Blazer). Most trips aren't this crowded, but we had a blast anyway. We stopped just near the entrance to the State Forest to check the maps. We first headed up a windy gravel road to check out a trail none of us had travelled yet.

The trail left the road to the right and headed upwards into the forest. It had rained a day or two earlier (remember - this is Oregon) so there was a thin layer of slick mud on top of the dirt trails . Leonard led the way and we quickly came to a short, yet steep and rutted hill climb. He crawled right up in his 'Locked & Loaded' Toyota and the rest of us followed suit.

Dan was the first to encounter some difficulty simply by choosing the wrong line. He got crossed up in the ruts and after some jockeying it was decided he'd be better off winching up than trying to back down and possibly flipping over. Mike 'ROCKALTRD' Millen was his passenger today since his own CJ-7 was still in the garage after his Rubicon roll last July. Everyone was quick to blame Mike for Dan's mishap. Dan winched himself up the hill and the rest of us, learning from his mistake, followed using a different line. The trail wound it's way through the trees for a while and ended up dumping us out in an old clear-cut area that had been replanted. The new growth was about 10-15 feet. The trail skirted the edge of this area but dwindled down to single track. Leonard radioed back informing everyone to turn around. We did. And, since there were no side trails we all ended up back on the gravel road.

We caravaned a few miles until we were deep in the forest following the 'Old Toll Road'. I'm not sure, but I believe it was once well travelled by early settlers commuting between the Willamette Valley and the Pacific coast. We poked our noses down a few side trails but none seemed to lead anywhere interesting or were purposely blocked by logging companies who had leased sections of the forests for harvest.

Leonard, still leading, radioed back that the lower end was blocked by a pile of large tree stumps (which we dicovered on the following trip were placed there as the result of a newly created logging road). This presented a challenge all it's own as we had virtually every rig lined up in this slick gully and turning around wasn't an option. One by one we all tested our skills by backing our way back up this gauntlet until we found a spot level enough (but by no means flat) to jockey our rigs 180 degrees and drive the rest of the way up forward.

Both Dan's CJ and Denny's Blazer lost the bead on a tire and each was given the opportunity to test their trail tire changing skills in a tough spot. With everyones help, both wheels were swapped and everyonemade their way back to the road.

Continued...

ATTENDEES:
Al and Jennifer Temple-CJ5-(Trip 1)
Mike Heras-CJ5-(Trip 1)
Dan Williams and Mike Millen-CJ5-(Trip 1)
Matt O'Brien and Don?-CJ5-(Both trips)
Chris Olander-CJ6-(Trip 1)
Rich Jones and Rod Landreth-CJ5-(Trip 1)
Jay Herber and wife-Wrangler-(Trip 1)
Leonard Trudel-Toyota Pickup-(Trip 1)

ATTENDEES:
Ian McMahon-Toyota Pickup-(Trip 1)
Gordon Compton-CJ7-(Trip 1)
Randy Stewart-CJ5-(Trip 1
Denny Zander and family-Chevy Blazer-(Both Trips)
Rick Anderson and son-Chevy Blazer-(Trip 2)
Dan Patrich and son-S10 Blazer-(Trip 2)
(1 or 2 others plus passengers that I've forgotten attended trip 1)