Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Christmas Valley Labor Day 2012

Once again, Labor Day weekend was dedicated to Christmas Valley. It just seems like a three-day weekend is the perfect amount of time to spend down there, at least until Monday morning rolls around and I find myself wanting more time. This year, my Mom and brother met me at Green Mountain, camping in her new 5th wheel. I arrived LATE, after getting off work in Portland and driving out Friday night. I was, of course, in my trailer.
Saturday, after slowly getting our day started, we headed for Crack in the Ground, just a few miles south of camp. We explored the firs full section and a good ways into the second section but it was getting towards our early dinner time and we had Delilah, my mom's dog with us so we didn't go all the way to the end. From there we headed down to Silver Lake and the Cowboy Dinner Tree. Keegan and my mom were a little hesitant at the lack of menu choice but once we started eating, they got it. I think we all ended up having the steak. We had a 5pm reservation so after we ate, we poked around the gift shop then headed up to check out Hole in the Ground and the Fort Rock Homestead Village Museum which preserves and protects homestead-era structures by moving them from their original locations to the museum site on the edge of the town of Fort Rock. It was closed for the evening but we were able to at least see the buildings from the parking lot. Back to camp we headed for a campfire and a little stargazing before heading to bed.
Sunday morning we rolled north to Derrick Cave, a lava tube that fed much much of the lava that created Devil's Garden. We hiked in a ways but not to the end, as Delilah was waiting for us in the car. My mom brought a few glowsticks for us "kids" (her included) to play with in the dark. We stopped and explored the Blowouts just south of Derricks Cave for a bit. We drove back over to Fort Rock, had lunch at the parking area then spent an hour or so hiking around the rock itself, including all the way up onto the rim, awesome views up there. We headed down to the town of Christmas Valley for fuel and beverages. We spend a very long time in a junk store, finding plenty of goodies for all of us. As the shadows grew longer, we decided to explore the Lost Forest, which on paper, really sounded boring. Just a bunch of trees, who cares? It actually turned out to be a pretty cool area, once you realize how dry it is, the trees are pretty spectacular. While exploring the forest, we came across Sand Rock, a large rock formation that I've found virtually no information about. It's hard to even find many references to it online or on most maps. We climbed to the top and watched the sunset together before making our way down to the Jeep and back to camp.
Monday morning was time to drive home. Mom and Keegan broke off east toward hwy 395 up to Pendleton while I headed west. I first explored a road up to the top of Big Hole Butte before heading west amongst the returning Burning Man attendees. I stopped at the Ski Inn restaurant in Sisters for one of their delicious burgers, along with fries and a delicious shake. Coming across Santiam Pass, I decided to finally take the 46 road/hwy 224 from Detroit all the way to Estacada. It was very scenic but I was also trying to get home before dark so not many pictures were taken.


                                         

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Snow Camping January 5th, 2013

Earlier this week I received an invitation from a friend to join him and a few others on a mild snow run and snow camping trip. I didn't really know where we were going but I knew we would be in snow which meant no trailer. I packed lightly and planned on camping in the Jeep. I brought along a tent just in case but didn't use it. We met up Saturday morning in Newberg and after tracking down various supplies, we hit the road.
We headed west out of Newberg on hwy 240 towards Carlton. We continued west into an old favorite area of mine, the Nestucca River drainage. As we climbed, we started seeing some snow on the road but as we climbed close to 2000 feet, there was only a few inches of snow so we were confident we would get to the planned campsite. Just past McGuire Reservoir, we turned north on a dead-end road that climbed uphill. We stopped after a half mile or so and aired down before continuing up. We were following tracks in the snow so, though the snow was over a foot deep, even the low slung rigs like the Subaru could handle the snow.
However, once we got to the end of those tracks, things very quickly became too much for the Subaru. He got to the point he was pushing snow with his front bumper and we were still a good distance from camp. We decided to head back down the mountain and try some other places. So, back down the the Nestucca, across the river and up the other side we went. Fortunately, we were able to get in to that spot. I was able to plow my way up onto the little flat area where we would set up camp (with maybe one stuck that involved help from the Subaru) and we were set up for camp!
Of course, all sorts of shenanigans occurred but those are always best left around the campfire. I ended up sleeping in the passenger seat of the Jeep which, while warm, wasn't very comfortable.
Sunday morning we took it easy, slowly packing up camp and having our various breakfasts. We convoyed back down the the pavement and aired up. It was such a beautiful morning that I decided I'd go for a bit of a drive, see if there was anything worth taking pictures of. As the road climbed up, it quickly became just two ruts down to the pavement surrounded by hard, icy snow. I drove all the way down to Dovre Campground then turned around and started towards home. On a whim, I decided to go up Bald Mountain road because it looked pretty well traveled. I made it up to the Grassy flat OHV staging area and turned around to head back down. I noticed a small spur just up the hill from me so I drove up to that. There was some ruts from somebody else going up there so I decided to give it a shot too.
I got all the way up to where I was plowing snow and couldn't really get much more forward momentum. I started to back down and slid just a little bit out of my tracks and that was all she wrote. I was stuck, up to the frame in an instant. I decided my easiest action would be to winch myself forward a few feet, which would pull me back into my tracks. I dug out a little path in front of the Jeep, strung the cable to a tree and started pulling. After about 5 seconds of pulling, the winch stopped. I fiddled with it for a few minutes, checking connections and various things, getting nowhere. Now I was in a bit of trouble. Yes, I could still dig but the winch line was taught, holding me from being able to back down the hill. I checked my phone, no signal. I was digging.
First I aired down again then tried just digging out in front of all the tires and axles in the hope that I could pull forward a bit. That didn't work. I needed to be able to rock the Jeep back and forth, something I couldn't do with the winch line holding me from going back. I figured I might actually need some help so I got on the ham and found somebody in Vancouver on the Goat Mountain repeater who relayed my request for assistance to a NAXJA friend. Then I got back to digging. I spent about two hours digging all the snow out from around, underneath and in front and behind the Jeep. With no more snow, I was able to rock the Jeep forward just enough to be able to switch the winch to free spool, releasing the tension holding me back. I quickly coiled the excess line up and was able to back down the hill. Once I was safely on the road again, I called up my new ham friend and had him relay to my rescue party (which consisted of three rigs and five people) that they could turn around. I made my way back down to pavement, aired up and headed for home.
I was cold and wet and had definitely learned a lesson. I definitely was doing more than I should have because I was overconfident with the technology that I had. When the technology failed, I was in a pickle. Fortunately, everything worked out and I ended up being able to get myself out, though if I couldn't, I had a team of friends on their way to rescue me. I definitely owe Dave (KF7ZIY) for relaying my needs and staying by the radio to continue to communicate with me. Also a huge thanks to Nick, Scott, Eric, Jason and Dustin for being my rescue team and Darren for allowing his rig to be used (I assume he knew Eric was borrowing it)