After talking a bit about the Trask OHV trails at the Thanksgiving run, I decided to do some research and see what I could come up with for trail information. Not a lot actually. But I got some leads and a few coordinates and decided to head up on Saturday to poke around. I got way too late of a start, didn't roll out of Newberg until 12:30. Headed out through Carlton and up Meadowlake Road past McGuire Reservoir. It was slow going and icy over the hill and I wasn't making good time. Eventually I turned off up Ginger Creek. It wasn't long before I was tempted by a road that looked like it could lead to a cool campsite. Sadly, it only lead to a washout.
I climbed up to Boundary Road where I found a few short trails that looked fun. I gave this one a shot but with the snow and ice and 40 pounds of air in the tires it wasn't doable without more effort than I was willing to give.
I tried a few different roads that had nice views but ended in gates or washouts. After enough time was wasted, I dropped down and crossed the East Fork South Fork Trask and found a trail marked online as challenging. At first I thought it was an ATV trail but after a little investigation I determined it was just a very tight trail.
I circled around to the top and found a nice viewpoint, along with a trail labeled as short and easy. It did indeed look short and easy.
Further along I stumbled upon a neat hill climb that I thought was similar some of the rockier sections of Archers Firebreak. (looking down then looking up)
Onward I went, the sun dropped below the mountains to my west and I decided it was time to get out of the mountains as the temperature dropped. I found a route out on the map past Barney Reservoir. I started that direction and came upon an actual signed trail! Gingsberg Point.
I drove up this section and looked down on a hill climb, it looked easy. I drove around to the bottom and hey it was easy! Ran up it then back down no problem. Just head was another easy looking trail. It was! I got to a steep hill and a bypass, went up the bypass a little then backed down when I got some tire spin. Turned around and headed out, I didn't need to be wheeling in the dark by myself in the sub-freezing temperatures.
75 yards from the end (beginning) of the trail there was a corner with some muddy ruts. Muddy ruts that were frozen because the temperature had topped out near 20 up there that day. I drove right over them coming in. Heading out, my rear tires broke through the ice. I didn't have enough traction to drive out so I hopped out and grabbed the shovel intent on clearing some mud and ice from around the tires. Uh, the shovel just bounced off the 3+ inch thick ice.
Time to get creative. I grabbed the axe and started hacking, that actually worked pretty darn well. I loosened up some big chunks of ice and gave myself some room to maneuver. The one issue I had was the diff, it was a bit hung up on ice and I couldn't get under there with the axe to hack away. Nevertheless I gave it my best shot, back and forth I went in my little muddy hole, slowly making progress toward dry ground. I'd nearly made (okay not really) when my diff caught and swung me over against the inside of the corner. Now I had no room to work on the drivers side. Stuck.
I climbed out the window and grabbed the winch controller. Started feeding the cable out a bit and a bright flash came from where the ground from the batter connects to the winch. It just clicked when I hit the in/out on the controller. A couple of flips and a bunch of sparks and smoke came from the solenoid. Now nothing. It was dead...
I assessed my situation. I told a few people the general area I would be in (Upper Trask) I didn't have cell service. I had my two handheld hams. I had my spot. I had a bit over half a tank of gas. I had half a sandwich from Pogy's, a few cans of ravioli and an MRE or two, plus some various snack foods and five gallons of water. I was bundled up enough I could stay the night, but I didn't want to. I'd already been stuck an hour and now it was completely dark and getting colder. My thermometer read 15 degrees.
I could hear a few ham repeaters from my spot but couldn't hit any with the little handhelds. I thought if I hiked about 100 or so yards up the trail I'd have a better shot. I wasn't sure though so I made the decision to activate the help button on my SPOT. My Help contacts are Jeremy (Cherocar) and my mom. Help sends a text message every five minutes with my coordinates along with the mesage "I'm either stuck or broke down and I need assistance. Not an emergency but call the local sheriff please." I wrote down all my important information (lat/long & legal location, nearest intersection, a few phone numbers to call) bundled up, grabbed a flashlight and started hiking. Once I got up to the flat spot I was thinking of, I tried a repeater. According to my ARRL Repeater Directory it was almost due north of me, the WORC 60cm/2m/6m repeater near Timber. I was able to hit it. After a few tries I found a spot where I could make a good connection with the repeater and called out for help.
I spoke first to a ham whose callsign I couldn't understand, she had similar luck with my transmissions. Then I got ahold of KG7DHP. He took down my information along with my request to call the Tillamook County Sheriff's office than had me standby. I then checked my phone and though it showed I had no signal, at some point I had received a few text messages including one from Jeremy informing me he had notified Yamhill County SO of my SPOT notification.
After a few minutes, KG7DHP came back over the repeater and informed me that Tillamook was on the way. I hiked back down to the Jeep and hopped in, still running with the heat blasting, keeping it nice and warm inside. I ate my sandwich and drank a cup of hot apple cider (thank goodness for my recently purchased thermos full of still hot water.) Since i was on a trail not visible from the road, I decided to hike down to the end of the trail and leave a marker for my approaching rescue party. I took with my a 20'x3" recovery strap along with my FRED. I layed out the strap in an arrow shape pointing up the trail I was stuck on the elevated the FRED on a piece of wood so it was visible from a distance. Back up to the Jeep I went.
Another half hour passed before I saw headlights. It was our good friend, Deputy Seaholm! He hiked up to the Jeep first to assess the situation. He commended me for my preparedness and complimented my arrow/FRED system. Then the plan was made, and he backed up the trail to my Jeep. I hooked the strap to his truck and he quickly pulled me out. Yes, his winch still has cobwebs on it, Scott. He radioed to dispatch to call my mom back, because she had called Tillamook County. Yamhill had transferred the info to Tillamook as well once they realized it wasn't in their county so there was no worry of them coming up looking for me.
Turns out, Jeremy had told Scott, who told a few other people who went into standby mode. Except Nick, who apparently dropped whatever he was doing and drove up there in his late model to help. Somehow on my way out I missed Nick and he managed to drive all the way up to where I was stuck, later in the evening. I clearly owe him a drink. Or maybe a tank of gas.
Doesn't really look that bad does it?
My GPS track for the day.
I climbed up to Boundary Road where I found a few short trails that looked fun. I gave this one a shot but with the snow and ice and 40 pounds of air in the tires it wasn't doable without more effort than I was willing to give.
I tried a few different roads that had nice views but ended in gates or washouts. After enough time was wasted, I dropped down and crossed the East Fork South Fork Trask and found a trail marked online as challenging. At first I thought it was an ATV trail but after a little investigation I determined it was just a very tight trail.
I circled around to the top and found a nice viewpoint, along with a trail labeled as short and easy. It did indeed look short and easy.
Further along I stumbled upon a neat hill climb that I thought was similar some of the rockier sections of Archers Firebreak. (looking down then looking up)
Onward I went, the sun dropped below the mountains to my west and I decided it was time to get out of the mountains as the temperature dropped. I found a route out on the map past Barney Reservoir. I started that direction and came upon an actual signed trail! Gingsberg Point.
I drove up this section and looked down on a hill climb, it looked easy. I drove around to the bottom and hey it was easy! Ran up it then back down no problem. Just head was another easy looking trail. It was! I got to a steep hill and a bypass, went up the bypass a little then backed down when I got some tire spin. Turned around and headed out, I didn't need to be wheeling in the dark by myself in the sub-freezing temperatures.
75 yards from the end (beginning) of the trail there was a corner with some muddy ruts. Muddy ruts that were frozen because the temperature had topped out near 20 up there that day. I drove right over them coming in. Heading out, my rear tires broke through the ice. I didn't have enough traction to drive out so I hopped out and grabbed the shovel intent on clearing some mud and ice from around the tires. Uh, the shovel just bounced off the 3+ inch thick ice.
Time to get creative. I grabbed the axe and started hacking, that actually worked pretty darn well. I loosened up some big chunks of ice and gave myself some room to maneuver. The one issue I had was the diff, it was a bit hung up on ice and I couldn't get under there with the axe to hack away. Nevertheless I gave it my best shot, back and forth I went in my little muddy hole, slowly making progress toward dry ground. I'd nearly made (okay not really) when my diff caught and swung me over against the inside of the corner. Now I had no room to work on the drivers side. Stuck.
I climbed out the window and grabbed the winch controller. Started feeding the cable out a bit and a bright flash came from where the ground from the batter connects to the winch. It just clicked when I hit the in/out on the controller. A couple of flips and a bunch of sparks and smoke came from the solenoid. Now nothing. It was dead...
I assessed my situation. I told a few people the general area I would be in (Upper Trask) I didn't have cell service. I had my two handheld hams. I had my spot. I had a bit over half a tank of gas. I had half a sandwich from Pogy's, a few cans of ravioli and an MRE or two, plus some various snack foods and five gallons of water. I was bundled up enough I could stay the night, but I didn't want to. I'd already been stuck an hour and now it was completely dark and getting colder. My thermometer read 15 degrees.
I could hear a few ham repeaters from my spot but couldn't hit any with the little handhelds. I thought if I hiked about 100 or so yards up the trail I'd have a better shot. I wasn't sure though so I made the decision to activate the help button on my SPOT. My Help contacts are Jeremy (Cherocar) and my mom. Help sends a text message every five minutes with my coordinates along with the mesage "I'm either stuck or broke down and I need assistance. Not an emergency but call the local sheriff please." I wrote down all my important information (lat/long & legal location, nearest intersection, a few phone numbers to call) bundled up, grabbed a flashlight and started hiking. Once I got up to the flat spot I was thinking of, I tried a repeater. According to my ARRL Repeater Directory it was almost due north of me, the WORC 60cm/2m/6m repeater near Timber. I was able to hit it. After a few tries I found a spot where I could make a good connection with the repeater and called out for help.
I spoke first to a ham whose callsign I couldn't understand, she had similar luck with my transmissions. Then I got ahold of KG7DHP. He took down my information along with my request to call the Tillamook County Sheriff's office than had me standby. I then checked my phone and though it showed I had no signal, at some point I had received a few text messages including one from Jeremy informing me he had notified Yamhill County SO of my SPOT notification.
After a few minutes, KG7DHP came back over the repeater and informed me that Tillamook was on the way. I hiked back down to the Jeep and hopped in, still running with the heat blasting, keeping it nice and warm inside. I ate my sandwich and drank a cup of hot apple cider (thank goodness for my recently purchased thermos full of still hot water.) Since i was on a trail not visible from the road, I decided to hike down to the end of the trail and leave a marker for my approaching rescue party. I took with my a 20'x3" recovery strap along with my FRED. I layed out the strap in an arrow shape pointing up the trail I was stuck on the elevated the FRED on a piece of wood so it was visible from a distance. Back up to the Jeep I went.
Another half hour passed before I saw headlights. It was our good friend, Deputy Seaholm! He hiked up to the Jeep first to assess the situation. He commended me for my preparedness and complimented my arrow/FRED system. Then the plan was made, and he backed up the trail to my Jeep. I hooked the strap to his truck and he quickly pulled me out. Yes, his winch still has cobwebs on it, Scott. He radioed to dispatch to call my mom back, because she had called Tillamook County. Yamhill had transferred the info to Tillamook as well once they realized it wasn't in their county so there was no worry of them coming up looking for me.
Turns out, Jeremy had told Scott, who told a few other people who went into standby mode. Except Nick, who apparently dropped whatever he was doing and drove up there in his late model to help. Somehow on my way out I missed Nick and he managed to drive all the way up to where I was stuck, later in the evening. I clearly owe him a drink. Or maybe a tank of gas.
Doesn't really look that bad does it?
My GPS track for the day.
irate1:
