ORBDR Oregon Backcounty discovery route - Any advice?

Anyone here done the Oregon Backcountry discovery route in their Tacos (specifically, Route 5 Section 3&4, Route 4) that could give any tips/advice on the following:
*Essential vehicle gear
*Camping options
*Navigation options
*Any precautions/preparations to take note of?

Planning a trip the end of this month and would appreciate any advice.


Here was my pre-trip packing checklist:
Vehicle gear


Cooking gear


Camping gear

 

Route 6 will have the greatest amount of poison oak. Also keep an eye on any fires (if there are any).

 

Not doing Route 6 this time so good thing Is there a specific radio station that has fire/weather updates?

Range I'm usually getting is 300miles. How essential will extra fuel cans be?

 

Did Route 4 and 6 last year... For Route 4 nothing was incredibly hard and didnt have to use gas cans in between stations.

Not sure if there were any fires in the area (that will affect route) since then, but overall Mapped Route 4 was pretty straight forward. Just be prepared for really dusty roads at this time.

Tried doing Route 3 last week, and after a couple of closed (fire damage and downed trees) dead end roads, crapload of pinstripes and wasted time, gave up by Sisters and turned around as i wasnt going to finish it in two days (had to be back in town)...

 

Follow-up: Post Trip Report

Day 3: Arrive in Walla Walla, WA. Begin route.

 

Day 4: Hit a really large rock on the trail. Messed up the alignment pretty badly, and the traction control started to act erratically, so I turned it off, and made it to camp. There we tried to correct the alignment as much as possible, and come up with a game plan to take to a repair facility in Pendelton.

 

Day 5: Repair day. Got it to a shop in Pendelton where they weren't able to get alignment to spec but close enough it was driveable. Then on to a Toyota dealership where they did a saftey check and reset the Traction Control system. Initial assessment is that it needed to go to a body shop for a full assessment, but would be able to drive back to Oklahoma. Luckily for us my vehicle was operable; my friend busted a hole in his oil pan and would need to do some on-site repairs before continuing on.


Very timely billboard as we drove into Pendelton

 

Day 6: Back on the (off)road. Some of the roads were gnarlier than the previous days so I thought we were pushing our luck. Some good sites visited though

 

Day 7: Totally worth all the setbacks and hardships

 

Subbed! That was a huge ass boulder! Hopefully it wasn't expensive to repair.
I've been reading about this road, and really want to try this road out one day! So thanks for sharing your experience/amazing scenery.

 

Thanks! You should definitely try it. Also depends on what type of driving you like. Me, I've learned that while I do enjoy the super rough, technical roads for the "wow I could get through that" feeling, after miles of that it gets pretty annoying/jarring. Airing the tires down helps but only so much. I much more enjoyed the faster, flowy sections of a smoother dirt/gravel road, although that's part of what got me in trouble . Here are a few lessons learned that I hope will help others who decide to make this type of trip:

All the preparations, checklists, etc, prior to the trip, but I did NOT prepare for the scenario I experienced above! My biggest fears going into it were:

1. Getting a flat tire
2. Running out of gas
3. Getting lost
4. Getting stuck in a ditch/ravine
5. Road being blocked
6. Water crossings (and not being able to judge how deep)

So one thing I DID do right was making sure I had some basic TOOLS, that if I had to work on my truck, I could. Luckily I had the right sockets/wrenches to try and adjust the alignment. I had packed a ratchet strap that we used to try and help bring in the camber/toe since it didn't seem to budge much. I also brought a square piece of plywood to go underneath the jack on loose gravel surface, and that helped a lot. I didn't buy a hi-lift (already went way over budget on gear) but honestly what I had worked out fine.

As to what lead me to crash in the first place, I'm sure many can guess, but I will list here anyway:

1. SPEED - Slow down!!! I was going too fast for the conditions. Probably around 20-30 mph. Around a blind left corner. Never a good combination.
2. VISIBILITY - It was really dusty and I was following my friend too closely. Makes it much more difficult to see the obstacles in front of you. Just slow down and wait 'til the dust settles enough that you have a clear view
3. TARGET FIXATION - As I was making the turn I saw a branch leaning into the road on the left side so I was too focused on avoiding THAT obstacle that I wasn't scanning the rest of the road for other things
4. SHADOWS - The rock was in the shadows so with the combination of dust, the sun pointing toward me, and too much speed you can see why it happened.

The impact was jarring enough that windshield wiper fluid squirted out of the nozzles. At first I thought for sure I had busted the radiator or worse that the front wheel had sheared off. Up until that point I still hadn't known what I hit so when I got out I was flabbergasted at seeing what I hit, but confused because you could see no visible damage. I was expecting impact marks on the bumper, undercarriage, frame, SOMETHING, but couldn't see anything. No fluids leaking, nothing. It wasn't until I got back in and drove that I could see the steering wheel was 90deg from straight and the truck wanted to pull hard right. Since we were on dirt/gravel roads we decided to push toward camp and try and assess there.



Another angle:


The worst part about all of it? I didn't move the rock!!! I was too in shock and trying to process what had just happened to think about moving it out of the way. So I'm hoping the next person isn't so unlucky.

A few other lessons learned:

1. Night temperature. Being from Texas/Oklahoma I'm used to summer camping being miserable, so I only packed a light sleeping bag. Duh, I should have looked up the weather before hand and it got in the low 40s most nights. Which made a few nights pretty cold, especially because I was experimenting with hammock camping, but I was able to get through it.
2. I was planning on having to use a shovel to dig a hole for nature calls, but surprisingly there were quite a few "facilities" even in the areas where there was practically no one.
3. Didn't experience and "flesh-eating bugs" like one camper we met along the way but apparently those were are prevalent earlier in the summer.
4. Having radios was really helpful to communicate back and forth and make the experience more fun

 

Sorry to hear about setbacks, but on the bright side without them wheeling would be a *meh* experience (once you look back).

Glad that overall was a rewarding experience!