Oregon TSF Run 2-19-11 Pictures

Ah, good. I'm glad someone told you. I meant to and then forgot about it. Good to fix those early!

 

no worries dude...i had no idea what i was doing anyway lol

 

He was but mainly because he had something he needed to follow up with at work and didn't anticipate it was going to take as long as it would (though I don't know why I presumed it was a full day trip lol). He gets kinda bored quick if there's not a lot of action going on lol.

Also yea YFZ, though I'll never go out alone I'm always down if someone else wants to tag along.

 

Yeah, I never go anywhere I think I'll get stuck or that is farther than a 30 minute walk from cell phone coverage by myself. Practice is always good. And having another person with you in the car is always good in case the unthinkable happens.

 

if you like any i can fix them up in photoshop and send you a better quality one

 

^^^ Nice action shots, Cameron!

Jake - I'm excited to see some of the video from your GoPro.

 

Those are some awesome shots Cameron!

 

Nice pictures!

 

I didn't have a problem scratching my truck mon. lol

 

I didn't know anyone had a problem with scratching their truck? I do have a problem with sliding down a hill at 30-40mph and hitting a tree though My truck has tons of pinstripes on it lol.

 

Let's do it up in the dry next time!

 

awsome pics guys...I bet you guys had a blast.... listening to all this talk of the Atrac...DHA... locker and all that stuff makes me wonder why I did not get an Off Road... would love to join you guys some day when my truck grows up and becomes a man..lol

 

hey man, what part of oregon you from? dont forget to jump over to the BS thread and chat with us, if you havent already.

 

I wish I'd have gone to this. It looks like you guys had fun. Maybe next time

 

Hey all, glad we could all come together on this and make things happen despite the odds.

I think it was definitely a learning experience!

I think first off we can see the difference having recovery equipment makes. Just a short list of what I saw used:
Tree saver
winch
shovel
chains
rug
recovery straps
tow strap
D Ring shackles

I just added a Hi-Lift to my gear yesterday, lol.


We were lucky enough to have Bill, president of Cascade Cruisers happen to join in. Bill was nice enough to help do some leading, but also gave me hints that we can't be winging it. I never thought I'd be in the position, but for whatever reason whenever it came to the where, when, how, eyes start coming my way... I never meant to be any sort of leader, and I'll try helping as best I can, but I really want it to be as many of us helping as possible.
I was really overwhelmed trying to figure out what we could do with all the varying abilities, plus trying to manage that big of a group. For future runs, I'd like to split large groups by ability so we can take more time with newer folks. Before the run starts, I want to explain what I'm doing to prep. I want to make sure before we jump on a trail, we let people know what they are getting into and explain how to handle it best.

I think we all have a bit more respect for snow, too!

lol I got a bit focused and should have stopped to think a bit more after the second 'bobsled' section. I had been in a similar situation once before on a muddy hill with NWFJCC and we talked about how to handle things, so I knew somewhat what I was doing, but going around that corner grabbed my guts a bit. For that last section I really made sure to plan it out and it was surprisingly the easiest part, lol. I'm still glad we backed everyone off, though, and I am certainly glad I didn't have to drive the whole trail.

Just want to make sure and say it was incredibly smart of you to stop when you did on that trail. It can feel like a lot of pressure from the rest of us simply being there which can feel like a challenge to keep going, but you stuck to your guns and potentially kept people out of a lot of trouble. Even with brand new mud terrain tires and a smidge of experience, it was a challenging ride for me and I could have screwed up, so I think you would have had much more difficulty with the A/Ts.
I think I agree with you on whether or not DAC would have worked. My strategy was to shift into 4LO and drop my shifter into 1st gear. I would try to sight out where the next flat spot is, and plan on how I would stop there before the next stretch. If it was a short enough stretch and not too steep, I would creep by slightly letting up on brakes and reapplying until I got down. However, this doesn't work for big steep distances, it will get you sideways. Instead, you need to point the direction you want to go and let the gearing walk you down. It's faster than I wanted to go and I got squirrelly around one of the corners, but kept me in control rather than a slide. If I was better at it, I would have given a slight bit of gas to correct the steering.

Once Joe and I got to the end of the run we waited for you guys to meet up, but sounded like you got stuck a bit on the access roads. I asked over the CB if you guys were doing good and you said yes, so I thought it was better for Joe and I to take off. If it wasn't for you guys having 9 rigs already with all the recovery gear, I would have tried meeting back up, but we were going to be of little use and then it's 2 more rigs to worry about as we wander around to meet up. Wished I could have done more.

I think March we might let a bit of snow melt lol. Sounds like there's a ton of projects so maybe we should tackle them?

 

The few of us that were in our trucks when you guys asked if you should just head out did attempt to let the rest of the group know that you did check in. No one should have thought you just skipped town.

 

Sounds like I missed one heck of a good time. Looks like it was some good powder. Traction shouldn't have been much of an issue. Did you guys manage to get down to some ice under all it?

I know I've been up there in wet, sloppy snow and couldn't make hills on Cedar Tree and then the next weekend with some fresh powder I could make darn near any hill.

I'm probably heading back up to Mary's this Friday for some more snow actually. I love snow wheeling! haha. Course that's only if its good powder.

 

We had a wide mixture of vehicles (4Runner, FJC, and just about all the 4x4 taco configurations Toyota makes), builds (stock to built), and experience levels (brand new to Rubicon vetran), so I think you are going to get a different story from just about everyone!

I did really well with my setup up until Cedar Tree. We tried a short section of the south to north, and mostly slid the entire way down. I definitely couldn't make it back the way I came, and getting up to the downed tree would have probably been impossible as well. Once we got one or two vehicles through a section, it's compressed and slick enough that everyone was falling on the ground.

Overall, I'm really impressed at my tires. They grip well enough that it can almost make things boring

Had I known we were going to get snow like that, Mary's Peak or Crooked Finger would have been better locations.


I'll be in Corvallis on Saturday, but I'll be doing more of this and less of this

 

I need to do better with names. Everyone became 'Jim' by the end of the day.

 

The recovery kit I have in my rig is the rugged ridge kit. Has the strap, tree saver, snatch block, winch line dampener, gloves and a couple of D rings. It is under 120.00 at autoanything.com.

I will have to load a shovel next time, and get my chains fixed after the one chain broke. I may even break down and buy another set, so I have both front and rear.

I guess it is time to start saving for the relentless fab bumper and winch, and a CB Radio.