Topic: Washington Wet Wheelers

[SqWADoosh]

TSF is one of my favorite places of all time...

I was quite impressed as well. Wish there was more Class 2 trails, but a local let me know that it is damn near impossible to open up new trails for 4x4s. The politics of the place is very moto and quad biased.

[H8PVMNT]

Same thing we have in MT.  The bikes and quads have all the trail, and the snowmobiles of course.  4WDs are not considered legitimate.   

[Rockcrawlintoy]

Looks like a lot of fun. That camp site is pretty awesome

[SqWADoosh [OP]]

Looks like a lot of fun. That camp site is pretty awesome

It was great. We all agreed that Browns Camp being full was a blessing in disguise. The only bummer is that you had to park at the top and carry all your gear down. The atmosphere and view made it worth it though. It was also cheaper than Browns to stay there. 3 Nights was $21 for 4 of us!

[Rockcrawlintoy]

Thats awesome. I would like to head down there and check it out

[SqWADoosh [OP]]

Thats awesome. I would like to head down there and check it out

We will be headed back down next summer probably for sure.

[SqWADoosh [OP]]

Day 2 of wheeling and day 3 of our trip saw us heading to meet a guy named Daryl who Andrew P. knew from ih8mud. He is a local and has been running tillamook very regularly for well over a decade. Like Andrew P. he has a very built FJ80 so now without Nate I was outnumbered by cruisers! Daryl took over as lead truck and I took up tail-gunner. A odd position for me as I am usually lead however I quite enjoyed being able to see other people's lines and form my own based on how theirs went over.

We Met Daryl at the Browns Camp staging area and after some introductions and airing down we headed off to conquer the southern side of the OHV area. This would start with us heading down Powerline and into Cedar Tree. Powerline wasn't much to write home about but Cedar Tree was an amazing trail with some of the best views we had seen yet in Tillamook. The trail is aptly named due to the large cutout cedar tree that you can drive through if you aren't too tall. My truck made it through with a few inches to spare. Even with the GoPro mounted. Still trying to get that picture from whomever took it.

Cedar Tree led us into the infamous Crushers trail. The first part of the trail is single diamond difficulty but is really only a run up to the most difficult wheeling in Tillamook and some of the most difficult in the PNW. We parked our trucks at the entrance of the triple black diamond rock field and wandered in on foot to watch some crazy built rigs break stuff. Daryl being the ever gracious host explained to us the different areas of the rock field, showing us the most difficult lines and lamenting about his days when he had his FJ-40 on 42s that could conquer the toughest lines. It was very cool to see such difficult wheeling, but I don't see myself sending my truck on that suicide mission anytime in the near future. The pictures below are just what I took real quick. They are not the most difficult stuff by a long shot. We didn't want to walk down into that area as we could hear what sounded like a dozen rigs redlining followed by hillbilly hollering. Just wasn't really our scene.





From Crushers we hopped back in the saddle and continued on up the trail. Next up would be Saddle Up. A very fun off camber at times trail with you guessed it, amazing views. Saddle up led us into Dog Leg which then led us into Airplane Hill. Daryl had been talking to us about Airplane Hill all day. He is a member of the Cascade Cruisers, a local Land Cruiser 4x4 club who adopted and built Airplane Hill. He told us that we couldn't come to Tillamook without going up Airplane Hill. Well I had seen footage of Airplane Hill along with all of the trails at Tillamook before we went on this trip. I always over prepare and attempt to gain any knowledge one can find via YouTube and other sources. So I was well aware that it was a double black diamond trail with a crazy set of filters to get through. I expressed my concern with my truck being open to Daryl and he assured me that with him spotting me I would have no problems. So off we went. When we arrived at the bottom filter my concerns were ratified as we watched a group of about 4 Toyotas more built than mine having a hell of a time getting through the rocks. Daryl went first after the group in front of us was finished. Even having helped build the obstacle and having run it dozens of times it took him a while to get through it with his 80 on 40s and lockers front and rear. He did get through however and Andrew P. gave me a look like "no way in hell dude". Well I wasn't about to chicken out after coming all this way. I fired up the Runner and in I went. I made it through the first 1/4 well enough. However there is a huge boulder in the middle of the obstacle that is neither avoidable or climbable when you are running 35s open as I am. Needless to say I got stuck rather quickly once reaching the boulder. I spun my tires for a minute or two and as soon as "you want to pull some line?" came out of Daryl's mouth I immediately said "yes". My trusty m8000 got me through the rest of the obstacle with no issues. Andrew P. walked right over the obstacle, but I would have been surprised if he didn't with his truck being as built as it is. We went up the hill and realized that the filters were the easy part. We parked our trucks at the bottom of the actual hill of Airplane Hill and watched in awe as the group that had come before us fought valiantly against a hill from hell. I kick myself in the ass for not having taken any pictures, but you'll just have to take me at my word that it is nothing short of impossible to get up. There is a extremely steep grade to conquer to begin with. Stacked on top of that are massive boulders, jersey barriers, step up after step up, etc. etc. We enjoyed the entertainment for a while and then headed on up to the exit filter. This one I was able to conquer without my winch, but it did take me a couple of different lines and some coaching from Daryl and some other wheelers standing nearby.





At the exit of Airplane Hill we ate lunch and shot the for a while. Enjoying people watching the characters and rigs that were camped out up there. After we had some grub in our bellies I took a look at the map and discussed our next course with Daryl. He recommended we head down Fire Break Five on our way out for the day. He said that there was no way I would have made it up the trail being open but shouldn't have any troubles going down. We headed down a myriad of forest service roads to get down from Airplane Hill and onto Fire Break Five. It was a very unique trail in that it had a different type of mud than we had seen at Tillamook so far. More clay in it than the rest and had a very cool red color. We headed down the long soupy rock garden that would have defeated me coming up it. We stopped for a group picture and asked Daryl what was left of Tillamook that we could do. Knowing what we had done the day before he let us know that we had more or less done all the trails we were capable of running. We missed waterfall but it was a very long drive for one short trail and he recommended we hit it next time we visit instead.








We headed down the forest roads to air up and say our goodbyes to our new friend. Daryl I told you in person but if you find this thread by chance thanks again, brother. You are a great guy and were very hospitable to some Washington Wheelers. Once we got back to camp we all agreed that with very few trails left we would head out the next day. We had one last night full of beers, grub, and laughs and headed home the next morning. Tillamook was great and I highly recommend it to anyone who can make it. We will be definitely coming back soon and also checking out other Oregon Wheeling such as Cline Buttes! Thanks Oregon it was a blast!

[SqWADoosh [OP]]

Here are the rest of the videos of the trip:

[mudmaster]

Nice write up! I need to go on the next one.

[SqWADoosh [OP]]

Nice write up! I need to go on the next one.

Yeah you do! 

[mudmaster]

Yeah you do! 

I'm gettin there........

[blackdiamond]

I like that I'm not the only one that turns on my wipers when the steering wheel spins on me.

What's the point of "filters" that are so much harder than the trails they are filtering for? 

[BigBluePile]

Pretty sick trip, great stuff!

Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk

[SqWADoosh [OP]]

Naches Run
July 24th-26th

First run of the year up to Naches/Manastash will be on the weekend of the 25th and 26th of July. Myself and a few other club members will be heading up after I get off of work on the 23rd to secure camping and we will be running trails for 3 days. The plan is to run the wagon trail on the West side as well as many of the east side (Manastash) trails as we can fit in as well. Its gonna be a great time and I hope to see some new faces out there!

[blackdiamond]

My plan is to at least make an appearance on this trip.  Just to clarify, the plan is to setup camp on Friday the 24th and then hit the pass on Saturday morning?

[helipilot77]

I'll be there unless something breaks before then.

[SqWADoosh [OP]]

My plan is to at least make an appearance on this trip.  Just to clarify, the plan is to setup camp on Friday the 24th and then hit the pass on Saturday morning?

No, plan is to set up camp Thursday the 23rd evening. Hit the trails 24th through 26th.

[mudmaster]

We hit snow in mid June last year in some places.

[SqWADoosh [OP]]

We hit snow in mid June last year in some places.

Its common to hit it into late July. You coming out?

[mudmaster]

I haven't been there in late July, but you never know. I doubt I'll be ready by then. I don't have a lot of time to work on the rig right now.

[SqWADoosh [OP]]

I haven't been there in late July, but you never know. I doubt I'll be ready by then. I don't have a lot of time to work on the rig right now.

Killing me mang...

[mudmaster]

I know   

[blackdiamond]

No, plan is to set up camp Thursday the 23rd evening. Hit the trails 24th through 26th.

Ok.  I'll have to get more details once I have a plan figured out on my end.  Are you still planning to camp on the west side of the pass?  If so, is the plan for that to be your basecamp for the entire weekend?

[SqWADoosh [OP]]

Ok.  I'll have to get more details once I have a plan figured out on my end.  Are you still planning to camp on the west side of the pass?  If so, is the plan for that to be your basecamp for the entire weekend?

Yes plan is to camp on the west side. Don't' see us moving the base camp.

[Rockcrawlintoy]

Going to try and come on the 24 after work and at least camp. and come home the 25th. My birthday is on the 26 and my wife has plans for that.

[SqWADoosh [OP]]

Going to try and come on the 24 after work and at least camp. and come home the 25th. My birthday is on the 26 and my wife has plans for that.

We could run the wagon trail on the 25th. I think your Jeep in its current state could probably handle it. Either way would love to have you come up even if you are just camping and riding pregnant dog with someone.

[H8PVMNT]

Trying , maybe, I mean like way out there...  But there's a slight chance I might be able to join you guys on the 26th if you are OK with some crazies from MT.  We may be going to the coast to bug out and surf and we have a wedding in the family down in OR we want to get to so if it all comes together...   

I might need a GPS waypoint and some pretty decent directions from the logical route headed out of Spokane area on I90.

[SqWADoosh [OP]]

Trying , maybe, I mean like way out there...  But there's a slight chance I might be able to join you guys on the 26th if you are OK with some crazies from MT.  We may be going to the coast to bug out and surf and we have a wedding in the family down in OR we want to get to so if it all comes together...   

I might need a GPS waypoint and some pretty decent directions from the logical route headed out of Spokane area on I90.

We'd love to have you.

[H8PVMNT]

Oh yeah I've quit stinking up the shout box because my wifes laptop gave up the ghost and my work computor won't display the shout box.  Not trying to be a hermit or anything .

[SqWADoosh [OP]]

Oh yeah I've quit stinking up the shout box because my wifes laptop gave up the ghost and my work computor won't display the shout box.  Not trying to be a hermit or anything .

I was wondering...