Mr.BlueSky

Wednesday June 28th, Trail Day 3 We left Crane Creek campground and made the muddy climb up Rattlesnake Ridge much to Paul’s chagrin. We made reassurances that the ridge was named this ironically because there of course were NO rattlesnakes here! After some hours on trail, we made our way to the Frazier Point lookout tower for lunch. Unfortunately, right as we arrived a small storm cloud passed and briefly rained on us. The tower itself is now registered as historic but is condemned and blocked off to prevent people climbing the 100’ tower to the 5’x 5’ lookout cab. The lookout living quarters had also been thoroughly trashed, so it is unlikely that the cabin will be added into the Oregon lookout rental program. Dropping down from Frazier point, we arrived in Seneca where we refueled at the Bear Valley Market. The owner and his wife were incredibly grateful for the business, and he shared some history of the Hines lumber company. Many of the homes (not on main street) that the workers lived in are constructed of old rail cars butted together and built out from there. He also mentioned that in the 1930s Edward Hines plumbed steam from the lumber plant furnaces under the public pool to provide year-round heating. Mark also had one of the homemade brownies – from initial reports, this is worth a stop in Seneca alone! The homemade lemonade wasn’t bad either. Leaving Seneca, little did we know that we were about to enter the challenging territory of the BDR. We made good time down to our marked campsite – Cheatum Holler Camp, a location on the Forest Service map named after an incident involving Mr. Cheatum and his wife. Apparently, while out scouting with mapper Loe Gunther, Mr. Cheatum had a bit too much whiskey to drink. Leading to a very angry and loud Mrs. Cheatum. Leo Gunther then immortalized this incident into forest service map much to Mr. Cheatum’s dismay. However, to our dismay, the mosquitos (also known as Mozies according to Nathan) were very thick and after some scouting, we decided we would proceed down our track to check out sites on Sugarloaf Mountain and further if needed. Thwarted again we were; this time by a locked gate. Sugarloaf being a bust, Will found a reference for Alder Creek Camp several miles away, a short drive later we found the intended route did not exist and we then detoured by nice gravel roads to regain our track. About halfway to this new campsite, we stopped for Mark and Oliver to check out something on their LR3. Whilst stopped, eagle-eyed Paul spotted a large fire pit in the meadow. A radio call went out, and the people rejoiced! Alas, the meadow was not as kind as we had hoped. Hidden in the tall grass were many a boulder as Nathan quickly found out. His transfer case subframe had a hard meet and greet with one rock leaving the subframe crushed and pressed into the front driveshaft on the L322. Some expletives and Robert’s Milwaukee grinder extricated the subframe from the driveshaft leaving a protection compromised, but drivable L322. Meanwhile, Oliver had set to work building a fantastic fire for us while Sebastien and Henry played in the playpen.

Tuesday June 27th, Trail Day 2 Tuesday was a more relaxed day beginning in the McEwen Railyard where we met up with a local LeAnne Wolf. She gave us a rather colorful and eccentric tour of the railyard including stories of her as a child throwing switches for the steam trains in the yard. Then we headed into the trainshed to check out a Kiesler steam locomotive #3 (unique in that they have driveshafts) as well as the number 19 engine, that after serving on the Sumpter railroad was shipped to the Alaskan Yukon territory to haul lumber. At the end of its life, rather than being scrapped, it was shipped by barge to Washington and then rode the rails with Union Pacific, was loaded onto a truck, and delivered to the Sumpter Valley Railroad. At the end of the tour, we gave LeAnne a T-shirt and NCLR patches as thanks. After the tour of the yard, we headed into town and toured the restored Sumpter Dredge that churned up the entire valley for gold, an outdoor mining exhibit, the local museum, and finally ending at the local café for lunch. As we headed out, we chatted with a few locals who were more than excited to see the Rovers out and about. As the Toyota guy said, “I’m just happy to not see more Jeeps.” The other gentleman swung his Polaris RZR over and got a picture of it in front of our lineup. Back on the trails, we made our way back up into the mountains, climbing up through the destruction and rebirth caused by the 2018 Rail Fire. At the Table Rock Lookout, we received spectacular views of the land from 7,815ft in elevation. Margaret, the lookout keeper, explained to us that she would be there all summer and that she had to truck all her supplies up the mountain. She brings up water in 5-gallon boxes and uses about 1.5 boxes per week. The kids also got to play with Dusty the dog and watch Mittens the cat through the windows of the lookout. There was also mention that she was very thankful for the firearms training in her previous life as she has some less enjoyable visitors on occasion. We also left a patch with Margaret for sharing her time with us. Climbing down from Table Mountain we ran into many a mud hole, allowing the adventurous (and those less so) to try on a new temporary paint job. Turns out most rovers look great in brown. Eventually we made our way to the Crane Creek campground for a refreshing evening. While most folks elected to bathe or shower in the creek, Mike went ahead and bathed his 110. In the end, it was spotless.

Monday June 26th, Trail Day 1 In the morning, we all aired down and departed down the trail towards our destination of Phillips Reservoir. The trails were well groomed, and we came across several tree crews mowing the trails and cleaning up downed trees. Overall, these trails and forest were incredibly well kept. Shortly before noon we made it to the Desolation Butte Lookout tower for a quick stop. The Desolation Butte tower is a 67’ tall timber structure situated at 7028’ feet in elevation. In 1996, the lookout survived the Bull fire. We then traveled down to the shores of Olive Lake where we had a nice lunch stop and discussed the history of the lake. As it turns out, the lake was named by the pioneers of Granite that would often picnic in the area and toss olive pits into it – thus Olive Lake it was. The lake was also dammed in the early 1900s to raise the water level another 25ft in preparation for hydropower. A quick drive later we found ourselves the Fremont Powerhouse – a hydroelectric plant completed in 1906 to supply power to the nearby Red Boy mines using water carried down from Olive Lake in a 32” diameter redwood stave pipe. Later the plant ran 27kV to the Sumpter Dredges. It wasn’t until the 40s that the powerhouse supplied power to the even closer town of Granite for residential use. Lucky for us, the caretaker was onsite, and he gave us a tour and a walk-through of the site. Most interesting were the 4 massive blue Florentine marble pieces brought in from Italy to be used as an electrically isolated control panel. As the group headed down from the powerhouse to Granite for fuel, Miles’ rover Snowflake started to develop a harsh constant vibration. Once we hit the pavement, Robert helped to identify it as a rear driveshaft U-joint. It was decided we would continue as we were only a few hours from camp. Granite was a bust, the gas station unfortunately had been sold and was under a management transition – no gas for us! This really wasn’t a problem for any rover but Snowflake. Cris had an external tank in the D90, so while fuel consumption was similar, with the flick of a switch, he had an extra 13 gallons. The group neared Sumpter and began climbing up the trail behind Phillips Lake – increasingly, the track narrowed until we reached a hill climb. Snowflake scrambled right up and Paul in his L322 was right behind. Some time was then spent getting everyone up the trail – the two major obstacles being a large V-notch that collapses after the D2 and a couple LR3s went through and a nice boulder that required the modern trucks to climb up the bank and then quickly steer back down into the trail before contacting a tree. Everyone had fun and aside from rim scrapes, no damage. After that, the trail became a narrow, puddle filled pinstripe track until we reached our camp at Phillips Lake. Snowflake rolled in with the fuel light on and a very annoying transfer case out of position sensor blaring nonstop. Once into camp, Miles, Robert, and Mike got to work removing the rear driveshaft and replacing the U-joint. Unfortunately, Snowflake still had the original driveshaft with 1300 size U-joints. Mike had on hand 1310 size U-joints which were too long to be able to circlip them into place. Without options as the local stores needed 3 days to get 1300s in stock, we opted to red Loctite them into place and ping over the edge gripping the cups. Whilst doing this, Nathan helped open the dash up and disconnect the wayward buzzer. This may have been the most important job as it saved Miles from being murdered by Theresa as he had always promised to fix this intermittent (now permanent) issue. The group then relaxed with Tacos by JeffTM,some birdwatching, and a great campfire.

Sunday June 25th, Transit Day 2 The next morning, we awoke bright and early to watch a charter bus bring in the workers to Hyperion. A quick breakfast later, we were barreling along on gravel “highways” to nearly the Oregon Border. As we traveled, the surroundings gave way from desert shrub to high desert bushes, and finally to cottonwoods and alfalfa bearing soils. We rolled into Fields, OR and overwhelmed the staff quickly with fuel and food orders. Shortly after arriving, a Toyota group, another mixed offroad crew, and a few BMW bikes rolled in – we had placed food orders just in time. A bit behind schedule due to the lunch run, we got back onto the highway headed North into overcast Oregon we continued to watch the high desert give way to Ponderosa pines and volcanic formations. Near Silvies we began running along a storm cell, occasionally getting hit with rain and one very good spat of hail – all incredibly refreshing. Just before the hail, Sebastien needed a bio-break, so we all pulled off onto a two-track road. As backing out would be problematic, Robert found the road went ahead 1 mile then looped back to the Highway. While Cris and Seb took care of business, a few of us went on a 15-minute offroad adventure along what turned out to be the old Oregon and Northwestern Railroad berm. Rejoining the group, we proceeded through the massive townsite of Silvies-now-turned-mega-ranch and into Mt. Vernon where we met up with Mike and Leigh Anne. Once refueled, we headed up past Dale, OR and found Nathan and family already established in the Driftwood Campground. The evening was then spent playing in the river, catching up with friends, and eating great food.

Saturday, June 24th – Transit Day 1 The day started bright and early at our oft used 76 fuel station in Milpitas. It was not long before we had met up with Jeff, Johann, Cris and Sebastien, Robert, and Jason, and Will. While we were gathering up Johann discovered his wallet had been left at home. Lucky for him, us members are more than happy to bankroll a fellow traveler. We later met up with Mark, Oliver, and Amelia as well as Paul at Auburn. Nathan and his family would aim to meet us at the trailhead in Dale, OR to help break-up their travel as they are based much farther than the larger group in the Paso Robles area. Mike and Leigh Anne would also be joining us Sunday night. After a good number of fuel stops, the crew finally arrived at our last fuel station of the day in Rye Patch, NV. With fuel in the trucks and jerky in hand, we rolled out into the desert only to run directly into a manned State Parks gate at the Rye Patch Reservoir. A quick discussion with the ranger allowed us to pass through the park and exit out the back into the BLM lands. We were on our way! After barreling along the nicest graded gravel tires have ever rolled on, we arrived at our intersection to camp… at least, that is what the maps said, however, there were no roads that matched in either location nor direction. After a few turnarounds, we eventually found a couple of roads that connected to the very faint Box Canyon Spring Road that would lead us through the Antelope Range to our first campsite. Nestled at the base of the Kamma Range, we unpacked our tents, explored the placer mine ruins, and gazed over at the very established Hyperion Mine. The Hyperion Mine is focused mainly on gold extraction with an estimated lode of 10.6 million ounces of gold in their surveyed 4000 acres. (Hyperion has access to 64,000 total acres of BLM land to assess and extract) The average tonne containing 0.250 grams of gold.

Alrighty, so 3 questions were asked on the trip that haven't been answered yet - but I have the information now! 1) Who / What is Baby's Grave? I copied a pdf that was scanned for us by the Forest Service offices. While it is allegedly a gravesite, it is now mostly used as a locational landmark when describing where one is at in the National Forest 2) How was Winter Ridge / Summer Lake Formed? Winter Ridge is a Fault Block Mountain - there is a good image below. The Great Tetons in Wyoming are also fault block mountains, though much much higher. Winter Ridge is a long fault block mountain that is found along the western margin of the Chewaucan-Summer Lake Basin which has its steep slopes facing east. The high escarpments were formed by down-shifting of the basin floor. The east-facing slopes drop approximately 3000' from the highest point at scenic Fremont Point (7135') to Summer Lake (~4150'). The ridge runs approximately north to south about 30 miles or so from where FS Road 2901 joins Oregon Highway 31 near Picture Rock Pass. 3) What was total trip mileage? I estimate for the folks living in the South Bay we completed a roughly 1771.9mi trip. 37497.pdf

There is an amazon lightning deal and $15 coupon on the Tymate TPMS sensor kit right now. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B79QMDGP?psc=1&smid=A2JTD80WVEKASX&ref_=chk_typ_imgToDp

Robert and I ended up airing down again on Saturday - my tires when warm were pushing 25PSI when I had thought I was at 20PSI. Robert then effectively sold me on the tire pressure monitor gizmo. : - )

It has been done. : )

Jason never fails to brighten my editing in post. He must be terrified

A few highlights of my aging Canon. Gotta start pinching those pennies for an R5 ; ).

AWESOME shots Will!

Thanks Paul! And yes, thank you to all the Uncles and Aunts who helped us with Henry! He really enjoyed spending time with you all! I am hoping I can get sat down and working on the drone footage soon!

Sunday July 2nd, Return to Home Some folks awoke early and made it over to the ridge to gaze down one last time on Summer Lake. Eggs and fajitas were cooked up for the crew; one last big breakfast before heading for home. All packed up, we said goodbyes to Mike and Leigh Anne, they would drop down Government Harvey Pass and take 395 back to Reno. The rest of us would cut west towards Klamath Falls to make our way to I-5, shaving an hour off our return. Just before reaching Klamath Falls, Oliver had a check engine light reporting a misfire on cylinder 1. They pulled off with Sasha to diagnose while the rest of us made it into town for fuel. While Sasha and Oliver troubleshooted replacing the sparkplug and swapping a coil pack, Miles called around to see if there were any injectors in town. The soonest we could get one was July 6th… bust. Robert, meanwhile, found himself introducing the Travel Buddy Oven to very amazed gas station attendants before meandering over to a coin wash. Eventually, Sasha and Oliver made it to town, the group split, Cris, Miles, Johann, would head out as a group keeping a steady 60mph. Paul would rocket back to the Bay to catch up with family, and Robert, Sasha, and Oliver would head back together after some additional troubleshooting. By the time we reached Lake Shasta, Robert, Oliver, and Sasha had caught up to us. Oliver was able to get the LR3 going after adding some Seafoam. Our fuel stop was in Red Bluff where it was found that Snowflake’s radiator pin-hole leak had returned after two trips. The leak had been patched with stop-leak on the Lost Coast Trip. About this time we got the call that Mike and Leigh Anne had made it back safely. After leaving Red Bluff, Oliver fought the LR3 again as the misfire code returned. Just outside of Maxwell, the light began flashing, forcing Oliver to pull over and call for a AAA tow. Sasha stayed with them and ferried Oliver and Amelia back to the Bay Area while Mark awaited the AAA truck. We decided to continue since the temperatures were a sweltering 110 degrees F. Snowflake and Cris’ D90 air conditioning could only make cabin temps bearable. So the group split again, and there were no further issues – most everyone made it home before 9PM.

Saturday July 1st, Trail Day 6 The next morning, we gave Jeff’s truck a good look over. There was a new oil leak – 1 drip per 1.5 seconds, some scuffed bumpers, a peeled front skid plate, and the leaking air strut. The RTV patch was attempted again, but this time, we had Jeff hold off on starting the truck for an hour to let the RTV setup. The crew waved goodbye to Jeff, and we departed Christmas Valley to the South headed towards Winter Ridge. We had decided prior to leaving that we would run the 2nd to last leg of the trail. The final leg needed to be bypassed if we were to arrive home on time. The new plan was to camp at Mud Flat for this final night and then head for home. It should be an easy day as we had already knocked about 30 miles off the 100mile total for this leg by staying in Christmas Valley the night before. Crane Mountain will have to wait for next time. The going was easy, if not a little rocky as we climbed out of the Valley. A quick lunch stopover at Picture Rock Pass was had. Paul hunted down the petroglyphs in the area, and we took some time rock scrambling to ensure we hadn’t missed any. Back on the trail, we began the climb up the south side of Winter Ridge. Snowflake threw an engine Code 68, that required a brief check. Only the speedometer sensor faulting out – moving along. The track winded through the forest and meadows with wildflowers in full bloom, the deep red soils, and beautiful trees. It was a spectacular break from the day before. Soon, we reached Fremont Point, an overlook on Winter Ridge looking down onto Summer Lake. The names were given by expeditioner John C. Fremont as he stood atop the ridge, surrounded by snow, looking down at the dry lakebed below. It felt much the same, as we had cool temps (and even some snow on the cliff sides) but below, we could see the heat shimmering off the lake. Another 15 minutes brought us past Mud Springs and into Mud Flats. Jason and Miles rebuilt the aging fire pit while the camper’s setup. Everyone was hungry, so we cooked up everything! Tri-tip, fajitas, burgers, dogs, you name it, we had it. Cobbler was made for desert with Cris supplying the ice cream! Even Henry got in on the food action eating ¾ of a can of fruit cocktail, half a hot dog, half a chicken burger, and lastly a bottle. Fed and happy, content that we had given the ORBDR our all, there was only one last task to complete. Funk #49. Paul D. had not been able to make the trip, libations were poured, and music played to honor our lost comrade. Jason and Henry got groovy, and a great musical discussion was had.

Friday June 30th, Trail Day 5 The dune campers awoke and began doing various small field repairs and cleanup while awaiting Robert, Oliver, and Jeff to arrive. Mike and Johann worked to test out a new sidewall repair kit on Johann’s punctured tire and Miles worked to replace the air line that blew out on Snowflake between the manifold and front locker solenoid. Around 8:20AM we got the call that Jeff’s group was moving, but that it was going to be slow going as the compressor was still overheating. The team was able to get the bags pumped up and pulled the fuse to keep the computers from deflating. However, another 15minutes later and we received a call that the front passenger side had dropped. By 9:45AM Jeff’s truck had progressed one mile – Robert, Mark, Oliver, and Amelia were tossing the rocks out of the path of the L405 to get it off the trail. Jason was shuffling vehicles as they progressed. Jeff received a sidewall puncture. This was not working well. Around noon, Mike, Paul, Sasha, and myself loaded up into Mike’s 110 and we drove back to find Jeff. We found a very tired and dehydrated crew. We quickly unloaded and started tossing rocks out of the way. Miles relieved Robert in spotting and morale improved. The patch on the sidewall failed. Miles started patching the sidewall while Mark and Oliver started hooking up a compressor. This second patch lasted for about 15 minutes down the trail. During the patching the second time, Sasha took the lead on patching. Mike began pulling all the gear out of the back of Jeff’s truck to access the spare. The spare was rolled into the back of Mike’s truck in case the patch failed again. While all of this was going on, eagle-eyed Paul struck again. He found that the passenger front airbag was leaking from the upper mount location through the O-ring. Robert, Mike, and Paul quickly scrambled together a patch using O-rings, RTV, and a flat washer off Mike’s tire carrier. We were moving! And fast! The L405 pumped up to offroad height and we were off. Flying down the trail at 5mph the support trucks couldn’t get out of the way fast enough, the rock crews couldn’t keep up. The wind was in our hair, the dust billowing behind us… for 20 minutes. Then the patch blew out and the truck sat back down begging us for more punishment. The rest was a blur, at some point, we hit the sandy track and crept into camp. We met up with the rest of the group at 4:00PM. After a very late breakfast, we finished breaking camp and began the trek into Christmas Valley. It was decided we would stay the night in town at an RV park site for showers and a well needed recharge. Jeff and Robert, who had taken the biggest beating, would stay in the two remaining motel rooms. On the way into town, Jeff’s spare blew out and Johann’s patch succeeded. While the patch kit failed eventually, it did the job of enabling the truck to drive the 15 remaining miles to asphalt. A good piece of kit to have! --- Hopefully folks will get photos uploaded to the drive and I can add some images into this one ; ).

We do try to lock in the dates as soon as possible. I expect next year's will be sometime around April as we will be back in the Mojave. And I do hope we can encourage those with families to join as it aims to be a family friendly event! Little Henry certainly found it friendly ; ).

Thursday June 29th, Trail Day 4 Thursday morning, we made great time getting out of camp, even though we were roughly an hour further along than the itinerary required. It was a good thing too, as the ORBDR was about to raise the difficulty level. An attempt was made to swing by Allison Guard Station – an original 1911 administrative building and forest management site now used as a summer firefighter backwoods station and rental cabins, however, yet again thwarted by a gate closure. Climbing down out of the Oregon pine forests and the environment began to show signs of past volcanic activity. We climbed out onto a ridge to a great view of Mackey, Willow, and Anne Butte’s. After some sightseeing, we dropped down to a site marked on the map as “grave.” At the time of trip planning, no location on the site was found. It is a bit unsettling to come across a white picket fence in the woods surrounded with children’s toys. On the picket fence was a cross labeled Baby’s grave. If one squinted, you could maybe make out “BABY” inscribed on the rock surrounded by a picket fence. A promise was made to investigate this upon arrival at home for more backstory. Stuck at Sawmill No. 2 Reservoir… a detour around a closed road a fallen tree resulted in Jeff falling into a nice mudhole. Snowflake and Paul’s L322 made it easily through, only to leave ruts that quickly sank deeper when the L405 passed over. A quick yank backwards from Will and a bubba rope got him out. Jeff swung wide on the next attempt and made it through. Sasha and Oliver filled in the ruts with some clay clods and tree chunks with hopes that should someone slip into the hole there would be enough material to allow them to pass over. It almost worked. Oliver’s LR3 decided to go for a mud bath and plunged headfirst into the hole. Cris’ winch was acting up, so pulling rearward was a no go. Mike’s 110 equipped with a bubba rope was also no match for the LR3’s determination to wallow. Winching with a snatch block got him out. The rest managed to avoid the now LR3 sized hole. Good progress was made until we turned up Jack’s creek – here the forest was doing its best to reclaim the land from the eruptions of long ago. However, just below the surface soils were nasty hard igneous rocks we would come to know as “potatoes.” After a relatively easy climb into the Buck Mountains, we descended to Upper Ryegrass flat. The descent was incredible slow as the road became more loose boulder than dirt. Progress was very slow. As we descended into the marsh of North Sheep Lake, Will smacked a rock pushing his exhaust into his rear driveshaft. Robert applied a quick trail fix, and progress resumed. As it turns out, the marsh at the South end of North Sheep Lake was more lake than marsh and we had to detour around a very flooded section of trail. Then over the next ridge, Nordell Lake was more marsh than lake… 2:00PM was when the rovers reached the CCC Gap Ranch site. Trucks and people were well rattled. During a quick lunch, Will discovered a snapped rear shock on his 110. As lunch ended, Nathan and Will both chose to depart the trail to prevent further damage to the trucks. This proved to be a wise decision. The NCLR crew of 9 pressed on, relieved to find that the next 30 miles were through sandy range lands surrounded by buttes and cattle. The fast progress ground to a halt as we neared Black Ridge (foreshadow). Potatoes – more like melons this time appeared alongside the trail, until they were the only thing on the trail. Soon a call came over the radio that Jeff’s truck had overheated the compressor and was resting on the bump stops. Jeff limped along slowly until we reached a cow pond. Initially, the assumption was that the compressor was quickly cycling through offroad height and highway height causing the pump to overheat. Robert and Oliver decided to wait with Jeff for the truck to cool while the rest of the team pressed on the few (assumed) 7 short miles to camp. It took the first group 2 hours to reach camp in the dunes. Both Johann and Paul ripped open sidewalls on the way down from Black Ridge – Mark ended up finding multiple pieces of incredibly sharp obsidian in the trail. To make matters worse, the setting sun blinded drivers on the hill climbs and fatigue was setting in. Camp was reached at 7:30PM. Sasha and Miles were able to convince Robert and Jeff to remain put for the night due to visibility and fatigue concerns. They had managed to push forward another quarter mile to the top of Black Ridge, the hardest bit being a somewhat technical rock ledge at the top. A plan was made for them to wake up early and limp into camp around 9 or 10AM the next day. The lead group would have breakfast ready. ORBDR 5 had other plans.

Wednesday June 28th, Trail Day 3 We left Crane Creek campground and made the muddy climb up Rattlesnake Ridge much to Paul’s chagrin. We made reassurances that the ridge was named this ironically because there of course were NO rattlesnakes here! After some hours on trail, we made our way to the Frazier Point lookout tower for lunch. Unfortunately, right as we arrived a small storm cloud passed and briefly rained on us. The tower itself is now registered as historic but is condemned and blocked off to prevent people climbing the 100’ tower to the 5’x 5’ lookout cab. The lookout living quarters had also been thoroughly trashed, so it is unlikely that the cabin will be added into the Oregon lookout rental program. Dropping down from Frazier point, we arrived in Seneca where we refueled at the Bear Valley Market. The owner and his wife were incredibly grateful for the business, and he shared some history of the Hines lumber company. Many of the homes (not on main street) that the workers lived in are constructed of old rail cars butted together and built out from there. He also mentioned that in the 1930s Edward Hines plumbed steam from the lumber plant furnaces under the public pool to provide year-round heating. Mark also had one of the homemade brownies – from initial reports, this is worth a stop in Seneca alone! The homemade lemonade wasn’t bad either. Leaving Seneca, little did we know that we were about to enter the challenging territory of the BDR. We made good time down to our marked campsite – Cheatum Holler Camp, a location on the Forest Service map named after an incident involving Mr. Cheatum and his wife. Apparently, while out scouting with mapper Loe Gunther, Mr. Cheatum had a bit too much whiskey to drink. Leading to a very angry and loud Mrs. Cheatum. Leo Gunther then immortalized this incident into forest service map much to Mr. Cheatum’s dismay. However, to our dismay, the mosquitos (also known as Mozies according to Nathan) were very thick and after some scouting, we decided we would proceed down our track to check out sites on Sugarloaf Mountain and further if needed. Thwarted again we were; this time by a locked gate. Sugarloaf being a bust, Will found a reference for Alder Creek Camp several miles away, a short drive later we found the intended route did not exist and we then detoured by nice gravel roads to regain our track. About halfway to this new campsite, we stopped for Mark and Oliver to check out something on their LR3. Whilst stopped, eagle-eyed Paul spotted a large fire pit in the meadow. A radio call went out, and the people rejoiced! Alas, the meadow was not as kind as we had hoped. Hidden in the tall grass were many a boulder as Nathan quickly found out. His transfer case subframe had a hard meet and greet with one rock leaving the subframe crushed and pressed into the front driveshaft on the L322. Some expletives and Robert’s Milwaukee grinder extricated the subframe from the driveshaft leaving a protection compromised, but drivable L322. Meanwhile, Oliver had set to work building a fantastic fire for us while Sebastien and Henry played in the playpen.

Tuesday June 27th, Trail Day 2 Tuesday was a more relaxed day beginning in the McEwen Railyard where we met up with a local LeAnne Wolf. She gave us a rather colorful and eccentric tour of the railyard including stories of her as a child throwing switches for the steam trains in the yard. Then we headed into the trainshed to check out a Kiesler steam locomotive #3 (unique in that they have driveshafts) as well as the number 19 engine, that after serving on the Sumpter railroad was shipped to the Alaskan Yukon territory to haul lumber. At the end of its life, rather than being scrapped, it was shipped by barge to Washington and then rode the rails with Union Pacific, was loaded onto a truck, and delivered to the Sumpter Valley Railroad. At the end of the tour, we gave LeAnne a T-shirt and NCLR patches as thanks. After the tour of the yard, we headed into town and toured the restored Sumpter Dredge that churned up the entire valley for gold, an outdoor mining exhibit, the local museum, and finally ending at the local café for lunch. As we headed out, we chatted with a few locals who were more than excited to see the Rovers out and about. As the Toyota guy said, “I’m just happy to not see more Jeeps.” The other gentleman swung his Polaris RZR over and got a picture of it in front of our lineup. Back on the trails, we made our way back up into the mountains, climbing up through the destruction and rebirth caused by the 2018 Rail Fire. At the Table Rock Lookout, we received spectacular views of the land from 7,815ft in elevation. Margaret, the lookout keeper, explained to us that she would be there all summer and that she had to truck all her supplies up the mountain. She brings up water in 5-gallon boxes and uses about 1.5 boxes per week. The kids also got to play with Dusty the dog and watch Mittens the cat through the windows of the lookout. There was also mention that she was very thankful for the firearms training in her previous life as she has some less enjoyable visitors on occasion. We also left a patch with Margaret for sharing her time with us. Climbing down from Table Mountain we ran into many a mud hole, allowing the adventurous (and those less so) to try on a new temporary paint job. Turns out most rovers look great in brown. Eventually we made our way to the Crane Creek campground for a refreshing evening. While most folks elected to bathe or shower in the creek, Mike went ahead and bathed his 110. In the end, it was spotless.

Monday June 26th, Trail Day 1 In the morning, we all aired down and departed down the trail towards our destination of Phillips Reservoir. The trails were well groomed, and we came across several tree crews mowing the trails and cleaning up downed trees. Overall, these trails and forest were incredibly well kept. Shortly before noon we made it to the Desolation Butte Lookout tower for a quick stop. The Desolation Butte tower is a 67’ tall timber structure situated at 7028’ feet in elevation. In 1996, the lookout survived the Bull fire. We then traveled down to the shores of Olive Lake where we had a nice lunch stop and discussed the history of the lake. As it turns out, the lake was named by the pioneers of Granite that would often picnic in the area and toss olive pits into it – thus Olive Lake it was. The lake was also dammed in the early 1900s to raise the water level another 25ft in preparation for hydropower. A quick drive later we found ourselves the Fremont Powerhouse – a hydroelectric plant completed in 1906 to supply power to the nearby Red Boy mines using water carried down from Olive Lake in a 32” diameter redwood stave pipe. Later the plant ran 27kV to the Sumpter Dredges. It wasn’t until the 40s that the powerhouse supplied power to the even closer town of Granite for residential use. Lucky for us, the caretaker was onsite, and he gave us a tour and a walk-through of the site. Most interesting were the 4 massive blue Florentine marble pieces brought in from Italy to be used as an electrically isolated control panel. As the group headed down from the powerhouse to Granite for fuel, Miles’ rover Snowflake started to develop a harsh constant vibration. Once we hit the pavement, Robert helped to identify it as a rear driveshaft U-joint. It was decided we would continue as we were only a few hours from camp. Granite was a bust, the gas station unfortunately had been sold and was under a management transition – no gas for us! This really wasn’t a problem for any rover but Snowflake. Cris had an external tank in the D90, so while fuel consumption was similar, with the flick of a switch, he had an extra 13 gallons. The group neared Sumpter and began climbing up the trail behind Phillips Lake – increasingly, the track narrowed until we reached a hill climb. Snowflake scrambled right up and Paul in his L322 was right behind. Some time was then spent getting everyone up the trail – the two major obstacles being a large V-notch that collapses after the D2 and a couple LR3s went through and a nice boulder that required the modern trucks to climb up the bank and then quickly steer back down into the trail before contacting a tree. Everyone had fun and aside from rim scrapes, no damage. After that, the trail became a narrow, puddle filled pinstripe track until we reached our camp at Phillips Lake. Snowflake rolled in with the fuel light on and a very annoying transfer case out of position sensor blaring nonstop. Once into camp, Miles, Robert, and Mike got to work removing the rear driveshaft and replacing the U-joint. Unfortunately, Snowflake still had the original driveshaft with 1300 size U-joints. Mike had on hand 1310 size U-joints which were too long to be able to circlip them into place. Without options as the local stores needed 3 days to get 1300s in stock, we opted to red Loctite them into place and ping over the edge gripping the cups. Whilst doing this, Nathan helped open the dash up and disconnect the wayward buzzer. This may have been the most important job as it saved Miles from being murdered by Theresa as he had always promised to fix this intermittent (now permanent) issue. The group then relaxed with Tacos by JeffTM,some birdwatching, and a great campfire.

Sunday June 25th, Transit Day 2 The next morning, we awoke bright and early to watch a charter bus bring in the workers to Hyperion. A quick breakfast later, we were barreling along on gravel “highways” to nearly the Oregon Border. As we traveled, the surroundings gave way from desert shrub to high desert bushes, and finally to cottonwoods and alfalfa bearing soils. We rolled into Fields, OR and overwhelmed the staff quickly with fuel and food orders. Shortly after arriving, a Toyota group, another mixed offroad crew, and a few BMW bikes rolled in – we had placed food orders just in time. A bit behind schedule due to the lunch run, we got back onto the highway headed North into overcast Oregon we continued to watch the high desert give way to Ponderosa pines and volcanic formations. Near Silvies we began running along a storm cell, occasionally getting hit with rain and one very good spat of hail – all incredibly refreshing. Just before the hail, Sebastien needed a bio-break, so we all pulled off onto a two-track road. As backing out would be problematic, Robert found the road went ahead 1 mile then looped back to the Highway. While Cris and Seb took care of business, a few of us went on a 15-minute offroad adventure along what turned out to be the old Oregon and Northwestern Railroad berm. Rejoining the group, we proceeded through the massive townsite of Silvies-now-turned-mega-ranch and into Mt. Vernon where we met up with Mike and Leigh Anne. Once refueled, we headed up past Dale, OR and found Nathan and family already established in the Driftwood Campground. The evening was then spent playing in the river, catching up with friends, and eating great food.

Saturday, June 24th – Transit Day 1 The day started bright and early at our oft used 76 fuel station in Milpitas. It was not long before we had met up with Jeff, Johann, Cris and Sebastien, Robert, and Jason, and Will. While we were gathering up Johann discovered his wallet had been left at home. Lucky for him, us members are more than happy to bankroll a fellow traveler. We later met up with Mark, Oliver, and Amelia as well as Paul at Auburn. Nathan and his family would aim to meet us at the trailhead in Dale, OR to help break-up their travel as they are based much farther than the larger group in the Paso Robles area. Mike and Leigh Anne would also be joining us Sunday night. After a good number of fuel stops, the crew finally arrived at our last fuel station of the day in Rye Patch, NV. With fuel in the trucks and jerky in hand, we rolled out into the desert only to run directly into a manned State Parks gate at the Rye Patch Reservoir. A quick discussion with the ranger allowed us to pass through the park and exit out the back into the BLM lands. We were on our way! After barreling along the nicest graded gravel tires have ever rolled on, we arrived at our intersection to camp… at least, that is what the maps said, however, there were no roads that matched in either location nor direction. After a few turnarounds, we eventually found a couple of roads that connected to the very faint Box Canyon Spring Road that would lead us through the Antelope Range to our first campsite. Nestled at the base of the Kamma Range, we unpacked our tents, explored the placer mine ruins, and gazed over at the very established Hyperion Mine. The Hyperion Mine is focused mainly on gold extraction with an estimated lode of 10.6 million ounces of gold in their surveyed 4000 acres. (Hyperion has access to 64,000 total acres of BLM land to assess and extract) The average tonne containing 0.250 grams of gold.

2023 Annual Overland: Oregon Backcountry Discover Route #5 Author: M. Wynn For the second year of the newly inaugurated NCLR Annual Overland the club headed North to tackle the Oregon Backcountry Discovery Route (ORBDR). There are 6 routes created by the Oregon Off-Highway Vehicle Association (OOHVA) and one brand new route created by RideBDR. Of these many routes, #5 from OOHVA was chosen. As luck would have it, our member Gabe had run portions of #5 previously and this pre-run helped immensely in planning the pace needed to complete the route. Based on this information, numerous maps, and phone calls out to local organizations, it was decided that the entire Route #5 could not be easily completed within the 9 days allotted including transit to and from the trail. Thus, NCLR would enter BDR #5 from Dale, OR – cutting off the northernmost section of the trail. (Don’t worry… we’ll be back) … Like the first Annual Overland that took us to the Eastern Mojave, the late model trucks arrived enforce! Attendees this year were: · Sasha / SDS / LR3 · Mike and Leigh Anne / Mffoster / Land Rover 110 · Johann / yokieger / LR3 · Jeff / jcb / L405 · Cris and Sebastien / lithium1330 / NAS Defender 90 · Robert and Jason / RobertDingli / Discovery 2 · Oliver, Mark, and Amelia / drafdog / LR3 · Paul / Motobrewer / L322 · Will / Gotrover / New Defender 110 · Nathan, Corinne, and Gryphon / SLOHybrid / L322 · Miles, Theresa, and Henry / Mr.Bluesky / RRC Paul D. had hoped to join us in his Range Rover Classic, but could not due to life complications. Of course, we remembered Paul as best we could! (More on that later).