2023 Annual Overland Trip - Oregon BDR #5 South

[CRYA]

16 minutes ago, Elherbinator said:

That’s a good point. I’m sure Miles and the subcommittee appreciate the criticisms at this point of the trip. Thanks Bud!

Jesus Christ you’re always on the defensive. I know Miles and the rest will not at all take my congratulations on an epic run and a suggestion on future planning as criticism. These trips take a ton of time and energy to plan and it’s a thankless job as all volunteers to pull them together. 
 

That being said, offering up some input on future planning in no way minimizes their efforts so don’t speak for them mmm k? Thanks Bud. 

[Mffoster]

1 hour ago, PaulD said:

Mike Foster washing his truck in the creek.. that is so... me...!

--Paul

😎

[Elherbinator]

11 minutes ago, CRYA said:

Jesus Christ you’re always on the defensive. I know Miles and the rest will not at all take my congratulations on an epic run and a suggestion on future planning as criticism. These trips take a ton of time and energy to plan and it’s a thankless job as all volunteers to pull them together. 
 

That being said, offering up some input on future planning in no way minimizes their efforts so don’t speak for them mmm k? Thanks Bud. 

It’s actually a criticism by, you know, the definition of the word. Maybe you should consider contributing actual effort in helping with some of the duties of running the club and maybe even this trip in particular. I just find it such a low and petty move to throw a wet blanket on the successful trip by throwing out criticisms literally the day they put the recap up. Poor taste. Give them a pay on the back for what they did. Save the other crap for later. 

[Mr.BlueSky]

1 hour ago, CRYA said:

Looks like another epic run! Hate to have missed it. Given the time commitment of these trips along with many of us that want to join have younger families, hopefully for the ‘24 Roverland, the dates can be locked in sooner? Just a hint for the Overland Subcommittee. Longer range planning could help us all out as the miles and remoteness is a whole different experience than rock crawling for a day or two. 

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 ; ).

[Mr.BlueSky]

Friday June 30^th, 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 ; ).

[Mr.BlueSky]

Saturday July 1^st, 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 2^nd 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.

 

[Mr.BlueSky]

Sunday July 2^nd, 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 6^th… 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.

[Motobrewer]

Great write up @Mr.BlueSky and a fantastic overland trip. I’ll get some family camping practice in and try to talk my wife and kid in joining next year. 

Posted some pictures to the drive and working on sorting through the Insta360 footage. Hope to see the drone movies soon too! 

Absolutely great to see so many returning to this years from last. Henry certainly had many Uncles ready to help out. And I look forward to another night DJ @Mffoster.  

[Mr.BlueSky]

18 minutes ago, Motobrewer said:

Great write up @Mr.BlueSky and a fantastic overland trip. I’ll get some family camping practice in and try to talk my wife and kid in joining next year. 

Posted some pictures to the drive and working on sorting through the Insta360 footage. Hope to see the drone movies soon too! 

Absolutely great to see so many returning to this years from last. Henry certainly had many Uncles ready to help out. And I look forward to another night DJ @Mffoster.  

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!

[Gotrovr]

[Gotrovr]

[Gotrovr]

[Gotrovr]

[Mr.BlueSky]

AWESOME shots Will!

[Mr.BlueSky]

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

[Mr.BlueSky]

[Mr.BlueSky]

Jason never fails to brighten my editing in post.

He must be terrified

[PaulD]

Wow...! Great write-up Miles...! Hell of a trip sounds like. Great to hear and see such camaraderie and what's the French phrase? "Esprit de Corps...!"

Geez, just one of those trips where packing "everything" was mandatory! And sorry I missed DJ Mike and the music session!

--Paul

[lithium1330]

On 7/2/2023 at 8:20 PM, Mr.BlueSky said:

We got home around 7:30PM. 

So many shenanigans have ensued. I'll start working on a full writeup - for now I'll let the folks settle with a google photos album.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/GRv1Hmg3wnbJ2qC67

@Mr.BlueSky can you drop this link into original post so it's easier to find. Thanks!

[foster]

Great write-up Miles. Sounds like an awesome trip that will be remembered for quite a while!

[Mr.BlueSky]

2 hours ago, lithium1330 said:

@Mr.BlueSky can you drop this link into original post so it's easier to find. Thanks!

It has been done. : )

[lutz]

Wow what an amazing trip you guys had. Thank you for the great write up Miles. 

[Gotrovr]

Only video I shot with my R5

[PaulD]

I threw this question out to Will/Gotrovr a couple days ago...

Do you guys think the newer trucks with the wider tracks (i.e. LR3's, LR4's, L322 & up) were somewhat more compromised in terms of sidewall exposure in those boulder and volcanic rock fields?

Just curious...

--Paul

[pilotgabe]

Jesus Christ you’re always on the defensive. I know Miles and the rest will not at all take my congratulations on an epic run and a suggestion on future planning as criticism. These trips take a ton of time and energy to plan and it’s a thankless job as all volunteers to pull them together. 
 
That being said, offering up some input on future planning in no way minimizes their efforts so don’t speak for them mmm k? Thanks Bud. 

No worries man, as one of the three planners (and de facto pre-runner), this was not taken as criticism, just good feedback. I’m sure we’ll give as much heads up as possible. I gave my group a 6 months heads up and then got date suggestions and it worked perfect. We’ll strive to make it happen for as many as possible. Family trips are the best trips.


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