Mom's first outing in a long time

The day started out like any other normal wheeling trip. I had not been on the trail in about 4 months. I was itching to go big time!  We headed to the Tillamook State Forest to a trail I had ridden on but never driven.

We stopped at the view point at the pass for a few photo's :-)  We had never stopped there before but I thought with the snow it would make for a nice holiday photo :-)

We kept on going over the pass and down the other side.We stopped at the  Diamond Mill day use area to use the last actual bathroom before hitting the trail we had set out to drive. The day use area was a winter wonderland.

We headed up Fox Creek Ridge Road and explored for a bit. 

After playing on Fox Creek Ridge road for a while we headed back over to Jordan Creek Road and  for Stick in the Nose, trail number 37. 

 The rock garden was fun. The only other  time I was on the trail I was the designated photographer so I didn't get to drive it. 

Most of Stick in the Nose is steep, narrow and off camber. Not a difficult trail but just enough tilt in area's to make it fun.  But when you add snow and ice to a trail that slopes one way or the other and is not much wider than a Jeep it can make for some interesting trail riding. 

At some point along our journey my ass end decided it wanted to go one way while the front went the other, and the harder I tried to get straight the more I slipped sideways to the trail. *disclaimer the photo's of our mishaps do not do justice to the steepness of the trail nor the depth of the ditches or hill sides. 

This photo doesn't show the 4 foot hole behind me filled with icy water. My son who has never been off-roading got a crash course in winching and recovery.  We finally got Baby Doll parallel to the road again and off we went up the hill to see what other kinds of trouble we could get in to.

We were driving along enjoying the view of the snowy countryside. I look up just as Dad and the boy go around a bend in he trail and all of a sudden I see them again as they are sliding off the hillside toward the canyon below. Then just as suddenly as they came in to my view they stopped in mid slide. I seriously thought they were about to start barrel rolling down the mountain! To our luck the ODF had placed some logs in the area to prevent drivers from creating an unauthorized trail and the top one was dug into the side of the hill well enough it stopped Dad's slide.

I get on the CB and ask if they are ok, and my son tells me simply "NO",  at the time I didn't know he just meant they were not on the trail any more so I panicked. I yanked on the e-brake and took my foot of the clutch killing Baby Doll.  I was about 2 blocks behind them down the hill. I rushed up the hill in the snow and ice as quickly as my little feet and hiking boots would let me.  As I tried to catch my breath and assess the situation my son dropped out of the passenger door and Dad unzips his window and starts talking as if he parks like this all the time. OY!  He asks me to get his recovery stuff out of the back of his jeep. Yeah that's not gonna work, the tail gate opens to the passenger side that is on the down hill side. All I could think about is the weight of it would shift the Jeep enough that it would push them on over the log.

Again this doesn't show the steepness of the trail. We are NOT on flat ground here.  I went back and got Baby Doll and inched past Dad, we tied Baby Doll off to a stump, then chalked my rear tires.  We then used her as an anchor point for The Ugly Duckling, and very slowly winched her up off the side of the mountain. I have to say, there is something very disconcerting about watching your husband and oldest child sliding, and you have no control over what is about to happen. Scarred the ever living hell out of me!

After talking for a bit about what had lead to them sliding off the trail, we realized Dad was not wearing his glasses at that time. He had taken them off to defog and dry them, and had forgotten to put them back on before we started out again. Now Dad has no depth perception with out his glasses. So when he had touch the bank on the drivers side and corrected to prevent rubbing again he went to far to the right.

We got the Ugly Duckling back on the trail and she showed no damage from her experience. We decided to travel up the trail a bit farther to a place Dad knows is wide enough to turn around. So we can go back down as we have decided that even though the snow is not deep it is slick enough we are done for the day.

I got about 50 feet up the hill and my ass deiced it wants to go off the trail again. OY! my nerves are rattled from the last 2 incidents. This time the ditch is about 6 or so feet deep. I would not have gone over the mountain at this point as there was a large wall built up, but I would have done some damage and been stuck hard core if I had slid into it.  After winching me up and up and to the left to get the Jeep away from the right side of the trail and gave me more wiggle/ slide room.We took a break and talked about our best course of action.  I actually broke down and handed the control's over to Dad. I have NEVER given up on a trail and had someone else get me out of a stuck, but I just couldn't do it this time.

We decided instead of continuing up we would just take our time and turn around there on the trail. We did just that. Our boy was a spotter on one side of the trail and I spotted the other and we got the Jeeps turned around with out indecent. Gravity and ice played a large part in the turn around. As we headed back down the trail we had no further issues. Thank goodness I may have had to walk  home from there haha




On our way home as we crested the top of the pass and started down, we saw a little car high centered on the snow that the plow had pushed off the highway.  He was in such a spot that we didn't want to use the winch to get him out as we would have been sitting on the freeway in a curve. So we decided to do a little digging and had him rock back and forth until he was able to break free and hit dry pavement.

It kind of pisses me off that he had been sitting there with his 4 way blinkers on and not one person had stopped to see if he and his daughter where ok. It was dark, wet and cold out. Even if they could not have helped get him free they could have offered to call for help as we where in a dead cell zone.  Please take the time to make sure people are ok. Not everyone is an expert in all driving conditions.

Play safe and Tread Lightly! 
A 4 Wheeling Mom