Lacking adult supervision, the only obvious thing to do was head to the hills. OG and I met up somewhere south of Kennewick around 0800 and headed South toward the metropolis of Dale, Oregon at an alarmingly low rate of speed. This was due to the myriad animals that kept popping up along the route, everything from bovine to badger... At any rate, it was beautiful day for a road trip and neither of us minded a bit as the miles slowly clicked by:
Finally we pulled over to stretch out legs a bit and let the dogs relieve themselves:
From this set of corrals it was about a 30 minute jaunt up and over Battle Mountain and into the bustling little community of Ukiah, Oregon. We had hoped to fuel up there, but luck was not on our side even though we thoroughly enjoyed our few minutes in Ukiah. Southward on US Hwy 395 we went, and soon enough we were fueling up in Dale, Oregon for something like $100/gallon. Oh well, better than the alternative... From Dale we headed a little further South, and finally turned onto dirt following NF-21 due East. It wasn't long before we found snow, so we aired down and let the dogs do what dogs do:
For the record, my entire goal for the day was to scope out this area for camping spots that might be available in the next few weeks. The snow we found, although patchy, was very heavy and wet and most certainly would prevent our motorhome from getting where it needs to be, so the wait for spring camping continues... Regardless, we found a decent spot to start a fire and cook up some lunch:
At this point, we decided to try and find a connector trail that appeared on the map, but we had never traversed. Having flashbacks to recent trips with similar story lines, we cautiously carried on, gradually encountering more and more consistent snow on the trails:
Luckily for us, the connector trail was a reality and dropped us out onto a major forest service road. At the intersection, we were faced with a decision to either take a left and return to US Hwy 395 and be home for an early supper, or take a right and explore the ridges in the distance with the potential for being the first ones to break trail across the top, at Olive Lake, and make our way down the other side to Granite, Oregon. The locals in Dale had reinforced what I had read on the Forest Service website, in that the route across the top was snowbound and not suitable for anything but snow machines... Well, challenge accepted. We took a hard right and headed up in elevation. Along the way we crisscrossed the John Day river a couple of times, and came across a truly epic homestead:
As we crossed the 5,000ft elevation mark, we both noted a significant change in snow conditions. The fact of the matter was, the snow was several feet deep and the going was actually pretty good, right up until it wasn't... We pushed on:
Finally, at around 5:30pm, we breached 6,000ft elevation and arrived at Olive Lake with an amazing backdrop of blue sky and bright light from the low-hanging fireball:
Continuing to break trail down the other side of the hill, we finally arrived at the historic Femont Powerhouse just outside of Granite:
Hunger was starting to set in, so we made a quick decent to the pavement and aired up. As it turns out, the afternoon of trail breaking had left a massive ice ball in my driver-front tire, and this proceeded to induce some of the nastiest death wobble that I have ever encountered. It took about 20 miles to finally get enough heat generated in the brakes and hub to break the ice up and clear it out:
At long last, we arrived in Granite:
This was good news/bad news: good news because we had actually made our intended destination, but bad news because it was nearly 8pm and we were 4 hours from home... Oh well, such is the life of the intrepid explorer, right? We made out way out to I-84 at Baker City, fueled up again and grabbed a quick gut-bomb for the road, and hammered down for home. 16 solid hours and nearly 450 miles of pure awesomeness, can't wait to do it again
Gilligan's 3-Hour Tour 4-09-2021
Moderator: SPR
Gilligan's 3-Hour Tour 4-09-2021
Yep, I've wheeled one of those, too...
Re: Gilligan's 3-Hour Tour 4-09-2021
Very cool. Thank you for sharing.
So far my Gladiator on 37's has only made it to The Slab for a muddy test run, a couple Hanford Hiway midnight snow runs to 100K area, Juniper Dunes, and many many grocery store runs!
So far my Gladiator on 37's has only made it to The Slab for a muddy test run, a couple Hanford Hiway midnight snow runs to 100K area, Juniper Dunes, and many many grocery store runs!
2018 JLU Rubicon
Tow bar mount
Trailer hitch
Tow bar mount
Trailer hitch
- motomick76
- Posts: 12
- Joined: Sun Jun 21, 2015 4:45 pm
- Location: Kennewick, WA
Re: Gilligan's 3-Hour Tour 4-09-2021
Awesome run!
Here, take my money....
2000 LR4 Sahara Build -
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/2000-sahara-ls-lr4-conversion-with-nv3550-and-241or.34980/
2000 LR4 Sahara Build -
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/2000-sahara-ls-lr4-conversion-with-nv3550-and-241or.34980/
Re: Gilligan's 3-Hour Tour 4-09-2021
My view was essentially the same. . .except that I wasn't under the same lack of adult supervision. Wifey, thankfully, was forgiving since I did, in fact, come home alive and during the same day. . .within about 12 minutes.
Re: Gilligan's 3-Hour Tour 4-09-2021
Yep, I've wheeled one of those, too...
Re: Gilligan's 3-Hour Tour 4-09-2021
We found ourselves down that way to witness the eclipse. Camped around Galena. Stayed on the asphalt (for the most part) but was neat to look around.
Re: Gilligan's 3-Hour Tour 4-09-2021
Yep, the meadow where OG and I had lunch is the very same meadow that we viewed the eclipse from back in 2017... I've been camping/wheeling/hunting that area literally my entire life. Not much in the way of technical wheeling to speak of (unless there is snow), but there are some fantastic trails to just toot around on and soak in the views.
Yep, I've wheeled one of those, too...
- motomick76
- Posts: 12
- Joined: Sun Jun 21, 2015 4:45 pm
- Location: Kennewick, WA
Re: Gilligan's 3-Hour Tour 4-09-2021
Forgot to mention, nice Monster wheels Also have a black lab, but terrified of riding in ANY vehicle, make road trips a bummer.
Here, take my money....
2000 LR4 Sahara Build -
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/2000-sahara-ls-lr4-conversion-with-nv3550-and-241or.34980/
2000 LR4 Sahara Build -
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/2000-sahara-ls-lr4-conversion-with-nv3550-and-241or.34980/
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