Monday, May 11, 2009

Christmas Valley

This weekend, Whitney and I left Corvallis after 6:00 with the intention of meeting up with a group of people from the Northwest Overland Society and driving around off-road in Christmas Valley, in the Oregon desert. Although we made it to Christmas Valley just fine, we did not have good enough directions to make it to their campsite. We spent an hour driving around in the dark on some of the dirt roads out of town. We had what we thought were correct GPS coordinates and slowly narrowed in on them. Many bumps and shallow puddles later, the car now covered with white mud, we made it to the coordinates. A very nice cultivated field, no sign of the group. So we headed back to town and then headed off on another guess of where to go. Another hour of driving, it was no midnight and we had no idea if we were any closer or not. So we set up camp. It was quite cold so we carried the dogs up to the roof top tent so everyone could be close for warmth.

At this point we decided to sleep in and give up on meeting the group. Pictured is our camp the next morning. We set off, continuing down the dirt track we had come in on, overland about 30 miles to Hwy 20. Lots of rocks, potholes, and a few steep and rocky descents. Nothing technical but quite enjoyable, and I got to use 4-low a number of times. We went through the Lost Forest, this odd several thousand acres of evergreens miles from any other forest. According to posted signs, apparently something in the soil allows the water to quickly get below the surface avoiding evaporation in the desert heat. The water is then absorbed by the trees. They live on less than 1/3 the rainfall of their usual habitat.

We drove back along Hwy 20 towards, and through Bend and then up into the Cascades. Operating off of a BLM map and the gps, we tried several dirt roads that looked like they would loop around and end up near Green Peter Lake. Unfortunately, we hit snow just shy of most of the passes we were hoping to go over. There would be no snow on the surrounding hillside, but 1.5-2′ of snow on the road surface itself. Not having chains or winch equipment with us, and having no experience driving through deep snow, we turned around at each point. Lots of pretty vistas of the mountains but no way over. We stopped trying routes while it was still light, and set up camp in the forest. We made a poor attempt to light a fire, but wet wood meant it didn’t last long. Thankfully, it was significantly warmer the second night. The dogs stayed in the car and were quite good being there all night.

We set out the next day, after changing a tire that was a little low. I think I found the piece of metal that is causing the slow leak in it. But I didn’t have a compressor to add air, so just changed it instead. The spare tire is still under the rear, so was throughly covered in dried desert mud from the day and night before. I should paid more attention to this mud at the time and cleaned it. I didn’t however, and a few miles down the road, could not identify a strange noise from the rear. It sounded like a stick was hitting the wheel on each revolution, but I couldn’t see anything when I got out to look. It also made no noise when I had Whitney drive it at slow speed while I walked along and listened. After driving a little more, I realized that the noise stopped when I went around a turn, but it was not preferential to one side or the other. I had a hunch as to what was causing it, and when I got out and checked I was right. The wheel was loose on the studs. The mud had prevented the nuts from tightening properly and so they had come loose and the wheel was sliding around as I drove. Thankfully no apparent damage to the underlying hub, the only loose was one of the nuts. Each wheel has a special security nut on it and that one had come off. I have thought about replacing those with regular nuts, now I have to. Thankfully the remaining nuts keep the wheel securely on for the rest of the trip.

As to our progress that day, we made a few more attempts to find a way up and over Moose Ridge, but to no avail. We finally found a route that skirted the west side of Moose Ridge and made it into the Green Peter Lake area. Our way in was rough, and at times a very steep and rutty descent. We also had one puddle to go through that turned deeper then expected, creating a bow wave that came over the hood. Quite a nerve-racking experience. Probably not something that should have been attempted without a winch to pull us out if needed. In a pinch the Hi-Lift can be used as a hand-winch, but I’ve yet to try that, so I’m not sure I have all the parts I need.

Once we got over the hills though, we found a very beautiful area and lake. We took a road to within a few hundred meters of the lake, and were able to walk down and enjoy it with the dogs for a bit. The road around the lake was a well developed dirt road, so we decided to take it to the dam, join pavement there and head back. We got to within sight of a parking lot at the start of pavement to discover that we were on the wrong side of a locked no unauthorized access gate. There had been no prior signs on our way in to indicate we should be there. Although we could see the paved road at that point, there was no route forward so we headed back to find another way over to Hwy 20. The first two routes went for a couple miles then petered out into the forest, but we did then find a route that went up and over dropping us off at the Short Bridge and onto Hwy 20 and the road home. (Photo by Jerri Graff)

All in all, it was an enjoyable trip, and no disastrous mishaps (though two that came close). It served my needs as a shake-down test of my camping setup. I’m mostly happy with things like my tent, fridge, and newly constructed kitchen box. I was not happy with some cheap reverse lights I installed. I installed them on the wind deflector thinking they would help me see behind me wen backing up. Instead they just made for awful glare of any dirt on the rear window.

• Posted by jfs at 20:41:06 in Land Cruiser
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