Drycreek
124 miles offroad from 2100-4900 feet.
Sunday December 28th.
Meet at my place to leave early. Time to be negotiated.
Pack a big lunch, dress warm. Expect a long day. Bring binoculars to see the wildlife.
This will be a trail I have never taken. A new way into a place that is an oasis in the desert.
Turn off highway: N43° 53.304' , W117° 27.634'
Goal: N43° 30.752' , W117° 42.662'
It should be fun to see this at a different time of year and from a new route. I know there is a Mining cabin to visit. There have been six huge eagles nests back in one canyon, as well as numerous Peregrine falcon roosts. Antelope are pretty common and rumor has it a big sheep is in the area. Coyotes and rabbits should make an appearance.
There is a geocache that I placed years ago at the mid point. It will be fun to visit it and see the condition.
Hopefully weather holds, although I am willing to try it even if we get some challenging conditions. We are forecast to get a little snow this weekend. I don't think there will be enough to scrub the adventure. It would take a pretty good amount to deter this trip. It is time for a holiday recharge.
We are back! We cut it short and did not make our target. The temperature warmed up to the mid forties and things were getting way too mushy.
We left on schedule even though our long distance traveler had to take it slow on the way over. By 8:30 am we met at the Sinclair station in Vale, OR. Over the hill and out of town we stopped to air down a few miles from the turn off.
Mine is the Chevy crew cab S-10 in the lead. My wife and son are with me. I am followed by Scott in his first generation S-10 pick-up, I was not introduced, or maybe I missed it, but the young man riding shot gun with him may have been his son. Ross is behind him in the Rover with his wife as the navigator. His back seat has his three boys enjoying the ride. Jim sits along side in his Jeep with his passenger Jon riding along.
I missed the turn as the road had been hidden by the berm the snow plows had left. We all turned around at the bottom of the hill and found our way offroad.where we turned onto the road off the highway
We were not the first as there was a two track before us. It appeared to be a few days old though as it had drifted over for much of the trail.
Over the top of this ridge the wind had really been blowing. One spot I had to take a second run at the drift to break trail. Scott was our lowest ground clearance rig. He had a few issues with traction when the belly would rub, but he came through just fine.
Stopping for a coffee break
Jim took the lead after that stretch. Breaking trail with those big wide MT tires. We talked about checking out the Buckaroo Cabin that sits aside Cabin Creek. Jim was nice enough to delineate where the soft spots in the crossing were. I got lucky and hung back a little before he made the attempt. Just right as it turns out as I had about two wraps beyond the red on my winchline.
Jim and Scott are assessing the situation
He sunk in to his knee in the wonderful cow pasture mixture that is cabin creek. That is why he looks down in that photo. His head is not hung in shame!
My truck is up hill and on snow. Pulling him was inching my truck forward, so we attached a strap to Scott's truck as a precaution.
Jim's Jeep is locked both front and rear, so he was able to dig in good. Ross is our digger and cleared behind that buried rear tire with his shovel. It pulled out pretty nicely.
I didn't get any pictures of the crossing we made, I think the others may have some good shots.
Those new bump stops on the front really did work. I hit it hard. They say my front caught some good air. It felt good with no rub in the landing.
Once everyone made the crossing we were in for a pretty good grade up and out. I had to take a second run at it. Scott slid to the side a little. Ross pulled him straight and he dropped a little more air in the tires to make the ascent. This was the point where we might have had to chain up, but made it through without them.
Ross got a little sideways pulling backward, but jockeyed back and forth to get back up on the road. His tires were just some all-season radials. His Rover really did perform admirably for the conditions considering they were the least aggressive tires of the bunch. The slushy wet conditions were really starting to make things difficult. The snow packed to a wet icy wall you had to push your way through.
We all made it to the top.
We had a little pow-wow at the fork in the road. We were now close to the break even point for return. Nearly half way through our day and half way to our goal. This was a decision point. There is a cut-off here that leads back to the Crowley Road. It is as far back as it is forward to the highway from this point. Freeze Out Mountain to our south was pretty much down hill from here, but knowing the pull out of Dry Creek , the unknown of the drop down Freeze Out , the warm weather and worsening conditions we took the safe bet and decided to wander toward a way out , rather than deeper into the desert toward our goal.
Topo rerouted easily and led us out to the highway, not on the Crowley road, but instead on Coleman road. This was surprisingly short. We did not find a suitable spot for lunch with a good sledding hill for the kids, so we made a quick run to Harper Junction and ducked a few miles down the Crowley road.
Laurie is still a kid and she joined the boys for some sledding.
Jim reminded us to stop and air back up, so we stopped at the ODOT sand shed. Once aired up we said our good byes and hit the highway for the road home.
We were on snow packed highways on the way in and they were clear and wet on the way out.
All the vehicles performed pretty well. No one held us back. We did not reach our goal, but it was still a good day. We were out in the wilds , not sitting on a couch. We made it home with plenty of time for clean up and ready for dinner. A nice little Sunday drive. With a goal not reached, there is still a future adventure that awaits us.
Thank you to Jim, Jon, Scott, Ross and all the family that went with us. We had a great time.