A Muddy and Snowy Day on the Barlow Trail

I spent some time mapping the Barlow Trail for Trails Off-Road and got to play around in the mud and snow with my Toyota 4runner.

Heading on through the route where wagon trains once rolled.

Muddy truck means fun truck.

Rich met up with me for the second half of the trail.  We hit snow pretty quick but it didn’t get thick until later.

This old bridge is getting pretty long in the tooth.  I wouldn’t be too surprised if it is condemned in the next year or two.

Beautiful in the snow.

The road won’t be open too much longer this year.  Snow is falling thick and heavy up on top.

Big 4×4 Trail Day with Ken in the Mount Hood National Forest

My buddy Ken and I went out to do some 4x4ing around the Bennett Pass to Tygh Valley area in the Mount Hood National Forest.  We did mapping for Trails Offroad while we were out and about.  This is at the top of Bonney Meadows Road.

I always carry 10 gallons of spare fuel with me when I’m away from gas stations just in case we ever run into problems.

We camped out overnight on the trail.  We saw some lightning in the distance and had a few spits of rain but nothing too major.

 

Up on top of Bonney Butte.  If there weren’t clouds, there would be a great view of Mount Hood behind the truck.


Playing around in the dust.

At the old Friend School.


There is a piano inside.  The old school is now a community center.


We went up to the Flag Point Fire Lookout up on the east flank of Mount Hood.  If it hadn’t been so smoky, it would have had some excellent views.

Some of the gear up in the lookout tower.  The lookout was very friendly and invited us upstairs to check out his room.

Mount hood through the haze and smoke.

Down in the White River Wildlife Refuge that’s run by the state of Oregon.

All done with adventures for the day!

Mapping Day on Bennett Pass

We started playing around with something new this summer.  Now we’re contributing to Trails Offroad.  The first couple trails we logged included Bennett Pass Trail.  Even though we just ran this trail a few weekends ago, we’re back again and now mapping it.

Plus it gives us a good excuse to take pictures of our truck, the Albino Rhino.

I mean, you never can have too many pictures of your truck, can you?

Coming over the gap.  I bet this was blasted open.

Keep on trucking.

 

This sign tells the story of a French Canadian sheep herder whose name was Jack and who always wore gum shoes camping here.  Now the area is named after him.

One of the beautiful alpine meadows at the end of Bennett Pass Road.

Another beautiful meadow heading down Lookout Mountain Road.