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Redwood Off-Road Club We had the first official run of the Redwood Off-Road Club on Sunday March 13, 2005. Those who wanted breakfast met at the Pantry in Eureka at 8:00 a.m. with the plan to leave at 9:00 a.m. The plan was to head out Route 299 and do some exploring on Titlow Hill Road. While I was loading up my Bronco I got a call from Jim Boyett saying that he was having trouble with his ignition module in his CJ and wouldn’t be able to take it. Kat had decided to stay home and work so I invited Jim to join me. When I rolled into the Pantry lot about 8:50 Jim was standing there talking to Kurt Weiermann and Steve Freeman. Kurt was also Jeepless because his new Rubicon Unlimited was still in transit, so he was riding shotgun in Steve’s TJ. Rocky and Donna were having breakfast, so we went in to say hello and get a cup of coffee. We all decided to meet up at the scenic overlook near Barry Summit. Click on thumbnails for large view.
Jim and I had a very pleasant drive up to the overlook in my F250 Powerstroke. I have to admit that I am spoiled and really like trailering my rig if I have to drive any distance on the highway. In all, we had a total of 5 rigs when we left the overlook. In addition to Kurt and Steve, Rocky and Donna were driving their YJ, Cameron Bailey was driving his TJ with Aaron Reel riding shotgun, and Shane Baum and his girlfriend Diane were in his Jeep Cherokee. Steve was trail leader since he and Kurt were the most familiar with the area. We started climbing up Titlow Hill Road and after several miles started to hit patches of snow. Just past the gate to road 5N10 we took the first left and started down the side of the mountain and ended up on road 5N10A. We found a nice patch of snow and I managed to get myself stuck. No problem, there were plenty of shovels and with a little help I was moving again. We continued on doing some sight seeing and then stopped for lunch. It was a beautiful day. It was very windy at the overlook, but by lunch time the wind had stopped and the sun was out and it was warm. After lunch was over, we started up road 5N09 which connected back to Titlow Hill Road. This part of the run proved to be more challenging because there were a number of large and deep drifts of snow on the road plus the up hill grade. Steve was breaking trail for the rest of us. There was one particular drift that proved to be very challenging for everyone. Steve made it though using finesse, but I used a little too much throttle and had to do a bit of digging to get moving again. Next came Shane who made it with no problem. Then there was Rocky, who in is true form, simply put the “pedal to the metal” (literally) and gave it several impressive tries – all of which were unsuccessful! Then out came the strap and Cameron tried pulling Rocky through. This didn’t work either, so I backed my Bronco up and hook a strap onto Cameron. With quite a bit of jockeying around the two of us pulled Rocky through. Of course we had to give him a bad time. He claimed it was all the fault of the Jeep and his 4Runner would have done better than any of our rigs. A little later we were to find out this simply wasn’t true.
After a few more snow drifts, we came upon yet another one but with a 24 inch fir tree across the road. Steve brought out his pruning saw and began sawing on it. We took turns and got it cut about half way trough. Steve tried using a tow strap to move it, but ultimately he and Cameron both hook up to it with their winches and moved it enough for the rigs to get by. It was still a bit of a challenge because you had to keep you rig as close to the tree as possible and then turn to the right just past it and climb up a pretty good grade in the snow. I had gone through and was walking back to see how the other rigs were doing. To my surprise, Rocky’s rig was coming through like a champion. I though to myself, that for once Rocky was exercising some finesse. However, as the rig got closer, I realized that it was Donna that was doing the driving!! She proved the old theory that it’s 80 percent drive and 20 percent vehicle. At any rate, Rocky got a whole lot of ribbing from everyone, but he was good natured about it.
We continued on up road 5N09 with Steve breaking trail. After a while he asked if I wanted to take over the responsibility, so Jim and I became the leader. Believe me, it is much easier to follow someone in the snow than to break trail. With a lot of forward and reverse, and patience we made slow progress. The best attack was to keep a very light foot on the throttle to keep moving at a slow and steady rate. Ultimately, we made it to Titlow Hill Road and started back to Highway 299. We encountered quite a bit on snow on the way back, but since we were going down hill, no one had any problems. About 5 miles from Highway 299 everyone stopped to air up their tires and to gather some firewood that was left lying in the middle of the road – weird. Since I was trailering my rig, Jim and I continued without airing up. When we got back to the overlook we loaded up the Bronco and waited for the others. I had two beers in my cooler, so Jim and I sat on the park bench and enjoyed a very cold and refreshing drink. We sat there enjoying the sun for quite some time until Steve and Kurt came driving up. The others were still in the wood gathering mode, so we all started back to Eureka. I dropped Jim off at the Pantry about 5:30 It was a great run and I enjoyed everyone’s company. Michael Eagan Other photos from the run
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