TeamCF

Yeah I have to get a collection of them that are still usable first. Not very Subaru owner of me...

hehe For a day. I guess I just go prepared to stay the night if I have to or hike it back to cell range.

My list: Maps folding Army shovel bag of really big (I mean huge) zip ties roll of duct tape roll of electrical tape survival style knife, along with the multi tool I always have on me Sometimes bow saw sometimes not, depends on if I remember it after using it at home bailing wire (electrical wire to be added as it was needed once before to get a fan jumped) some large stainless hose clamps 3 tow straps 4000lb come along a couple flashlights and one of those LED headlights CB in the car, handheld CB, and two way radio if I remember it two of the stock style jacks (hi lift soon to be purchased) foot long peice of 2x6 for under a jack if it's soft out oil water (need to carry more of though) GPS compass (gotta do it the old fashioned way sometimes) tool box (fixed a sheriff's quad last time out, he was all broken down) couple garbage bags. shipping pad for laying under the car on blanket rain coat gloves kleenex TP first aid kit whatever food/liquids I'm consuming, cooler couple bungee cords Backpack that some of it lives in in case I have to hoof it And a full size spare. (added after it was pointed out I forgot to list it) Aaand a fire extinguisher. Think thats about it. Might be forgetting something but I'm not going to go rummage in the Soob see what it is.

I don't rely on the GPS (Triton 500 quit on me at TSF, new model lots of bugs, warranty time, might just return it for a good old Garmin Vista) But it is nice to kind of "make your own maps". Seems half the forest maps I see are out of date. Especially around Goat. So it keeps track of where I go, I can add points of interest to it and such and I just load it all into my puter at home and print my own maps, they even have waterproof paper for them. And I was sure to get one that takes regular batteries so I can carry a new pack of them just in case. GPS is bunk if the batteries are dead. Still keep my maps and olde fashioned style compass in the car too.

Happy B-Day!

Well when you do plan a trip let us all know. I'm sure we can get a group going.

hehe... Just don't break it! I am bad in the fact I never take spare parts (can't afford to buy them when I need them, let alone ahead of time... ). Take alot of tools. But the closest thing I take to parts is some bailing wire, huge zip ties, large hose clamps, and a roll of duct tape. I have no lift, no giant tires, and an open diff though so the common breaks are less likely to get me. Kinda gettin' worried about that clutch these days though. And I dont force trails. Got some sort of self preservation thing that kicks in. Tells me "you're gonna break it if you hit that trail." So I go around. Kind of a fun killer sometimes but if I break it I may not be able to drive it at all for months. :-\ That would be the big fun killer. I'm sure if ya came down and a few of us planned to go out as well. If ya broke we could find a way to get your Soob fixed to get home.

Yeah all the "more difficult/blue square" ones I could get to were no problem, few challenging scrapey spots but overall perfect for Soob wheelin'. Couldn't get to Cedar Tree as they are logging it till 2009. and Hog's Back is still snowed in. Some on the other end that I just didn't hit cause of the time. And running miles thru the woods just for one 1/2 mile trial. Have to hit them all just because one day though.

There are alot of nice just wheelable with a Soob trails. (If you don't mind some bashed parts) And I hear alot of nice hardcore crawler trails. One is even named Little Rubicon. I took a look at it and it looks pretty nasty. And it's only considered a double black diamond. There are two triple black diamond trails I saw on the map. So yeah you could have fun with whatever rig you take.

Yeah I went to meet up with some Jeeps and Yotas so the saturday was a strange day for me to go. Ended up with bad timing though and half of them didn't even show. Had a blast though. We will have to go sometime. I'm itching to hit it up again. Hopefully after a little more thawing. Then a few more trails will be open.

I'll have to remember to call if I got out on thursdays. Yeah I had gotten a Magellan Triton 500 as a gift. It has National Geographic USGS TOPO maps of this area in it. Only problem is they are riddled with problems and mine gave up on me this past weekend (after mapping out TSF, which is frozen in the GPS now. :-\ ). Might have to return it and get a nice reliable Garmin Vista

Cause my set of 505 steelies were only around $30 from the JY. Plus I just beat on 'em so pretty was not a concern. I see what you are saying though. A common pattern does give lots more choices. I always thought the 6 lug wheels were too wide/wrong offset for anything other than a lifted rig though (as in they stick out). I may be wrong.

Man I'm just missing all of them this year. My allergies were killing me today anyway, I proly would have been miserable out there.

Ouch. At least you were able to get it home.

Went out to Tillamook State Forest yesterday. It was awsome. The rocks out there will hammer your rig into submission. And they have new maps at the shell station. I ran all of the #4 power line trails both ways. (Except the double black diamond part on E section) And went over and ran #20 (Hoodraiser I think?). Snow up at the top of that one. There were a few others but I forget the names. Wanted to do #13 Cedar Tree, but the forest road to it was closed till 2009 for logging. Looked like a nice long twisty trail. Would have liked to find a pit to play in but never did. Neat how they have all the trails set up like at a ski area so you can just look at the map and plan your route around the forest. You have the green circle trails = easy, the blue square trails = more difficult (those were the ones I was hitting all day) And the one thru three black diamond trails = hard core rock crawling, winch required. Helped a Sheriff fix a big oil leak on his quad (My ATV permit payed for itself at that moment as well), Got nicknamed "The Klingon" by a group of Jeeps and Yotas that I ended up hangin with half way through. They were amazed I stayed with them. Light weight and good line picking gets me through. The fact I love to bash the rocker panels helps a bit as well. Most of the trails out there have big waterbars that I was scraping bottom over, and Powerline C had a lot of tight rooted and rocky areas that tear up sheetmetal. But I was having so much fun I just didn't care. Even when I almost rolled it coming around a tight left downhill turn over a rock ledge (which amazingly I was able to make it up as well, not without underside damage though) the left front dropped, right rear came up, and I could see the ground coming towards the drivers window, nailed the gas and rolled out of it though. Get too cocky with the Soob's low center of gravity and it'll get ya in trouble. They will roll, mine almost did. Funny thing is I was giggling like a school girl right after it. Guess it was more fun than freaky. Hit it the same way later and did it right, with no scary moments. Good fun first time out to TSF. Now hitting Goat is just not going to be as much fun. Stayed out there til about 3 or so. Got to run each trail several times and only burned about 1/4 tank of gas. Covered about 70 or so trail miles. I got some crappy pics on my phone. Can see St. Helens barely in this one. Didn't get any good pics of the good parts of the trails. Was too busy driving them to take pics.

It seems sometimes half the time I can't even get my wheeling started 'till after sunset these days. So I make the best of it. Plus it's an excuse to use the overheads. Always have a few people with maps that have the general area I'm gonna hit circled, so they can come looking in the morning. I keep night wheeling to trails I've been down a bajillion times. Old trails are always still interesting in the dark. And I always carry enough stuff to survive out there a few days if I need to. Still I don't know if it's braver...or a little crazier. I just sometimes like breaking the golden rule of never wheeling alone. At night. It's relaxing to me I guess.

Decided to go out for some nocturnal wheeling. As it was dark the pics are not so great. But I included a screen shot of the route my GPS recorded. 1. View point that looks out to the west. 2. Gravel pit to play in. It was featured in my last wheeling post with Chazmataz and Scoobyclimbs. 3. Entrance to a short Jeep trail. Well it's proly long but there is a spot that needs a spotter so I use a well placed loop to turn around at that spot. Fun trail though, steep, muddy, tight and twisty, with rocks and stumps that want to hang out with axles. My favorite kind of trail. 4. Gate. sometimes open, sometimes closed (semi active logging area). It was open but I've been in there before and would rather hit it in the day for more exploring. It's like a maze. 5. Headed up the old way towards Goat. This point is where the snow gets crappy around 2,700 ft. 6. Fun gravel pit, muddy trails. Had to go hit it up on the way back down and home. Can't wait till it thaws and I can connect those two ends together.

Could be useful to others in the future.

Good find.

I'll give ya a call and leave a message this evening if it's a go. I have some straps in my car. Greg gave me one of his old ones.

Thanks for these Hitachi help posts. Went and did everything mentioned so far tonight. Plus replaced a few old lines. (made sure to check for the metering inserts) Everything runs good and is looking so much simpler underhood.

Cool! I'll keep ya posted. Was thinking maybe I may think of taking a run tomarrow night (tuesday) But not 100% sure. Being that I know there has got to be way more snow, even just up there, now. So I'm wondering if it would really be worth it, or just wait. Could always hit the Hilockburn pit. As I'm sure it's proly clear being down low enough.

Congrats!

Yeah I proly won't be able to make it either. My sweety has a DJ gig tonight and the whiskey may still have ahold of me.

Nice. Went up there wed night while it was snowing and played around some. Bunch of snow up there now. It'll proly be melted soon though.