Tour Announcement: The Owyhee Expedition 05/23/08 thru 05/26/08

[Steve]

It sounds like fun, but it's another holiday weekend of work for me.

[Jerry]

it's another holiday weekend of work for me.

Do you work all the holiday weekends or do you rotate?

[Toy Man]

I'm in. Just myself and my Xterra.

If possible I would like to visit Silver City on Friday.

Dick -Toy Man

[Jerry]

Cool, I'll place your name in the journals Dick, and thanks for suggesting a trip to Silver City. It's a neat drive up there and we had better hold our breath that it won't be snowed in. Let's mark it down as a possibility and see what the weather deals us.
Jerry

[Jerry]

ANOTHER BACKROAD DRIVERS NORTHWEST TOUR
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/BackroadDrivers/


THE OWYHEE EXPEDITION
May 22 to 26, 2008

Memorial Day Weekend

We will drive dirt roads and trails in the Owyhee River drainage southeast of Jordan Valley, Oregon. We are still in the planning stages and deciding whether to camp out or stay in motels. What do you prefer? High ground clearance four wheel drive vehicles are necessary and you must be prepared for 2-foot deep water crossings. Your vehicle must be equipped with front and rear tow hooks firmly attached to the frame, a tow strap (snatch strap), traction tread tires, a full size spare and a working CB radio with an external antenna.

Retrieval gear and communications are of most importance on this trip. Double check your tow points to make sure they can withstand loads of 2 or 3 times the weight of your vehicle. Please test your C B radios before you leave home.

The easiest way of testing your C B is to call for a radio check on the truckers channel. If you live along the I-5 corridor tune to Channel 17 and in all other areas use Channel 19. Simply say "Break 19 (or 17), can I get a radio check?" If no answer search for a channel where you hear people talking and break-in between pauses. IMPORTANT: The antennas that come with hand-held radios are NOT SUFFICIENT for our purposes. If a hand-held is all you have PLEASE take your radio to your local Radio Shack store and buy an external antenna AND an adapter to connect the antenna to your radio AND a connector to plug your radio into the vehicle's 12v electrical supply. Do not rely on batteries.

Picture this...one vehicle after another is crossing a 2' deep river and for safety purposes your vehicle is tied by a winch line to another vehicle that has already crossed. While making your crossing you run up against a big boulder and need to communicate with the winch operator, but your radio isn't working or doesn't have enough power. The winch keeps pulling and the load is so great your insufficient tow points break leaving you and your vehicle to wash down stream.

It could happen so PLEASE prepare your vehicle.

More details about this tour are forthcoming and any suggestions would be appreciated.

Participants:

For Sure

Dick "ToyMan" from Beaverton, Nissan Xterra

Jerry "soggymountain" from Yakima, Ford F-150

Randy "Weisergeiser" from Meacham, modified Ford Bronco II or riding with Jerry

Ryan "nightfoam" from Lake Oswego, Jeep Cherokee

Mick "RidgeRunner" & Joey from Portland, Toyota 4Runner

Tom "T. Low" from Bellingham, modified Chevy Astro Van


Possible

Ryan's Mom, Dodge Ram 2500

Ed from Clarkston, modified Chev (Geo) Tracker

Bill from Ellensburg, riding with Ed

_______________________
Backroad Drivers Northwest

[Steve]

Originally Posted by soggymountain

Do you work all the holiday weekends or do you rotate?

My weekends off rotate throughout the year. It just so happens that that I work on two of the dates of this run.

Steve

[bull]

My mother use to live on White Horse ranch near Fields Oregon. Tons of cool stuff in that area. We use to go hot tubbin in the local hot springs. I will see if I can map out a few areas fun to explore.



edit: Here it is. Very cool place! http://oregonhotsprings.immunenet.com/whthorse.htm


-bull

[Jerry]

Cool. We might get over to Fields on our way to or from the Owyhee area and if not then maybe when we visit Steens and Alvord in August. For the Owyhee Tour we plan to be on the east side of Hwy 95...WAY DOWN in the FAR SE corner.

If I can find somebody to tag along I would like to drive the Whitehorse Ranch Road between Hwy 95 and the Pueblo Valley then head north and drive the Alvord Desert road from Fields to Hwy 95. And from 95 continue past the Crowley Ranch to Harper (or reverse the order depending upon coming or going). I would also like to drive Hwy 140 from Denio to Lakeview and roads north of there, including the Antelope Refuge.
Jerry

[bull]

Originally Posted by soggymountain

Cool. We might get over to Fields on our way to or from the Owyhee area and if not then maybe when we visit Steens and Alvord in August. For the Owyhee Tour we plan to be on the east side of Hwy 395...WAY DOWN in the FAR SE corner.

If I can find somebody to tag along I would like to drive the Whitehorse Ranch Road between Hwy 395 and the Pueblo Valley then head north and drive the Alvord Desert road from Fields to Hwy 395. And from 395 continue past the Crowley Ranch to Harper (or reverse the order depending upon coming or going). I would also like to drive Hwy 140 from Denio to Lakeview and roads north of there, including the Antelope Refuge.
Jerry

Sounds good. It has been a while but I have been all over that country.

I had to buck hay for the Ranch in the summer...sucked ass

[Jerry]

I had to buck hay for the Ranch in the summer...sucked ass

I'll bet! Hotter than blazes, dusty, sweaty and dang hard work! How big is that ranch? About how many head do they run? All cattle? How many hands? Were they a good outfit? Sorry, just nosey. I can't help but ask because I have seen the name so often over the years. Are there any unusual rock formations or other geologic or historic sights on or near the ranch that most folks never see?

By the way, I said we would be east of Hwy 395 in an earlier post. Actually we will be east of Hwy 95, south of Jordan Valley. Sorry for any misunderstanding.
Jerry