Fathers day weekend kicked off my week long overlanding-esque adventure. I loaded the Red Wagon down with the camping/survival gear and headed out from Vancouver, Washington.
Base camp for the first few days was a well known camping resort of Name that will not mentioned due to forum rules....
From there (the next day), I headed to Nicolai Mountain OHV, between Clatskanie and Astoria, Or. to meet up with my trail guide. 8 (yes, eight!) miles up a very active, steep, switchbacked logging road (Shingle Mill Rd) is the trailhead for Nicolai. Mandatory rules for traveling Shingle Mill? 25 MPH MAX, preferrably 10-15... Every mile, you call out on the radio the number of vehicles, types of vehicles, the mile post and whether you are going up or down. The road is "just" wide enough for one log truck at a time, or two smaller vehicles to pass each other if you hug the shoulder tightly (some areas do give you some pucker though!) Luckily the worst we dealt with was the Clatsop County Inmate work crew coming down after cleaning up the trailhead bathroom.
After traveling the service road or taking the trails (which range from Basic to "You have to be insane"), you will reach the summit at roughly 2250 feet at the radio tower. Gorgeous view from there. I tried one trail got promptly hung up on a log half way through. With no trees available that wouldn't pull me off trail, we decided to anchor off my buddies rig.... All that accomplished was pulling him backwards in the mud. I didn't budge. I did manage to reverse off the log with some effort and turn around, headed back the way we came. Somewhere in the process, I wrenched my back and took a passenger seat for a time so I could let it rest and just enjoy the scenery. The Red Wagon collected plenty of war paint that day....
The gravel pile was setup by ODF as a hill climb and driver challenge. If it wasn't sloughing off so bad, we would have done the climb. You can see the ridge in the background. 90 degree ridge near the top was a bit much for us...
2250 feet in elevation gives you this gorgeous view.
Once my guide and I were done with Nicolai, I headed off to the sands of Long Beach for the remainder of the day and the entire following day.
I took a self guided tour of Fort Columbia, just outside of Chinook, WA
Near the end of my vacation, I hit up Tillamook State Forest to help with an event there. (Sorry, no pictures of this adventure)
Base camp for the first few days was a well known camping resort of Name that will not mentioned due to forum rules....
From there (the next day), I headed to Nicolai Mountain OHV, between Clatskanie and Astoria, Or. to meet up with my trail guide. 8 (yes, eight!) miles up a very active, steep, switchbacked logging road (Shingle Mill Rd) is the trailhead for Nicolai. Mandatory rules for traveling Shingle Mill? 25 MPH MAX, preferrably 10-15... Every mile, you call out on the radio the number of vehicles, types of vehicles, the mile post and whether you are going up or down. The road is "just" wide enough for one log truck at a time, or two smaller vehicles to pass each other if you hug the shoulder tightly (some areas do give you some pucker though!) Luckily the worst we dealt with was the Clatsop County Inmate work crew coming down after cleaning up the trailhead bathroom.
After traveling the service road or taking the trails (which range from Basic to "You have to be insane"), you will reach the summit at roughly 2250 feet at the radio tower. Gorgeous view from there. I tried one trail got promptly hung up on a log half way through. With no trees available that wouldn't pull me off trail, we decided to anchor off my buddies rig.... All that accomplished was pulling him backwards in the mud. I didn't budge. I did manage to reverse off the log with some effort and turn around, headed back the way we came. Somewhere in the process, I wrenched my back and took a passenger seat for a time so I could let it rest and just enjoy the scenery. The Red Wagon collected plenty of war paint that day....
The gravel pile was setup by ODF as a hill climb and driver challenge. If it wasn't sloughing off so bad, we would have done the climb. You can see the ridge in the background. 90 degree ridge near the top was a bit much for us...
2250 feet in elevation gives you this gorgeous view.
Once my guide and I were done with Nicolai, I headed off to the sands of Long Beach for the remainder of the day and the entire following day.
I took a self guided tour of Fort Columbia, just outside of Chinook, WA
Near the end of my vacation, I hit up Tillamook State Forest to help with an event there. (Sorry, no pictures of this adventure)
