New Snow In the Hills
    Week of  Feb 16 thru 23, 2003

    Its been a  tough winter for Us Sled Heads


    Back in Early February I tried to talk the USFS into opening up 44 so we could get up to the Snow.  No Luck.   With their Silly Regulations and Concerns about  Liability for some of  our, Becoming More Common, Brain Dead Citizenry that might wander up there in a 2 wheeler with a wife and kids  and get stuck up there.  It took 4 calls to their Office before I could even get to talk to  a Live Person to even  make My thoughts known.   Add a Fresh, Ambitious, and New to our Area Forest Service Cop that likes to write tickets.    NO     THE ROAD STAYS CLOSED

I might be going off on a Tirade for a bit  here.  

    Back in December I gave one of our Horse Trainers a Pickup Load of Firewood.  On A Sunday Afternoon She was heading back up 35 over the Mtn to Prineville. I didnt give her a Reciept for the wood.   Well anyway  this Abitious "Forest Service Cop"  spotted her and held Her for over an Hour before letting her go on her way.  There was fairly good early winter Snow on 44 at the time.   The Next Weekend  I was riding 44.   I unloaded at Little John on 35.  On my way up I met a small 4x4 coming down.  He had gone up about a mile and turned around.  I didnt get all the paticulars about what happened down at the Hwy 35 & 44 Junction, but the FS Cop had spotted the tracks or something and couldnt find the small 4x4 and thought the guy might have gone on over toward  Dufur.
 I had made the High Prarie Loop and  on down  to the  Billy-Bob SnowPark.   On my way back over 44 there were 1 set of 4x4 tracks.     At Bottle Prarie where the road starts climbing up the slight curve, and  where the Snow gets Deeper.  Lo and Behold,  here was a USFS Subrban setting Crossways in the middle of 44 winding up his Winch Cable.  About 2-3 miles beyond the Closure Sign at Billy-Bob.  He had went all the way around by Hwy (at least 70 miles) to get on the other side for an Intercept.   I Talked to him for a few  minutes. I asked him if he remembered the Firewood Incident the previous weekend and He did..   There was another person in the vehicle with him.  The Other Person didnt get out of the Vehicle and I didnt get a good look at him either, only This Other Person, possibly an Older Person,  was wearing a Broad Brimed Hat...Was he  Authorized to be Riding with the FS Cop while on Duty?    Is it Acceptable for the USFS to violate their own Closure. Was it that Importand that He, the FS Cop, to screw up A Smooth Groomed Snowmobile Area.  He left some Deep  and Rough Ruts where he had to Winch Himself around. Those Ruts have been known to upset sleds if hit by inexperienced riders or some one going too fast.  If it was so Important He  could have Called the Hood River Sherriff's Office and Had Them Block 17 at the Power Lines or Long Prarie...And Wasco Sherriff  to set at Billy-Bob, and another one down from Flag Point, near Friend.  You might have thought He was trying to catch some kind of  Felon, kind of like we see on a TV Movies.  
        Enough Of This


There are a few of Us Hard Core Riders around here

    Sometime Late Jan or Early Feb we went up 17 to do some riding...We made almost to  Brooks Meadows  with a full Covered  Trailer.  There was a Big Tree Blocking our way and unloaded there.  We ate up some Hifax and Skegs and Eric's Track Stuck to his Rails(He didnt have Scratchers) when  we stopped at the HighPrarie Jct.  We could have Driven Our Pickups to Horkela Meadows to Unload.
The Snow was Hard and Froze all the way to High Prarie.... Bummer

New Snow Early the Week of Feb 16th Thru 23rd
    Sat, Feb the 22nd ........We went, by way of 17 again, to  High Prarie .  Eric, Mitch, Cory, and Me...There was some new Snow we didnt want to waste so we Unloaded about a mile from Brooks Meadows this time..   Weather was Beautiful.  And I forgot My Camera.. Damnit ..  Made the High Prarie Loop again.   The Snow was Great up High and Not A Track on it.. We carved up every open spot we could find. And Found some New Tank Traps too...Eric was Behind Me and Saw My Head Bob a Bit so He and the Rest of Us Slowed Down a bit on this Road.  We Put some Marks on Yamaha Hill I dont think anyone has ever seen before...Eric and Mitch were Jumping off the Rocks down the Hill..  Flag Point Rd was Good too... Great Views up there...We headed back down toward Billy-Bob.  While we were over at Flag Point   a couple of Sleds had come from the Dalles Side.... They had come in and unloaded a  couple miles from the Old A-Frame Site.. We ate Bare Pavement across there too.....44 was good till we broke over the Hill down toward Brooks Meadows and ate a lot of Pavement  on the Sunny South Face....It melts away too fast on these kind of days.  We got in 45 Miles tho....A really Nice Day 


    Sunday the 23 rd

We headed to OtterTail Lake up Green Point.  We got  up there and what Snow  was there was Great..  On the Roads,
The Tank Traps were something Else

Eric Figured out the easy way to get over em

    We spent a lot of time Stuck up there..... the New  Snow had just covered a lot of Small Trees and Brush
that had opened up earlier and had melted out.  More Traps.. Everywhere we went we were falling in them.

Mitch got in one here.... Typical Stick this Day.. This Spot really is more Steep than it Looks.. Mitches Sled is Almost Vertical as It Sets...You can see Mitch's over the Nose of Mikes Sled... I was Suggesting They Lift the Nose a little and Spin it Around Like a Top to get It out of there..;-)

Here's One from Last Yr at almost the Very Same Spot.. Quite a Difference

I'm guessing we've damn near lost this  season... dangit

We found a couple of rocky spots that had held some Snow

Mike Parked up there for a bit  ;-)

Eric, Mike & Tom  were Contemplating

the Best Way to Jump this Cornice.... It was so Windy I couldnt keep my Camera up
to take any Pix at this Spot.

A little later  Tom Had a Problem.. He lost one of His Rear Idler Wheels.. Found the Wheel tho

  He spent the rest of the day Sittin and Ridin Easy.... Got back OK tho..

    The Guys Played on this HillSide a Bit

I think thats Mike a  comin  down...

    It was Cold and a Stiff East Wind was blowin the Snow around..  We gave up for the day and went home... Didnt Have to Eat any Pavement Either... Got in only 17 miles  Today....Snow on the Rds was Great.... Need More Of It

Ltrs ....If We get any more Good Snow

GG