We gathered around and talked about what to do and what options we had as Denny Creek was clearly closed and moving “closed road” signs were not an option. At 10:15 sharp we had a short drivers meeting and voted on what we were going to do. I gave the crew the option of scouting the area around Tinkham Rd/Denny Creek or we head to Highway 2 area to go up Jacks pass. With a vote taken and winning by a slim margin to stay in the area and scout the place we headed out towards Tinkham rd. Up I-90 we went with the freeway in decent shape, we noticed alongside the road the tree tops and A LOT of trees had frozen and snapped off. It was almost an eerie sight in some spots.
Eli had said he thought he saw campers at the upper end of Tinkham rd so we were heading for the bottom entrance or most westerly access to Tinkham Rd. I traveled down into where Eli had said he saw a gate over the roadway and sure enough I was in the spot he has seen earlier in his scouting. As I started to turn around I thought wait a second that gate is for another road and Tinkham rd actually goes behind those two parked trucks and behind that 8 foot mound of snow. I got out to check it out on foot and sure enough off to the right side there was a go around. There were NO road closed signs or anything indication or marked to stay out so being a Forest Service road we figured we were good to go. I moved a few tree branches and we were soon motoring around the mound of snow and getting ourselves onto Tinkham rd to begin our adventure.
We didn’t get 100 feet and we got to a set of trees that were down. We looked at it and decided a chain saw was best. As I opened the back of my rig and got the strap loosened to get my chain saw out, Bruce, who was right behind me in the line up, walks past me with his chain saw in hand. By the time I got my strap back secured and my rig closed up he had sawed thru the first tree and was on the second. Everyone was jumping out and lending a hand to remove the tree branches. We hooked a strap to one of the bigger logs to drag it out of the way and onward we went… For about another 200 feet. The we repeated the process over. Bruce was pretty darn good with his chain saw and that thing fired right up with two or three pulls every time.
As we proceeded down the road we had to repeat this process many many MANY times throughout the day. Some estimates were between 25 to 40 times. Some of the blockage were small branches or tops of tree that could be moved my hand but most had to have Bruce’s touch with his trusty chain saw. Bruce soon got the nickname “Big Wood Logging”, and even “Big Johnson Logging”. We later shortened it to “BJ Logging”. It was a bit of work to make progress on that road, but everyone helping and doing the best we could, we got thru it. The road conditions were actually pretty good. The snow was about 2 to 2 ½ feet deep in places. But it was frozen and the tracks we were running in kept the rigs up on top very well. You had to be careful clearing the trees, logs, and branches as if you step off trail much you would break thru the ½ inch frozen crust and sink in, in some places up to your knees.
We found a nice little clearing and pulled off to have ourselves a lunch break at about 12:30. So with Casey breaking out what I call her “Easy Bake Oven” (Kool-a-tron oven) and feeding me hot yummy stuff I have to admit it was good and I will never give her as much as a bad time about bringing that thing along ever again. Some others were checking it out and with cell phone service available I think a couple people ordered their “easy Bake Ovens” on the spot! We got back motoring our way down the road with really the only difficulties being more trees blown/iced down across the roadway. Bruce was ALWAYS right there whipping out his Big Johnson, the chain saw, and taking care of business. LOL
We got down to a small one lane bridge and of course with a tree just at the entrance to it again Bruce saved our day by hacking it into pieces for the rest of us to clear the cuttings out of the way. It was still early afternoon at this point and with the Sun shining and the bridge over the creek it was perfect Kodak moment and we all stopped for few to walk out onto the bridge. The road was so slick with the ice covering several people fell several times and we shortly got the pictures we wanted and once again proceeded down the trail, and of course with Bruce right behind me with his trusty saw we were making decent progress. After the bridge it seemed the down tree and tree tops got less and less and being full from lunch I for one was grateful as I was content to be in my rig warm and cozy and basically just driving.
We finally got to another road branching off and was listed as FS 5510. It wasn’t too late in the day and this road looked like it climbed in altitude and maybe would get us up into some deeper snow. I figured we didn’t have too much left to get to the next Interstate on ramp from Tinkham so we headed up the FS 5510. This road did indeed climb, it was still frozen solid on surface but we were breaking thru into the hard packed snow underneath. We got to a spot that had strange looking timber along the side of the road and as we got closer to it we saw it was indeed manmade timber imbedded into the ground. We went up a bit farther and then saw that these were part of a Trestle of the old John Wayne Pioneer trail and seeing the old rusty trestle overhead was an awesome sight to behold. We had a small tree top we had to hug into the side of the mountain to get around and as I went around I heard a strange sound and looked out my window at my tires to see a butt load of ice cubes I was traveling thru. I swear someone had a ice maker running up there as they were perfect little ice cubes like a machine would make and we were driving thru them.
Upwards we went, then the iced over layer started to give way to deep snow, but still good pack so we had great traction. We passed a lil spot that I mentioned would be cool to try to go up next to a creek and Casey quickly shut down that idea, lol. It was getting later now about 3:15 ish and not knowing what was left as far as tree clearing I asked the group if they were ok turning around and heading down. Everyone agreed so we got to a small clearing area where we could do one of our famous Tamer Turns and headed back down. Some of the group had brought sleds and asked if we could stop at the spot I mentioned to Casey to do some sledding with the kids and so we hung out for a while and talked and sledded and had a good time.
It started to snow when got back into our rigs and headed down towards Tinkham rd again. As we traveled down we were in kind of reverse order as when we headed up. So with Jim, a candidate, in the lead he asked which way to go at the intersection and I advised we wanted to go right to explore what was left of Tinkham rd. So Jim and one other rig headed that way to scout it out. There must have been a bit of a gap and the next group of guys didn’t quite follow the conversation on the radio and started heading the wrong way on Tinkham Rd. With a quick conversation on the CB radio we got everyone heading the right direction. With Moose running tailgun and confirming over the radio, it is always a comfort to know he is back there. I was feeling pretty good about the way the run had unfolded.
We traveled along Tinkham Rd with no more logging needed by Bruce and his “BJ Logging”. It wasn’t too far, maybe a mile to the next Interstate crossover for Tinkhma Rd and we hadn’t heard from the scouting crew. So we radioed up ahead and they said yes they were at the “gatekeeper” about the time we rounded the corner and saw them. Geesh what a sight, tail lights WAAAYYYY up high on the mound of snow leading out onto the plowed road,,, then gone. With Collin spotting we felt pretty good about him making sure all was good. When it was my turn to get up and over I thought maybe I could crawl.. Nope no way.. Had to have some momentum. So I backed up and got myself moving and up and overwhoooaa, it was steep coming down and my front winch dug in pretty good as I came out. I think everyone felt the same way as they crested the top and Curt in his Jk (actually Wendy’s JK) was no exception. As he crested to top he tapped the brakes and stopped. Ooops he turtled it right on top with tires just spinning in air.
He called and asked for me with my Samurai to pop him off and being I was closest I positioned myself and we hooked up his winch. Needless to say, the MissUnderstood weighs A LOT less than Wendy’s jeep and it just dragged me across the wet snowy slick pavement with the jeep not even moving. I called for slack on the winch line and Eli gave me some slack and I motored forward up into and over the small snow bank of other side of the road, called for tension only on winch side and spun my tires up digging some holes. That worked and within minutes Curt in Wendy’s jeep was back down onto the main rd.
We all aired up there, talked a bit and thanked each other for the efforts that we all put out to have a great run. It was a bit of work to clear the road but we all had fun and everyone made it out with 0 damage at all. With what started out as a questionable day turned into another great adventure that will be remembered for years to come. Thank you all for being there and thank you for your efforts. Special thanks to Bruce and His “Big Johnson” logging equipment. And all efforts from everyone!!
Gary Miller TT256
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