Monthly Archives: April 2024

Goodbye to a Favorite trail

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Cougar Canyon was always one of my favorite trails, not only was it challenging but it was close to my home.

The side roads in the Ochoco National Grasslands are closed in the winter to protect wildlife and to prevent erosion of the roads and trails. As a result I was anxiously waiting until April 1st so I could get out there and explore.

I set out from my home in Madras, Oregon with my friend Jim to Jeep our way up the canyon and film it for the Adventures of Oregonman Youtube channel.

It was a beautiful day and we were looking forward to getting out there and enjoying it.

The drive to the grasslands from Madras was beautiful and short, only about 10 miles. Once we were off the pavement the fun began. The roads were not too muddy as it has been pretty warm here lately and everything is green this time of year. What a perfect drive.

Soon we were at the turn off to Kettner Springs where we stopped to air down the tires. (this is a pretty rocky area)

once we got aired down to about 15psi, we were underway. On our way to the canyon entrance we were greeted with some spectacular views of the Cascade range.

You can easily see why this is one of my favorites.

At the entrance to the canyon everything was pretty much as expected. It is a very narrow, rocky canyon with very steep sides.

We began making our way up the trail through one obstacle then the next until we came to the steep narrow part where we began to see the result of the heavy rains and snow melt.

The trail was washed out to about 4-5 feet deep in places. We decided to continue as far as we could to see if it was still passable, but there were some pretty intense and narrow sections to negotiate.

Unfortunately we were forced to turn back a little further up the canyon when we came to a narrow spot that had been washed out to about 5 feet deep with a rock filled cattle trough washed into the middle of the trail. It was too steep to go around and too heavy to move with our winches and jeeps.

We stopped at a campsite on the way back out to air up the tires and enjoy a cold drink, disappointed that we couldn’t get through the canyon. It was still a great day and a fun trip.

Until next time…

To check out the video click the link below:

Foley Butte 2nd attempt

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Well it started out as a beautiful day, not at all like our first attempt where we got turned back by snow and ice and almost lost the drone to the wind. This time it was warm and calm. The kind of day where nothing could stop us, or so we thought.

We started out from Madras with a full tank and some snacks and we headed for the Ochoco National forest just north of Prineville, Oregon. Enjoying the sunshine as we turned onto McKay rd. and headed north into the mountains. We were trying to get up to Foley Butte for the second time in as many weeks, though this time we had sunshine and warm temps and we were taking the low road to avoid the majority of the snow along the ridge.

We were having a great time as we turned off the main road and started for the top. Patches of snow here and there but nothing serious. The previous weeks warm weather had done it’s job and we had little trouble making the vista.

It was on our way down that the adventure truly began. As we made our way north to the main road we encountered some snow drifts that had not melted yet and we were having fun driving through them and splashing through the puddles left by the melting snow. But when I came to the last and deepest of the snowy spots, I heard a banging noise from under my jeep. The kind of noise that you don’t want to hear when you are in the mountains in deep snow. Yep my front drive line had come off the transfer case and the caps from the universal joint had been transported to another dimension (forever lost). Well Damn!

I could still drive just not in 4WD. I had my friend Jim with me in his Jeep TJ and we both had winches and recovery gear so I knew I was not stranded, but there was another problem. There was a blue PU truck stuck in the middle of the road that we would have to rescue first before we could head down out of the snow.

So we set about getting unstuck from the snow drift we were both in, then getting the blue PU out so we could all get down.

Jim getting free so he can help me with my busted Jeep

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Full video of our Foley Butte adventure