Region 6 Report

August 2005

by Randy Drake, Region 6 Director

Each of us judge our lives by what we have done or by an event surrounding us. After the weekend at Christmas Valley, I had pretty much thought it just couldn't get any better. Region 6 working, playing and visiting was at its peak. Once again, I was wrong, which was to be a good thing.

Creek 'n Trail was the best activity we have ever done since I have been a member of this association. Yes, it was raining and raining and raining, but it was the best ever.

It started in the rain Friday night at the dinner house in O'Brien, Oregon. There they serve an excellent prime rib dinner that people come to from miles around. Reservations are a must for Friday and Saturday night. It was the very best I had in a long time. There is only one other place better that I know of in this world.

The rest of the evening was spent under the cover of rain tarps with a steady pitter patter of rain. The conversation was well worth it, however, and it was very interesting viewing various rigs. Many were hard to tell what they were originally, while others were just well crafted classic 4x4's.

More rain greeted us in the morning while loading the jeeps for the trail. This year my son-in-law, his wife and their 6-year old daughter borrowed the TJ for the run since they were visiting us from Wyoming. My wife was very envious of them because the TJ had doors and a full top, while the trail worthy CJ just had doors and a bikini. This left both of us wishing for sunshine, but it didn't arrive.

So we donned our rain jackets and headed for the trailhead. As always, most were already there, which is good as I like to bring up the rear to help those less prepared. No one is left on the trail to die of exposure.

After listening to our pep talk from the Forest Service, we ventured onto what would be the best run up the McGrew Trail that I have ever experienced. Despite their greenness, the Andersons soon caught on and were really quite trail savvy and lots of fun. Our other club members were very trail savvy, their TJ was well equipped, and the group we were with just grew. The chatter on the CB's was constant with friendly advice and "wishing I hadn't forgot that." It rained more and more and more but the inside of the CJ was very comfortable with the heater on high. Although it rained, there was almost no wind and the outside temperature was quite warm, making the rain almost unnoticeable. The scenery was quite awesome, as always. I have to admit that, except for the few breakdowns, lunch and potty breaks, most visiting was not done outside, but rather on the CB's.

This year we added a poker run within the trail run and it was a lot of fun. But, once again, I didn't win. Maybe next year my luck will be better. The club running the poker run was the Strawberry Hill 4x4's, and they also were the trail crew. As they have done the latter many times in the past, it was done well. Thank you for your time helping and making this event a success.

The surprise of the run was in the tires I had on both the TJ and CJ. In fact, when I was heading to the trailhead I was quite glum thinking about my choice. I was imagining being towed from boulders, through mud holes and at many points along the trail. Despite the heavy rains and mud, these silly tires did very well beyond expectations. Normally this trail is dry to damp and I had left the BF Goodrich all-terrains on since it was summer, wasn't it? Not once did they slip or slide off anything, which was quite surprising. In areas where the fancy mud tires were having problems, they just crawled over like they had some magic glue on them. It surprised many a rock crawler, as well as me.

The trail was just a lot of fun and it just made the rain disappear. We arrived in camp after 5pm and set up our tents in the rain and built the best lean-to as possible with the materials on hand. It was not a pretty sight, but the ground was high and it held many a downpour through the night. If you liked to listen to rain drops on the roof, it soon wore off. Despite it's clumsy appearance, we stayed warm and cozy all night.

This year we decided not to use the river as a bathing pool, but rather went straight to dinner. It was very good, possibly because it was the first warm meal of the day. Dinner was put together by the Umpqua Valley Timber Cruisers and they did an excellent job. Pat Harris picked out the best steaks ever and this club did a real good job cooking them up. Thank you to all who made an excellent meal in the rain.

The raffle which followed was enjoyed by all until Gaileen, Alan and Andrew won all the cool prizes. How is it that one family won all those prizes again? Then the real heartbreaker was when the same guy as last year won the Warn 9.5i winch again. Warn Industries donated the winch this year and all of Region 6 THANKS YOU once again. I think its time to bring in a more impartial raffle ticket picker. After watching the Paulsons and Virgil win all the prizes, it was a nightcap and off to bed. Thank you Beth Ayer and Vanessa Johnston for gathering the items, getting them to camp and putting on the raffle. You did a very fine job.

Sunday woke with more rain at 5am to start breakfast. Soon, however, it was to disappear to the east and most of breakfast was prepared and served in just a light rain. I was allowed to help the Junction City Jeepers prepare breakfast. Despite not being able to find any extension cords, frying pans or a number of useful cooking utensils, we soon had cowboy coffee cooking and it just went well the rest of the morning. The club did an excellent job getting breakfast together with only a third of their members present -  which can be blamed on the rain. The best pancake cook in the world is in their club. Ken Johnston did an outstanding job of turning out perfect cakes all morning. I do believe that for the first time, almost everyone came to breakfast. It was quite a turnout. Thank you, Junction City Jeepers.

Many people helped in cleaning up and putting away all the material needed for this event. There must have been 30 or more people helping. Soon it was all put away and everyone was heading back to O'Brien for the trip home.

It was a very beautiful drive out and soon most tops were down and all were enjoying the sun. Maybe we are not so unlike the animals sunning themselves on the rocks and scurrying across the trail. The streams were full and many waterfalls could be seen. The waterfalls are not usually flowing down the canyons, disappearing into almost a river size stream. It was quite apparent where the "Creek" part of this event came from. It just had been many years since they had flowed with this much beauty.

Thank all of you for your time and effort for this event. Creek 'n Trail happened through all your efforts and it came together as it has for over 24 years. This year was the best. Tom and Pat Harris, thank you for another fantastic event.