By Tony K (Sooz took all the pictures except the last one which is another great one by Ken Eshelby)
Well another CTW has come and gone. And once again it was a great time and worth every bit of effort to get there. We couldn’t have asked for nicer weather either. Even though the rain was starting to come down as we packed up to leave, it quit about an hour into the drive south. Thankfully there was no rain while we set up camp.
Surprised by the humidity at Tillamook, things were a bit hot when we got there but the evening took care of that. Camp was noisy the first night as we expected…
Plenty of time to eat before the Friday run which took off at 10. All told there seemed to be almost 30 rigs in the lot. After splitting up for the day into smaller groups, we headed off. Just like last year Chad H was leading our group with Bill W bringing up the rear. The nice thing about this year was that the rains had happened earlier in the week so the trails were damp but not muddy and the best part of all was the lack of dust in the air!
Nice to know that the hill that defeated me last year, University Firepower was much friendlier to my rig this year. A lot less mud but I am sure my KM2’s would have easily gone where I couldn’t last year.
After a good fairly mellow day we headed back to camp. Sadly before we got there one of the 80 series blew out a radiator but even this was not a big deal as we were on a road pointed in the right direction and Mike S who I met at McGrew graciously pulled it back to camp. The rest of us finished out the day and only got back to camp about 10 Minutes after Mike and the 80. And lest I forget Mike was managing to push a Tundra which is quite large through a lot of pretty narrow trees. I think the only scratch he got was on the roof as he managed to get under the tree on the Cedar Tree Trail.
One of the changes this year was a bit of a mini raffle for the Toyota only Friday run. This was a bunch of Toyota specific stuff that the Jeep guys just wouldn’t appreciate especially the really cool vintage badges made for the original 
BJ jeep donated by Mike Speers. He has them made up and offers them for sale. See the helpful links page for his address. One of the good things about this raffle was that it included the Cascade Cruiser guys. These guys work really hard to get this run going and they deserve to be part of the raffle.
Once we got back to camp we found John and Doug waiting for us at the campsite, got to get a sticker on my trailer so they know its my site! Confused them a bit by Mike sharing the site as they don’t know Mike and he got back before we did. Another good night of telling lies by the fire closed things out. Got to have a nice visit with Dewey and Pat as they were on the Friday run with us and joined us for the fire. Good people with a nice 40 that they haven’t used much but are getting back into wheeling.
Less of a mad dash to get out of camp for the Poker Run this time around. But even so we were one of the earlier groups to head out. I took the lead with Mike behind me and Dewey and Pat behind him as we invited them to join us for the poker run. Always nice to have some others with you when you are new to the trails like Dewey and Pat. Paul and his son in a White 40 also joined us and Doug and John brought up the rear as they and I are the only ones with CB’s.
This years route was interesting as we got to go on some new trails that I have never been able to go on. Bates Rd was really nice and never seemed to stop climbing. Unfortunately Paul’s 40 started to have some ignition problems only part way up and it was virtually impossible to tow him up this steep trail. Luckily he got it started again so he could get to the top.
Once we started down, the boy scout in Mike got the best of him. At one of the pull outs there was a ton of trash and Mike was gracious enough to give that garbage a free ride back to the dumpster. I had already passed by but the rest of our group loaded it up in a hurry.
After the RTI ramp at check point 2 there was a bit of a Highway run to get to the next section of the trails. No big deal until Sooz reminded me that the tires had quite a bit less air in them than usual! Slowed up and the highway was no problem. But I did get a bit of a chuckle watching the guys get there rigs slowed up while we waited to gather up, the turn off came suddenly and slowing up an aired down rig can be a bit tricky.
Found out there is a prison camp not too far from the trails as we got to drive by the entrance on our way to checkpoint 3. Didn’t know that. Checkpoint 3 was staffed by some fellow Diesel drivers, Mike and Clint. And there diesels happen to be 60’s as well. Not a good year in the turnout for 60’s. Besides our 3 diesels there was only two other 60s, and one of these was another diesel too, Ken E’s 62 with a 1HZ in it, that motor sure is quiet.
Caleb was our checkpoint challenge guy. He sure likes hanging out the side of my wagon. He did really well too.
On our way to CK point 4 things got a bit interesting. On our way up Hogsback Mike found out just why an IFS front end doesn’t like really tall tires. A bad popping sound was the sure fire indicator that someting was wrong. But he was close to the top so a bit of a pull from me got him over the top. After this he was pretty much confined to 2WD and some of the bypasses but at least he got to finish. Having Ken E around to help him meet up with us after some of the tougher sections was really nice. My thanks to Ken for the help.
Checkpoint 5 was at the base of Can Opener and once again I wisely passed on this short hairy trail. It seems to get tougher each time I go to Tillamook, just like most trails it seems. Nowadays nothing short of a serious rock buggy is going to get you up Can Opener. But before we headed back Caleb had a bit of a challenge directing me through a short course to complete checkpoint 5, the last one. My eyes were closed and he was the director, he did a great job too.
Now all that was left was a nice drive down Lyda road back to camp. This is where the lack of dust was really a good thing. Damp road and no dust, couldn’t ask for a nicer way to end the day. And many thanks to Bill W for his knowledge about the IFS in Mikes rig. He is more familiar with them than I am by far so he was able to assure Mike it would be OK to drive home
As usual the Cascade Guys put on a nice raffle and gave out the awards. Don’t know how we did overall but Sooz won the poker hand again this year and just like last year she kept the prize.
So we have to close the books on another great time down at Tillamook. As usual a great job by the Cascade Cruisers for hosting this event. And like always there never seems to be enough time to spend with friends, both new and old. Should you think we totally lucked out on the weather, think again. Sunday morning dawned with pretty consistent showers and no amount of delay on our part made them go away. Pack out was wet.. but it didn’t put a damper on my weekend, not in the least.
