Can't remember which magazine, but one of the 4x4/ off-road mags did a write up on a Land Rover club that did Route 4 and 5. I think the article ran about a month ago. They started in Prineville on Route 4 and took Route 5 all the way down to the Christmas Valley Dunes. Looked like a killer trip.
I can provide some info here. I have done the Barlow Road several times and 90% of the OBCDR.
In regards to Barlow Rd - easy. You can do it in a high clearance vehicle – four wheel drive is not required….sorry :-) It is a nice drive and the road is well marked for the most part. Starting west to east, you can pick it up off of hwy 35 – take the turnoff to the Pioneer Woman’s grave. A good map is the Benchmark map book – better that Delorme. Available online from Amazon.com for around $16. Great book and by far the best maps. I like it so much I also bought the books over AZ, CA, NV and UT. The Barlow road is also on MS Street and Trips 2006 and other software programs. Forest Service rd 3530 and 3550. Ends up in Wamic. Nice day drive. Many good places to camp along the way. You are on Forest Service land, so you can actually camp where ever you like.
In regards to Oregon Back Country Discovery Route:
I have done the eastern route from WA to CA – highly recommend, for the sake of the nature and the beauty of the terrain. You are truly driving through some amazing nature. This is the reason I love Oregon. At no time are you challenged – most of the time you will be on gravel roads, and only a few places require slow going. One stretch north of hwy 20 is extremely rocky. 4x4 not required for traction purposes, but you will use it too keep a slow pace. No hard core wheeling and “girlfriend” friendly if she likes to camp. For the entire eastern route figure on seven days. I did it in several stages, interspersed with other excursions.
For the Western route (Route 3 south) – it is not anywhere near as nice as the eastern route. You are in pine forests most of the time just east of the Cascades. In some areas you will get SEVERLY pinstriped. I did this one in a Bronco II and lost one of the bucking horse decals. It was torn off the truck. At some places on that trail it gets so tight with branches and bushes I could only see ONE headlight of the car behind me. Those of you who went with Dave (Goraksheep) and myself to Tillamook a while back and got a few stripes – that was nothing. Not the trail if you want to avoid scratches and pinstriping.
I will be happy to help with any other questions. I also have a mapbook over the eastern route that I bough from the obcdr web site – you can borrow that one.
Bjorn
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VB MT - No CQ, Black Steelies, 886/895 OME Lift, 265/70/17R BFG A/Ts, RRack, RRails. Atrac switch, Atrac/locker hack, Cruise control added. All Pro skid plate, DP Dual battery kit, Cobra 75 CB, Yaesu FT8800R. Callsign KD7TGH. High lift, Ram Mount laptop mount, Eagle Expedition II GPS, NG Topo maps, MS GPS w/ Streets 2007, Waeco CoolFreeze CF-50, IPF 968, Swiss Army SUV Overhead Map Light/Mini-Console Kit w/digital dual volt meters, Expedition One bumper, Maggiolina Airland RTT.
The pinstipes are primarily on the western route. The eastern route is a fantastic drive and I don't remember any spot that would cause any paint damage.
The elevation on this route is at times in the 5000-6000 ft range in the southern part of it - it will soon be too late in the year due to snow. If there is a lot of snow this winter, the southern portion of the route might be blocked by snow until July. I ran into snow late May at the CA-OR state line one year and had to turn around. So best time of the year would be July – September. Most of this trip will be on ridges and peaks so you will have pleasant temperature due to elevation, even during summer.
One note regarding the route – it was originally marked by stakes with round stickers on it. Due to legal action from the types of people who would rather not see us having a great time with our vehicles in that part of the state, most of the stickers have been removed. You WILL need a good map. I bought the book with the route outlined and traced it onto my laptop computer and ran a GPS setup following the trace. Without this, finding and staying on the trail would be time consuming. If you want to borrow my book you are welcome to it.
Quote:
Son of a Son previously said:
This sounds like a fun series of events save for all the pinstripes /\
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VB MT - No CQ, Black Steelies, 886/895 OME Lift, 265/70/17R BFG A/Ts, RRack, RRails. Atrac switch, Atrac/locker hack, Cruise control added. All Pro skid plate, DP Dual battery kit, Cobra 75 CB, Yaesu FT8800R. Callsign KD7TGH. High lift, Ram Mount laptop mount, Eagle Expedition II GPS, NG Topo maps, MS GPS w/ Streets 2007, Waeco CoolFreeze CF-50, IPF 968, Swiss Army SUV Overhead Map Light/Mini-Console Kit w/digital dual volt meters, Expedition One bumper, Maggiolina Airland RTT.
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