Alterate End-of-the-World and/or Winter Solstice
Posted: Tue Dec 25, 2012 11:48 pm
Sad I missed the git-together! Looked like a blast!
But I did a little end-o-the-world 'venturing of my own...
Had to get home to SF and since I hate I-5 which was closed crossing into CA anyway, I only took I-5 as far as 138, spent the solstice camped at Umpqua Hot Springs, hiked 2.5 miles in through a foot of snow in the morn and had a glittering paradise all to myself, then ran into a nice young couple from PDX skiing in on the way out and we shared brandied coffee, doobage and laughs. Then I headed past Diamond Lake and down 230 to 62 into Crater Lake. 62 had almost 50 miles of 3-10" of fresh snow on it that Maybelline happily plowed thru, no slips, ands or buts. Spent the next night at "Jo's Motel" in Fort Klamath (highly recommended if you're ever in the area), owned and operated by this awesome ol' hippie couple. The Ol' Lady was super excited when I told her about the crazy high mountain spring with purple Noble Firs that we found above Blair Lake. They had a trail cut through the 3' of snow behind the motel leading to a lonely firepit right on the river where I got a blaze going and played my gee-tar for the flurries into the night. After coffee and morning convo with "Robin n' Jim" (No "Jo", sadly), I headed off on what would be the craziest drive of my life....
After plowing the road from Fort Klamath to Chiloquin, I got on 97, and things went from slightly-ballsy-but-fun-and-pretty to holy-sh!t-I-hope-I-don't-end-up-in-Klamath-Lake. 30+mph headwinds kept the bus under 40mph on flat ground with the pedal to the floor. 50+mph side gusts threatened to send me skittering off the ice into the half-frozen lake, with my only hope being keeping that pedal floored to maintain as much forward momentum as possible. White-out flurries came and went, swallowing the trucks and forcing dreaded slowdowns. Passing thru Klamath Falls brought short lived relief as the storm broke. But as soon as I hit the CA border, I saw a full-size truck trailer in on it's side in the ditch just in time to warn me of the 40mph headwinds and who-even-knows side gusts that hit. Floored at 35 in 3rd for a half hour, knuckles see-through, lane markings meaningless.
Again relief came until Weed, where sunny skies belied false confidence. Hit I-5 to find a million idots driving 20mph with chains on, on perfectly bare (salted, blechhh) roads. There was substantial roadside snow until Redding, where it finally dwindled enough to make even the biggest dupes take the chains off. Hooray! Nooo.... more wind! This time with driving sheets of rain. I had to stop at a Black Bear Diner until the rain subsided and I was left only to deal with the gale all the way into the City... Took about 20 hours to drive all told, and I walked out to the bus to find one of my snow tires flat in the morning and I didn't bring chains. Luckily I brought two matching non-snow spares and I met another bus pilot at the beach here who happened to have a set in his bus that came with it and he never foresaw using! I can make it home!
But now the question is, how do I configure the tires? I have two good Wildcats, two kinda bald Nanking 8plys, and two studded Eurowinters (one flat). I had the wildcats up front with the winters on back, and during non-winter driving I roll the wildcats out back and the nankings up front, but I worry that the nanks don't have enough grip to steer on snow. So I'm thinking nanks on the back, with chains in the snow when needed, but I worry about having less grip in the back of a vehicle prone to oversteer when not using the chains.... Arrgh! And of course I can't just replace the tire, cuz studded tires aren't legal in CA.
But I did a little end-o-the-world 'venturing of my own...
Had to get home to SF and since I hate I-5 which was closed crossing into CA anyway, I only took I-5 as far as 138, spent the solstice camped at Umpqua Hot Springs, hiked 2.5 miles in through a foot of snow in the morn and had a glittering paradise all to myself, then ran into a nice young couple from PDX skiing in on the way out and we shared brandied coffee, doobage and laughs. Then I headed past Diamond Lake and down 230 to 62 into Crater Lake. 62 had almost 50 miles of 3-10" of fresh snow on it that Maybelline happily plowed thru, no slips, ands or buts. Spent the next night at "Jo's Motel" in Fort Klamath (highly recommended if you're ever in the area), owned and operated by this awesome ol' hippie couple. The Ol' Lady was super excited when I told her about the crazy high mountain spring with purple Noble Firs that we found above Blair Lake. They had a trail cut through the 3' of snow behind the motel leading to a lonely firepit right on the river where I got a blaze going and played my gee-tar for the flurries into the night. After coffee and morning convo with "Robin n' Jim" (No "Jo", sadly), I headed off on what would be the craziest drive of my life....
After plowing the road from Fort Klamath to Chiloquin, I got on 97, and things went from slightly-ballsy-but-fun-and-pretty to holy-sh!t-I-hope-I-don't-end-up-in-Klamath-Lake. 30+mph headwinds kept the bus under 40mph on flat ground with the pedal to the floor. 50+mph side gusts threatened to send me skittering off the ice into the half-frozen lake, with my only hope being keeping that pedal floored to maintain as much forward momentum as possible. White-out flurries came and went, swallowing the trucks and forcing dreaded slowdowns. Passing thru Klamath Falls brought short lived relief as the storm broke. But as soon as I hit the CA border, I saw a full-size truck trailer in on it's side in the ditch just in time to warn me of the 40mph headwinds and who-even-knows side gusts that hit. Floored at 35 in 3rd for a half hour, knuckles see-through, lane markings meaningless.
Again relief came until Weed, where sunny skies belied false confidence. Hit I-5 to find a million idots driving 20mph with chains on, on perfectly bare (salted, blechhh) roads. There was substantial roadside snow until Redding, where it finally dwindled enough to make even the biggest dupes take the chains off. Hooray! Nooo.... more wind! This time with driving sheets of rain. I had to stop at a Black Bear Diner until the rain subsided and I was left only to deal with the gale all the way into the City... Took about 20 hours to drive all told, and I walked out to the bus to find one of my snow tires flat in the morning and I didn't bring chains. Luckily I brought two matching non-snow spares and I met another bus pilot at the beach here who happened to have a set in his bus that came with it and he never foresaw using! I can make it home!
But now the question is, how do I configure the tires? I have two good Wildcats, two kinda bald Nanking 8plys, and two studded Eurowinters (one flat). I had the wildcats up front with the winters on back, and during non-winter driving I roll the wildcats out back and the nankings up front, but I worry that the nanks don't have enough grip to steer on snow. So I'm thinking nanks on the back, with chains in the snow when needed, but I worry about having less grip in the back of a vehicle prone to oversteer when not using the chains.... Arrgh! And of course I can't just replace the tire, cuz studded tires aren't legal in CA.