Airplane Hill Trail, Tillamook SF ,Oregon,now open!

[toyrocs]

The Airplane Hill Trail, in Tillamook State Forest, is now open, as of June 20th, 2009!!!

The Cascade Cruisers 4x4 club has adopted the Airplane Hill trail and we just finished completing the trail, including the rockcrawls/obstacles, filters at both the upper and lower ends, and gates. The trail has been closed for over 4 years & the club has been working on it for about 1½ years.

As part of the agreement with the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) to open up this trail & to provide extended usage to 4-wheelers during the wet periods of the year, gates have been installed just inside the upper & lower filters. Historically, this steep trail has been severely impacted during wet conditions.

ODF has seasonally closed similar trails in the past, with boulders and logs, from early winter until late spring. With these gates, the trail can be open more days per year and closed when trail conditions dictate. Access (opening and closing of the gates) to the trail will be performed by ODF. The trail will be opened up by ODF during the rainy season when the trail dries out sufficiently to allow usage without excessive trail degradation.

The filters and hill climb have been tested with several rigs with various capabilities. The design philosophy was to provide a challenge for hard-core wheelers. It is rated as a 3- Diamond trail. It’s important to increase the number of trails available, like this one. Increasing the number of miles for use by the 4-wheeling community is important.

We think it's a win-win situation with ODF, 4x4 and other trail users. Our club has spent a lot of time, energy and money on this project. This trail was funded in part by our (yours and mine) OHV grant money and the support of ODF OHV Specialists. The PNW4WDA, Region 3, also donated money to help get this trail open.

This trail is open not only to 4-wheelers, but also to motorcycles and ATVs. Thank you for respecting the trail. Enjoy it now that it is finally re-opened but please don’t abuse it.


Toyrocs