March 2014 Archive

30
Mar
2014
jloomis

Clear Lake & Frog Lake Spring Snowmobile Ride

Picture of snowmobiling above Clear Lake, Oregon

Even though it is officially Spring now, I am clinging to winter as long as I can. My reward for loyalty was some fresh snow in the mountains. My friend Nick and I took advantage and drove up to Frog Lake SnoPark early Sunday morning to go snowmobiling in the fresh snow.

22
Mar
2014
jloomis

Early Spring Climb of Olallie Butte, Oregon

Picture of me climbing Olallie Butte in the snow and ice

After my scouting trip via snowmobile on Thursday afternoon, I decided to head back to Olallie Lake Scenic Area on Saturday to climb Olallie Butte. I have wanted to climb Olallie Butte in the winter for some time as I prefer snow and ice to dust and rocks. Olallie Butte is a shield volcano situated in the Oregon Cascades between Mt Jefferson and Mt Hood. At 7,215 feet tall it is the tallest peak between Mt Hood and Mt Jefferson. Most of it lies on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation land except for the Western flank where the trailhead is located.

20
Mar
2014
jloomis

Snowmobiling to Olallie Lake from the Upper Clackamas

Picture of Olallie Lake in the Winter with Mt Jefferson in the background

Since Thursday afternoon was beautiful, I decided to make a quick drive to the Upper Clackamas for a snowmobile trip to Olallie Lake. I had never ridden this route and was curious what the snow conditions were currently like. We received about 10 inches of new snow earlier in the week before the sun came out and warmed things up again.

15
Mar
2014
jloomis

Frog Lake and Frog Lake Buttes Snowmobile Ride

Photo of snowmobiling across frozen Frog Lake

I finished rebuilding the fuel injected engine (top end) on our 2008 Polaris 700 Dragon RMK Friday night. During the rebuild, I discovered the previous owner didn't use Loctite® on the exhaust valve guillotines and after we put just over 100 miles on the sled, they loosened up and started hitting the pistons causing the engine failure. A local dealer said the sled was basically junk without a repaired engine. They gave me an estimate of $1,500-$2,500, so I decided to tackle the project myself.

02
Mar
2014
jloomis

Overnight Stay at Warm Springs Cabin and Snowmobiling to Olallie Lake

Picture of Warm Springs Cabin in the winter

Ever since learning about the Warm Springs Cabin on forest service road 42, I have wanted to snowmobile to it and spend the night. My cards finally lined up and I planned a trip this weekend with a couple friends. The Warm Springs Cabin is maintained by the Mt Hood Snowmobile Club. It's a log cabin with a concrete floor, large wood stove, and sleeping loft.