Went with my son and a coworker to do some mudding, first time for us. Great, dirty, and cold fun. There are miles of trails through the woods, all difficulty levels, hills, holes, rocks. I found out a Recon is better for this type riding than a Rancher because it's smaller and easier to move through tight spots and except on roads where there's room to stretch out just as quick.
And snowshark (didn't see your post regarding this til last week): We still have the stock Goodyear Trackers on both quads since these have been entirely fine for the dry country stuff and the dunes we have done. This weekend there were a couple guys on Recons who did amazing things, also with those tires. Just reinforces what some have said around here before--most of it depends on the rider. (Saw a couple other guys with well-known, powerful 4wds--named after a type of bear but which will go otherwise unnamed so I'm not accused of bashing--who got jammed on the rocks with a wheel spinning up in the air, the same slope those Recon guys zipped up.) We did ok for beginning mudders--whatever problems we had were because of our inexperience. Glad we took our friend's advice and wore waders! I think we still prefer more open country cruising and exploring, but this is great once in a while.
We had been close to Frog Lake this summer while hiking and mountain biking with an older son visiting from back east. I wasn't aware of its atv possibilities--have to look into that.

 

Gooch,

Sounds like you had a blast. This past weekend I drove to Forrest Grove & picked up maps of the Tillamook riding area. We haven't been yet.

Frog lake looks like fun if the snow is compact from the snowmobilers. We hope to go up there in the next couple of weekends.

We went riding at Mt St. Helens on the logging roads with snow. This is the first time my Rancher every got stuck. I was blazing a trail of fresh powder until she got high centered. These quads are dang heavy when stuck. It took lots of rocking to get her out.

Have you been to the Bend area yet?

How big is the parking lot at Browns camp? Where there many people there?

 

snowshark:

Actually the parking this time of year is at Roger's Camp, which is right off Hwy 6. I think all the rest of the area including Brown's Camp is accessible from there. It was fun but not something I'd do every weekend--for one thing the quads get very gunked up.
We got there a little after 8 am on Sat and the place was almost deserted, but when we came back for lunch a few hours later it was a different story. It's a big enough parking area, but I'd recommend getting there early. Once back in there you can get away from the crowd, and there seems to be trails for all different skill levels, and plenty of mud if you want it. Lots of people had campers back on the roads so it looks like a good place to take the family or a group of friends, if you aren't looking for peace and quiet.
As to Bend, we haven't been down that far yet--have to do some work on my little old Mazda pu before I'll feel comfortable, though it's been fine so far hauling both quads, once to Coos Bay which was a 400 mi round trip. I did find a couple things on Millican Valley (BLM) and East Fort Rock (Forest Service) with info and larger scale maps at a local motorcycle/atv dealer. These are close to Bend, and look good--drier and more open with miles of trails, but you can't tell much without being there. We're itching to get out someplace--where we usually go the access road is frequently iced up and I don't want the whole rig in a ditch.

 

Thanks Gooch, The family is going to head over to Rogers/Brown camp to go riding on Saturday if the weather hold up. From your post it appears that mud gear is a MUST for riding there.

Always looking for more places to ride. It seems Oregon is a much friendlier towards ATV's than WAshington.

 

Yup, waders are a good idea to keep your feet dry, and a raincoat and change of clothes. The guy we were with had been there a few times and knew his way around, otherwise it's easy to get turned around and forget which way is which. But I don't have a good sense of direction. Next time we'll have a decent map.

 

Gooch,

We were at Rogers Camp this past weekend. It was fun. There was some snow & ice on the roads. It started to snow while we were there. Never ridden while it was snowing! We had to turn around more than a couple of times due to some LARGE mud holes. This spring when its warmer we will tackle some of those mudholes.

 

snowshark,

Did you try some of the trails over the hills? Some were too steep and turned us around, others were a lot of fun. I think one called "Military" was a good one--enough tricky stuff for a challenge but not too difficult for beginning mudders like us (or should I say "rutters"?). Once we get more experience manhandling the ATVs over deep ruts and around trees it'll be better. But it's fun sliding out of control into a tree, and imagining that somewhere a member of the Green Gestapo is wincing.
One thing I don't like is fine dissolved grit getting in everywhere. One Recon guy we met douses the steering stem with WD-40 to quiet the grinding sound when stuff gets by the top dust seal--to me WD-40 and grease shouldn't be in the same place at the same time. I know these things are designed for rough use but they cost a lot of money and I'd like them to last for a while. Don't know about blasting everything off at a car wash--might blow water into electrical stuff for one thing. Maybe sealing connections with silicone would help.
Then again, maybe we'll go mostly to dusty open places and keep the mudding for special occasions--dust is better than mud caked in hidden places.

 

Gooch,

We didn't get a chance to ride that trail. A map is a good idea for that area. There are trails leading off the roads in all directions in some places. We rode a few of the trails & a little on the power lines until a convoy of jeeps came by we decided to turn around. Tillamook is worth another trip. Mud is fun to play in but not in the winter! I will wait until it warms up a little.

Where do you ride over by Mt. Hood. We are thinking about going to Bend this spring & ride the Discovery trail system.