The McGrew Trail Ride starts on Thursday night when the long-haulers start arriving
to camp behind the store in O'Brien, OR. O’Brien is 5 miles north of the CA border
on HWY 199. The store, where everyone meets, is right on HWY 199, and hard to miss.
Day 1 wheelers gather Friday morning around 8:00am-8:30am, to sign in, and go through
the safety inspection. Shooting for 9:00am we have a drivers meeting and the local
Forest Service Ranger talks about the Cedar root rot “fungus”. This is a historic
trail and believe in the tread lightly rule. Stay on the path and the trail will
remain open for others to enjoy years to come. Then we all head West out of O'Brien
for 3 miles to the trail head where more rangers inspect the vehicles for dirt and
debris that could contain cedar root rot. Your truck needs to be nice and clean,
or you will be sent back to wash it again. Same process for Day 2 wheelers on Saturday
morning.
The trail takes around 6 hours to complete and for the most part is rocky and bouncy
with great views. There are several optional obstacles for those up for a challenge,
and a few mandatory obstacles that will get the blood pumping for a first-timer.
We stop for lunch around the half way mark, and there's usually some good stories
already circulating about something that has happened on the trail. Twenty minutes
from the end of the trail is the "Sluice". There are 2 lines, the left line is the
easier, but is still a challenge, and the right line is for those looking for some
good rock crawling.... Sometimes with a side of body damage.
Whether you drive a buggy or a stock setup you will have some fun on this trail..
On a stock vehicle you will need to watch your rocker panels, and get some spotting
in a couple places. But that's all part of the fun!
Click here for a good part by part trail description
After we arrive in camp, many people change clothes and go jump in the Smith River.
Keep your ear open for people heading to the "secret" swimming spot, it's warmer!
Dinner Saturday night is pot luck style with a raffle held right after. If we're
lucky, we can have a camp fire and hang out till the wee hours. If we can't have
a fire, we'll still hang out till the wee hours...
Sunday morning there are 2 official groups that leave camp, one goes back to O'Brien
on the forest service roads (2 hours instead of 6 on the trail) and the other heads
west towards the coast. This is to accommodate both north and south bound participants.
If you know the way out, you can leave at your leisure.
click here for JSC Best of McGrew Gallery
