mollala gravel pit

[MarkSki]

Anyone know if the road to the pit is open as of 12-2-11? :huh:

 

[Hawaiian]

I went to the Pit from Hillockburn road last month. It was open. But by now it could be snowed in.

 

[Greenbug]

I don't think all of you are talking about the same "molalla pit". You can not get to it by vehicle any other way than to drive across the bridge at pine creek, unless you have keys to the side road gates up there. That road dead ends about 9 miles up and has several gated roads coming off it. They installed the gate at the pine creek bridge several years ago when they kept having problems with the local russian kids partying and leaving trash and starting fires up there. I used to camp up there and hunt, but that has been several years ago.

 

[darkminstrel]

Then I'm a magician because the last time I was up there I went in via the bridge and out via the secondary route. There are a number of forks and intersections but you just have to follow the road true and you'll end up at Sweetwater road I believe.

 

[Greenbug]

Then I'm a magician because the last time I was up there I went in via the bridge and out via the secondary route. There are a number of forks and intersections but you just have to follow the road true and you'll end up at Sweetwater road I believe.

We are definately not talking about the same "Molalla Pit" then. Only one way in and one way out.

 

[bballer182]

I went to the Pit from Hillockburn road last month. It was open. But by now it could be snowed in.

That it the parking lot up Hillock. and there are a few more "pits" up above hillock. Not Molalla, Hillock is in between Colton and Estacada.

 

[darkminstrel]

We are definately not talking about the same "Molalla Pit" then. Only one way in and one way out.

No, we're not! I read your 'Molalla' as 'Memaloose'. Bit of a headdesk moment there.

 

[Greenbug]

No, we're not! I read your 'Molalla' as 'Memaloose'. Bit of a headdesk moment there.

Ahh!

It all makes sense now!

 

[SZEWZE]

Not sure about pit access yet, but the county announced that Dickey Prairie Rd is back open so you won't have to make the long detour on the gravel rd by Adams Cemetery anymore.

 

[FireArm]

There's a military base out in the molalla straights? That's the first I heard of this?

 

[Pauly]

There's a military base out in the molalla straights? That's the first I heard of this?

If you keep going all the way down until the gravel dead-ends & start shooting, soldiers may very well come out of the bushes or a helo may come flying over you & tell you to go shoot somewhere else.

It's not accessable by roads (at least roads that aren't gated) & I can't find it on Google Earth, although I spent a few hours one day trying, but I know multiple people who that's happened to in the last few years.

It makes sense though for a good place to hide a base... Close enough in, yet far enough away from Portland. Lot's of tree cover as well & it's way the hell up there.
It's pretty much only talked about by the Molalla/Canby kid crowd that party way up there, since they're about the only ones that end up driving all the way down to the end because they want to be far enough out that they'd be pretty sure the police don't mess with them.

 

[bballer182]

If you keep going all the way down until the gravel dead-ends & start shooting, soldiers may very well come out of the bushes or a helo may come flying over you & tell you to go shoot somewhere else.

It's not accessable by roads (at least roads that aren't gated) & I can't find it on Google Earth, although I spent a few hours one day trying, but I know multiple people who that's happened to in the last few years.

It makes sense though for a good place to hide a base... Close enough in, yet far enough away from Portland. Lot's of tree cover as well & it's way the hell up there.
It's pretty much only talked about by the Molalla/Canby kid crowd that party way up there, since they're about the only ones that end up driving all the way down to the end because they want to be far enough out that they'd be pretty sure the police don't mess with them.

Ok, when you say all the way down. Do you mean all the way up? Because that road does nothing but go up and up. And I grew up in the molallla/colton area, and in the 29 years I have lived here I have never heard of a base up there. If so, I will be searching for it.

 

[darkminstrel]

If you keep going all the way down until the gravel dead-ends & start shooting, soldiers may very well come out of the bushes or a helo may come flying over you & tell you to go shoot somewhere else.

Something similar happened to me when I was living in NorCal at the time. Turns out we had found Bohemian Grove's borders by accident. THAT was 'fun'.

 

[FireArm]

Yeah thats what i was getting too, I have lived my whole life if Oregon and spent most summers at the Richmond residents on the molalla river, I never heard of a base or training facility out there. But I always went out there to camp, drink when under age and shoot guns. One night we were out there drinking and had a camp fire pretty far out there. We were shooting most of the night and had a hewey fly over us spotlight us, which they probably didn't see much because of the heavily wooded area we were in. But there stopped for 3o secs or so and kept on going they went out of listen distance and about twenty nns later flew over very quickly. Didn't tell us to stop shooting. We all thought it was weird. But never thought there was a base out there .

 

[bballer182]

Ok, just got off the phone with a long time buddy who I grew up with and he confirms weird fly overs. He said he was deep up there around the cougar lake area and 2 helos flew over and hovered as the were riding quads. And his wife works nights in colton and she says she see military vehicles every night headed from the estacada area thru colton headed towards molalla. Hmmm....

Can anyone give me specific locations they were at when the encountered "weirdness" i.e. military vehicles/personell?

 

[Pauly]

Ok, when you say all the way down. Do you mean all the way up? Because that road does nothing but go up and up. And I grew up in the molallla/colton area, and in the 29 years I have lived here I have never heard of a base up there. If so, I will be searching for it.

Yes, to the end (it does go down hill for short spurts every now & again). I also grew up up in those foothills & you're correct, there was never anything like that when I was younger, but not too many people go all the way to the end either.

I've just heard multiple second hand accounts, one just a few months ago from a kid I hired for a day who's from Canby who that happened to a couple months prior.
It makes sense that they'd close it down if they got tired of bullets wizzing by a newer base, but I don't know....
Half the kids are so drunk or high when they're up there, they may have all just have had hallucinations.

Really, how does one tell?
Google earth could be manipulated if something in the woods wanted to be kept secret, & in fact, if you try to zoom in when you get way out there (on google earth) the screen goes black. It will not let you zoom in way out there. You can only see the aerial views way out where you can barely see the roads.
Try it. I think I was able to get a few miles up the road after the bridge before the screen went black & I had to zoom way out to see anything at all & all you can see is a sea of green from that distance.

Personally I'm just heading up Fredrickson Rd in Woodland Wa. now because it's about the same distance from where I currently live in Portland as Molalla is.

But yeah, if you hike out & find something keep us posted.
I think the only way to search effectively would be on a dirt-bike though being as that's about the only way to get around the gates without ending up with charges for cutting through fences if you find anything.

 

[FireArm]

Well I m taking my rhino up soon see if I can make it thru to bagby hot spring. Gps, county maps, print out close up map, if the military is out there I will find them or they will find me.

 

[Pauly]

You know, one time about 10 years ago, a couple of friends & myself were up there getting absolutely blasted & I remember a helo flying around off in the distance at about 2-3am-ish... It never came very close to us though....

But we weren't nearly all the way down the road either & the helo seemed to be around much farther down than we were.
We used to drive up the road, constantly taking the forks that went uphill the most except for turning left the last time because if you go straight it dead-ends into bushes so we'd have to back up & make a left, then it dead-ends into a gate a couple hundred yards down the road.
The spot had a great vantage point so we could see cops coming from miles away & we'd have enough time to ditch everything so we wouldn't get busted (oh, the days of being a kid...)... But yeah, even 10 years ago there were helos in the area in the middle of the night.

As kids though, we never really thought about it. We were more concerned with Clackamas County patrol vehicles busting us for beer or whatever else & calling our parents.

When you talk to kids that party way up there a lot, they just call it "The secret army base up there", casually, as if it's common knowledge among them.

Who knows...

 

[Pauly]

Well I m taking my rhino up soon see if I can make it thru to bagby hot spring. Gps, county maps, print out close up map, if the military is out there I will find them or they will find me.

Take extra gas...
About 12 years ago I almost ran out once driving around in my jeep when I got lost & I'd started out with a full tank.
It's pretty much the end of civilization up there. There's more gates now though, so not as easy to get lost.

 

[bballer182]

Well I m taking my rhino up soon see if I can make it thru to bagby hot spring. Gps, county maps, print out close up map, if the military is out there I will find them or they will find me.

If you are trying to get to bagby from molalla river side. You better pack a lot of extra gas. It can be done but that's an awful long ways.