PRINEVILLE, OR – We have been holding the Fall Classic adventure event for over 20+ years and their are only two things that seem to remain constant. The first being all the really great people coming out for this event that truly make it worth doing every year and the second being that it’s held the weekend before Thanksgiving. All other bets are off! Some years it can be very relaxing and minimal and then there is like this year where unique and significant challenges and opportunities were enjoyed by all. What follows is one event goer’s account of the weekend. Check our forum for more experiences and photos as they get uploaded. Also follow on IG under #zukiworld.
By Matt Verley – 2024 ZUKIWORLD Fall classic…it happened. Things went down, and we all survived.
This year, we chose a different location for the annual “tent camp in the snow and explore the desert” event. Our normal spot near Fort Rock was burned over during a fire this summer, so we chose a new spot east of Prineville. I loaded up the Samurai and road tripped the 6+ hours there.
Day 1: We explored some stuff on the way to camp. An abandoned mine and homestead. The campground we planned on using was closed for the winter (website said it was open and during a visit the week prior it WAS open, so that was a little frustrating). Our unimproved site was OK. It was raining pretty hard while setting up camp; I didn’t have room for an awning, so all of my camping gear got wet while setting it up. Fortunately, my diesel tent heater worked to sort of dry things out and keep me warm at night. The creek rose precariously during the night, forcing some of the people in our group to re-locate their camp setups.
Day 2/3: I did a cold plunge in the creek next to the campsite at about 5:45am. It was cold, but very refreshing. Little did I know I was about to spend the next 32 hours driving…
We started off on our planned route, visited some points of interest, paused here and there for some short walks and photo opportunities, then in the afternoon pointed toward Dayville. The route we had planned took us over a pass in the Ochoco mountains, near the Wolf Mountain lookout. The snow was deep and wet, and people kept getting stuck. Then an un-forecast storm blew through, dumping more snow. Before we knew it, we realized many of the rigs were nearly out of gas, the route we had planned (and that showed as driveable on all of our GPS apps) was going to dead end, and we were in a bit of a tight spot. A few of us still had the needed driving range to get back to town for fuel…but it was a 6 hour drive from where the rest of the group was forced to stop for the night. My Samurai was one of those vehicles…so we made the 12 hour round trip to a truck stop in Madras that had fuel cans and fuel, arriving back at the group a little before 9AM the next morning. The trip was a challenge; we were all exhausted and sleepy, the roads were covered in mud, snow, and ice. Fortunately, temperatures had dropped a lot on the mountain, making the snow more tacky and easier to drive over near where the remainder of the group spent the night. With just a few winch pulls and a couple of kinetic rope tugs, we all made it out.
I spent somewhere around 32 hours in the driver seat of the Samurai…definitely a record for me. It was exhausting, and when I got home I fell asleep on the couch before making it into the bedroom and slept for 11 hours. That little Samurai worked great; never got stuck, it pulled a few other vehicles out, and it continued to pull nearly 30 MPG over the entire trip even in the deep snow. I had a slight battery issue and the inverter setup I had brought to charge my chain saw battery didn’t work, but otherwise there were no real hiccups with my very compact winter camping setup.
Already looking forward to next year; although I will definitely be aiming for a little less adversity and challenge on that trip! We had more than enough of it this year…
