4X4XNorthwest Excellent Adventure 2003

Narrative by Brian Nupen

Photographs by Rick Newcomb and Larry Soo

In years past our club, 4X4XNorthwest, had made four wheeling pilgrimages to locations such as Ouray, Colorado; Moab, Utah; and the like. However, this year inspired by recently published adventure expeditions, we decided to run the most difficult Jeep trails in the Cascade mountain range from British Columbia to Oregon.

Before proceeding, I would like to thank fellow club member Chuck Cowman for volunteering to stand ready to deliver emergency parts or bring us a car trailer if it ever became necessary.

Saturday, June 21, 2003

We started the expedition with four Jeeps driven by Rick Newcomb, Ken Kayser, Lana Kayser and me. The first day of the expedition started off like so many others in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, under heavy grey skies with variable intensities of rain.

We met up with our trail hosts hailing from Canada’s most spectacular province, British Columbia. Although they were not an official club, they do have a website that you can visit, www.bc4x4.com.

The trail guide was a personable fellow with a good sense of humor by the name of Larry Soo. He was joined by Andrew Horvath, Mike Petterson, Dave Lippman, and Jared Taylor. It should be noted that most of the trails in British Columbia are on private forest lands and behind locked gates, so good trail guides are a necessity.

After taking the shortest ferry ride of my life (about five minutes) north of Langley into Albion, we entered the McNave Trail. The trail required winching by all of the vehicles including those with 39.5" tires. Although I am unaware of an official rating, I would rate this trail more difficult with most difficult sections.

We had been on the trail for only a brief period before it claimed the first victim. After dropping down through a steep root clogged and gooey mud filled section, Jared Taylor entered the deep waterhole (about 42" deep with a bumper high log stretched across the far wall of the pit) and broke his front right axle shaft. He was then extricated and dragged through the rest of the trail.

Just before the end of the trail, the second "glass Bronco" (as coined by Larry Soo), broke a front brake line.

After exiting the McNave Trail the daylight ceased, but the never ending rain did not. We quickly set up camp in a small abandoned gravel pit and enjoyed barbecue hamburgers, hot dogs, and Bubba (that’s Canadian for beer).

Sunday, June 22, 2003

The second day saw heavy showers decreasing to steady rain. Jared Taylor departed early in the morning and Dave Lippman repaired the brake line on his Bronco.

We entered the Powerline Trail that I estimated as an easy to more difficult rated trail with most difficult obstacles.

The first obstacle is called Two Step and as the name implies, it is a rocky faced hill climb with two perfectly placed ledges to grab tires on both axles at the same time. It can best be described as the Double Whammy with a load of quarry spalls dumped over it.

The second obstacle was actually a spur trail that teed off of the Powerline Trail. This trail goes by the name of NPT (No Pussies’ Trail). As the name implies this trail spur would be rated most difficult and has to be run in both directions as there is no outlet.

Andrew Horvath, Rick Newcomb, and I were the lone three that ventured onto this trail and after just a short distance, the reason became quickly apparent. The climax of the trail was a set of rock steps in the trees that I managed to climb by holding a wheel stand from the bottom to the top.

The third and final obstacle is known as Wil’s Waterfall. Although no water was coursing through while we were there, evidence present suggested that this was the site of a regularly cascading waterfall. Most of the rigs had difficulty traversing the area and Ken (Mr. Funny Rocks) Kayser had to winch up it.

After escaping the trail relatively unscathed, we aired up our tires and said goodbye to our Canadian trail hosts and headed for the United States. As we approached the American border, the incessant rain finally gave way to partly sunny skies that would finally succumb to clear, sunny skies for the remainder of the expedition.

As the lines of the traffic waiting to cross the border extended for roughly half a mile, boredom soon set in and we found ourselves driving over each others tires. Although I am not sure the customs agents appreciated this, tourists along the way gawked in astonishment.

After the four horsemen crossed the border, we headed to our homes for the evening to perform minor repairs to our vehicles and dry out our absolutely saturated tents as we were scheduled to link up again early in the morning.

Monday, June 23, 2003

The third day of the expedition found only a trio of jeeps on the trail initially as Lana Kayser was unable to join us in the morning.

We entered the more difficult rated Manastash Ridge Trail System southwest of Ellensburg, Washington and proceeded up trail #694 to an obstacle area known as Funny Rocks. Although Rick Newcomb and I had successfully climbed the main challenge route in lesser equipped vehicles in years past, glory eluded us in several near rollover attempts. Ken Kayser then walked up the route with what appeared to be virtual ease! After exchanging glances of disgust, and disbelief, Rick Newcomb and I beat our rigs against the slickrock outcropping until our goal was achieved. This was of course followed by roughly an hour of "victory parading" over the remainder of the outcropping, but Mr. Funny Rocks knew he had bragging rights and missed few opportunities for applying the salt of good natured ribbing in the deepest wounds of our egos. This too would pass.

We continued on trail #307 to Tripod Flats where we set up camp and we were joined for the evening by Lana and Harley Kayser (Daughter and 2 year old future Jeeper).

Unfortunately for Ken and Lana, they decided to sleep in their tent while Rick Newcomb and I opted for the cabin with the wood stove, aka Tripod Flats Holiday Inn, as the temperature dropped within a few degrees of freezing. Did I forget to mention that Tripod Flats is at an elevation of 5400 feet?

Tuesday, June 24, 2003

The fourth day of the expedition saw an early morning departure from Tripod Flats as the three Jeeps backtracked along trail #307 for nearly a tenth of a mile to the bottom of trail #330. This trail is rated most difficult and is known by the old timers as the 601 Rocky Saddle.

As a side note, the trails run on this day were the same run on the third day of Rick Russell’s Back Country video #17 Pucker Ridge, WA (only in the opposite direction). Viewers of that video might also notice some similarities between their trail guide for that day and the author of this article.

Upon completing the Rocky Saddle Trail, we continued onward to the Rock Garden and the new challenge route our club created in coordination with the Cle Elum ranger district.

After exiting the new challenge route in the Rock Garden, we traveled up trail #308 to the ridge trail #306 where we peaked in elevation just below 6200 vertical feet. Traveling north on this ridge trail affords some fantastic views of Mt. Rainier to the west and even an occasional glimpse of Mt. Adams.

We then clambered through the boulder strewn trail #690 on the way to the top of the trail #676 that is affectionately known by the locals as The Kaner.

Towards the completion of dropping down The Kaner and its many hill climbs and mud pits, Ken Kayser noticed a sound emanating from the rear of his Jeep accompanied by a low brake pedal. Further investigation found the hub bearings in his Warn full floater kit had disintegrated after only 500 miles of use.

After unsuccessfully trying to locate new parts in Yakima, we camped at the bottom of The Kaner Trail and called Nick Whitman who would be joining us the following morning. He agreed to bring his Jeep on a trailer so Ken could tow his Jeep home.

Wednesday, June 25, 2003

On the fourth day of the journey, we headed to the Rimrock Trail System located just east of White Pass, Washington. The vast majority of the trails in this area are rated most difficult and folding down your windshield to minimize damage is strongly recommended.

Nick Whitman started the day by gashing a tire sidewall in the first few hundred yards. We of course threw caution to the wind, ignored the omen, and continued running up the bottom section of trail #640 Memorial Meadows, but quickly cut over to trail #642 Butcher Knife. On our way up Butcher Knife, we missed a turn and ended up on a trail segment that we nicknamed Madman Lane. It was quite extreme and exhilarating. Rick Newcomb and I tried to drive up / roll down the first winch hill before we finally gave up and strung cable up the nearly 100’ long, 40° pitch through a mixture of tree root steps, loose rock spalls, and fine silt. Nick Whitman then attempted to winch up the hill much to the chagrin of his ballooning and overheating yellow top Optima battery. Rick winched Nick up to the top of the hill where he could jumpstart Nick’s poor battery. Unfortunately, his battery was not long for the world and was soon replaced with my auxiliary battery (just one more reason to carry dual batteries). Apparently Metallica was wrong, you can kill the battery!

After successfully climbing up / through many sections similar to the first winch hill, we arrived at the upper portion of the second winch hill. My clinometer was already reading 40° as I pushed my front tires against the base of a nearly 5 foot vertical wall near the top of the hillclimb and I recall noting to my companions that this must be a downhill only trail.

Proceeding onward and upward lead us up several wonderfully heinous boulder clogged hill climbs that would put Moab’s Potato Salad Hill to shame. At 5800 vertical feet in elevation, this is where we began to run into drifted snow (and only 1400 more vertical feet to climb, yeehaw).

We eventually linked into trail #615 Divide Ridge and proceeded past Blue Lake up to the old lookout at 7200 vertical feet in elevation. The 340° view of a substantial portion of the Cascade Range is breathtaking but sunset was only an hour away and the cold chill of the unimpeded wind served as a wake up warning on an otherwise warm and sunny day.

We then traveled downward to the top of trail #637 Short and Dirty and ran down the upper section of this downhill only trail. At this point I must say running Short and Dirty is cool, but running Short and Dirty in the snow is much cooler!

As much good scary fun as it is running across 20° side hill snowdrifts, it is downright entertaining watching your friends attempt it behind you.

The next trail segment we ran as darkness fell was trail #636 Donnicker Pass; this has always been one of my favorites and I will rarely pass up and opportunity to traverse it.

The end of Donnicker Pass found us on trail #621 Blue Slide. This is one of the King Mack Daddy downhill only trails in this area and may not have been the wisest choice for a night run with its three steep chutes, with grades exceeding 100%. This became especially true as we found out that we were the first guinea pigs of the year as evidenced by all of the downed trees that we had to clear from the trail. Particularly troublesome and potentially lethal was the downed tree that spanned across the first chute at hood level approximately 30’ above the bottom of the chute.

Luckily, as we were the first runners of the season, the deep, heavy winter snow had packed down the trail surface allowing me to stop in an area otherwise typified by uncontrollably increasing speed.

Thursday, June 26, 2003

The sixth day, weary from the previous night run, we ran up trail #661 Humphrey Butte, (a maze of twisty little tree passages requiring hours of constant whipsawing of the steering wheel to traverse). After slogging through the silty mudpit exit, we intersected with and scampered down the previously circumvented lower section of trail #637 Short and Dirty.

Friday, June 27, 2003

I vaguely recall reading a publication in which the seventh day was created for rest and that is generally how we spent it.

In addition to driving down to Brown’s Camp in the Tillamook State Forest in Oregon, Nick Whitman replaced two punctured tires and I replaced my punctured high flow water pump that was unfortunately living up to its’ name.

Ken and Lana Kayser rejoined us on this afternoon to again make our group whole, in a fashion much akin to the curtain call at the end of a play.

Saturday, June 28, 2003

Our eighth and final day found our troop headed up trail #14 Firebreak Five. This trail is rated more difficult with one man made rock crawling section upon which we played that is rated most difficult. Our real intent for running Firebreak Five however was to reach the recently fabled Crushers trail.

The Crushers consist of two short loops that extend from both sides of the trail and are comprised of a sloping hillside coated with boulders. "Quite lovely this time of year, really." We were somewhat pleased to find that the rumor stating 40"+ tires were required was a bit of a myth. That is not to say that the trail was easy by any means as I found myself truly listening to the spotter for the first time in my life, at least on the lower Crusher (as the dischord of mashed metal from the upper Crusher was still ringing in my ears).

After spending the better part of the midday in the intense heat of the carom board know as the Crushers, we headed up trail #16d Airplane Hill for the short flight up the last trail in this system with a most difficult rating.

Our predetermined goal had been successfully accomplished and the journey was indeed our reward.

The beginning of the Adventure.