New Year's 1999 Hangover Run
New Year's Fun!

This year we decided to try something new for our annual hangover run on New Year’s day. OK I decided to try something new, but I was able to convince some other foolhardy souls in our club it would be fun. This year we went camping out on the trail for New Year’s. We wanted to run a trail or logging road that would make a loop. Now just try and find a good road that is not a snow park. So we made a call to our local rangers in Cle Elum and Leavenworth and they said “you want to do what?”. They had never gotten a request like ours, but Barry Griffith from the Leavenworth area gave us a call back and recommended three roads that could serve our purpose. So the week before the run was to take place Chuck and I ran over in our “street 4bys” and scoped out the entrances of the roads and picked the best looking one for the run. We got caught on the eastside when the pass closed but that is another adventure.

Friday the 1^st came and the participants met at the Safeway in Monroe at 10:00 am, not too many hangovers at that time. There were 5 rigs for the campout and 3 rigs just going over for the day. Chuck and Bryan in the just completed blue wrangler (story on build up). Brett in his GMC cj-7. Robert in his Wacky Wheeler cj-5. Ken and Lana in her red cj-5. And Rick in the rainbow scrambler. Also along for the day were Peter and Doug in Peter’s cj-7, Jim in his cj-7 and Nick in his cj-7. Off we went to highway 97 not knowing what the week of wild weather had done to the snow level on the trail. We were heading to Ruby creek road as that was the highest and most challenging of the three. About 1 mile from the start of the trail we aired down because there would be a wall of snow piled up by the snowplows and nowhere to pull off the road. Luckily at the entrance there was a break in the wall and we were able to pull right onto the trail without holding up traffic.

Rick breaking trail in the scrambler.

All was going well until about ¼ mile in when the first stuck of the day happened. Of course I was in the lead so it was me, our club has a tow fee system so you pay a dollar per tow or declare it will be a bad day and pay 5 dollars up front, needless to say I declared the 5 spot.

Robert heading up the first hill.

At the first fork we came to we decided we needed to go up the hill to get to the top of the ridge. Rick was still in the lead and made it about 20 feet up the hill and got stuck, the second of many, so Robert  moved into the lead and tried the hill. After about 30 minutes of hard work Robert had made a path up the hill about 100 feet. Then came Nick who pushed the path another 50 feet around the first corner at which time we learned that the snow got much deeper. So it was time to try the other fork and time for Jim and Brett to try their hand leading. I found that I was stuck a lot less when behind others.

Nick on the first hill.

Things were going smoothly for a couple of miles and everyone was taking a turn leading, it can get pretty boring on snow runs when in the rear. At this time we got to a good  spot for lunch.

Doug enjoys the lunch that his wife packed.

After lunch Peter got his turn in the lead at which time we came to the next fork. Peter started to hear a noise in his steering so he pulled over to check and Chuck continued in the lead. Peter found that his power steering hose was leaking so the call went out for spare parts. Brett had a spare high pressure hose but one end was cut off, Brett was unsure why, so that would not do. While Robert and Peter concocted a trail fix Ken decided to play around on the other fork. While making it about 20 feet onto the fork Ken pulls one of Lana’s swampers off the bead. With the help of Nick’s compressor we were able to get the tire back on the rim with a minimum of fuss.

Peter leads on virgin snow.

Jim tries out his cruise control.

At this point the day trippers decided it was time to head back to the other side of the mountain. As they turned around Chuck came back to let us know the snow had gotten much deeper up front so it was decided to go on the fork Ken was stuck on. We moved him out and started looking for a campsite as it was starting to get dark. An old log landing was found for a great campsite, so Ken and Rick drove over the snow back and forth until we had an area packed down for the tents.

Home away from home.

After everyone had gotten their tents set up we went about fixing dinner. Chuck had pre-made a large pot of stew out of elk meat that Rick gave him. Just a little heating up and there was enough for everyone, it was excellent Chuck. We sat around the campfire and watched the stars and clouds change places in the sky. It was cold but everyone was prepared for it so it wasn’t uncomfortable.

Brian shovels up some breakfast.

Everyone slept very well, some quieter than others, right chainsaw?

The next morning we got all the food that everybody brought and made a group breakfast. It tasted great especially with a couple of cups of hot coffee. After breakfast we broke camp, my tent was frozen from condensation the night before, and everyone prepared for the assault on the ridge. It had been so cold the snow would not pack down now, it was like sand under the crust. Robert was leading and tried winching up the trail but the driveshaft on his pto broke. Brett was able to get close to pull him out backwards. At this point we went to try the other fork that Chuck had been on the previous day. We made it past where he had the day before when we encountered a larger slide covering the trail. After some looking and thinking we figured out we could get across without sliding over the edge. Chuck  made it over first then came the scrambler. I found out the snow was deeper on this side of the slide, I was stuck many more times. We came to a tree down but with the depth snow it was not a problem to get over. By now it was about four in the afternoon so we headed back to the highway without making the top of the ridge.

Brian brings up the rear on the way down.

Robert follows the scrambler.

We hit the highway and aired up off of Robert’s and Chuck’s compressors and we were off to dinner in Leavenworth. A great time was had by all and plans are being hatched for the next one. Guess this wasn’t such a crazy idea after