Naches Pass pre-run Aug 2012

Scarsman and I made a pre-run of Naches Pass and to explore on the east side of the trail.

After running the Surprise Lake trail in the morning we started on the west end of the trail.



We made our way to Government Meadows where we were greeted by some elk. We stopped here and stayed in the cabin.





For some reason I didn't take a pic of the cabin, it was built in the 1950's by a snowmobile club and is available to the public.

Our VIP parking spaces at the cabin.



Friday morning we loaded up and headed east to finish the trail and find some new trails.









I started hearing a clunking from my front end. We found a place to stop and checked on the problem. I was having fitment issues with my steering rack sleeve before the run, and the sleeve came out on the trail. We recovered half of the sleeve that fell on the skid plate. We made a trail repair with gorilla tape, the half of a sleeve and the extra parts that Hunner sent me. (Thanks Hunner :thumbs.

We got back on the trail and our trail fix worked. No more clunking of the steering rack! :horns:





At the end of the trail we found a nice creek to play in and cool off. It was also great to get the kids out of the vehicle for awhile.

We headed down the forest road in hopes of finding Moon Rocks and Funny Rocks. We came across a couple of built up Toyota's that happened to be heading to those trails. The main access road had been closed due to flooding, but they knew another way in.

So we got in line and followed them up a forest road. Then a quick left turn and we were going through a twist ditch gatekeeper. There are no pics of the trail due to us not knowing where we were going, and just keeping up with the Toyota's. After the twist ditch it was a windy dusty trail up the side of the hill. We were cheered on by some atv's as we made our way through the gatekeeper. We crossed some road and then got into some technical rocky hill climb that kept getting steeper as you went up. Scarsman was in front of me and he made his way over some big roots and up the steepest part of the hill. The peeps in the toyota's got out and watched us make our way up the hill. I followed Scarsman up the hill with my rear locker on and just tried to keep my momentum. I almost stalled my engine as I got to the steep part, but we both made it to the top.

We got out for a minute to look at maps and the guys tell us we still have about an hour and half to go. :whaa: We decided to turn around as it was getting late and we had hungry kids in the truck. We made our way back down the trail and found a forest road down the hill. We stopped by the Little Naches River for a hot dog roast.



Scarsman and I plan to run this trail again, minus some of our gear, and with lots of pics and video. If I didn't have two hungry and tired kids with me, I would have enjoyed the trail a lot more.

H3slate and I both had some week days off from work, so we decided to do a pre-run of the pass and do some camping with the kids. We did the Surprise Lake trail earlier in the day and then went to Government Meadows at the top of the pass and stayed in the cabin. I also, for some reason, failed to take any pics of the cabin. We were greeted there by a herd of elk.






Cruising through the woods:




Taking a break:






This was coming down the hill climb that we followed the Toyotas up. As always, pictures do not show what it really looked like.







This is a shot looking across the trail that sort of shows the angle. My RAD-1 put it at 37 degrees at the steepest spot.





Here is a video one of my boys took from the bottom as were coming back down. It isn't the greatest angle, and doesn't show the extent of the hill. But you can see how big some of the roots were across the trail.


[video=youtube;JUy_TTwxsOU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUy_TTwxsOU&list=UU7JRV4Q_dz39E1c69EQSMRg& index=4&feature=plcp[/video]

Love the pics and video, looked like a great time in the woods, the scenery is beautiful thanks for sharing.

Hey, I'm digging up an old threads here because of these awesome photos. Hopefully you guys don't mind me using your photo's for Naches Pass on my 4x4 Trails and Park Map. I'll take them down if you don't want me to use them, and if you need me to give you credit for them some how I will.

Either way if you let me use them or don't, thanks for the cool photos!

You can always tell who the awesome folks are

they attach a bag to pick up other people's trash off the trail.... kudos to you, my friend

Schwarttzy said:

Hey, I'm digging up an old threads here because of these awesome photos. Hopefully you guys don't mind me using your photo's for Naches Pass on my 4x4 Trails and Park Map. I'll take them down if you don't want me to use them, and if you need me to give you credit for them some how I will.

Either way if you let me use them or don't, thanks for the cool photos!

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Absolutely! Use anything you want!

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SuperBuickGuy said:

You can always tell who the awesome folks are

they attach a bag to pick up other people's trash off the trail.... kudos to you, my friend

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Yes, we always try to pick up what we can. It's really sad how people just toss their trash anywhere! We do the same thing when hiking. I just hate when you've hiked miles out into a wilderness and you are feeling all alone and remote and then look down and see a pop can or snack wrapper. It just ruins the whole thing!

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One year, I am going to make it up there for that run.

cbetts said:

One year, I am going to make it up there for that run.

Click to expand...

Me too, my brother lives in Seattle.


Mike

Looks like y'all had a great time nice pictures

cbetts said:

One year, I am going to make it up there for that run.

Click to expand...

poncho1965 said:

Me too, my brother lives in Seattle.


Mike

Click to expand...

maybe make it a West Coast event. get a caravan from SoCal going up there.