Category Archives: Adventures

Views of Ellensburg and the Kittitas Valley. Photo by Steve G. Bisig

One week after the record setting rainfall that hit Kittitas County, I decided upon a short scouting trip into the L.T. Murray Wildlife Area to check on the road conditions.

The record rainfall along with the added snow melt raised havoc along the Manastash and Taneum Creek drainages to the point that the primary access roads have been completely washed out and are now closed until further notice. Not knowing the conditions of the L.T. Murray area, I drove up the the Robinson Canyon gate on Thursday. Even though water had ran (or was running) over the road, things looked good. That was enough information to plan a quick scouting trip for the following Saturday. Continue reading »

We started the morning out by meeting for breakfast at the Sunset Cafe in Cle Elum, Washington. Breakfast was very good and they had the space to accommodate a large group (Good choice Jerry for choosing this as the Cle Elum meeting place). By the time everybody arrived, there were a total of 18 rigs going on the trip. Continue reading »

This afternoon, I was coming back from the Coast (also known as Western Washington) in my Geo Tracker wagon and due to traffic, I wasn’t able to make it past the construction on I-90 at Snoqualmie Pass by 6:00 PM (the time it gets closed down for blasting during the week). My choice was to either sit in traffic and wait with everybody else, or go exploring.

So just before dusk, I got off I-90 at the Gold Creek/Hyak exit and headed east on NF-4832. 4832 parallels the freeway for a short distance before it begins to climb out of the valley. Since I had my Magellan GPS set to take back home to Ellensburg, it wanted me to turn around at the Gold Creek trailhead. Traffic was still stopped on I-90, so I continued. By this time the GPS recalculated a new route, a little over eight miles to the Kachess Lake Road.

FR-4832 switchbacks out of the valley on a well maintained gravel road until passes a small lake in which my GPS called Resort Creek Pond. It was nearly dark when I stopped at the lake at captured the above image on my iPhone. I knew I should have brought my camera with me.

From the lake, FR-4832 slowly winds down to Kachess Lake Road. I can’t tell you if there is any good views or not because it was dark by then. On the way down, I passed two other vehicles who probably had the same idea as I did.

With this little 10 mile backroad bypass, I drove a road I never traveled before, and found some new areas to explore. It’s also nice to know a route around the I-90 blasting if I get stuck in that again (as long as there is no snow of course).

Since my plans to re-stain the deck on our new (new to the family) house in Ellensburg was cancelled due to a few steady rain showers, on Saturday morning (9/18/10), I made the decision around 8:30 in the morning to head out and go for a quick ride in the hills just down the road from my house.

After packing a few necessities for the days trip, my daughter, the dog and myself headed out in my Land Cruiser to do a little exploring of my new neighborhood (so to speak).

Continue reading »

Posted by Ceg on the forum at Trip Report: All Wheelers Sledding Backroads Run (12-13-09)

All Wheelers Off Road Club
Sledding Backroads Run
Sunday December 13th, 2009

On Sunday December 13th, 2009 we met up at the Quick Stop in Cowiche Washington.

On this run we had 8 rigs with most carrying kids and sleds.

We headed up Cowiche Mill Road and then up Cowiche Ridge road.

Read more at Trip Report: All Wheelers Sledding Backroads Run (12-13-09)