Trip Report: The Colockum Challenge (06-11-08)

[Jerry]

The Colockum Challenge
June 11, 2008

FILE PHOTO BY STEVEN BISIG

It was a mid-week tour and Peter, his daughter Catlin and her friend Mitch drove over the mountains from Renton in Peter's Ford E350 Sportsmobile Van, Sid from Renton did the same in his Jeep Wrangler TJ and I, Jerry from Yakima, drove my Ford Bronco II. Joining us for breakfast was Bill from Ellensburg who gave us moral support, but he couldn't make the trip.

We drove a short distance on the Old Vantage Highway before turning into the Wenatchee Mountains on the Colockum wagon road. The Colockum Pass Road was once a freight wagon and stagecoach route between Ellensburg and Wenatchee and was also used to drive cattle from the Kittitas Valley to the Caribou Mining District in British Columbia via the Caribou Trail. Nowadays the road is the main route into the Colockum and Quilomene Wildlife Areas. Under multiple ownership the land is managed by the State of Washington Department of Wildlife for the protection of elk and other wildlife species. The Colockum, Quilomene and Whiskey Dick Wildlife Areas are mostly recreational in nature, but there is still some logging and agricultural activity within their boundaries.

When we reached the unimproved section of the Colockum Road we decided to air down for a more comfortable ride. I dropped my tire pressure from 32 pounds to 15 pounds and it made a word of a difference. Maybe I have a short memory, but it seems like the road was in much worse condition this trip than it was only a month ago.

Our first objective was to drive the main road to the pass to check out what could have been the worst road conditions. It had snowed two nights before and rained afterwards, so we didn't quite know what to expect. The drive to the pass was slow, but very scenic. We were in a sparse pine forest and we spotted elk all over the place. We would see ten here, fifteen there, and it continued that way all around the top of the hill.

Colockum Pass is not a pointy mountain top, it is fairly flat with a slight climb to the highest point. Trees, wildlife and territorial views abound as you rumble over pit-run fill in the dirt road. The one thing that whole area has in common is terrible roads; dirt roads with deep ruts; repaired dirt roads with bumpy, jarring pit-run rock; or rough irregular bedrock surfaces. Most of the roads we followed on this outing were of a pit-run base.

Our trek took us about four miles beyond the pass where we turned off on the North Fork Road. But, not before taking a side road to a hill overlooking the Columbia River and an expanse of farmland as far east as the eye could see. The view was outstanding, but short lived as we descended into a treed canyon following Tarpiscan Creek.

At the intersection with the Tarpiscan Road we decided to follow one leg of it to a dead end above the Columbia River. It was a narrow, one lane road that was cut into the basalt bank of the canyon above the creek. What was once a beautiful little valley with the creek meandering through had recently turned into a black, barren wasteland. A recent wildfire had assaulted the valley, burning almost everything in its way and the place still smelled of charcoal. A white residue of fire retardant foam still lingered in the creek bottom. It was an ugly sight that we hoped would change as we neared the river.

A sign at the beginning of the road told us it was a dead end and there was very little room to turn around, so I drove ahead of the others keeping watch for places where the big Sportsmobile could make a "180". As I found new places I would radio back to the others to come ahead. Just before the road ended at a locked gate a view of the Columbia River presented itself. It was an "o.k." view, but probably not worth the hassle of the drive (considering we had already seen some great views of the river). But, at least we can say we've been there, done that. Oh, there is hardly enough room to turn a SUV around at the end of the road, let alone a long wheelbase rig like the Sportsmobile.

Back at the intersection we turned east on the Tarpiscan Road. Recent activity of heavy equipment employed by the fire crew had chewed up the road making it even more bumpy than usual. They had used the road as a firebreak where it climbed out of the once pretty little valley. It wasn't long before we left the valley and trees behind and entered typical rolling hills of shrub steppe.

We passed a couple of guys in a Department of Wildlife pickup equipped with a spray tank for noxious weeds and around the next corner we came upon a surveyor setting up his equipment in a small meadow near his parked SUV. Those were the only other people we saw on our excursion, and all within a short distance of each other on a lonely stretch of road. The Tarpiscan Road soon connected with the Brewton Road, one of the main east-west backbones.

The Brewton Road was a rocky son-of-a-gun, at least until we climbed to the top of the hill. It was of a thick shale rock base, heavy enough to hold against winter runoff and sharp enough to take small hunks out of rubber tires. The Columbia River and eastern Washington farmland were in our rearview mirrors and a pine forest was in front of us.

We reached the intersection of the Powerline Road, a shortcut back to Ellensburg via the southern end of the Colockum Road, but we continued through the forest on the Brewton Road. The road wound around ravines, each with a running creek; it took us through some big mud puddles, past a couple of small pockets of rapidly melting snow and ended back at the Colockum Road north of the pass where we had been only a couple of hours earlier.

We made several rest stops all along our route, stopping to take pictures of wildflowers and had managed to put away some lunch and snacks in the process. The weather was wonderful for driving in the Colockum, around 70 degrees, not much wind and partly sunny. There was some fog to the east, but it didn't affect us in the least.

Continued in Part 2

Jerry from Yakima

[Jerry]

The Colockum Challenge Part 2

Our next goal was to enjoy the spectacular view from Wenatchee Mountain so we left the Colockum Road and followed the Naneum Ridge Road through dense forest before we reached Four Corners. Just past Four Corners we ran into a really big snow bank that had been bulldozed across the road. Beyond the berm the snow was deep and wet and we decided not to follow a couple of sets of tire tracks into the muck. We also decided NOT to drive the Powerline Road to the south. It was NOT a Green Dot road and was posted - despite heavy use indicated by tire tracks leading in the direction we wanted to go.

Since we were on the north side of the hill anyway, and folks wanted to drive the old wagon road from one end to the other, we decided to make some adjustments to our original plans, double back to the Colockum Road and continue on to Wenatchee.

The Colockum Road turns sort of rough on the north side of the hill, including ruts and bigger rock than we had experienced earlier in the day. The slope was steep and slow going over the rocky surface so we found ourselves in low gear AND low range to save our brakes.

We had decided to stop for dinner in Wenatchee, but before doing so we had one more stop to make. The Colockum Wildlife Area Headquarters was at the bottom of the hill and we wanted to stop by for maps and information. It was nearly 5:00 PM when we reached the facility and they were already closed; too bad. We spent a few minutes airing up our tires and turning out our hubs before heading into Wenatchee for pizza.

Thanks to all who came, you guys made for a great day and I really had a good time.

By the way, after dinner we caravanned from Wenatchee over Blewett Pass and personally, I didn't get home to Yakima until almost 9:00 PM. I'm sure the others made it home closer to 10:00 PM. Thanks again, all!

Jerry from Yakima

[OlympiaFJ60]

I'm sorry we missed this one. Would have been a nice sequel to the Whiskey Dick tour. Turned out I had a customer that that was her best day to get her car to me for some repairs. As work has been a little slow lately, I decided I had better not pass it up.

I think we will be making the Colockum run this summer with some camping along the way. Thanks for another great write up.