life LIBERTY and the persuit of happinness

[Albino94ltd]

We had a small group but the weather and scenery were specactular.

There were Big Dogs, Tough Dogs, a Show Dog and a Puppy (I didn't get a picture of the puppy, maybe one of the others on the Explorer forum did, when they post, I'll steal it)

Diff Whack Daddy came down from Mt Vernon, Arsoul and Pop Arsoul came from Woodinville, Painter Ken came from Lacey, Snowexploder and 85broncman came from North Seattle and I'm from Necastle.

DWD, A, PA, PK and I headed out Friday morning about 9am and met up in North Bend. The convoy continued to the Cle Elum Safeway for final provisions, then onto the Williams Creek Campground.

We arrived around noon and unloaded trailers and set up camp. It was starting to get warm and we were all pretty busy and naturally the barley pop started coming out. We don't drink and wheel so no trails for the rest of the day.

Evening rolled around and we started wondering about Snow and Broncman. They didn't roll into camp until about 9pm. We had a nice fire going and DWD's son broke out the guitar. A nice gentle evening of stories and beverages, some true many not so.

Morning rolled around and campers started stirring, bodies and coffee. Broncman still had some work to do before hitting the trails (he soon found out just how much more work he had to do)

First up, about 2 miles of forest service roads to get to the trail head. I took the wrong Y and we ended up at the bottom of the Crystal Mountain cliff that 2 teenagers accidently backed over 2 years ago. It is a long way up (or down depending on how you look at it).

Broncman was having fuel delivery problems and could barly make it up the service roads. We decided to head back down to the Y and Broncman back to camp to ride in one of the other rigs, while the rest of us had a bit of lunch. Arsoul started having fuel delivery problems too and went back to camp with Pop and jumped into the Dodge 2500 for a run into town for the correct fuel filter.

All together now, except the Arsoul's, we headed back up to the trail head and started out on the lower 319. This was tougher than I remembered it and there was evidence of a fire sometime in the last 2 years. Lots of tight tree weaving and a pretty steep 150yrd climb. Snow didn't like the climb, she is running 37's with 3.73 gears.

When we popped back out on the service road, we decided to head back to camp and wait for the Arsoul's.

After closer inspection, Snow discivered a broken shock and an axel shaft rubbing. Knowing there were more climbs to come, she and her S.O. were done so the rest of us headed back up.

We started climbing up the 319 and stopped at the top of the cliff where the kids went over to pay our respects, then continued on.

This is good wheelin country and the trees made for a narrow path. Pop Arsoul is a lot wider than the rest of us and there was a spot or two that the trees had to bend out of his way. It looked like the T-Rex coming through the woods in Jurasic Park.

The fun begins;

About 1/2 way up the 319 we came to the rocky ledge. Last time we were coming down and most of us bypassed the ledge by being lowered down a steep loose section by winch. This time we were going up and it looked a lot tougher.

DWD first, of course he made it look easy, then Painter Ken, then Pop Arsoul.

At this point, the bypass I was going to do became more risky than the tough route because no one else ran it so it was untested. Remember I'm the Show Dog of the group and the only one without lockers. With cameras shooting, it was my turn.

2 weeks ago I replaced the clutches in the Trac-Loc Limited Slip rear end and boy am I glad I did. That thing is tight now and it stuck like it was locked. There was one little section that I didn't have enough momentum to get the rear tires onto the solid ground and I opted for the safety of the winch for about 3ft until the rear tires got something to grab then I drove the rest of the way up.

Big Dog Arsoul was last up and had no problems.

There will probably be a video of this section posted on the Explorer forum. I'll post a link when it's there.

After this excitement, we continued on, weaving through the trees and steep drops into and out of little gullies here and there. We emerged onto the service road headed to Lion Rock. A quick stop for the views and it was already 6:15 so we checked the maps for the quickest way down and we still had to find the sand stone pinnacles.

We found them a few miiles down the road and stopped to admire the difference in geology. Within a few miles we went from Basalt to Sandstone.

On down the road, through the sprawling metropolis of Liberty and into camp for dinner and to hook up the video projector. We strung a sheet on the side of Pop Arsoul's RV and watched the vides of the rocky ledge, over and over.

A big camp fire, more barley pop and more stories (this time more of them were untrue that the night before).

Sunday morning came with more clear skies and the promise of even higher tempratures. DWD cooked up an enormous batch of sausage, eggs, corned beef hash and chopped up steak from the night before.

He and Painter Ken decided to check out the trails on the West side of SR97 but the rest of were ready to head home and get cleaned up.

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend. Hope you enjoyed the story, all of this one is true.

I'll have to wait on the pix, I have to make them smaller than the X forum but if you want to read the dirty version, you can look for it there.7/11/08 Liberty and the persuit of happiness through camping & wheeling - Ford Explorer Ranger Enthusiasts Serious Explorations

Steve, I hope it's ok to link to the other site.

[Jerry]

Fantastic trip report! I felt like I was right there with you. You "done good" and I'm looking forward to seeing the pics.
Jerry

[RidgeRunner]

Very good report and sounds like it was a great trip.

Mick

[Albino94ltd]

Here are a few photos;

Camp

The first landing where the Puppy's fuel problems were diagnosed

Looking up the cliff where the two college students went over. That's at least 500ft

[Albino94ltd]

A few flex shots during lunch while we waited for the Ryan's to put the puppy back in the kennel.

SnowExploder, Diff Whack Daddy, and Albino 94ltd ready for the lower 319

DWD trying to sling mud on Painter Ken but the hole is too small

[Albino94ltd]

Here we are heading up to the Crystal Mountain Memorial

[Albino94ltd]

DWD going up the ledge, trees on the right and opn the left????nothing but spectaculer views

[Albino94ltd]

Painter Ken going up the ledge and then it's my turn

[Albino94ltd]

The wild flowers were in full bloom and absolutely georgous, so were the view from the Lion Rock area. You can get there via forest service roads in just about any vehicle. There is plenty of camping up there and we saw several motorhomes.

We aslo saw a large SAR group but didn't stop to ask why they were there.

[Albino94ltd]

And finally the sandstone pinnacles