Mission Ridge Run, Sept 22, 2007

[Rich C.]

What a great trip we had.

http://picasaweb.google.com/LoneSail...ey=H-wOryqN2lA

If this link works like it should, all 64 of my shots from today ought to be here for your enjoyment. It was great meeting all of you for the first time, I really look forward to the next time I can get it all together enough to go again. I promise to get a real CB radio and antenna this time, and the birthday cake was great.

Brian, thank you for all your hard work on this trip, it turned out perfect. And the breakfast at Barney's will be with me for quite some time, wow.

Rich Cronin

[richardattek]

Great pictures, It was a fun run,
Richard and Jan

[Jerry]

Brian,
What a fantastic day for a road trip and good people to enjoy it with. Evelyn and I had a great time. There are certain roads that require driving in both directions before you can say you have seen everything and the Mission Ridge Road is one of them. The scenery is never-ending. And thanks to Jan for having a birthday. Not a bad deal, all we had to do is sing a few bars of "Happy Birthday" to get a piece of cake after lunch. Thanks again, Brian.
Jerry & Ev

[Photog]

There was a dusting of snow on the peaks above
Leavenworth on Saturday morning (9-22-2007). We
all met and had breakfast was at Barney?s, in
Cashmere. The breakfast was huge! The group
consisted of 6 vehicles. Rich & Betsy from Wenatchee
in the Green Jeep, Jerry and Evelyn from Yakima in a
Jeep Wagoneer, Brian and his Dad (Vernon)
from Gig Harbor & Arizona in a Toyota 4Runner,
Rich & Jan from Aloha, OR in their Jeep Grand Cherokee,
and Conrad in his full size Ford Bronco from Lynwood.
Later in the day, Tedge caught up to us, in his lifted
Chevy Colorado.

Leaving "downtown" Cashmere, heading South on
Mission Creek Road, we stopped to air down the tires,
not because the trail is so difficult; but to smooth out the
day?s long ride.

Rich, airing down his Jeep.


All the rigs, while at the air-down stop.


The road tops out on Mission Ridge, and
onto Forest Road #9712. We followed FR 9712 to Beehive
Reservoir, for our first bathroom stop (Conrad calls it a ?Bio-Stop?).

Circled the wagons at Beehive Reservoir.


We then turn back on FR 9712, to follow it
all the way to FR 35, near Swauk Pass. We stopped a
number of times to take in the spectacular views.


At one spot, we got out to take photos of some of the vehicles
negotiating the tricky terrain.

Rich & Betsy, over the edge!!!


Jerry & Evelyn going over the lip.


Conrad, checking out the left side of the trail.


About half way from Beehive
to FR 35, we stopped for lunch. After lunch, we sang
?Happy Birthday? to Jan, and had some really great
birthday cake. Everyone was having a great time with
the trail drive and the festivities.

Jan & her B-Day cake


FR 9712 (Beehive ? Liberty Road) is cut along a narrow
ridge. This ridge drops off sharply on the North side of
the road, and gently to the South side of the road. This
makes for some nervous moments as the road makes its
way along the narrow ridge. It also make for some really
really great views of the Stuart Mountain Range and the
Columbia River Basin, near Wenatchee.

When we arrived at FR #35, we turned South, and headed
for Lion Rock. In the past, this was the location of a fire
lookout tower. The last fire tower at this location was
removed and placed on top of Sugarloaf Peak, near
Leavenworth. It is still there today. This was the last
point of interest for the day. We took a group photo of
the vehicles, lined up, and a few photos of Mt. Stuart, and
headed off the top. It was a cool 40 degrees up there.

The line-up


Stuart Range


We headed in the direction of Ellensburg, and just after
returning to the pavement, we aired the tires back up.

Conrad was checking the power steering.


At this point, Tedge in the Chevy Colorado, and Rich & Betsy
in the Green Jeep, headed for home. The rest of us
headed for Rodeo City Bar-B-Q, in Ellensburg. Jerry knew
the way to the restaurant; so he lead the way from the
air-up point. The day was finished with good food, good
friends and good weather.

Dinner time!


We all parted and went back to
our homes, except for Brian and his Dad. They headed
back to Leavenworth, to meet up with the Moms. Brian?s
parents met up with Brian & Cindy for breakfast on Sunday
before heading out on their continuing journey across the
American West.

Everyone said they had a great time, and enjoyed the trails
that were selected for the trip.

I hope to see you all again soon.

Brian from Gig Harbor, WA.

[Steve]

It sounds like a great trip.

Steve

[Photog]

I went back in, and added the last few photos, cleand up the text, and added titles to the photos. Check it over again.

[Photog]

Originally Posted by Rich C.

What a great trip we had.

http://picasaweb.google.com/LoneSail...ey=H-wOryqN2lA

If this link works like it should, all 64 of my shots from today ought to be here for your enjoyment. It was great meeting all of you for the first time, I really look forward to the next time I can get it all together enough to go again. I promise to get a real CB radio and antenna this time, and the birthday cake was great.

Brian, thank you for all your hard work on this trip, it turned out perfect. And the breakfast at Barney's will be with me for quite some time, wow.

Rich Cronin

You have some nice pics in there Rich. Thanks. It was great having you two on the trail run.

As for small CB, I am told the Uniden PRO 510XL or the PRO 520XL, are good and loud right out of the box. The only complaint I have heard is the possibility of a proprietary mic connection, excluding a quality aftermarket mic. My CB is a great little CB; but it does need a powered mic. I bought my CB through http://RadioActiveRadio.com The best CB won't work worth beans, unless the antenna and cable are mounted properly. If the system only works at 80% of its optimum performance, it should be fine for the trails.

[Rich C.]

I really enjoyed the write up, especially listing the roads we were on. I went back to my Forest Service map to see where we were - without the FS numbers I was lost. I thought your comments and trip report were excellent, thanks.

Incidentally, two series of those pictures of mine were taken in sequence so that I am going to try to stitch them together and make a couple of panoramas. We shall see how that turns out.

Now, I am stopped in my tracks on the CB thing at the moment. Someone, I think it was either Jerry or Rich or you, who said that a Ham 10 meter radio rx/rx covered the CB freqs and could be used. Since one of my Fall/Winter project is to get my Ham license, I think I will go that direction if it is feasible. I have a LOT more to do. The Jeep has almost nowhere to mount a radio, so I have to be clever about that issue too. In the meantime I may latch onto a Cobra 75 which is almost all contained in the handset so I can mount the rest of the sytem under the seat or behind a under-dash panel. In any case I gotta do something better than the pathetic radio I had. Incidentally I heard everyone in the caravan just great, it was my transmission power that was awful.

Well, best regards, take care of Gig Harbor and - well - sorry about that bridge toll (unless you can carpool).

Rich

[Photog]

Originally Posted by Rich C.

Now, I am stopped in my tracks on the CB thing at the moment. Someone, I think it was either Jerry or Rich or you, who said that a Ham 10 meter radio rx/rx covered the CB freqs and could be used.

Rich

My Magnum Mini has the 10 meter channels; but I am not licensed for that. All the folks I have met that use both CB an HAM, have separate units mounted in their rigs. I'm not sure what the issues are with the HAM radio/CB set-ups.

We should probably start a separate thread on this subject, and move this post to that thread. I think Steve could do that for us.

[Jerry]

A "Communications" forum.

CB
FRS
GMRS
Ham
Phone
Etc.