Ahtanum Snow Run - Pacific Northwest Backroad Adventures Forum

Jerry · #1 (**permalink**) 12-30-2007, 08:57 PM

Ahtanum Snow Run
December 29, 2007

The eastern slopes of the Cascades have been accumulating snow until there is a fair amount at the higher elevations. Our friend, Clay, a member of this forum, a fellow Backroad Drivers Northwest member and owner/administrator of the Eastern Washington Off Road Forum, arranged a snow run over the weekend. The run would be in two parts. Saturday was for full-size vehicles and would take us up the mountain as far as we could go and Sunday was for smaller, more heavily modified rigs that could continue on from where the big guys left off. I joined them on the Saturday run with my Full Size Jeep Cherokee and had a great time.

It was an absolutely beautiful morning, crisp, cool and sunny with visibility almost limitless. It would be a good day. We met in the little town of Cowiche, about five miles south of Naches. There were seven people and four vehicles in all; Clay from Yakima, with John & his son from Yakima riding shotgun in Clay's modified Cherokee; Ron from Renton in his modified Cherokee; Roger and his wife from Kennewick driving their heavily modified Early Ford Bronco; and me, Jerry from Yakima, driving my modified FSJ Cherokee (Wagoneer style). Compared to the other rigs mine looked like a whale in a duck pond.

We hit snow immediately after leaving our meeting place and followed the Cowiche Mill Road to a wide spot where we aired down our tires. Most everyone aired down to 7 or 8 pounds allowing for a wider footprint in the snow. I had just poked a key into the valve stem on my first tire when Ron offered to let me use his Staun Automatic Tire Deflators. Yes, Sir, thank you very much! Wow! All I had to do is screw them on, strike up a friendly conversation with Ron and remove them after the tires had deflated. Thank you, Ron!

The paved road eventually turns into one-lane gravel and leads through a lush valley fed by the meandering waters of Cowiche Creek, a very beautiful setting especially in the snow. Our objective was a road system beyond Cowiche Creek to the east of Divide Ridge within the Ahtanum Multiple Use Area.

Our leader, driving the "Tweety" Jeep, a very bright yellow color and hard to miss in the snow, knew the roads well and soon had us breaking fresh snow into the hills. Clay was breaking trail, next was Ron, then Roger with me bringing up the rear. They may have thought in case everyone got stuck while we were going uphill all they would had to have done is tie everyone together and let my "whale" drag them out with gravity!

Actually, it was Roger's Early Bronco that proved to be the most surefooted. It is heavily modified with 38" snow tires that were aired down to 2 pounds. When we came to the steeper hills he got in front to break trail for the rest of us, sometimes having to push into the snow, back up and push in a little further the next time, over and over, back and forth, until he eventually broke through. Wind had blown the snow off the hilltops onto the slopes and into drifts in the valleys so Roger had his work cut out for him. Thank you, Roger!

Actually all of us pulled cable (winched) or used our recovery straps (tow straps) at one time or another. Not because we slid off the road, but because the snow was two and three feet deep and we were all depending upon each other to continue. A special thanks goes to John who did way more than his share of running back and forth through deep snow, connecting winch cables and straps and making sure the wire rope was wound back on the drums in an orderly fashion. Thank you, John!

We took several breaks and everywhere we stopped we were rewarded with a fantastic view of the surrounding ridge tops. We could see Jump Off Joe, Divide Ridge, and Foundation Ridge and in some places we could see the valley way to the east. The natural beauty of the area was exaggerated in the snow. And a lunch stop helped, too.

We finally reached a spot that gave Roger some trouble, oh; he could have broken through given enough time. Clay followed Roger, smoothing out the trail for Ron and me, a task he had been performing all day. But this time he got high centered on packed snow. Roger pulled him to place where they could turn around and wait for Ron and me. Ron gave it a shot, but he got high centered, too. Meanwhile it had started to snow. The little gap was slowing us down and it was getting late so we decided to call it good for the day. With more time the Sunday bunch should make it beyond that point. We retrieved Ron and Clay from the gap and headed for home the way we came in.

It was really a fun day, especially for me, the guy bringing up the rear, following in the tracks of three other vehicles that had scrunched it down for me. I appreciate that, guys. Actually they were scrunching it down for themselves, too, because Clay, Ron and Roger were planning to do it again on Sunday.

Clay did another terrific job of choosing a route and he couldn't have picked a better day. I had a really good time. We all had a good time! Thank you, Clay!

Jerry

Ceg · #2 (**permalink**) 12-31-2007, 12:14 PM

Year Ends Snow Run - Day 1 of 2
December 29th, 2007
On December 29th, 2007 we met up in Cowiche at the Quick Stop. We headed to the DNR Cowiche Mill Road parking area to air down.

I lead the way up onto Cowiche Ridge until I ran into a big snow drift. Roger took the lead and right off found out he had to air down more.

Us waiting for Roger to make us a road.

The rigs of the day.

Here is Snow Drift Hill. This hill is always a lot of work to get to the top in the snow season. Here is Icesis taking a run at it.

I always like trying my own line. It is always fun to try.

Soggymountain working his way up Roger's line.

Icesis following Soggymountain.

I kind of got stuck.

BSLM was nice enough to pull cable. That's what co-pilots do. lol

Soggymountain winched me out and we were on our way with Roger back in the lead.

Here we go again, stuck!

Icesis was next to get stuck in the same place. Soggymountain helped him out.