Pacific Northwest Backroad Adventures

Accrete posted up a great trip report and some great photos of a recent trip into the Gnatt Creek Area of the Clatsop State Forest in Oregon.

Read more at OR_NorthCoast_Gnat Creek Area_2008-08

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Idaho Falls District, is preparing a new Resource Management Plan (RMP) for the Upper Snake Field Office (FO) in southeastern Idaho. The Upper Snake RMP will cover the planning areas currently managed under three management framework plans (MFPs) and one RMP: the Big Desert MFP (1981), Big Lost MacKay MFP (1983), Little Lost/Birch Creek MFP (1985), and the Medicine Lodge RMP (1985). The Upper Snake RMP will replace these four land use plans, resulting in a single RMP for the entire Upper Snake FO.

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BLUERIBBON COALITION ACTION ALERT!

Forest Service to Host Next Series of Open Houses on Motorized Access

The Deschutes and Ochoco National Forests and Crooked River Grassland are formulating a new travel plan that will limit ALL vehicle use to designated roads, trails and areas. The public is invited to attend any of several upcoming open houses scheduled in Central Oregon communities. The Forest Service (FS) is asking for your input during the 45-day public comment period, which will run through June 15, 2008.

Over the past year, personnel at the Deschutes and Ochoco National Forests have been working with citizens, as well as state, county and local governments to identify how to provide for motorized access to dispersed campsites. The FS is now ready to begin environmental analysis of the proposal.
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Here are some new discussions on the pnwadventures.com forums in the past week:

Pett Toilet - A discussion on the Pett Dry Toilet System and some related topics

Cot Tent - Discussion on using tent cots.

Ahtanum trails Clean-up (July 26th, 2008) - An invitation to participate in the clean up area of trails in the Ahtanum area including Sedge Ridge, Whites Ridge, and Foundation Ridge.

Portable Hitch Kitchen - Discussion on creating a portable kitchen that could be easily carried on a hitch and removed at a campsite for use.

And of course, there are many on-going discussions.

Each time I venture to the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in the South Cascades of Washington state, I am simply amazed at the beauty of the country. In this region, not only are you are surrounded by four major peaks of the Cascade Mountains (Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Adams, and Mt. Hood), there is an extensive variety of terrain ranging from deep valleys and canyons to exposed buttes and cliffs, alpine meadows to old growth forests, and of course, the Mt. St. Helens blast zone. I could easily spend days or even weeks just exploring the region.

With that in mind, I decided to host a Backroad Drivers Northwest tour in the area just south of Randle, Washington. This region is an area which I am fairly familiar with having spent a lot of time hunting, camping and exploring with my father while growing up. The tour would follow one of my favorite routes in the area, Forest Road 77 from the Burley Mountain Lookout along the ridge past Pinto Rock and Mosquito Meadows. From Mosquito Meadows, we would would take FS 99 to the Windy Ridge Viewpoint at Mt. St. Helens and follow FS 26 back to Randle.
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It’s almost daily that we see on the news that another bear has visited a suburban neighborhood. The reality is that suburbia has invaded the bears habitat. I always get a kick out of the people who never before left the city and move into the urban-wildland interface area and are amazed and even startled that wildlife such as bears, cougars and coyotes roam their neighborhoods. Well if they only knew that their garbage as well as FiFi and Fluffy make easy pickings for the neighborhood predators.

Luckily, once we are away from the suburban areas, bears are a little more wary of humans than your neighborhood variety. Although rare, encounters with bears do occur. Although there have been some recent unusual tragic situations that have even occurred, the typical confrontations with bears are the result of a surprise encounter at close range. All we can do is be prepared and prevent the likelihood of a deadly encounter.

The American black bear is the most common bear in Pacific Northwest. Grizzly Bears are much rarer with populations in the North Cascades of Washington state and in areas of Idaho. Although much of the following information applies to both species, it is targeted toward the more common black bear.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) has kindly provided us with an informational site Living with Wildlife: Black Bears. Some key tips discussed on the site should you have a close cencounter with a black bear include:

• Stop, remain calm, and assess the situation. If the bear seems unaware of you, move away quietly when it’s not looking in your direction. Continue to observe the animal as you retreat, watching for changes in its behavior.
• If a bear walks toward you, identify yourself as a human by standing up, waving your hands above your head, and talking to the bear in a low voice. (Don’t use the word bear because a human-food-conditioned bear might associate “bear” with food . . . people feeding bears often say “here bear.”
• Don’t throw anything at the bear and avoid direct eye contact, which the bear could interpret as a threat or a challenge.
• If you cannot safely move away from the bear or the bear continues toward you, scare it away by clapping your hands, stomping your feet, yelling, and staring the animal in the eyes. If you are in a group, stand shoulder-to shoulder and raise and wave your arms to appear intimidating. The more it persists the more aggressive your response should be. If you have pepper spray, use it.
• Don’t run from the bear unless safety is very near and you are absolutely certain you can reach it (knowing that bears can run 35 mph). Climbing a tree is generally not recommended as an escape from an aggressive black bear, as black bears are adept climbers and may follow you up a tree.
• In the unlikely event a black bear attacks you (where actual contact is made), fight back aggressively using your hands, feet, legs, and any object you can reach. Aim for the eyes or spray pepper spray into the bear’s face.

In addition to the tips above, food storage and good camp sanitation is vital in preventing bears from paying you an unwanted visit while camping.

Further information on bear safety, including more information on Grizzly bears, is provided by the National Park Service at Bear Safety in the North Cascades

Day Four: August 13, 2007.

Daily Goal: To Drive from Cooper Mountain Lookout (near Chelan, Washington) to Chopaka (border with British Columbia)

Map Reference:
Okanogan National Forest Map

Since this going to be the last day of the trip and I had no idea how long it would actually take to complete my goal of reaching the British Columbia border at Chopaka. So I set my alarm to get up and be on the road by daybreak.

From my campsite on Cooper Mountain, FS-8020 (Cooper Mountain Rd.) continues to follow the Sawtooth Ridge in a northwesterly direction. Along the way, I saw several grouse standing in the middle of the road.

After about 45 minutes of driving the Cooper Ridge Rd., I turned onto FS-600 (not maintained for cars or tall vehicles) and then FS-4330 which led me off the Sawtooth Ridge into the South Fork Gold Creek drainage. Along this section of road, I saw a nice forkhorn buck that didn’t stay around very long.

At the end of FS-43330, I turned left on FS-4340 as it followed the North Fork Gold Creek upstream. Along the way, FS-4340 passes over Gold Ridge, to the Libby Creek drainage where it meets FS-43.

Heading north on FS-43 led me past Black Pine Lake and then followed Buttermilk Creek and eventually to the Twisp River Road. Once on Twisp River Rd., I headed east until I reached Elbow Coulee Road. Elbow Coulee Rd. leads along the western edge of the Methow Wildlife Area, past Big Twin lake and into Winthrop, Washington. Like Leavenworth has the Bavarian theme, Winthrop has the Western theme for it’s downtown, right down to wooden sidewalks. It’s a busy place on summer weekends.

The trip from Chelan to Winthrop, as driven, was approximately 90 miles and took about 4.5 hours to drive.

After a quick fill up of fuel, I headed out of town following the East Chewuch River Rd. until I reached Boulder Creek. From the East Chewuch River Rd., I headed east on FS-37, following Boulder Creek, then the Middle Fork of Boulder Creek. After about seven miles of driving FS-37, there was a sign stating that the road was closed due to construction 5.6 miles ahead. The first thing I thought was “great, another detour and/or backtrack”. After looking at the forest service map, I estimated that the maintenance was close to where FS-37 had a junction with FS-39 and if I was lucky, I could travel one of the those routes. I drove the 5.6 miles and still no road construction. I reached the junction with FS-39 and still no closure. My original intention was to follow FS-37 to FS-39, however I could hear heavy equipment operating from what sounded like FS-39, so I continued on driving FS-37 into Conconully.

From the junction with FS-39, FS-37 climbed up and over Baldy Pass (elevation 6515 feet) before descending into the Conconully area. FS-37 provides some great views on both sides of Baldy Pass, including some extensive views towards Conconully and the Columbia Basin. I reached Conconully in about 51 miles and about two hours of driving.

After a quick fuel stop (not really necessary but I always top off for a safety factor) with the most expensive fuel of the trip ($3.69/gallon — ouch. Luckily I only needed less than 4 gallons), I headed out of Conconully on the North Fork Salmon Creek Rd. which becomes FS-38. From Salmon Meadows, I followed FS-3820 which climbed its way to Lone Frank Pass, passing through state land (limited maintenance = fun road), over Lone Frank Pass (elevation +6300 feet) and meeting up with FS-39 (about twelve miles from where I was earlier in the day).

Driving north along FS-39 provides some great views to the Cascades and well as the local terrain. As FS-39 travels in and out of different drainages, you can see South and North Twentymile Meadows down below you and you pass through Thirtymile Meadows. This region is a designated snowmobile area and I could see why. High altitude and a lot of meadows to have play in.

As I approached Dog Creek, I finally found the road construction the sign spoke of earlier. I had to wait for about five minutes as a water tender filled up from Dog Creek. Then I passed several pieces of operating heavy equipment. This was the first time that I made fresh tracks on a freshly graded forest road.

FS-39 turns into a paved road at Long Swamp and eventually turns into Toats Coulee as it heads east and meets the Loomis-Oroville Road. I headed north on the Loomis-Oroville Rd., passing Palmer Lake. Once past the lake, I turned left on the gravel Chopaka Road as it passed farms, old abandoned historic buildings, following the Similkameen River valley.

All the maps that I have show the the road leads to the border with British Columbia. Well I was disappointed when I found that access is blocked by a gate with no trespassing signs. The best that I could determine was that the road ends about one mile short of the border. I’m sure this has to do with Homeland Security issues. At roads end, there is a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife public access area so I drove as far as I could and by time the road ended, I was about 0.75 mile from the border with no way to go further north (48º 59′ 18″ N, 119º 43″ 11″ W)

Since I was so close, I thought I might as well make the actually trip to the border, so I back tracked on the Chopaka Rd. and continued on north through small community of Nighthawk onto the border crossing into British Columbia (this port of entry has limited hours if you plan on passing through at this point) where I officially completed my four day, north-south cross state tour of Washington state through Cascades.

Now time for the five hour drive home.

The trip from Conconully to the British Columbia border, as driven, was approximately 70 miles and took about 3.5 hours to drive.

Daily Summary:
Total Miles Driven (approximate) - 179 miles (Cooper Mountain Lookout to Chopaka)
Paved Highway: 0 miles
Paved County Roads: 76 miles
Paved Forest Service Road: 4 miles
Improved Gravel Forest Service Roads: 95 miles
Limited Maintenance Forest Roads: 4 miles

See all of the photos from day four of this trip at Washington Cascades Overland Tour 2007 - Day Four Photos.

Next: Final Thoughts

Trip Report: Washington Cascades Overland Tour 2007 - Introduction
Trip Report: Washington Cascades Overland Tour 2007 - Day One
Trip Report: Washington Cascades Overland Tour 2007 - Day Two
Trip Report: Washington Cascades Overland Tour 2007 - Day Three
Trip Report: Washington Cascades Overland Tour 2007 - Day Four
Trip Report: Washington Cascades Overland Tour 2007 - Final Thoughts

Day Three: August 12, 2007.

Daily Goal: To Drive from near Blewett Pass (Cle Elum) to Chelan, Washington.

Map Reference:
Wenatchee National Forest Map

Today, I awoke to what sounded like raindrops landing on my Land Cruiser. I looked out, sure enough, it was raining. This was a perfect time to see if I could roll up my sleeping and air mattress as well as rearrange the refrigerator and my gear before even stepping a foot outside. Success. It was actually easier once I got over the fact that there is limited headroom. After my morning routine, I was on the road again for the days adventure.

From my campsite on FS-9738, just west of Highway 97, it was a short 15 minute trip to the highway and another short three minute drive on the highway until I reached FS-9705 (Durst Creek). In all my years of living in the Washington state, this was only my second time of visiting the area between Liberty and Wenatchee. I followed FS-9705 for about 5.4 miles until it joined the main Liberty area road FS-9712. Along the way, I saw a flock of wild turkeys and and a small herd cow elk.

FS-9712 is a well maintained road until you reach Haney Meadows. After that, it becomes the type of road I enjoy to drive, limited maintenance, and high clearance vehicles only. FS-9712 basically follows the ridgeline, with a good portion above 5550 feet in elevation. From the ridgeline, you would see into the Wenatchee River valley, including the Columbia River and beyond.

After about 24 miles and 2.5 hours on FS-9712, I reached FS-7100. FS-7100 basically follows Mission Creek down into Cashmere, first on state and private land, and then back to national forest. The trip from FS-9712 to where the pavement began just outside Cashmere was about 12 miles and took about 40 minutes to travel.

Once I fueled up and bought my favorite coffee drink, I headed directly across Highway 2 to the Nahahum Canyon Road (which eventually becomes FS-7412) which I planed to travel to reach the Entiat River. After driving up the canyon five miles to where the pavement ends and the gravel begins was posted a sign, basically stating that due to extreme fire danger, this road was closed by order of the Chelan County Commissioners and it was strictly enforced by the Chelan County Sheriffs Department. I debated for a moment and decided that I would find an alternate route and not risk getting a ticket. So I headed back down the road back to to Highway 2 and drove to Leavenworth.

Once in Leavenworth, I stopped at the Forest Service office, but of course being on a Sunday, it were closed. Luckily I spotted a Forest Service employee pulling in behind the office with “Fire” marked on the truck. Just the person I needed to talk to. After a short conversation, I found out that all Forest Service road are open to the public and that Chelan County only has jurisdiction on closing county roads and not federal roads. Thats all the information I needed to continue my adventure. The last thing I wanted to was abort the trip or have to drive the highways to reach Okanogan County.

So after looking at my maps, I found a road that connected up to my originally planned route. From Leavenworth, I headed north up the Chumstick Highway until I reached Eagle Creek Rd. After about 6 miles, I reached FS-7520, back on my original route, only with a slight unnecessary detour. From FS-7520, I would first follow FS-5800 and then eventually FS-5700 through the Entiat Mountains until I reached the Entiat River Rd. (22 miles/1 hour travel time).

While driving up the Entiat River valley, I encountered the first of many areas of previous wildland fires that I would encounter over the next two days. The Entiat River Rd. eventually becomes FS-51. From FS-51, I followed FS-5900 (Shady Pass Rd.), through the Chelan Mountains, over Shady Pass and reaching elevation of +6000 feet in elevation, until I reached Lake Chelan. Along the way, I could see and smell the smoke from the Domke fire that was burning. As I descended towards Lake Chelan, the smoke had settled into the valley and had limited the views. Just before reaching Lake Chelan, I passed the Incident Base Camp for the Domke fire including a helibase with a Chinook helicopter parked for the night.

Once I reached Lake Chelan (27 miles/just under 2 hours travel time), I followed the lake until I reached the city of Chelan where I fueled up the Land Cruiser for the next leg of my adventure.

From Chelan, I headed north out of town towards Manson. After passing Wapato Lake, the road becomes FS-8200 and passes Antilon Lake. Just before the lake is Upper Joe Creek Rd/FS-8210 (which I totally missed on the way up) which eventually winds it way up to Cooper Ridge. After a short distance of driving Cooper Ridge, I drove up the spur road to the site of the old Cooper Mountain Lookout. Since it was getting late in the day, I decided that I would spend the night here. Elevation approximately 5800 feet.

The view to the west were good considering the smoke from the Domke fire filled the valley below. After setting up for the night, I was able to spend some time experimenting with my camera, including sunset shots (the reason why there are so many shots of this area).

Daily Summary (including some detours):
Total Miles Driven (approximate) - 201 miles (Blewett Pass to Cooper Mountain)
Paved Highway: 37 miles
Paved County Roads: 57 miles
Gravel Forest Service Roads: 108 miles

See all of the photos from day three of this trip at Washington Cascades Overland Tour 2007 - Day Three Photos.

Next Day: Day Four: Cooper Mountain Lookout (Chelan) to the British Columbia border at Chopaka

Trip Report: Washington Cascades Overland Tour 2007 - Introduction
Trip Report: Washington Cascades Overland Tour 2007 - Day One
Trip Report: Washington Cascades Overland Tour 2007 - Day Two
Trip Report: Washington Cascades Overland Tour 2007 - Day Three
Trip Report: Washington Cascades Overland Tour 2007 - Day Four
Trip Report: Washington Cascades Overland Tour 2007 - Final Thoughts

Day Two: August 11, 2007.

Daily Goal: To Drive from Babyshoe Pass (on FS-23 near Mt. Adams) to Cle Elum, Washington (I-90).

Map Reference:
Gifford Pinchot National Forest Map
Wenatchee National Forest Map

After a surprisingly comfortable night of sleep in the back of my 80-series Land Cruiser (with my dog Tareva right next to me), I arose just after daybreak to the awesome views of Mt. Adams and Mt Hood. This was my first attempt at sleeping in my FJ80. I initially had my doubts on how comfortable it would be, considering my height. My newly built cargo box, the back seat folded down, a plastic tub on the second row footwell and the front passenger seat folded forward and all the way to the dash provided a great support for my air mattress. All that I had to do to rearrange from the days trip was to move the ARB refrigerator to the drivers side and throw some of my bags in the front seats.
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Day One: August 10, 2007.

Daily Goal: To Drive from Carson, Washington (Highway 14 off the Columbia River near the Oregon border) to Packwood, Washington (Highway 12).

Map Reference:
Gifford Pinchot National Forest Map
Gifford Pinchot National Forest Adventure Routes - SUV and Dualsport Motorcycle Routes

Today was going to be a very long day. Not only would I be attempting to reach my destination in Packwood, I would also have to include the drive from my home in the middle of Washington state to the southern border near Oregon to start the tour of the Washington Cascade Mountains. My goal was to complete the drive from the Oregon border to the British Columbia in four days (see Washington Cascades Overland Tour 2007 for the introduction to this adventure).

After four hours of driving I-5 and Highway 14, I reached Carson, Washington - the designated starting point of my Cascade Overland Tour. From Carson, I headed north on the Wind River Rd. to Bear Creek Rd. (FS-6808) and ascended to Triangle Pass. From Triangle Pass, I followed FS-68 down to FS-66 and headed north.

FS-66 follows the east side of the Big Lava Bed for about 10 miles. Big Lava Bed is a 10 mile long lava flow from about +8000 years ago. There are no roads into the flow, only around the perimeter. From FS-66, you can see the exposed lava flow through the sparse forest.

At the end of the Big Lava Bed, I reached an area called South Prairie. You see meadows and and a small lake.

From South Prairie, I followed FS-6615 to FS-6621 to FS-60 which leads to Goose Lake and a what looks like a nice campground. There were a few people fishing but the trout weren’t biting that day. It would have been easy to hang out there for a few days.

From Goose Lake, I made an attempt to make a side trip to Red Mountain Lookout to get a better view of the Big Lava Flow however. When I reached the access road to Red Mountain (FS-240), the gate was locked. Back to Goose Lake to continue the tour.

From Goose Lake, I to took FS-6040 to Forlorn Lakes. This was the first road of the trip that lived up to the signage “Limited Maintenance”. Nothing difficult, but the ruts and waterbar crossings limit the route to high clearance vehicles.

From Forlorn Lakes, I intended to follow FS-6035 along the east perimeter of the Indian Heaven Wilderness Area, however the sign said that the road was closed five miles ahead so I followed FS-6030 to FS-6020 instead.

From FS-6020, I made my way on FS-24 along the northwest corner of the Indian Heaven Wilderness Area, past huckleberry meadows and Indian Camps of the Sawtooth Berry fields. The huckleberries are in season in August and there are a lot of native americans out picking them throughout this area.

Once past the Twin Buttes area, I followed the native surface FS-8854 (another fun limited maintenance road) past Steamboat Lake to FS-8871 and then to FS-88.

From FS-88, I made an attempt to follow another primitive forest road (FS-150) but found the road blocked. I then followed FS-200 which eventually becomes FS-150 in a few miles and eventually dead ends where a bridge once crossed the Lewis River at Twin Falls Campground. I had to then backtrack to FS-88. At least it was another limited maintenance native surface road. The national forest map is not very clear on this route.

Once back on FS-88, I followed it to FS-90. Ahead, FS-23 was washed out, so I detoured out of the valley on FS-585 (another primitive limited maintenance native surface road) to FS-2334 and onto FS-23.

Once I reached Babyshoe Pass, it was getting time to find a campsite for the night. Just past the pass was FS-335 so I followed it up Babyshoe Ridge and found a great spot on top of the ridge to camp for the night. This spot provided a great view of Mt. Adams to the southwest and Mt. Hood further south in Oregon. Elevation 4690 feet.

I didn’t meet my goal of reaching Packwood, Washington. If a more direct route was taken, it could have easily met the daily driving goal. It turns out that I was about two hours short, considering my backtracking and driving the more primitive routes in the area.

Daily Summary:

Total Miles Driven (approximate) - 102 miles (Carson to Mt. Adams)
Paved Highway: 7.7 miles
Paved County Roads: 8.5 miles
Paved Forest Service Road: 16.2 miles
Improved Gravel Forest Service Roads: 55.4 miles
Limited Maintenance Forest Roads: 14.2 miles

See all of the photos from day one of this trip at Washington Cascades Overland Tour 2007 - Day One Photos.

Next Day: Day Two: Mt. Adams to Blewett Pass

Trip Report: Washington Cascades Overland Tour 2007 - Introduction
Trip Report: Washington Cascades Overland Tour 2007 - Day One
Trip Report: Washington Cascades Overland Tour 2007 - Day Two
Trip Report: Washington Cascades Overland Tour 2007 - Day Three
Trip Report: Washington Cascades Overland Tour 2007 - Day Four
Trip Report: Washington Cascades Overland Tour 2007 - Final Thoughts