Exploring the Washington Okanogan – 07.08.2009
Day Two – Wednesday, July 8, 2009
After a relaxing and leisurely morning in Conconully, Washington, we followed my cousin Frank and his wife Diane on their quad up to the Buck Mountain Lookout.
From the Shady Pines Resort, the Buck Mountain Lookout (48° 26′11N 119° 49′15W) is approximately a 15 mile drive (give or take a few miles) on mostly well maintained gravel road. From the West Fork Salmon Creek Road (County Rd. 2017), the road becomes NF-42 (Okanogan National Forest).
Somewhere in the vicinity of 48° 26′33N 119° 50′17W ( give or take a mile or so – I did not record the location with my GPS) there is a road to the left that leads to a gravel pit (I can’t remember if it’s marked or not – it’s not on the forest service map or my GPS). This road winds through the forest, passes a seasonal pond, then begins to climb and eventually meets up with Buck Mountain Road (that leads to the 6135 foot elevation summit and lookout tower. The last section of the road requires a high clearance vehicle (preferably four wheel drive to prevent causing damage to the loose road surface).
From the summit of Buck Mountain, you have a 360 degree view of the the surrounding countryside. From the forested mountains to the drier lands to the East and South. The lookout tower at the summit (maintained by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources) is a 20 foot tall wooded structure that is used for emergency use only. From the information I could find, the existing tower was built in 1961 and is listed on National Register of Historic places. Unfortunately (but probably a good thing), access to tower is restricted to DNR personnel.
Note: You can also drive to the Buck Mountain Lookout from SR-20. Its about 15 miles West of Okanogan, Washington just before Loup Loup Summit. The Buck Mountain Lookout trip is listed as Tour 30 in the book Washington Byways: Backcountry Drives For The Whole Family available HERE.
On the way back to Conconully, my wife experienced here first ride on a quad (as a passenger). from the smile on her face, I think she had a great time.
The rest of the day was spent relaxing. We did a little fishing where my daughter caught here first trout – one of the few caught from shore. Since the trout fishing was slow, I played around with an old Mepps spinner I had and caught quite a few small bass.
Note: This is the second installment of a five part series on our family trip to Conconully, Washington in July 2009.
Part 1: Exploring the Washington Okanogan – 07.07.2009
Part 2: Exploring the Washington Okanogan – 07.08.2009
Part 3: Exploring the Washington Okanogan – 07.09.2009
Part 4: Exploring the Washington Okanogan – 07.10.2009
Part 5: Exploring the Washington Okanogan – 07.11.2009
Categories: Adventures Tags: 4wd, 4x4, backcountry, bass, buck mountain, buck mountain lookout, conconully, dnr, fishing, forest, forest service, four wheel drive, gps, lookout, lookout tower, loup loup summit, map, mepps spinner, mountains, national forest, national register of historic places, okanogan, okanogan lookout, okanogan national forest, quad, seasonal pond, shady pines resort, summit, trout, washington, washington lookout
Trip Report: Scouting the Whiskey Dick Road Management Area – 05.16.2008
Who would have thought that a Friday trip to the Whiskey Dick Road Management Area near Ellensburg, Washington would bring out more participants than most weekend trips.
Well Jerry (aka SoggyMountain) picked a wonderful day for a Backroad Drivers Northwest tour of the Whiskey Dick. Hands down, this was the warmest day of 2008 to date.
The meeting place that morning was the Bar 14 restaurant in Ellensburg. In attendance for the days trip was of course Jerry from Yakima driving his full size Jeep SJ Wagoneer; (and if I get the names wrong, please forgive and let me know to correct them) Phil and his son Travis from Newcastle, driving the white Ford Explorer; Paul from Tacoma driving the other Ford Explorer; Jim (stucky) driving the white Chevy Pickup (I forgot to ask where Jim was from); Trish and Tammy from Bothel driving a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon; John and Cindy from Monroe driving a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon; Sid from Renton driving his Jeep Wrangler, Peter and Don (I forgot to ask where they were from or if I did, I didn’t write it down) driving the Sportsmobile van; myself in my 80-series Toyota Land Cruiser; and Bill from Ellensburg who joined us for breakfast but had to supervise a fencing property today so he couldn’t join us.
Categories: Adventures Tags: 60-series, 80-series, Backroad Drivers Northwest, backroads, bohinkleman spring, bryant creek, caribou road, cayuse, chevy, colockum, colockum road, darrell f jones, desert, elk, ellensburg, fj60, fj80, ford explorer, gps, grave, gravesite, hedgehog cactus, jeep, jk, land cruiser, landcruiser, little bohinkleman creek, little brushy creek, memorial, northwest, outdoors, pacific northwest, quilomene, quilomene ridge, rollinger creek, rubicon, shrub-steppe, skookumchuck, skookumchuck ridge, sportsmobile, tj, toyota, trip, vantage highway, wagoneer, washington, whiskey dick, wild horse wind farm, wrangler
Using the Time of Day as an Directional Aid
You’ve seen it on all the TV survival shows, people using their watch to find the points on a compass. Usually, its only a brief explanation and it’s always left me wondering (I can be a little slow sometimes). In case you’re like me, I found a good explanation on how this works on the Survival Topics site. From the article, it details the differences between the Northern and Southern hemisphere, as well as techniques to do the same even if you only know the time of say (ie; you only have a digital watch). This is excellent knowledge to have when your GPS batteries go dead and you realized that you left your compass elsewhere.
You can read the article at Using Time as a Compass.
Categories: On The Web Tags: compass, gps, navigation, survival
Columbus Launches “Ranger” – Advanced Off-Road Navigation System
LAS VEGAS, Nov 14, 2007 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ — Columbus Geographic Systems (GIS) Ltd. (“Columbus”) (OTC Pink Sheets: CGSE) today unveiled Ranger – its latest off-road navigation application. This is a robust navigation system aimed at the fast-growing market for recreational, off-road and outdoor enthusiasts – whether off-road driver, skier, hiker, mountain biker, or camper.
Ranger is a cutting-edge navigation software providing location-based, Global Positioning System (GPS) mapping, navigation, and information solutions for the off-road environment. Ranger works on a range of devices including Car PC, PDA, and Personal Navigation Devices (PND). Columbus will offer Ranger for cellular phones by the first quarter of 2008.
Read more…
Categories: Press Releases Tags: gps, mapping, maps, navigation, off road, outdoors, ranger, travelers
Exploring the Forest Roads Above Wilkeson, Washington – 09.17.07
Since most of what I needed to do at home required me to have dry weather to work on, I decided to take a ride to the forest lands above Wilkeson, Washington. Luckily for me, from my front door to the gravel forest roads of the Wilkeson Tree Farm (owned by Plum Creek) is exactly 20 miles. The drive time, depending on traffic will vary from 30-60 minutes. My goal was to explore Forest Service (FS) Road 7720. It had been a few years since my last visit to the area.
Categories: Adventures Tags: adventure, cedar lake, clearwater trail, coke ovens, fj80, forest, forest road, gps, land cruiser, mt baker snoqualmie, mt rainier, national forest, puget sound, rain forest, south prairie creek, sunset lake, toyota, washington, wilkeson, wilkeson sandstone
Quilomene Wildlife Area Overland Tour 07.22.07
After a nice peaceful night in a hotel in Ellensburg, Washington, we loaded up the Land Cruiser and headed out for a day trip to the Quilomene Wildlife Area.
Categories: Adventures Tags: backroads, brewton road, campsite, caribou road, colockum, columbia river, crescent bar, dry gulch, ellensburg, expedition, fj80, gps, green dot roads, land cruiser, landcruiser, little brushy creek, northwest, overland, perkins road, quilomene, tekison creek, tour, toyota, vantage, washington, west bar, whiskey dick, wildlife
Whiskey Dick Wildlife Area Overland Tour 07.21.07
After a night of camping along the Yakima River, we got up early, broke camp and headed to Ellensburg, Washington to meet up with the Northwest Backroad Drivers group to explore the Whiskey Dick Wildlife Area just east of Ellensburg.
Categories: Adventures Tags: army, backroads, campsite, cayuse, columbia, communications, ellensburg, expedition, forest, gps, jeep, northwest, overland, park, parke creek, quilomene, river, skookumchuck, tour, vantage, washington, whiskey bay, whiskey dick, wild horse, wildlife, yakima
