Burley Mountain to Mt St Helens Tour 10.13.07
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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Categories: Adventures Tags: adventure, burley mountain, buttes, camping, canyons, cascade mountains, cascades, cispus, cowlitz, fishing, forest, gifford pinchot, glenoma, goat rocks, hunting, iron creek, jeep, lake scanewa, lookout, meadows, mosquito meadows, mt adams, mt hood, mt rainier, mt st helens, national forest, norway pass, outdoors, pinto rock, quartz creek, randle, spirit lake, tour, travel, trips, washington, windy ridge, woods creek
Tour Announcement – Burley Mountain to Mt St Helens 10/13/07
In case you missed it on the forum, I posted an announcement for a tour of the Mt. St Helens area south of Randle, Washington.
The plan is to visit the Burley Mountain Lookout, drive the ridgeline between Greenhorn Buttes and Mosquito Meadows, visit Windy Ridge at Mt St Helens and more depending on time.
Read more of the trip details at Burley Mountain to Mt St Helens Tour
Categories: Adventures Tags: adventure, burley mountain, greenhorn buttes, mosquito meadows, mt st helens, overland, randle, tour, washington, windy ridge
Kapowsin-Ohop Valley Backroads
Anytime I'm traveling through Eatonville, Washington to get back to my home in Edgewood, one of my favorite routes to miss the infamous State Route (SR) 161 traffic through Graham and South Hill is to take the leisurely scenic drive through the Ohop Valley, past Lake Kapowsin and into the Puyallup Valley to Orting.
Categories: Adventures Tags: backroads, camp, camp one road, camping, carbonado, clay city, eatonville, elbe, electron, fish, fishing, graham, history, kapowsin, kosmos, lahar, lake, mineral, morton, mt rainier, mud flow, national park, nisqually, ohop, orting, orville, pse, puget sound eneregy, puyallup, railroad, randle, river, sigmond road, south prairie, tacoma, voss resort, washington, wildlife, wilkeson
High Rock Loop Backroads Tour – 06.24.07
Since I worked the night before and my wife's nephew was coming over for dinner, I had to keep the day's adventure somewhat local from my home. Flipping through the book Washington Byways, I found Tour 49 - High Rock Lookout Loop and it fit perfectly into the day's time restraints. I loaded up the dog in the Land Cruiser and headed towards the Cascades in hopes of finding some sun above the low hanging clouds.
Categories: Adventures Tags: 4wd, 4x4, adventure, Adventures, ashford, backcountry, backroads, cascade mountains, cascades, catt creek, cherokee, dnr, elbe, fj80, forest, forest road, forest service, four wheel drive, greenwood lake, high rock, hiking, jeep, kernahan road, land cruiser, landcruiser, lookout, mt rainier, national forest, national park, overland, packwood, park, randle, road, sawtooth, skate creek, snow, snowmobile, teeley creek, tour, towhead gap, toyota, trail, trailhead, trip, washington, wildlife, wrangler
High Rock Loop Photos
Last Sunday (June 24, 2007), I ventured into the High Rock area near Mt. Rainier. The weather was overcast and rain most of the day meaning in no great views of Mt. Rainier. These are the photos I shot on this adventure. Most are taken from the inside of my Toyota Land Cruiser.
The complete story of this adventure will be coming soon.
Categories: Photos Tags: 4wd, 4x4, adventure, Adventures, ashford, backcountry, backroads, cascade mountains, cascades, catt creek, cherokee, dnr, elbe, fj80, forest, forest road, forest service, four wheel drive, greenwood lake, high rock, hiking, jeep, kernahan road, land cruiser, landcruiser, lookout, mt rainier, national forest, national park, overland, packwood, park, randle, road, sawtooth, skate creek, snow, snowmobile, teeley creek, tour, towhead gap, toyota, trail, trailhead, trip, washington, wildlife, wrangler
WEROCK Western Series Rock Crawl #3 – Goldendale in Review
This year (2006) marked the second year I attended the WEROCK Rock Crawl competition in Goldendale, Washington. Last year, I learned a few things not to repeat. First, don’t drink heavily and expect to function well without sleep and in the heat. Second, bring a lot of water when working on the course and stay hydrated throughout the day. I must be getting old because my body can't handle the abuse that it used to.
Categories: Events Tags: biggs, bremerton, columbia river, goldendale, mt adams, mt st helens, oregon, randle, rock crawl, stonehenge, trout lake, washington, we rock, werock
