Eastern Washington Expeditions
Bethel Ridge 4×4 Overland Trip
Hosted by Eastern Washington Off Road
Report by Clay Graham / CegPics.com
On Friday June 24 2022 around 6 PM we left the Eastern Washington Expedition Club House in Selah with 4 Jeeps (1 JKU, 1 TJ, & 2 XJs). We convoyed through the Wenas Valley, down through the Town of Naches, up US-12, and turned onto FS1500. At that point we started looking for a place to camp the night. Not far from the top of Bethel Ridge we found a camp in a switch back. It was far enough off the road the dust wasn’t bad. The tent guys had level spots. Us sleeping in the rigs had to park on blocks but it wasn’t bad.
Saturday morning it was nice out. We made breakfast, ate, and packed up camp to go see the sights.
Around 10:00 AM we headed on up to the top of Bethel Ridge. Our first stop of the day was near the radio tower at the start of 4W325 for the view.
Our 2nd stop of the day was the viewpoint on 4W325. A lot of trees had fallen due to last year’s fire. Someone who was clearing the trail dropped a lot of dead trees off the cliff in different spots. I did not thing to take photos of that until later when we saw it from miles away.
Moving across the ridge on 4W325. Last year’s fire really hit this area and a lot of trees dropped. Our plan was to turn off on 4W672 to the loops farther out on the ridge. At our turnoff we found two adventure motorcycles blocking the trail and some guy stuck in his new Jeep. The guys on bikes moved on around the mud as one of the Jeeps in front of the guy stuck backed up to help. We moved on since there were at least 3 rigs there not stuck.
We turned off the WABDR onto 4W672 and then took 4W653 out to the point. We stopped for a break to see if we could see Jumpoff Lookout. We could not see the lookout but I did get some photos with the zoom lens on the Canon. I also took photos of the logs pushed off the Bethel Ridge Cliff.
We made our way down to Bear Lake. The place was packed so we wheeled up 4W671 and continued the WABDR northeast on 4W325.
On the WABDR section 2, Bethel Ridge at the viewpoint over Devils Table we stopped for lunch.
After lunch we headed off Bethel Ridge by the North Fork Oak Creek Road and then Oak Creek Road on down to US-12. From Oak Creek Road we drove down US-12 and stopped at the Oak Creek Elk Feeding Station for a break. Jay started cooking chicken in his Crock-pot for the potluck dinner we were having later.
From the Oak Creek Feeding Station we took Bethel Ridge Tie Road back up Bethel Ridge. We topped Bethel Ridge and got back on the WABDR Section 2 for the 3rd time on this trip. We headed down toward Nile looking at a lot of burnt forest.
We drove over to the Devil’s Table area and searched for a campsite. We found one that was mostly level. We set up camp. Kevin and Doc took off to get firewood. Jay’s tacos were ready before I got the done cooking the brats & dogs.
Sunday morning the weather was perfect. We had breakfast and packed up. Jay headed home and we headed out to explore some roads around Devil’s Table. We did a lot of turning around.
We came back down to FS1500 to check out future campsite along Rattlesnake Creek. There were some good spots. We stopped at one and aired up for home since we were not far from the pavement.
On the way out we stopped at Eagle Rock so Doc could get some fuel for the trip back to the EWE Club House in Selah.
NOTE: This fuel stop is not far off the WABDR Section 2 for anyone needing fuel crossing SR410.
This was a great trip thanks to those who came along.
Here are some photos of the Bethel Ridge 4×4 Overland Trip:
