Eastern Washington Expeditions
Wenas Camping Base Camping & 4×4 Trip
Hosted by Eastern Washington Off Road / Graham Family Farm
Report & photos by Clay Graham / CegPics.com
On Thursday May 5th 2022 Doc and I headed up with the F350 (Lassie) with Shasta Camper pulling the YJ (Santa’s Sleigh) on the trailer and Doc’s XJ (Tweety Jeep II) to Cascade Camp (AKA Cascade Park) in the Wenas to set up Base Camp for the Eastern Washington Expeditions Wenas Camping Trip event. That evening TJ40 joined us. We had a good night talking around the propane campfire in the pop up. It was nice sleeping in my warm camper.
Around 10 AM Friday morning there was light rain as we headed out with 3 Jeeps (1 YJ, 1 TJ, & 1 XJ) to go see Mud Lake. My co-pilot for the weekend was our Black Lab, Shelby. We ran Maloy Road then Mill Canyon Road on up. As we worked our way up Cleman Mountain it got wetter. At the top of the ridge we interred the clouds. It was so foggy at times we could not see the other rigs right behind us.
We turned down Mud Lake Road and dropped out of the fog. We saw herds of elk and some deer before leaving the trees. The sun was shining in the open area as we dropped down to Mud Lake. We stopped at Mud Lake for a break and to enjoy the warmth of the sun.
After the break at Mud Lake we backtracked to the top of the ridge into the clouds. We took Lookout Road back down and Maloy road out.
Friday evening others showed up to camp with us. It was a cold night and we were back in the pop ups. This time with two propane campfires.
Saturday morning around 10 AM we headed out Hog Ranch Road with 5 ORVs (1 YJ, 1 TJ, 1 XJ, 1 JK and 1 RZR) . Near FS1701 Mr. Wilson WJ joined us and then ran FS1701 down as we broke off heading toward Cleman Mountain.
Near the Towers on Cleman Mountain we stopped for a quick break and to take some photos where a lot of people doing the WABDR stop. It was to cold to stay long so we headed on. We stopped at the End Of Green Dot overlooking the Town of Naches. That is were we had lunch. The view was good but you could not see to far. On a clear day this is a great place to be for scenic photos.
After lunch we backtracked some and then turned down Woodcamp Ridge Road. At the bottom we turn left onto Newlands Road and then ran Jones Road back up. Close to the top we turned onto Crossover Road and then dropped down Milk Canyon Road and out through BBQ Flats.
Back at camp Odo & 99 showed up in Alice (2007 JKU) with food to make Chicken Tacos for the potluck. Everyone pitched in and we had a great potluck dinner around the propane campfires.
Sunday morning we had a great potluck breakfast. Around 10:30 AM we went for a short trip with 5 ORVs (1 YJ, 1 TJ, 1 XJ, 1 JKU and 1 RZR) up on Manastash Ridge by the way of North Fork Wenas Road, then Hudson Road and cross the top of Manastash Ridge on W-5600. We took a break at a view point and did not have much of a view due to the low clouds over Ellensburg.
After the break we headed on down to Mud Flat Road and ran it back to Audubon Road then back to camp. We saw some deer and elk along the way.
Back at camp we packed up slowly to go back home. It is always sad to leave.
Then was a very fun camping trip thanks to all who came.
Here are some photos of the Wenas Camping & 4×4 Trip:
