Eastern Washington Off Road
Naches Ranger District Overland Trip
Hosted by Graham Family Farm

By Clay Graham / CegPics.com

Around 10 AM Monday, August 26th 2024, we started off for the “Naches Ranger District Overland Trip” from Oak Creek Ace Hardware in Naches, Washington with eight rigs. Seven Jeeps (Ceg – YJ, Doc – XJ, Odo – JKU, Ted – XK, Johnny – XJ, Clifford – LJ, TopoPilot – JT) and a Bronco (Derryn). We convoyed to Nile Valley and aired down on the FS1600 near Saw Mill Flats.

After airing down, we headed up FS1600 to Little Bald Mountain. The view wasn’t too bad. You could see Mount Rainier pretty good, but it was a hazy looking back toward the Yakima Valley. Doc’s rig wasn’t running right so he worked on it a bit.

After a little break, we headed back down. We turned onto FS1706 and then onto FS1709 to SR410. At SR410 we stopped for lunch.

After lunch we head up SR410 and then up Bumping River Road then onto FS1800. We turned up FS1809 and the road got rough. We passed a lady in car that said there was a tree across the road she couldn’t get around and it broke out her window. She didn’t not think we could make it past the down tree, but we knew we could because Don was at camp calling us on the radio. When we got to the down tree, only Ted had a problem because his awning sticks out. Ted had to back up and take another line. It was close but he made it through.

We met Don in his XJ at Granite Lake and set up camp. Derryn took a trip across the lake on his paddle board. Odo and Doc both headed back home since Odo had to work the next day and Doc’s rig wasn’t running good. We made dinner and then sat around the propane campfire telling stories.

Tuesday morning it got cold. We had breakfast and broke down camp. It was nice to get into the Jeep with the heat on.

We drove up to Miners Ridge for the view. It was too cloudy to see Mount Rainier.

After a short time we headed back down onto FS1800. We turned up FS1808 (Deep Creek) and went to Cooper City. We took a look around and then had lunch.

After lunch, we headed back out. We stopped to see a water fall and the drove on out to Bumping River Road. We stopped for some to air up, but I do not think anyone did. We then took a trip around the boat launch and then headed to Little Naches.

At Little Naches we took FS1902 up the Raven Roost for the view. It was cloudy where you could only see the bottom of Mount Rainier. It was very cold up there with the wind blowing. We did not stay very long.

We headed back down the mountain and drove over to Lost Meadow to spend the night. It started raining on the way there. I found a dry spot under a tree to put my tent up and cook dinner. Don cooked his dinner under the same tree. The rain stopped about the time I got everything set up. I sat at the propane campfire eating MREs. I was cold and my feet were in to much pain to stand around, so I missed out on some good conversations.

Wednesday morning it was very cold. I did not have a warm enough sleeping bag for that temperature. I got up around 6:45 AM or so and started the Jeep to warm up the cab. I took a few photos as the Jeep warmed up. I got in the Jeep and drank the coffee my wife made for me at home. I am glad I didn’t have to cook it this time around with the cold mornings.

The sun started coming through the trees and everyone started moving around. We had breakfast, packed up, aired up, and then parted ways with over half the group.

Derryn wanted to take backroads to I-90. Don and I decided to join him. We stopped for Don to get some fuel and ice cream at Whistlin’ Jack’s. We ran SR-410 and turned off on FS1701. We aired down and then ran up FS1701 and then onto FS1714. We worked our way over to the Wenas and came out on Maloy Road. We aired up at North Wenas Road and then parted ways with Derryn. Derryn headed over the Ellensburg Pass and we headed the other way to our homes in Selah.

This was a great trip thanks to all who came.

Here are some photos of EWOR Naches Overland Trip: