Ahtanum Quad Run
Hosted by Eastern Washington Off Road / Ceg Ranch
Report and photos by Clay Graham / CegPics.com
On Saturday June 4th, 2005, less than a week since we had the Memorial Day Run and we had to go back up to ride the Ahtanum again for some more fun. We drove the truck and trailer up to Tree Phones and rode the quads from there.
We let Mandy ride her KFX80. She went where we went. Out of Tree Phones we started off going up Gravel Quarry Trail. We turned up the steep hill going up the Dickant Trail and then off the other side. Mandy had no problem climbing up the Dicant Trail, but coming down the other side she ran into me a few times. We turned to the left onto the Breakdown Trail and followed it out to the Trail Access Road. We took it up to the top of Sedge Ridge. We turned right onto the Sedge Crest Trail (Indian Trail) and head up it. At the switchback we stopped to have a picnic. When I stopped Mandy ran into me. Her quad and mine got stuck together.
After lunch we headed on up the Indian Trail towards Darland Mountain. We ran into just a few spots we had to ride in the snow. We turn onto the Mid Fork Road and headed up to the top of Darland. We could ride around what snow that was left on the road. Over all it was an easy trip up to Darland Mountain.
We decide to see if we could make it down the North Fork Road to Blue Lake. We ran into some deep snow. We had all made it through the first patch of deep snow because it was down hill. Mandy had some problems getting through and Hank helped her. As Hank was getting Mandy unstuck, I went down the road a ways to check it out. I ran into more snow. I turned around when I came up on a snow drift that was deep. I couldn’t see the other end of it. I rode back and turned the group around. Now this is where the fun began. We all had to go back up through that deep snow we just had crossed. My 4×4 made it with no problem because of the ground clearance. Mandy followed and couldn’t make it. Hank helped her threw again. Hank went for it and had to lift his quad out of the ruts a few times. Then it was Lisa’s turn. The first time she didn’t get very far. She backed out and took another run at it. Hank was running behind her push her quad. She made it about half way. Hank lifted her quad out of the ruts and helped Lisa get out of the snow.
We decided that we would go down the Mid Fork Road on the way down the mountain. It was muddy. The mud we so deep it was swallowing Mandy’s quad, but she kept it going all the way down to Clover Flats.
We took a short outhouse break at Clover Flats and then headed down. We turned off onto the Break Down Trail. I had Mandy follow me down the hill and through the creek. We hooked a tow rope from my 4×4 to her KFX80 and I towed Mandy and her quad up to the top of the steep hill. She may have made it herself; I just didn’t want to risk it. We rode the Break Down Trail and turn off onto the Dickant Trail. Mandy climbed that steep hill to the top and back down the other side with no problem. She did run into me once going down the last steep hill at the cabin cutoff. We turned down the Gravel Quarry Trail. We went down the Flat Tire loop and back onto the Gravel quarry Trail. We went back to Tree Phones to load up the quads.
Everyone wanted to ride a little more so we just loaded up Hank’s quad on the Big Boy Toy Hauler. We headed down the Mid Fork Road the 5.25 miles to the Sno-park. Lisa and Charlie rode my quad, Hank rode Lisa’s, Mandy rode her own quad and I drove the truck and trailer.
On this day we only put about 20 miles on the quads. It was a nice day run.
Here are some photos of our time at the Ahtanum:
