Eastern Washington Off Road:
Darland Loop Backroads Trip
Hosted by Graham Family Farm
Report & photos by Clay Graham / CegPics.com
Around 10 AM Sunday July 23 2023 we met up in Tampico to take a drive around the Darland Loop in the Ahtanum State Forest. We set off in two rigs with six people and two dogs. This was the first backroads trip in the Yukon.
Our first stop was at Snow Cabin Campground. We took a break there and had a snack. The kids had fun messing around. We got lucky that we only brought dogs for animals because the DNR has a sign saying, “No Livestock Allowed”. The picture kind of looks like a cow.
We headed on up the North Fork and the road became rough. We took it slow watching our lines around and over the big rocks in the road. This year of Yukon has a big plastic front end which hands very low. I drug it a few places along the way.
We stopped on top of Darland Mountain for lunch and to take in the view. It was clear enough to see Mount Rainier, Mount Adams, and the Goat Rocks. You could see the Yakima Valley, Mount St. Helens, Mount Hood, and the Stuart Mountains in the haze.
Our last stop was at Clover Flat Campground where the road got much better. We took a walk around to working some of our back pain out from the rough road. There were a lot of wild flowers in bloom. After a short break we headed on down the Mid Fork and on out.
This was a very fun trip. The weather was great and so were the views.
Here are some photos of the trip:
