Memorial Day Weekend 4×4 Run at the Ahtanum
Hosted by WUD Wheelers
Report by Clay Graham. Photos by Clay & Hank Graham / CegPics.com
Around 10 AM on Saturday, May 26th, 2007, we meet up at the Wud cabin on the North Fork Ahtanum Road near Ahtanum Meadows. A few people were running late so a few of us left and headed toward Blue Lake. The others meet up with us at the Blue Lake trail.
The Ahtanum Irrigation District has been logging the area so the place is a mess. We took the new logging road they made and found snow. That is where the fun began. We had a big patch of snow to cross.
After everyone was through that snow patch we headed up the pond trail. There was a big tree across the trail right after the first pond. We went around it through the logging mess. Right after the second pond the trail was full of water. We drove through the water and around the log piles to the hill climbs. They cut some trees off of the trail but left the stumps high enough to hit. A few guys found them as they ran into them topping the hill. As we dropped off the hill we had more logging mess to drive around. We got up to 4W615 and the snow drifts were huge.
The two XJ’s and CJ made it to Blue Lake without too much trouble. The three Scouts were having a hard time getting through the snow drifts. Since I had some time, I took the Tweety Jeep up 4W615 toward Blue Slide Lookout. I went around a snow patch and got the rear dif hung up on a root. Test Dummy came to pull us off the root, but we couldn’t pull the diff off the root. 99 was nice enough to pull cable as I drove her XJ. 🙂
We went back down to the lake to play in the snow. Test Dummy had to pull Tiny’s CJ out and then Test Dummy was playing in 2 wheel and stuck it. We gave him a pull out.
The Scouts finely made it through to Blue Lake. Irishscout lost a bead and had to put on his spare.
We got photos of the group of the day and then headed back out of Blue Lake toward the North Fork. Tiny had problems getting back up the trail. I had to pull him out a few times. Irishscout drove around Tiny to give him a pull forward. Irishscout found he wasn’t getting up the hill and got stuck him self. They hook Tiny’s winch to the Scout and pulled Irishscout’s tire off the bead. Tiny started winching out and we loaded the 35″ Scout tire in the Tweety Jeep to see of the Peak Putters could air it for us. The Scout has Chevy running gear so he could not use a tire from the other two Scouts.
I went to the Ahtanum Sno-park and the Peak Putters fixed the tire for us. Very cool guys.
I dropped the wife and kids off at the cabin and Hercules rode back up to Blue Lake with me in the Tweety Jeep. By the time I got back to 4W615 the other two Scout had winch them selves up the trail. We wheeled back to Irishscout’s rig. We drug bottom a few times because of the weight of us 5 guys and the 35″ tire. We mounted the tire on the Scout and head back up. Now leaving was not as easy as the first time. The two Scouts made some deep holes in the snow with their
33s. The Tweety Jeep’s little 31s couldn’t get through some of the holes and we had to winch a few times to get through. We got back to the cabin around 12:30 AM. Irishscout went home.
Sunday we head up Sedge Ridge. The group meet up at the end of South Fork and the Sedge Ridge 4×4 Trail. Tiny has some wiring problems and headed for home.
On up the trail there were trees down blocking the path in a few places. Hercules, Test Dummy and Fatboy cut them out of the way.
Near the Cultus Hole Climb the snow drifts were big. Test Dummy’s rig got ate by a tree hole.
Test Dummy got turned around and we head back down the Sedge Ridge 4×4 Trail and ran the ridge to the end above Tampico. Again we found trees down across the trail. Hercules, Test Dummy and Fatboy did a great job clearing the way. Next we headed back to the cabin and Fatboy headed home.
Monday we had a good time visiting. We didn’t do any 4 wheeling. The Tweety Jeep had a bad axle u-jiont so we just went home.
This was another fun Memorial Day run with the WUD Wheelers 4×4 Club.
Here are some photos of the WUD Memorial Day Weekend 4×4 Run at the Ahtanum:
