Graham Family Farm NW

Independence Day ORV Run
at Ahtanum State Forest
Hosted by Eastern Washington Off Road
Report and photos by Clay Graham / Eastern Washington Off Road

On July 4th, 2008 we met at Mischief Maker’s camp at Tree Phones around 10 AM. Our group was; Mason – ATV, Sparky – ATV, Test Dummy – Dirt bike, Mischief Maker – ATV, Ceg & family – XJ.

We headed up the Ahtanum Mid Fork Road and stopped on top of Darland Mountain for a picture. We headed down the North Slope of Darland Mountain, turn onto the Blue Lake 4×4 Trail, and stopped at Blue Lake for a short break. We watch the 4x4xNorthwest club come in from Rimrock and then the Timber Tamers.

We headed up 4W615 onto FS1020. A few miles down we played in a few snow drifts and stopped for the view off Foundation Ridge.

We headed back up FS1020 through the snow again. Mischief Maker had fun showing off to my kids in the Tweety Jeep.

We are dropping down 4W615 from FS1020 toward Blue Lake. Test Dummy crashed the bike (Roll Over’s bike) in one of the many rocky areas. He only broke of some plastic.

Our next stop was at Snow Cabin Campground so the ladies could use the out house. The boys played in the Forest since the Creek was closed because of Bull Trout BS.

We took the North Fork Road down and used the McLaine Canyon Road to get back to the Ahtanum Mid Fork Road and up to Tree Phones. Fatboy met us there in his TJ.

Next we headed down the Ahtanum Mid Fork Road and up the McLaine Canyon Road and onto the Whites Ridge 4×4 Trail. We went up to find a good place to see the fire works. We decided Make-Out Point would work.

We ran to the top end of the Whites Ridge 4×4 Trail to kill some time.
On the way back down we stopped to read a No Quads Sign on the Grey Rock Trail.

Next we went on down to Norm’s Check-point to look down at the area around Tree Phones.  You could see Shawn Montee logged a lot of the area we were closed out of in September 2005. Some quads were in the closed area. They may have not known it is closed if they came into the closed area from one of the trails above. The only closed signs I have seen are at the bottom of the road they are going down. I have talked to the DNR about this problem and I was told they don’t want ugly closed signs hanging everywhere. I say signs are education and ticket the ones that don’t care to read the signs instead of ticketing people for being in non-posted areas.

We headed on back up to Make-out Point to watch the fire works. We could see the ones at the fair grounds in Yakima and the ones at Legends in Toppenish. They were really small from Whites Ridge.

This was a great day thanks to the people that came.

Here are some photos of the EWOR Independence Day ORV Run:

Darland Mountain

Blue Lake

Bull Trout

Yakima Valley

Cultus Hole

99’s Getting Out of the Heat Run at Ahtanum State Forest
Hosted by Eastern Washington Off Road
Report by Clay Graham. Photos by Clay Graham / Eastern Washington Off Road

On June 29th, 2008 it was very hot in the Yakima Valley so my wife, AKA 99 wanted to drive up to the Ahtanum State Forest hoping it would be cooler.

We took the South Fork Ahtanum Road (A1000) and then ran Boulder Trail up to the stop of Sedge Ridge. We stopped on the Sedge Ridge Road so people could air down more.

Test Dummy rig started having fuel pump problems so he headed back down. The rest of us turned down A2420 and then on A2400 to the Ahtanum Sno-park.

Next we went up the Mid Fork Ahtanum Road (A2000) and onto the Whites Ridge Loop Trail (A2600). We took the Whites Ridge 4×4 Trail up and then turned down the McLaine Canyon Road (A3300), then went up the North Fork Ahtanum Road (A3000).

On the way up the North Fork Ahtanum Road, I took some photos of the snow on Darland Mountain.

Next we ran the Blue Lake Trail onto 4W615 and stopped at Blue Lake for the kids to get out to play. The bugs were bad so we headed on up 4W615 to the Blue Slide Lookout. My kids had fun playing up there.

After a short break we headed on down FS1020. We stopped for some quick photos of Rimrock Lake from Foundation Ridge.

Here we ran into a big snow drift. I got stuck because of the Swabbie tires on the family XJ. Tiny also got stuck. Roll Over came to the rescue and pulled us out with his MJ.

On down FS1020, we stopped to regroup at 4W613. That is were the road changes numbers from FS1029 to A2300 aka Jackass Road.

Next we turned of Jackass Road onto A5000. As we were heading down toward the Nasty Creek Corrals, the weather turned. There was a lot of lightening. We saw lightening hit and start a fire. I think it was on the ridge Southwest of Sedge Ridge. We moved on down to a cattle closed gate. There must of been cows grazing in the area.

We stopped to see why there were beers a long the trail. It was a marker for Papa Bud. Does anyone know the Papa Bud’s story? Maybe the marker was his hunting spot?

We finely got out on the phone to call about the fire. Sparky’s dad had already called the DNR. They could see the fire from there house in Tampico.

Before we hit the bottom of the mountain, there was a deer standing next to the trail as we drove by.

This was a real fun run thanks to the people that came.

Here are some photos of 99’s Getting Out of the Heat Run at Ahtanum State Forest:

Darland Mountain from North Fork Ahtanum Road.

Blue Lake

4W615 above Blue Lake

Blue Slide Lookout Cabin

Rimrock Lake from Foundation Ridge

Foundation Ridge’s Annual Summer Snowdrift

Jackass Road at 4W613

Wildfire from Lightening

Doe Pocket Trail looking toward Tampico.

A deer watching us drive by.