Graham Family Farm NW

GPS Mapping 4W613 Adjacent Trails
Report and photos by Clay Graham / Eastern Washington Off Road

Sunday July 13th, 2008 we headed out to GPS map the 4W613 Adjacent Trails at the Ahtanum for the Department of Natural Resources. We also had to move some down trees on 4W613. This is the first time we had a chance to work on the northeast section of 4W613 since we officially adopted it. Waycrazy & Bubz rode with me in the Tweety Jeep. Colemancooler was in his Toyota pickup.

We aired down at Nasty Creek Corrals and headed up Nasty Creek Road. On the way up we found deer in the road. They watched us for awhile before running off.

First we GPS Mapped the short cut everyone runs to the Strobach Mountain 4×4 Trail. We continued on Nasty Creek Road to the Louie Way Gap turnoff. This is the access road to the trailheads of Louie Way Gap. 1127 (single track), 4W608 and 4W613. A very inportant thing to add to the DNR Green Dot system.

Down at the three Trail Heads, we found the 4W608 Trail Marker was broken off. We fix it and then headed up 4W613.

We stopped at the Louie Way View Point. It is a nice view of Rimrock Lake and Mt Rainier.

We headed on up 4W613 and had to stop to fix part of the trail around the corner on a climb. Since we were already parked, we walked up to take a look off the cliff.

Next we GPS mapped the Strobach Mountain Vista. Another great place to see Rimrock Lake and Mount Rainier. There was a big forest fire many miles south of us. I believe the cloud is the Cold Springs fire.

We stopped at the 4W613 Upper Meadow near Dome Peak for lunch. We walked down to see some over grown 4×4 trails.

Next we headed through the Dome Peak fire area. We took the Dome Peak to GPS map it. We GPS mapped the trail to the end and then took a hike to the top of Dome Peak.

At the top of Dome Peak was a monument missing a plaque. I wonder what was written on it. The concrete says it was put there on my 16th birthday. There is also a survey marker from 1966.

We took in the views and then headed back down to the rigs. We turned around to backtrack the Dome Peak 4×4 Trail and Colemancooler looked like he came close to flopping it since we parked in a steep place.

Back on 4W613, we stopped to let my dogs out to drink some cool spring water. My small dog Pepper found some cow manure to roll in.

We continued on 4W613 through the are we worked on the day before. We turned down Jackass Road. Down near the last section of Jackass Road, we turned down the “Sylvester” 4×4 trail that we needed to GPS Map. Colemancooler had to get home and headed down the last section of Jackass Road.

We ran this 4×4 trail down to the Ahtanum North Fork. As soon as Waycrazy got everything logged into the GPS, we when down to the creek to let the dogs swim.

This was a very fun day.

Note: Please do not take any trail at the Ahtanum State Forest unless you see it has a Green Dot or Forest Service Trail Marker. You could get a fine for driving on non-marked trails without DNR approval. Trails are only post OPEN not all closed trails are posted closed.

Here are some photos of the GPS Mapping 4W613 Adjacent Trails:

 

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4W613 Work Day
Hosted by Eastern Washington Off Road
Report and photos by Clay Graham / Eastern Washington Off Road

This year the we officially adopted trail 4W613 “Divide Ridge East”. With the late snow pack and last weekend being a holiday, we just now got a chance to work on the trail on Saturday July 12th, 2008.

Saturday we met up about 9 AM on Jackass Road at the Grey Rock Trail. My wife “99” volunteered to run an Aid station for the 50K trail runners to promote Off Roaders. Once we got “99” set up we headed up Jackass Road and then down 4W613.

Our first stop was to clear a trail off the trail at the first meadow. Demontang worked on cutting the tree off the trail. After Demontang made the cuts we moved around to get a cable on the tree. Using a tree saver and snatch block, I with Fatboy’s help started winching the cut part of the tree into the newly made by-pass.

On down the trail we cut some down trees that had been cut before just wide enough for quads. People in rigs had widened the trail into the mud to make the turn.

Down a ways was a tree across the trail that has been down since last year. I cut it up. Fatboy and Demontang moved it off to the side. A little farther down, Demontang moved another log off the trail.

The trail stated getting real tight for Demontang’s Ranger. At one pint Fatboy winched Demontang’s rig off the tree.

Down at the 4W613 Lower Meadow, there was a very big tree that fell a few years back blocking the trail. People made a by pass that cut though the stream and into the meadow. We came to fix this problem. Fatboy and I worked on pulling longs on the side of 4W613 to block off the meadow as Demontang cutting the down trees we pulled and winch into place.

We also added logs to the other side to show the Grey Rock Trailhead and some to block the by-pass made by quads.

Next we worked on blocking the mud hole from being wider. People were making the mud hole wider by driving around it into the meadow. After Fatboy drug the logs into the by-pass, Demontang cut off any branches that could cause damage to an ORV.

This was all the time we had to work on this day so we headed out. Fatboy and Demontang continued running 4W613 on out. I headed back the the 50K Aid station to help my wife load up after the run was over.

We returned the Aid Station items to Tree Phones and then took a drive up Sedge Ridge for a picnic since we new the valley was hot.

Here are some photos of the EWOR 4W613 Work Day:

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GPS Mapping Sedge Ridge Trails
Report and photos by Clay Graham / Eastern Washington Off Road

Monday July 7th, 2008 we headed out to GPS map Sedge Ridge at the Ahtanum for the Department of Natural Resources.

We started by heading up the Ahtanum South Fork Road, ran all the Non-Green Dot Roads we could find and came out at the Ahtanum Sno-park.

Here are some photos of the Sedge Ridge GPS Mapping:

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