Naches Pass Wagon Trail 4×4 Run & Camp Out
Hosted by Eastern Washington Off Road
Report by Clay Graham. Photos by Clay Graham & ? / CegPics.com
Naches Pass is a historic wagon trail made for settlers going toward the Puget Sound.
UPDATE: The west end of the 4×4 trail has been blocked off from FS7065 to FS70.
On Friday September 29th, 2006, we set up camp at Bear Creek near the Naches Pass Trailhead for the Eastern Washington Off Road Naches Pass Trail Run.
On Saturday, we had seven rigs show up for the run. All the rigs in this group were owned by members of All Wheelers Off Road Club. Around 10 AM, we convoyed west on NF19 and turned on FS1913 to hit the Naches Pass Wagon Trail a from there. It was sad to see they are logging near the trail so the deep woods look is gone in a few places a long that stretch.
At the area where the trail gets narrow and steeper we ran in to a group of 20 plus Jeeps. It was hard to move over to let the first one down. The others stayed up the trail and pulled off where ever they could to let us go by. Once at the top of the climb we stopped so we could regroup.
As we were parked, there was a lot more rigs and other ORVs headed east. One of the groups was PNWJeep.com. Piece County Sheriff Department also came by. They were doing Search and Rescue training. It looked like they were having fun.
Once the traffic died down, we headed on up the trail. At the Pacific Crest Trail we stopped to eat lunch go check out the cabin. Some Eastern Washington Off Road members came up from the west side. My daughter had fun playing with the wild birds. As we were there taking a break in the warm sunshine, the fog rolled in and it got cold quick.
We were ready to leave and Waycrazy found he had a problem with his CJ. JWHoss used his Bronco to tow Waycrazy’s rig back to camp. We took Pyramid Pass over. As their tow strap broke, my XJ lost a burp box hose. We were able to cut it and make it work. We added coolant but there wasn’t enough in the radiator so she started getting hot. We pull over and had to take a radiator hose off to top off the radiator. It was fixed and then we were on our way.
Back at camp, Waycrazy’s wife came up with there tow rig and they towed the CJ home. JWHoss and family headed home too.
On Sunday morning Scuba went home so that left us with only 4 rigs for the run. Around 10 AM we ran Pyramid Pass over to just above NF70 and start back west on the Naches Pass Trail.
Instead of doing the off camber part we stayed up on the top of ridge this time thinking the off camber part was the bypass. Nothing is marked on the trail on the west side. This took us to a long steep drop. After we dropped down this steep hill we came out to a T, not back onto Naches Pass Trail. That is when I was sure we use to get on Naches Trail by doing that climb in the late 1980s. Everything was grown over now. The road to the right that we use to get to Naches Trail on was not passable because the brush took it over. Wow how things change over time.
We took a left to look for the trail. It wasn’t too far, but there was a big mud hole we had to cross to get back on the Naches Pass Trail. The last part of the trail is a lot of fun. We stopped above the hiking part of the trail to go see the Naches Cliff where the Longmire Party lowered their wagons.
After a quick look, we got back into the rigs and headed down NF70 to the pavement where there was a outhouse. We had lunch in the parking area. We saw a lot of the same rigs heading home that we had met on the trail the day before.
After lunch we headed back across Pyramid Pass onto NF19. We ran NF19 to FS1913. We turned east onto the Naches Pass Trail.
At the top of the first hill climb (if you were heading west / where Yeti broke his drive line earlier in the year) they filled in the hole and made it where you can’t drive there. You now have to go around the tree where the high part of the trail was. It is a lot safer now. The big mud holes at the beginning of the trail are also filled in too. That was great. We stopped for a picture at the BF Goodrich sign near the trail head before going back to camp.
We packed up camp and headed home at dark. Mischief Maker had the long drive back to the west side. We were happy to be only 50 miles from home.
Our trip home took longer than we had hoped. The RV lost an alternator belt. We had a spare belt and replaced it in the DOT’s driveway. We got home around 10 PM.
This was a great run. Thanks for all that came out. You guys made it a fun run.
Here are some photos of the Naches Pass Wagon Trail 4×4 Run:
