Trip Report: Snow Camping...... ish
02-09-2015, 10:46 AM
#1
JK Super Freak
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Covington-ish, WA
Posts: 1,210
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Trip Report: Snow Camping...... ish
A group of us planned to go snow camping a few months ago, in hopes we'd have a ton of snow. We figured we'd go until we got tired of going and setup camp. Well, the snow never really came but we decided to go anyway. We met in Enumclaw Saturday morning, topped off fuel and supplies and made our way up 410 to FS74/FS75 road.
airing down.
After we aired down we made our way up FS75 road and basically kept it in 2wd all the way to the 7530 turnoff for Lonesome Lake. The road had old iced over snow and it was currently raining so it was nice and slick. We got upto Lonesome lake and setup camp.
Here's a shot of the hi-rent district going together. The low rent guys pitched their tents under the covered area behind them.
Once we got camp setup it was time to do some shooting. A few of the guys turned the forest into WW3 with the sound of gunfire echoing though the mountains. After that we went off and did a little exploring. Since the snow wasn't too deep we were able to make it pretty far up NF410 road. We went as far as I felt comfortable taking the group. The snow got a little off camber and I didn't feel like putting anyone at risk. Here's a shot of me testing the snow before I decided not to push our luck.
After backing out of that scenario we screwed around some more making our own path through some deeper untouched snow and eventually went back to camp for dinner, beer and to burn some wood. Saturday nights events were just as you'd expect from 9 dudes around a campfire till 1:30 in the morning. We'll let Clueless (Stu) fill in the details later. Kracken!! LOL!
Sunday morning we woke up to clear skies and frozen Jeeps. We tore down camp and took off to do some more exploring. Jason and I got done at camp early so we cruised up NF410 again to chill in the sunshine. Our camp is right above my windshield in this picture.
Brett is getting out to hook his winch to a tree. Aparently the tongue is a little low.
I had seen a road on Google Earth that I wanted to explore and that was my destination. We were able to find the road pretty easily and the best part is nobody had been up it. It was untouched snow. I suggested to Brett that they hang back since a couple guys had the trailers and we didn't know if they'd be able to turn around. So Jason and I took off up the road. It was awesome!! We went from 4800 ft elevation to over 5500 ft by the end and the whole time we were in anywhere from 1' to 3' of snow. We made our way to a really cool lookout and I radio'd back to Brett that they could at least make it to that point.
While they made their way to us Jason and I continued on. Jason took the lead and we continued our way up the ridge in old/yet virgin snow.
This picture looks cool cause you can see where he backed up slightly to make another go at it.
This was really cool driving right at Mt. Rainier.
End of the road.
The group made it to the look out point and it was cool to see them as we made our way back. Brett took this awesome picture of Jason and I making our way back to the lookout point.
The group at the lookout point. Don't rag on Stu for not being very square in the picture. He wasn't feeling very good. LOL!
I just want to say thanks to everyone who came on this trip. I had a great time. And an extra special thanks to Jeff for letting me sleep in the Apache with the heater. That was awesome!!!!!!!!!!!
airing down.
After we aired down we made our way up FS75 road and basically kept it in 2wd all the way to the 7530 turnoff for Lonesome Lake. The road had old iced over snow and it was currently raining so it was nice and slick. We got upto Lonesome lake and setup camp.
Here's a shot of the hi-rent district going together. The low rent guys pitched their tents under the covered area behind them.
Once we got camp setup it was time to do some shooting. A few of the guys turned the forest into WW3 with the sound of gunfire echoing though the mountains. After that we went off and did a little exploring. Since the snow wasn't too deep we were able to make it pretty far up NF410 road. We went as far as I felt comfortable taking the group. The snow got a little off camber and I didn't feel like putting anyone at risk. Here's a shot of me testing the snow before I decided not to push our luck.
After backing out of that scenario we screwed around some more making our own path through some deeper untouched snow and eventually went back to camp for dinner, beer and to burn some wood. Saturday nights events were just as you'd expect from 9 dudes around a campfire till 1:30 in the morning. We'll let Clueless (Stu) fill in the details later. Kracken!! LOL!
Sunday morning we woke up to clear skies and frozen Jeeps. We tore down camp and took off to do some more exploring. Jason and I got done at camp early so we cruised up NF410 again to chill in the sunshine. Our camp is right above my windshield in this picture.
Brett is getting out to hook his winch to a tree. Aparently the tongue is a little low.
I had seen a road on Google Earth that I wanted to explore and that was my destination. We were able to find the road pretty easily and the best part is nobody had been up it. It was untouched snow. I suggested to Brett that they hang back since a couple guys had the trailers and we didn't know if they'd be able to turn around. So Jason and I took off up the road. It was awesome!! We went from 4800 ft elevation to over 5500 ft by the end and the whole time we were in anywhere from 1' to 3' of snow. We made our way to a really cool lookout and I radio'd back to Brett that they could at least make it to that point.
While they made their way to us Jason and I continued on. Jason took the lead and we continued our way up the ridge in old/yet virgin snow.
This picture looks cool cause you can see where he backed up slightly to make another go at it.
This was really cool driving right at Mt. Rainier.
End of the road.
The group made it to the look out point and it was cool to see them as we made our way back. Brett took this awesome picture of Jason and I making our way back to the lookout point.
The group at the lookout point. Don't rag on Stu for not being very square in the picture. He wasn't feeling very good. LOL!
I just want to say thanks to everyone who came on this trip. I had a great time. And an extra special thanks to Jeff for letting me sleep in the Apache with the heater. That was awesome!!!!!!!!!!!
02-09-2015, 12:06 PM
#2
JK Enthusiast
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Greater Seattle Area
Posts: 399
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Agreed with Mark, awesome time all around! Thanks everyone! I think everyone had a great time, especially Stu. ;-) Haha!!
Here's some photos in no particular order:
Great times shooting guns, camping out, and stretching out the trailers in the snow!
Here's some photos in no particular order:
Great times shooting guns, camping out, and stretching out the trailers in the snow!
02-09-2015, 05:50 PM
#6
JK Super Freak
Looks like a great time!!
That off-camber section makes me tingle a little bit just looking at it. I've been in a bad situation on a road like that with a little ice. Ack!!
I'm a little worried for our snowpack this year.
That off-camber section makes me tingle a little bit just looking at it. I've been in a bad situation on a road like that with a little ice. Ack!!
I'm a little worried for our snowpack this year.
