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Ben, Mike, Rick and myself take an overnight trip across the Naches Wagon Trail. Starting at Whistling Jacks lodge with views of Mt. Rainer, we took the Wagon Trail for the first part of the day. Despite having lots of open designated trails, there were tons of trail bikes on one of the few 4x4 trails in the area. On one of the steeper obstacles a Jeeper ripped open his break line and lost all of his brakes. He had a pretty hairy experience trying to get his Jeep turned around on the side of the hill. Later in the afternoon we made our way across to Funny Rocks where a huge contingent of modified rigs were playing on the rocks. Most had left when we started up the rocks, but a few stayed around to see all 4 of us make it up the wall on our first attempt. We continued on past Manastash Lake down to Hog Ranch and our campsite. Ben fed us another one of his famous steak dinners that night. The next morning Mike woke up to the noise of a cow in our campsite. Apparently he surprised the cow, who promptly crapped all over our campsite and took off into the hills. After Mikes tasty breakfast of ham and eggs we did a little rock crawling on a trail leaving the ranch. A few 100 feet through the stream/trail and we were off for 8 miles of dusty roads across Mud Flats. A final stop at the Manastash observatory and we quickly dropped out of the hills into Ellensburg, Washington to head home.
|
 Mt. Rainier |
 On the Trail |
 Some Windfall from Winter |
 Rick going up the chute |
 Mike pauses on the trail |
 Bridges were built to protect the Meadow |
 Winding through the trees |
 Posing on the bridges |
 Thank God for Chainsaws |
 Tall Shot on the bridge |
 Lots of bikers were on the trail |
 Rick's tire carrier kept bouncing off every time he hit a bump |
 A Clearcut regrows |
 Rick on my ass |
 More bridges at the top |
 Logs and Bridges |
 The Mike Urich Memorial Cabin |
 Crossing over to Funny Rocks |
 Ben on up Funny Rocks |
 Jeepers watch what Xterras can do |
 Manastash Lake |
 Ben Climbing a ridge |
 Through the dead woods |
 I think this is the cow that crapped in our campmsite next morning |
 Ben sleeps off the steaks and Jack from the night before |
 A little rock crawling next morning |
 More cows wondering what the hell we're up to. |
 Past the broken bridge |
 The stream IS the trail |
 Final pic at the observatory |