Northwest Trip Reports

I wandered up to Washington near Rainer for a couple days... Amazing views left a ton that needs to be explored so I will head back again.

 

where at? Mt. Rainier is essentially my 30 mile away backyard? This looks like the southern side?

 

Started off in Greenwater off FS70 to FS 7035 then proceeded to I90 off my maps, it was a fun trip.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/southeastern-oregon-extravaganza.622230/
I guess this is still considered the northwest.

 

Here is my trip report for Badger Lake

Let me start off by saying my phone was messing up and wouldn’t let me video for long periods of time and a fair amount of the drive in I was more worried about not falling off the side of the hill then taking pictures.

Thursday after work My neighbor and I headed over to Pine Hollow where his folks live to pick up a fishing kayak for him to use while at badger lake. We woke up 5am on Friday and had some coffee and then headed back toward badger lake. Now he has been there many many times so he took me in the not so flat and easy way. Instead of turning off of Hwy 48 onto FS 4860 we went in like we were going to Bonney Meadows on FS 4891. For those of you who want to go this way it is the left turn if you were coming from Portland on Hwy 48 after the first cattle guard. Note it comes very very very close after the cattle guard. Also note that because I trusted my neighbor I thought this was “the route” to get to badger lake. Only after we made it to the cut offs of the other roads did I find out there were 2 other ways and one was much easier. Needless to say it was fun to get the truck out and get the suspension some “exercise” haha.
Back to what I was saying about this route, FS 4891 in for awhile then you veer off on secondary forest route 160 which left me speechless in some areas. Some of the rock falls that you drive past and sheer drop offs are amazing. So at a junction point 160 comes into FS 4860 if you go left it takes you up toward Jean Lake and turns into FS 3550. If you take a right you head toward Badger. You will then take a let hand turn onto secondary FS road 140 that dead ends at badger lake.


Someone was asking last week about trailers going to Badger lake. I took this picture and there are other signs along the route that say this same thing. I will say that some ASSHOLE (in more ways then one) brought his drift boat down on a trailer.
This picture doesn’t show it but there are many places on the route that A lot of these pictures don't show it but the route that I took into Badger lake were narrow and I got some pin stripes to add to the collection
This was one of the most amazing views I saw along the way in. One of the few that I stopped to take a picture at at least. So once you get into the Badger lake Campground things are still pretty rocky. This is a “water crossing” that is in between the main campground and the lake its self but there are many other spots to camp either by carrying your stuff into a spot along the lake shore or another few spots past the water crossing but before the lake.

Note: I was under the understanding from some YouTube videos that there were camping spots to drive to on the lake. That is not the case unless you take the one spot that is very very open to the elements in the “parking area”.
My group got the closet spot available to the lake and it worked out great because there was lots of wind Friday and the bushes we were by created a very awesome wind block for us. Only down side was we were in the sun pretty much all day.
It was totally worth it for this view above.

A few more notes
1: this is the most people my neighbor who as been there many many times has ever seen there. As I sit here and right up this report it makes me think how many people are doing the same thing on other forms of social media and making people want to go to a once hidden gem.
2: because I didn’t see ANY trash cans plan on taking or burning everything you bring in with you. As of this seeking there was NO fire ban but the Barlow Ranger District office said they planned on one shortly if things didn’t change.
3: we went a week after they stocked the lake with 900 legals, no one in my party of 3 caught anything more then 13 inches. We did catch a lot but they were 6-10” mainly. I used my inflatable pontoon and did good. My neighbor used the kayak and did alright but our other friend used a float tube and KILLED it Friday afternoon.
4: there were some Subaru’s and even a Kia that made it down and I was thinking how did they make it down here and that when my neighbor told me he would take me out the easy way. Now with that said EASY is still a relative term. There are still some spots that a lower car would have some clearance issue in fact word got around camp that a Subaru bottomed out Saturday trying to leave and ripped his oil pan off and seized his engine. We were told he had to MT. Bike out to the main road to meet up with some people to get his car out of there.
5: I think next time I will try going in over Bennett Pass and seeing what that route is like and I will probably go during the week days to miss the “large” crowd of people.
6: Last but not least I wish I would have taken more pictures. Not for TW but for myself. I really enjoyed my drives and my time at the lake and the amazing stars at night. We were blessed with great weather on Saturday and I made sure my phone was put away as much as possible (made it easier when there is not cell service).

Cheers TW

 

Solid. I still wanna get up to Rainier and hike that area.

I was just up there yesterday. Were you the dude with the pontoon chair and floppies I talked to while I was drinking a beer in the lake??? 'Cause I also saw homeboy in that 3/4 ton Ram with the trailer and had to pull off.

And yeah, it was stupid crowded.

 

Yea I had the pontoon boat and the yellow flippers... we were the ones to the right, before you headed up the incline to the “parking area”. Silver Tacoma with the black bumpers.

Did you hear the dude yelling and cussing at I’m guessing his wife??

Like I said this is my first trip in and my neighbor said this is by far the most people he has seen there.

 

Lol, no. Missed that, thankfully. I really enjoyed the two kids sputtering and brapping their two-stroke bikes all along the shoreline, though.

 

MT HOOD NF
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Friday I headed out to poke around Hood NF. Ran Bennett Pass along with the trail to the fire lookout, a buncha connectors, and down to the lake. No fire bans, knock on wood. I think I saw all of half a dozen other vehicles on the various 4x4 trails Saturday and Sunday, but for the most part, the only area with any significant amount of people was down at Badger Lake. Really neat area with plenty of spots to camp for various amounts of vehicles, lots of hiking opportunities, and some pretty crazy views. Plenty of chop and whoops around there, but nothing technical or difficult. I eventually did get sick of chewing up my brakes (and listening to them squeal with the dust), so I just let 4L handle a lot of the descents. But you could do all of this area with a 2WD.

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That’s one thing I wish I had was a better camera then my iPhone that’s crapping out. The stars were awesome!! Did you stay the night at badger?

 

Naw. Stayed long enough to drink two beers in the water, then got outta there.

 

thanks for the trip reports guys! Funny enough my lady and i just planned a little camping trip out to badger lake and now I can't wait to go check it out. Also fortunately for us we have weekdays off and get to avoid a good amount of the crowds. looks beautiful and if i remember to pull my phone out i'll snap some pics!

 

Definitely go during the weekdays and you’ll have next to no one there

 

Went to Tillamook again last weekend. Ran Cedar Tree again, and kicked it overnight on Saturday.

 

Labor Day weekend went and did Willamette NF, then two nights in different parts of Deschutes NF.

Started with a spot I found above a dam:






Went and did a couple hikes Saturday: a 2 miler to the falls, and a five miler to Belknap Crater.







Explored a burn area afterwards and found a dope site on a ridge.







Wrapped it up out near the China Hat area.

 

Anyone been up to Mt.Defiance recently? Wanting to go up tomorrow with the kids. Forest service says experienced 4x4 operator only(not sure how they define that). Any tips or reports?

 

Any idea why trailsofforad.com lists my defiance as a difficult run?

 

They drastically changed their rating system. There are trails you could do in a Subaru Outback that are now listed as difficult. Anything involving any sort of hill climb, rock chop, or slightly off-camber driving has now been bumped up to at least moderate, even though I've done some of said trails half li...jacked up on Mtn. Dew at night in 2WD. Take their ratings system with a serious grain of salt.

For example, they've got Firebreak Five, a trail that you need at least 35s to get through without cheating by stacking rocks as a 5-7. But they also gave Defiance a 5-6, despite the fact that you can do it in an open diff stocker with 2WD.

 

That’s good to know. I ran a few trails earlier this year rated as easy and high centered my Tacoma in the ruts and pinstriped the pain because it was so narrow. When I saw that Mt Defiance was difficult I began second guessing going up. But I remember at the beginning of the year it was an easy trail.
Glad I went up. And I’ll have to keep that in mind now. Thanks.

 

I think it really boils down to the fact that different authors can give different trails their own arbitrary rating. So something listed as a 3 may have been written up by a guy in a JKUR on 40s, while something rated as a 7 may have been done by someone in a stock 4Runner.