NW WA Meet / BS Thread

Yeah I've been up there a couple times but never this time of year. We had a small fire at work and everything is shut down. Need to find an adventure lol

 

I've never been to tahuya but Im down... Ill have some extra days off this coming weekend and the next, but I have 3 kids so gotta make plans that work around my xmas schedule.. New years weekend would be better, any one else?

 

Lets set it up

 

After January 3rd and I'm in...

 

Snow is very rare there. Tahuya is basically at sea leevel. If there is snow there, there is snow covering the entire puget sound region.

The mud puddles however, will be very deep there right now.

 

If you want snow but don't mind the roads being primarily access roads, Capitol Forest had a good amount near the peak. On the plus, it's nice and relaxed - just avoid the road to the very top:







I was tooling around, about 3:30 and was on the homeward trip. A Side x Side told me to stop at the gate near the top because there was an abandoned Chevy sideways on the road blocking things. I must have been staring off because I missed the gate (maybe it was my secret desire to see the road to the peak for the first time) and found the Chevy

Started doing the back down and got a bit off the road, just enough to know I needed to put some work into getting things back straight. I was just getting to work with the shovel when a bunch of kids in a Cherokee and two mid-90s yotas show up... and get stuck as well.
Of course, they are pretty stock except for their lifts and extra wide mud terrains (at least the toyotas had rear hitches). Between the lot, they have a folding shovel and a metal hooked tow rope... that's it. Thank God I brought all my gear.
One of the Toyotas gets stuck trying to turn around (sigh) and the only thing that worked was the shovel (my strap wanted to pull him on his side). We finally dig him some traction and get him straight.

I was hoping I could get a tug from one of them, but none could get within 70 feet of me. Oh well, I managed to get out by hi-lifting on my sliders and tossing some gravel underneath, plus putting on the chains. Read that again, I was able to self-recover
I get to a wide turn-around spot halfway down, and notice they are standing around looking at the Jeep now... I don't know exactly what was going on, but it looks like the Cherokee decided to do a fancy turn around and park on the side of a hill... and get stuck. Apparently he blew out his front diff

Of course, he has no front recovery points and no rear recovery points

The kids were trying to use the tow rope around the axle, hooked to the hitch of one of the yotas. Wasn't working too well, the yota was too light and the Jeeps tires were cranked hard to the side and plowing gravel. Probably a good thing since the Jeep was hitting the redline while he was being tugged

After some uneventful shoveling, I suggested they use my strap ("gently"), but they were against it for whatever reason. Instead, one says, "I watched an offroad show where they pulled a guy by hooking on to the wheel. That will get his wheels turned and pull him as well." (why don't we hook to the axle nearer that tire instead? - Oh well, this is happening, better duck for cover )
The yota gives a mad tug, and something goes wrong. The tire is straight now, but the tie rod is bent so bad that it went triangular. Nothing to do now but abandon that vehicle. Thankfully it's already parked on the side out of the way.

The rest of us make it around and down. I get to the bottom and meet a brand new Tundra on BFG A/Ts coming up. I tell him my story and he chuckles, then asks if he can make it to the turn-around spot with the Jeep. I give what warning I can and he goes for it.
I keep going and get to the bottom, where I meet a guy heaping couches for a bonfire. We swap stories and he laughs that the kids were worried about how they were going to skip class so they could get their Jeep. "Damn unprepared kids, man". He then goes on with a war story of driving up many a time with 2WD trucks

I keep going, heading my way home. I pull over for a late model Suburban full of people heading up: "We're heading up to recover the Chevy".
At this time, it's 7:00 or so and pitch black out, with solid rain/snow mix. That Chevy is 90 degrees to the road on a bald hill. With all the gear I have, it would have been a super task - what the hell is a bone stock Suburban going to do?
I was too shocked to say anything, and we part ways. At least they have the couch fire to go to once they trash their vehicle. No way was I going back - by 8pm I was home with a blanket and a pot pie

 

^^^

What an adventure, sounds like a rough time for those unprepared kids. Call me up if you want to go out again, I'll tag along and get stuck with ya

 

Glad you made it home in one piece!

Seriously, about the same exact story that happened last weekend on Mount Baker. WTF?!

I don;t quite understand peoples thought processes (or lack thereof)..

$400 Winch + $250 Snatch strap/tree saver/shackles vs. $15,000 vehicle.

The Chebby that we had to leave on the mountain wil moosikely be there until March!

 

Hey, it's a lot of money for a high schooler. Besides, those guys are invincible at that age.



Speaking of invincible, though, they really put me to shame with the shoveling. My happy meal butt needs more treadmill time.

 

Guess your right... I'm 22 - and am never going to get old!

A good shovel is a wise investment... Those aluminum collapsing avalanche shovels are purdy, but don't move snow worth a shit.

 

Yeah I'm thinking up an "easy does it" trip up there sometime after Christmas - something where there's snow, but not narrow, uphill, nasty stuff. Just a day to horse around a bit and get home dry with maybe a bit of daylight left.


Oh, I also found this at the bottom of Gary Busey

 

^^^ Frame looks to be in pretty good shape!

I ended up getting my truck stuck in a ditch a week ago. Took a few more right side scrapes getting pulled out.

Guess I'm going to be all-in for a getting some body work tools and learning how to paint (once the weather is warmer).

 

I'm right there with you Will.

 

Finally getting some pics up from past events

Exploring the ghost town of Lester

 

We should circle back on this later. I'm in the middle of getting some books and tools. Although I wasn't planning to learn, bodywork seems pretty interesting so far. I don't think we'll have much trouble making smaller stuff go away. I'm starting off with a couple of my scrapes that can be sanded/filled/repainted and working my way up to bigger stuff. Will let you know how it goes.

Thanks to Tahuya, Evans Creek and a gravel ditch in Fall City, I prepared myself a superb canvas to work on.

 

January snow wheelin trip??

 

Middle-end of jan I'm in!

 

19/20th work for the majority? Either tahuya or someplace in the snow...(w/out Eric )

 

This is my last year in WA so I'm down as well!! Would love a snow wheeling trip.

 

I'd probably be down for the weekend of the 19th/20th, or the 26th/27th