Off Roading in Western Washington

[Crs]

Hi All,

This last weekend I went down to Southern Washington to meet a PCRC member, Paul van Outen, and help him scout trails for the week long off roading trip he is planning for early August. He's a nice, hospitable guy with a good collection of Land Rovers (1988 Range Rover, 101FC, and an 88 -either S2 or S2A?) and a good knowledge of the Washington area (which is very pretty). I will copy his original trip proposal below. He is extending the invitation to any interested Roverlanders and anyone who is interested should contact him directly. My impression is the off roading will be more 'Wheels' event difficulty instead of an all out Whipsaw or Canol type run. His email is in the penultimate paragraph. I know the end of the trip conflicts with one of our trips, but he seems open to people joining his trip for as long as they can. A full commitment is not required. He did mention that petrol vehicles should bring extra jerry cans of fuel as settlements in the area are few and far between. (Yes, I know you 300TDI folk only fill up one a year when you do the ICBC thing, so you don't need to worry. :mrgreen: ) Cheers! :D

This is an invitation to a small number of properly prepared rigs for a modest paced week long trip with a focus on Western Washington Wheat country and Gifford Pinchot areas lakes and natural wonders. It is focused on leaving in the first week in August. It should be close enough for folks in Oregon, Washington, or Idaho.

It will be a family friendly trip, but some days will include long hours on the l road to get to the next destination. A small group of us are in the process of test driving several of the sections of this week long trip starting in Eastern Washington in Garfield County near Dayton and then heading to Rimrock Lake, and then SW through the Gifford Pinchot and surrounding area. The trip will wind up at a cabin near Mt St Helen's to enjoy the Ape Caves, the Lewis River, and Mt. St Helens for the last few days of the trip. The trip will be lead by Acoustic Ecologist Paul van Orden in his mobile sampling lab truck, a spartan 101 Forward Control Land Rover. Along the way Mr. van Orden will be collecting audio samples of the areas we visit. If you are interested in running generators or 2 stroke motorcycles, this is NOT the trip for you. We are happy to help folks who are interested in quieter power options get their rigs ready for this trip.

On Saturday, we will start near Dayton Washington with a private tour of several historic properties including an old turn of the 19th century wheat grain mill and a historic movie theater that still is capable of playing analog film using welding rods as the source of light to illuminate the film.

After the first day visiting historic wheat growing country, we will travel on local highways to get to get to Rimrock Lake and camp there for a day. From Rimrock the trip over the next five days will start in the Snoqualmie National Forest and head SW into the the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. We will pass near or through the general vicinity of Goat Rocks, Indian Heaven Wilderness, at least one lookout tower, and several lakes to swim or fish in. Extra fuel will be a necessity for this trip with long distances between fueling up.

This trip will be family friendly and will focus on everyone returning home better educated about the areas we pass through and the biota we experience along the way. We will be a little early for wild huckleberries , but may see a limited number of wild blueberries , depending on the weather this summer.

One lookout we may visit:
One such area Lookout tower: http://[URL="http://blog.oregonlive.com/terryrichard ... letes.html [/URL]

This trip is intended for a small number of vehicles and we will be requiring that you have a working CB , or preferably a ham radio on board. A set of maps will be prepared for each truck, but participants are encouraged to have GPS capabilities on board as well.

The cost per truck will be minimal to simply cover maps or other required group related costs, any hats and tee shirts we print up for the trip will be ordered at the front end based on how many people in your rig/ and how many hats etc you want.

Please send me any messages to my email at [email protected]. I have also posted this on Expedition Portal , but will keep a focus on getting as many Rovers going as might be possible to fill the spaces. I'm hoping to have at least one surprise naturalist along for the trip!!!!!

We are hoping to get an interesting array of trucks from historic old rigs to newer vehicles.

Thanks!
P. van Orden

[ANDYD]

Hi Craig,

Sounds like a fun trip, going through lots of great country.
I am planning to head down to Portland for the ABFM late August at the International raceway, so I won't be able to make this one. I do look forward to hearing all about it next time we meet up,

Cheers,
Andy