Great trip, some last minute changes to the attendees list but it all worked out. Ole took over the lead role with info from Guy. Met up at Ardenvior on Saturday AM and headed out.
Went up Mud Creek a ways and it started getting a little rougher so it was time to air down
Meeting up with and following a section of the WABDR up to Slide Ridge.
We had hit a few snow patches along the way but no trouble getting past them. Until...Ole called out on the radio to find a place to turn around as the next patch wasn't passable. I didn't go up that far, but got turned around and waited for everyone to come on back. It may have been passable, but the thought was that if we were hitting patches like this on the exposed side, it would get worse.
So, Ole found what looked like a viable option to get down to Navarre Coulee, so off we go (note, we decided to disregard the knocked down sign that said locked gate in 8 miles...)
Turns out, we didn't need to worry about the gate..
Made for a nice place for lunch though before we turned around again.
It was at this location that I had sent Aaron a marker with the InReach with a message "now to Plan C"
Back tracked quite a ways back down Mud Creek, till we hit Johnson Creek Rd. 3rd times the charm and we made over to Navarre Coulee. Followed that up to the Lake and went down Lakeshore Drive to 97A. Ole wanted to stop at the gas station there, turns out he needed that most essential off-road overland item - an ice cream cone :-)
Then headed down to Downie Canyon and to the trail head for the hike Guy had planned for the trip - the Lucas Homestead in Brick House Canyon
The hike back up re-enforced why we've come to like vehicle based exploring. Really showed how sitting in front of a computer all the time does nothing for your stamina. Thanks Ole for baby-sitting us up the hill. As tired and wore at as Judy was, she sure had a lot of energy when she met her new friend...
Just about stepped on it
When we got back to the vehicles, Scott (who had gone ahead), says somebody's been calling for me on the radio. Turns out Aaron mis-understood my message and he though that marker I had sent him was where we were camping. So, he got to enjoy the downed tree also. Really amazed that the radios communicated that well, we were a fair distance away and in a canyon.
Told him basically where we were heading from there and would send him more info when we landed somewhere. He got to enjoy the backtracking from the tree too.
We continued along Downie Creek and then up to Chelan Butte. Pretty impressive views up there..
Back down Chelan Butte Rd and found a cool campsite with some old wheat storage bins (I think this is where Guy had planned to camp, we lucked into it). Sent Aaron another message and he showed up less than 10 minutes later. I think he's part bloodhound
JR, thank you very much for the company on the trip, the pictures, and this write-up! This was a great first trip of the season for me, had lots of fun.
As promised, I left on Friday going up Nahahum Canyon towards Chumstick mountain. I *almost* made it, but couldn't find a way to push through the last couple of hundred yards.
So, backtracked and went around towards Ardenvoir. Found a spur a couple of miles ahead of town with an ok site with a great view. Here's what it looked like at sunset.
Here's a view of Ardenvoir from the campsite
Really bummed I missed this one. See you guys at the rally!
Ole, how did you exit from the campsite? We ran into gates, but didn't check them. With the 3 vehicles, tried limit the backing exercises. We ended up back tracking (again) and went back and over to the lake.