Vicki and I did the Bethel Ridge section of this trip only. We met up in packwood sat morning, and hit the trail soon afterward. Vicki and I realised something was just not quite right with the XJ just after we left Yakima. After listening to some howling, I got to looking for hot spots and discovered I had a U-joint on left front axle going out. I tried to find a mechanic in Packwood to get it fixed but none available. So I ran over to the local napa store and got the only joint they had. I knew worst case scenerio, I could replace on the trail. We kept it in 2wd all day so as not to put strain on the bad joint. Luckily it held together and we made the decision to bail once we got to the Nile side. Drove carefully home and now I have my work cut out this week. So much for glove box conversion project. Oh well, it can wait. We had a great time, albeit rather overly dusty in many places. Good scenery, great company. Thanks Darin for a fun day.

who says wild critters are pushed out by mans progress! LOL before we left Packwood. THere were about 20 some elk in this clearing. One was sleeping under the back of this excavator!