Sep 08, 2024
Met up with @OrangecrushBronco and his wife for a 3-day and 2 night off-roading and camping trip in the Sunset Falls area of Gifford National Forest just outside of Yacolt, WA
Day 1 (Friday the 6th)
I arrived about 8:30 AM and setup my camp site. I also parked my Bronco in a spot to 'save' it for OrangecrushBronco who was arriving later. This is a small but very cool camp site that usually fills up quickly starting Friday afternoon and is usually full by Friday night.
After he arrived and got setup we hit some trails. We started on the trails about 1PM and wheeled until about 6PM. Today was a scorcher as the temps were teetering at 100 degrees.
We hit some cool trails. It was a mix of easy trails and low moderate trails. They were all a complete blast! The moderate trails were your standard deep forest routes with washouts, whoops, ruts, some slight off-camber sections and a little mud here and there. There was also some trail erosion going on. Overall cool and fun trails.
I complained about not being able to use my chainsaw much but that was about to change on day 2.
rant
We bumped into a selfish, don't give a crap, campers who set up their camp site on a small USFS created beach area that runs along the river of one of the trails. It's a public use beach area and these clowns decided to pitch their tent on it. I informed them that was not a dispersed camp site and that it was a public beach and was told by them to mind my own business and that they camp there all the time. SMH!
Bummer because it's a pretty awesome little beach area where the USFS even trucked in sand to make it look and feel like a beach. It would have been cool for OrangecrushBronco and his wife to have been able to see it and maybe even use it since it was 100 degrees out on Friday..
I did take a photo of their camp site on the beach and of the license plate number of their vehicle which I will forward to the Rangers tomorrow.
One of my pet peeves.. Irresponsible 4 wheelers and campers who can't respect the land.. Meh.. Whatever!
Update to the rant: OrangecrushBronco went back to the beach area after I had headed home. These slobs had packed up camp and left a bunch of trash and garbage.
/rant
After getting back to camp it was getting dark so some hamburgers and hot dogs were cooked up. After eating we relaxed for a while before hitting the sack. Day one was awesome..
Day 2 (Saturday the 7th)
I woke up about 4:30 and relaxed by my fake fire (ignik firecan) and had a few cups of coffee while listening to the river flow next to me, as it crashed over rocks and enjoying the sounds of nature. It was glorious!
We hit the trails about 10AM and today was a little cooler and only in the upper 80’s / low 90’s.
My chainsaw got a workout today. We hit several low-end moderate trails that I have done in the past but since OrangecrushBronco didn’t want his Bronco looking like the pin striping mess that mine is, I chainsawed everything I saw that looked like it would cause issues.
One of the trails we hit would normally take me about an hour to travel down but this time with all the chainsawing it took us over 2 hours. Fine by me, I got to use the heck out of my chainsaw all day long!
These trails were a blast. Most were narrow, had overgrowth, were rocky, rutted, eroded, and had some semi deep washouts and some challenging whoops. Orangecrushbronco bottomed out a few times on some of the deeper ones.
We also hit one of my favorite trails in the area, a level 4 moderate trail named Tatoosh. This trail, while only 3 miles long, is an absolute great time! It’s slow going and rough with lots of whoops and off camber washouts and ruts but it’s well worth the time spent on it.
We hit a side trail to investigate but we had to abandon it as even I would not try and push through this as it was seriously, and I mean seriously overgrown. The 1st few miles were okay and my chainsaw got a work out but then it narrowed to being absolutely ridiculous.
We attempted hit another unknown trail so we could use it as a connecting trail to reach another in the area. This trail was about 6 miles long and it was very narrow and required constant use of my chainsaw. The trail was getting more narrow, and I was seeing more and more erosion the further down it we traveled. At one point, at about the 2 mile mark, I had OrangecrushBronco wait at a small turn-a-round spot while I pushed forward to investigate. There were not many spots to turn around and I was getting worried about this trail.
I came to a spot with massive erosion and the trail getting super narrow. While it was still passable, pin-striping would have been 100% and the fact that the trail was deteriorating so quickly the further down I traveled it had me concerned. We decided to abandon this trail as well. There was about 4 miles left of this trail and there was no telling how much further we would make it and IF we would even be able to turn-a-round if needed..
We got back to camp about 6PM and had Pizza for dinner then chilled by my fake fire and headed off to our tents for bed.
Day 3 (Sunday the 8th)
I woke up about 5am and brewed up some coffee. Sat by my fake fire and chugged down a few cups. We had previously decided to head out about 8:30 to hit a few more trails and be back at camp around noon so we could break down camp and head back to out homes.
We were back on the trails before 9am and wheeled to Tatoosh and did it again. We traversed up it, then where the trail connects with other trails in the forest we turned around and wheeled back down it.
The don't give a crap campers from the above rant were packing up to leave.
We got back to camp a little before noon and broke our camps down and headed home.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This was an awesome trip and I had a great time. I got to use my chainsaw a lot, and I mean a lot, especially on Saturday.
I didn’t want to hit any of the more difficult trails in the area as OrangecrushBronco does not have lockers and he did not want his Bronco looking like the pin-striping mess that mine is.
Some of those more difficult trails are not chainsawable unless you wanted to spend a months worth of time trying to clear it so pin-striping galore is all but guaranteed on them.
It’s completely understandable that he wants to keep is Bronco as damage free as possible.
This was my last camping trip in Washington State before I move and I had an awesome time! I am planning on doing a one day quick trip around the 20th of this month then it’s see ya later Washington State..
Photo bomb time. I am sure @OrangecrushBronco has more he can add.. I don't have any 'scenic' photos as these trails were mainly deep forest trails. I personally find the deep forest environment to be very scenic and I don't always need to see mountains, lakes, rivers etc..
The Black X marker on the map is where the beach area and the irresponsible slob campers were.
Day 1 (Friday the 6th)
I arrived about 8:30 AM and setup my camp site. I also parked my Bronco in a spot to 'save' it for OrangecrushBronco who was arriving later. This is a small but very cool camp site that usually fills up quickly starting Friday afternoon and is usually full by Friday night.
After he arrived and got setup we hit some trails. We started on the trails about 1PM and wheeled until about 6PM. Today was a scorcher as the temps were teetering at 100 degrees.
We hit some cool trails. It was a mix of easy trails and low moderate trails. They were all a complete blast! The moderate trails were your standard deep forest routes with washouts, whoops, ruts, some slight off-camber sections and a little mud here and there. There was also some trail erosion going on. Overall cool and fun trails.
I complained about not being able to use my chainsaw much but that was about to change on day 2.
rant
We bumped into a selfish, don't give a crap, campers who set up their camp site on a small USFS created beach area that runs along the river of one of the trails. It's a public use beach area and these clowns decided to pitch their tent on it. I informed them that was not a dispersed camp site and that it was a public beach and was told by them to mind my own business and that they camp there all the time. SMH!
Bummer because it's a pretty awesome little beach area where the USFS even trucked in sand to make it look and feel like a beach. It would have been cool for OrangecrushBronco and his wife to have been able to see it and maybe even use it since it was 100 degrees out on Friday..
I did take a photo of their camp site on the beach and of the license plate number of their vehicle which I will forward to the Rangers tomorrow.
One of my pet peeves.. Irresponsible 4 wheelers and campers who can't respect the land.. Meh.. Whatever!
Update to the rant: OrangecrushBronco went back to the beach area after I had headed home. These slobs had packed up camp and left a bunch of trash and garbage.
/rant
After getting back to camp it was getting dark so some hamburgers and hot dogs were cooked up. After eating we relaxed for a while before hitting the sack. Day one was awesome..
Day 2 (Saturday the 7th)
I woke up about 4:30 and relaxed by my fake fire (ignik firecan) and had a few cups of coffee while listening to the river flow next to me, as it crashed over rocks and enjoying the sounds of nature. It was glorious!
We hit the trails about 10AM and today was a little cooler and only in the upper 80’s / low 90’s.
My chainsaw got a workout today. We hit several low-end moderate trails that I have done in the past but since OrangecrushBronco didn’t want his Bronco looking like the pin striping mess that mine is, I chainsawed everything I saw that looked like it would cause issues.
One of the trails we hit would normally take me about an hour to travel down but this time with all the chainsawing it took us over 2 hours. Fine by me, I got to use the heck out of my chainsaw all day long!
These trails were a blast. Most were narrow, had overgrowth, were rocky, rutted, eroded, and had some semi deep washouts and some challenging whoops. Orangecrushbronco bottomed out a few times on some of the deeper ones.
We also hit one of my favorite trails in the area, a level 4 moderate trail named Tatoosh. This trail, while only 3 miles long, is an absolute great time! It’s slow going and rough with lots of whoops and off camber washouts and ruts but it’s well worth the time spent on it.
We hit a side trail to investigate but we had to abandon it as even I would not try and push through this as it was seriously, and I mean seriously overgrown. The 1st few miles were okay and my chainsaw got a work out but then it narrowed to being absolutely ridiculous.
We attempted hit another unknown trail so we could use it as a connecting trail to reach another in the area. This trail was about 6 miles long and it was very narrow and required constant use of my chainsaw. The trail was getting more narrow, and I was seeing more and more erosion the further down it we traveled. At one point, at about the 2 mile mark, I had OrangecrushBronco wait at a small turn-a-round spot while I pushed forward to investigate. There were not many spots to turn around and I was getting worried about this trail.
I came to a spot with massive erosion and the trail getting super narrow. While it was still passable, pin-striping would have been 100% and the fact that the trail was deteriorating so quickly the further down I traveled it had me concerned. We decided to abandon this trail as well. There was about 4 miles left of this trail and there was no telling how much further we would make it and IF we would even be able to turn-a-round if needed..
We got back to camp about 6PM and had Pizza for dinner then chilled by my fake fire and headed off to our tents for bed.
Day 3 (Sunday the 8th)
I woke up about 5am and brewed up some coffee. Sat by my fake fire and chugged down a few cups. We had previously decided to head out about 8:30 to hit a few more trails and be back at camp around noon so we could break down camp and head back to out homes.
We were back on the trails before 9am and wheeled to Tatoosh and did it again. We traversed up it, then where the trail connects with other trails in the forest we turned around and wheeled back down it.
The don't give a crap campers from the above rant were packing up to leave.
We got back to camp a little before noon and broke our camps down and headed home.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This was an awesome trip and I had a great time. I got to use my chainsaw a lot, and I mean a lot, especially on Saturday.
I didn’t want to hit any of the more difficult trails in the area as OrangecrushBronco does not have lockers and he did not want his Bronco looking like the pin-striping mess that mine is.
Some of those more difficult trails are not chainsawable unless you wanted to spend a months worth of time trying to clear it so pin-striping galore is all but guaranteed on them.
It’s completely understandable that he wants to keep is Bronco as damage free as possible.
This was my last camping trip in Washington State before I move and I had an awesome time! I am planning on doing a one day quick trip around the 20th of this month then it’s see ya later Washington State..
Photo bomb time. I am sure @OrangecrushBronco has more he can add.. I don't have any 'scenic' photos as these trails were mainly deep forest trails. I personally find the deep forest environment to be very scenic and I don't always need to see mountains, lakes, rivers etc..
The Black X marker on the map is where the beach area and the irresponsible slob campers were.
onX Trail Guide & Tread Lightly Member
2023 Badlands 2 door in Hot Pepper Red 🌶️ 🌶️
2023 Badlands 2 door in Hot Pepper Red 🌶️ 🌶️
MarkB, TK1215