Liberty State Overland Club
Naneum Ridge State Forest Snow Wheeling/Camping Trip
Hosted by Eastern Washington Expeditions
By Clay, Charlie & Doc Graham / CegPics.com
On Friday April 16th, 2021 we headed up to the Naneum Ridge State Forest and set up camp off of Dawson Canyon Road. We had a good time relaxing around the propane fire. TJ40 got a workout launching the ball for our dog Shelby. The Chuckwagon dinner was Tater Tot Chili Casserole. Smores followed.
Saturday morning the weather was perfect. The Chuckwagon breakfast was eggs, bacon, hash-browns, and coffee. We aired down and headed out around 10:30 AM or so.
We first headed up Dawson Canyon Road. We find a big snow berm blocking the road. Lucky someone had knock down the end of it so we could get around it. We hit snow patches as we turned to go up Dawson Road. We found another snow berm blocking Schnebly Canyon Road and then around the corner on Dawson Road. The Dawson Road berm had been knocked down on one side. We tried to cross that part and came to a stop when we hit rock that they put in the snow berm. I smashed my YJ exhaust so bad I have to have it replaced. Charlie gave the YJ a pull off the rocks. TJ40 tried it with his lifted TJ and found more rock and bent his tranny pan. This is BS that we are kept out of open public land because of the snow groomer. Sabotaging the snow berms with rock to keep wheelers out should be illegal.
We turned around and went back down and then headed up Coleman Road. We made it up to just past the cattle guard before running into total snow covered roads. Not to far from the there Charlie got stuck going up a hill climb since my YJ stopped because it ran out of power. I had to stop to down shift so I did not dig holds in the snow. I got going again and Charlie did not do as well. Charlie had to back down to get a run at the hill. Somehow Charlie got the ZJ stuck where TJ40 had to which him back on the road. As all this was going on, I was up on top parked the only place there was no snow. Once Charlie and TJ40 got up the climb to regroup with me, we took a short break as rigs past us. Super Jeep was headed back down. They stopped and talked to us for a minute. Real nice people.
We continued heading up. We passed another group that was taking a break and they ended up following us. I could not find a place to pull over to let them pass until the Naneum Ridge Road. My YJ with 30″ KO2s kept us moving the whole time. Just maybe a little slow for those big tire rigs.
At the Naneum Ridge Road with took a break and had lunch. Around 3 PM we decided not to press our luck and turned around to go back down. I stuck the YJ in some big ruts doing it. Charlie pull me out and then we headed down. On the way down we ran into a lot of deep tire tracks where I had to avoid so I would not get stuck. Charlie hit one of those and had to get pulled out by TJ40.
Back at camp we had a good time sitting around the propane fire. The Chuckwagon cast iron dinner dish was Beef Stroganoff.
Sunday morning the weather was nice. The Chuckwagon breakfast was Heart attacks and coffee. After breakfast we broke down camp and headed home. The wind started to pick up about that time.
This was a real fun time. Now it’s time to fix the damage on the Jeep so we can go again.
Here are some photos of LSOC Naneum Ridge State Forest Trip:
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