Wenas Wildlife Area 4×4 Snow Run
Report by Clay Graham
On Thursday December 30th, 2010 we met up with three rigs at the Sheep Company Road entrance of the Wenas Wildlife Area for an All Wheelers Off Road Club snow run. The drivers on this day were Havo in his Toyota, BlindPilot in his TJ and myself “Ceg” in my CJ5. Havo was our trail boss on the run. We made it up to the towers and back down through some deep snow drifts and icy roads. A long the way we saw a few herds of elk and some of the guys saw a coyote. The skies were blue so we had a great view of the valleys and the mountains. Both Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams could be seen. Two of the three rigs had some mechanical failure but were able to drive back home on their own. I would say this was the best wheelin’ I ever done at the Wenas Wildlife Area. The snow was great, my kids had fun and some good friends were there to share the adventure. Here are some pictures of our day.
Airing down at the Sheep Company Road entrance of the Wenas Wildlife Area.
BlindPilot ready to hit the trail.
Heading up Durr Road. The road was iced over and very slick
Turning onto Bull Pasture Road.
My Co-pilot Bubz.
Doc and Odo
Nice view of Cleman Mountain
Here we stop to see a few herds of elk.
Here are a few of the elk.
Moving on through a fun section of trail.
We lucked out that this section was not iced over or we could have been stuck at the bottom. No Trees to winch from.
My view from the CJ5.
Here is where some saw the coyote. The kids and I never could see the coyote since it was the color of it’s surroundings.
Some people need to grow up.
Somewhere along this section of trail my tranny started a loud noise as I was in third gear low range. I pushed in the clutch and the noise was gone. I started back off in first gear and found it was loud too. I hit second and all was good. I tried to go into third and could not get it into gear. It would just grind.
The snow was getting deeper.
We took a short break before dropping down this next section. You can see the towers where we were headed.
And we are off again.
Walking back to the CJ.
A little deeper snow.
I stopped here to wait since the other two rigs were having a hard time breaking trail.
Mt. Adams.
Mt. Rainier.
Moving on up so I don’t get left I find Havo having a hard time.
Havo finally made it and then I had the hard time because of Havo’s tracks. I found that reverse was making a bad noise too. I was able to use reverse enough to rock the rig back and forth. With rocking it between second and reverse with some high RPMs I made it through.
Havo letting more air out. I took this time to drop my rear tires down to 5 PSI from 9. They aired up 1 PSI since the parking area.
We moved on and I had a hard time getting through another section. The tires threw snow on the windshield. The snow melted fast and then froze as you can see in this picture.
The snow drifts were deep up by the towers. BlindPilot giving Havo a pull.
Looking back.
Both Mt. Adams and Mt Rainier are in this picture.
Havo stuck again.
Havo doing a great job breaking trail through the deep snow and BlindPilot finding a better route.
Here we are at the top!
The kids ran and played.
Moving on to go back down Havo gets stuck again. BlindPilot giving him a pull.
Havo gets on it to break though another deep area.
Well that did not work so well.
BlindPilot pulled Havo out again and then we were on our way.
These guys were way ahead of me since I only had second gear.
I caught up to the other rigs since Havo had to stop because he lost an u-joint cap. Havo had to run 2 wheel drive on out.
On down Durr Road we drove on ice for miles.
We stopped for a break and to do a little target practice.
Doc and Bubz swapped seats.
Getting up the next hill was not to bad if you had 4 wheel drive. Havo was running in 2 wheel but had to go into 4 and limp with a bad u-joint. This picture was right after he unlocked his hubs to prevent any more damage.
Here back where we started, the Sheep Company Road entrance of the Wenas Wildlife Area.
We aired up and headed out. Lucky my CJ5 is high geared and I only live a few miles away since I had to drive home in second gear.
Later that night we met at Brats N’ Brews in West Valley to talk about our day over food and a few brews.
What a great day!!
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