Elbe OHV Work Party

Yesterday, our 4-wheel drive club, the Timber Tamers, hosted a big trail work party to fix the top of our apoted trail at Elbe OHV.  When we got there, we noticed that we had a lot of work to do.  The top of our trail had become a huge mud hole and a few new by-passes had been created.  We had to put rock on the top of the trail to prevent more erosion and sedimentation from running down the trail and into any streams.  We also had to try and block some of the by-passes.  Luckily, we had a decent show of people with 3 small tractors, 2 trucks and 60 yards of rock to work with.

Terry spent most of the day driving Gary's flatbed Dodge loaded with rock to the trail repair site.  I was outside and helped unload truckload after truckload of rock.  I think I must of sometime during the day got hit in the ankle by one as it is a little red and swollen today.   We were on the trail all day and didn't pack up to come home until dark.  I felt like I had worked my ass off during the day until Mark said he still saw it, so I guess that wasn't the case.  I do know that we all worked hard and amazingly got a lot of rock moved an the trail looked a lot better when we were leaving then it did when we first got there.  Even though it was hard work, it was another great day with good friends.

The morning meeting

Mike leveling the mud at the beginning of the day

Dropping some rock

Getting Mike unstuck

Blocking a by-pass

Winching out Gary's truck

Bringing down more loads of rock

(we did a lot of unloading by hand, but towards the end of the day, the tractors started bringing some down too)

Me at the end of the day (I was filthy)

One of the final loads of 2-minus

Hangover Run 2009

Yesterday, Terry and I went on the annual Hangover Run with our 4-wheel drive club.  This year, we decided to go to Tonga Ridge which is a forest service road just east of Skykomish on Hwy 2.  On the way there, it was raining really hard and so I started dreading the trip.  I don't mind wheeling in the snow, but I wasn't looking forward to wheeling in downpour.

We stopped in Sultan and picked up Mike Jones who was going to be riding with us for the day.  From there, we headed up to the trailhead where we left the truck and trailer and unloaded the Jeep.  Greg V. and Wyatt showed up at the same time as us and we all got ready to hit the trail at the same time.  As we were leaving, Mark, Mike and Greg S. pulled in and started unloading their rigs.  We decided to start up the road and let the others catch up with us.

As we drove, the snow started to get deeper.  It was nice being in the front of the group.  Eventually, Mark and Gary caught up to us and Mark took the lead.  Finally, we got to a point where we were all getting stuck, so the five of us decided to turn around.  On the way back, we rescued Greg S. from a little slide into a ditch and eventually made it to where a lot of the Tamers were stopped and relaxing.  We hung out with the group there for a little bit before continuing down the hill.

We made it back with perfect timing.  By the time we got the Jeep back on the trailer and were heading back to the main road, it was just getting dark.  After we dropped Mike off in Sultan, Terry and I decided to stop in Monroe for dinner.  We were lucky that we did since when we pulled into the parking lot we noticed a strange noise and it turned out we had blown a trailer tire.  Lucky we had a spare.  Unlucky for us, we had a slight malfunction with the hi-lift jack.  Lucky once again, Terry was able to use a screwdriver to replace a missing bolt and change the flat tire.  Unlucky for us, as we were changing the trailer tire, we noticed a tire on the Jeep was also flat.  At least that one could wait until we got home for further investigation, so we just added some air to it and so far it is doing good.  After spending some time in the rain changing the tire, we headed home.  Overall, it was a fabulous day with some great friends.  Now, we are just looking forward to our next snow trip to Denny Creek later this month!

O, Christmas Tree

On Saturday, Terry went with the Timber Tamers, our 4-wheel drive club, to get a Christmas tree. I wasn't able to go as I had school, so he was responsible for picking out a tree for our house. He took the Jeep and came home with a great tree. We were worried it was a little too tall, but once we brought it into the house, it fit perfectly. It took a couple days to get the lights on (as we had to buy more) and decorated, but now it really feels like Christmas is getting nearer.

We also put lights up outside our house for the first time ever!  It was quite exciting for me.  Below is a picture of Terry and Jake putting up the lights in 19 degree weather.  I will post a picutre of the outside of the house soon, I just have to bear the cold and take one one of these nights.

Denny Creek

On the way home from Ferndale for Thanksgiving, I met Terry near Denny Creek where we decided to go on a 4-wheel drive trip with some guys from PNW Jeep.   The trip was suppose to be a snow run so we started by going up Tinkham Rd on the south side of I-90.  However, there wasn't much snow there as the main road had been plowed to allow people to get Christmas trees.  So, we headed back down the hill and cut accross to run Denny Creek.  There wasn't much snow and what was there was very slick.  We made it to the top of the trail and searched for more roads to hit to no avail.  We stopped for a short lunch break when we reached a dead end for one road.  After that, Terry and I aired up the tires and decided to head home.  We were only out for a few hours, but had a good trip.  We can't wait until it snows a little more as the snow this weekend wasn't that great.

Elbe Work Day

Today, Terry and I headed down to Elbe OHV park to do some trail maintenance with our 4-wheel drive club, the Timber Tamers.  The morning started great by breakfast with our friends Mike and Claire Jennings.  It was nice to start the morning with a good breakfast among friends at our house.  From our house, we headed down to Elbe hoping for snow. 

There was a little snow on the grounds when we got to the parking lot, but not too much.  There was definately more mud than snow.  We had a small showing of Tamers, but enough to get done what we needed to do.  Rudi, Dirtball, the Jennings, Greg, Terry and I were all there.  We spent the first part of our day doing the usual trail maintenance.  We opened up some of the water traps to help drain water off the trail and fixed some by-passes.  We also had to fill in some rock in a few areas where the slickness of the trail was causing people to decide to make by-passes, which is a problem.  The trail is much easier now than when we got there this morning, but until people stop making by-passes, we have to have one easier route for people to choose. 

The trail was quite busy today and we saw a lot of interesting people pass us as we were working.  We had to help several out who broke, or had other issues making it to the top.

After some trail repairs, we decided to do a little wheeling.  It was really pretty out with a light dusting of snow, but not too much that made the trails any more difficult.  After a short trail run, we headed back to try and make it home before dark.  Overall, we had a great day and a good start to Terry's birthday weekend!

Bad Blogger: September ReCap

I have been horrible at blogging lately which is weird since we have been very busy doing fun stuff. I do want to do a quick overview of our September this far. So, going back to Labor Day weekend, Terry and I headed out to Lake Wenatchee State Park. We were a little disappointed about the proximity of the lake to the camping sites. We did find one site we would like in the future as it was very close to the lake, however, the loop we were in was far from the lake and day use area. We stayed Friday night there and fell asleep and woke up to rain. So, after one night, we decided to head down to Taneum and spend the rest of the long weekend with the Tamers. We snagged some seats on Sunday for a little trail ride where we encountered snow on the high ridge. It was chilly, but a fun weekend.

The weekend after Labor Day was Team Trophy Challenge-Washington (TTCW) that our club hosts. It was the third year of putting on the event and a ton of fun. We had 16 teams (I think) of 2 rigs and 4 people. The teams spend about 24 hours on the trail completing tasks during the day and looking for punch buckets at night. Our task this year was to a side hill winch task. We were there until about 11:15PM waiting for teams to finish before we were able to head back to camp. However, on the way back down the gravel road, on of the teams took a corner a little too fast and ended up down the embankment. There was a large group of us that helped winch the Jeep up and luckily everyone was okay. As we were about to go back to camp, Dan-O and ScramblerMike drove up on a mission to rescue some Toyota guys who had gotten lost and broke. Terry jumped in with Dan-O to help with getting them back to camp and didn't return until about 6:30 on Sunday morning. We had an exhausting, but fun weekend and can't wait until next year!
Then, last weekend was Operation Shore Patrol (OSP) at Ocean City State Park. Terry and I headed down on Thursday and enjoyed the sunny Friday around Ocean Shores. My parents and most of the Tamers arrived on Friday. Then on Saturday we headed out for the beach clean-up. I was surprised, there actually wasn't that much garbage on the beach. On Saturday night, our club put on the annual steak dinner that everyone seemed to enjoy. After that was the raffle where we won a gift card to 4 Wheel Parts, a ARB hat, and a T-shirt. On Sunday we packed up and headed home, stopping at the casino on the way out to watch the first half of the Niners vs. Seahawks game.
Once we were home, we unpacked a few things and then headed to the airport to pick my brother up. On Monday, Danny and I headed up to Mt Rainier and did the Naches Peak Loop hike which was a nice 3.5 mile hike that gave amazing views of Mt Rainier. It was a perfectly clear morning for the hike. On the way back at the house, we stopped and got tacos from the bus that were amazing. Once Terry got home on Monday, we headed up to Seattle for the Ben Harper w. R7/Pearl Jam concert. We had burgers at Dick's before the show and then walked over to Key Arena for the performance. Both bands put on an amazing show and we were entertained watching the guy in front of us try to pick up the drunk girl who had previously vomited into her purse.

On Tuesday, Danny and I headed down to Ruston Way in Tacoma and took a little walk and had a great lunch before dropping him off at the airport to head back to Texas. The weather was amazing for the first day of fall and it was good to be able to enjoy the day with him. Then, yesterday, I started school. I am going back for my degree and certificate in Social Services/Mental Health. I was a little nervous about starting classes again, but have always enjoyed school and my classes seem pretty good. I guess that is all that has gone on this month. I will try to be better about posting in the future.