So when the couple that was going to go to Walker with us had to cancel, I put out a call to see if anyone wanted to go… thinking that with a 100% chance of rain, I’d maybe get one or two takers. Much to my surprise, we ended up with 6 Jeeps as we stood around for a quick chat prior to heading out on the trails, and the rain poured down.
Continue reading “Walker Valley Oct 2020”Darrington to Sedro Woolley Oct 2020
I was feeling like I needed to get out in nature and lucky for me others needed that too. Shawn Nelson knew of some roads outside of Darrington that he hasn’t explored in a while, so we decided to hit up that area.
Continue reading “Darrington to Sedro Woolley Oct 2020”Reiter Aug 2020
I Dave Wilkinson met at the parking lot with Rick Moreno in his “Big Tasty” blue Jku and Andrew Bruce. ( Andrew is a coworker) Along came Paul Phillips who is a prospect in his army green Fj. Pretty much stock on 31” tires. I’m driving my red Yj.
Continue reading “Reiter Aug 2020”Gallagher Head Lake Aug 2020
Gallagher Head Lake run – by the numbers….
8:30 AM Saturday – the time to meet.
I-90 – the route east.
9 – rigs on the trail – (and by subset -)
1 – YJ – latest moniker “Cowbell Dave” (fresh from a roll to the side on the Naches!)
1 – TJ – Moose, Mary, and Hunter
1 – LJ – Tammy and Dave
1 – 2dr JK – John – Rock Doc
5 – 4 dr JK – Rudy; Bruce and Debbie; Cindy and Jack; Cosmin and Alison; and Moose and Mary’s neighbor Matt with girls Abby and Anya
Naches Jul 2020
This is why join a club. When things happen you have good people to deal with them and what could be a major issue gets dealt with quickly.
Continue reading “Naches Jul 2020”Riders Camp July 2020
Day 1 – Wed
Last year instead of camping in the usual location we decided to try Riders Camp for the first time in a long time and things went well enough that we decided to camp there again this year. Melissa, Cassidy and I left early and were able to get to the campsite at 11:30am. You would think that in the middle of the week the campsite would be empty but there were only two spots with fire rings left and they were right by the road. Damn I had hoped for a better spot.
Continue reading “Riders Camp July 2020”Tahuya June 2020
Sorry there is not write up but there are a few pictures from the run to share.
Continue reading “Tahuya June 2020”Green Dot Roads May 2020
….aka – “Is that a Whiskey Dick Wildlife Area in your map pocket – or are you just happy to see me wheeling?”
There is an area of what’s known as “Green Dot Roads” in eastern WA – this run’s particular area between the west side of the Columbia north of I-90 and the Wild Horse Wind Farm located between Vantage and Kittitas. The wind farm is a Puget Sound Energy installation – which has a wonderful visitor’s center – in other than COVID times – open to visitors between April to October. (Currently closed to the general public due to health concerns.) You can stand right up against the base of a wind turbine hearing the big WHOOSH – WHOOSH – WHOOSH of the 60 foot long turbine blades spinning at their optimum 16 RPM. You can even take a tour inside the base of one of the turbine pylons. How do I know this?
Gold Creek Sanity Run May 2020
With everyone stuck at home for so long we needed to get out of the house. We did not want to go to an ORV park fearing that they would be packed. So we thought we would make a run over to see (support) Jake at Gold Creek Station.
Continue reading “Gold Creek Sanity Run May 2020”Reiter Mar 2020
Gary and I pulled into the parking lot at Reiter at about 9:30am, to find several early rising Tamers already there, aired down, and chatting! The Quadrapaws (Paws) rolled in about 10:15 or so. We had 10 Tamers, guest Judd Bergeson, and 6 “Paws” members, so we broke into two groups….One led by Steve Yeager, to the more challenging trails, and the rest with Gary in the lead and Casey in the rear, to hit the easier trails. Our Drivers meeting was done with folks spread out, and using a Megaphone, that worked pretty well. We also noted that Chris Green had stopped at the Monroe Fred Meyer, and pickup lots of TP! Thanks Chris!
Continue reading “Reiter Mar 2020”Whitechuck Feb 2020
We all started off the day with 10 rigs meeting at the IGA in Darrington at 10am. I am not going to name everyone there as I can’t seem to keep all the names straight anymore. By 10:18am I figured we better get moving as we had to hit the staging area (White Chuck Boat ramp/parking area) and get the one rig off the trailer and everyone else aired down. Once everyone was ready to roll, we had a quick drivers meeting with Casey reading off our queue card. Safety reminders, trail etiquette etc. Everyone was pretty well equipped and ready to go with exception of a pretty stock Ford Ranger. We made sure he at least had a GMRS radio and someone in front and rear of him with lockers and winches.
Continue reading “Whitechuck Feb 2020”Beckler Snow Run Feb 2020
What do you get when you take a Canadian, 5 jeeps, one Sammi, a lot of snow and some dogs. Apparently a lot of fun, no sleep, one very stuck jeep, many tow fees, a broken bottle and two wet dogs.
Continue reading “Beckler Snow Run Feb 2020”Green Mountain Jan 2020
It was Thursday night Gary and I both were hoping to get in another epic day in the snow. I could pretty much guarantee that one of us was going to lead this run so I asked Gary am I leading this, or are you? I said I would, but I just did not want to get lost. I asked where and when should we meet. Gary said Lake stevens Safeway? Sure I said 9:00. Gary said 10:00. How is 9:30. It turns out that 9:30 would be a very good time but more on that later.
Continue reading “Green Mountain Jan 2020”Tonga Ridge Jan 2020
With the weather report for the mountains calling for 1 to 4 feet of snow, I had to get a few people together to do a quick snow run. We met at the trestle at about 10:30 am. We were suppose to be there at 10:15 am but traffic was a little bit slow and then on the main road into to trestle there was a downed power line.
Continue reading “Tonga Ridge Jan 2020”Hangover Run Jan 2020
We did not know what to expect. The forecast was for warmer weather with the possibility of freezing rain. Please no freezing rain! We met up at the IGA in Darrington. As time passed more and more rigs showed up. When all was said and done we had 21. We had a short drivers meeting then the first group headed out. It was an interesting group with some very built Super Sammi’s, and a few others plus a full blown unicorn. That is right a CJ7. Anyone who wheels a CJ these days is a stud in my book. (of course I have no bias)
Continue reading “Hangover Run Jan 2020”Pre-Run Report Dec 2019
I was wanting to get out and see how my new tires would work in deeper snow as well as how the snow conditions were. I recruited a few members to go with me as it is not a great idea to go out by yourself especially In the snow. With John Vandergrift’s rig down for the count I invited him to ride shotgun with me. John arrived at my place a few minutes early with Cheryl and Ryan pulling in shortly behind. We got under way in short order with our dog barking at us from the window surely waking Casey up inside the house.
Continue reading “Pre-Run Report Dec 2019”Tonga Ridge Xmas Tree Run Dec 2019
Joe, Steve, Ken, Ryan and I all decided that we would meet up for breakfast at 7:30 AM in Monroe at the Buzz Inn. After breakfast we headed out to the trail to meet up with anyone else that planned to go. We got to the trestle around 9:10 or so and aired down. We waited until precisely 9:28 and everyone was asking what we were going to do and I said that since I was the leader that we shall go! We did a quick driver meeting and headed up the hill. It was just us 4 rigs at that time.
Continue reading “Tonga Ridge Xmas Tree Run Dec 2019”Walker Valley Work Party Nov 2019
Well, it was the second Saturday of the month, so it must be time for a Walker Valley Work Party. (And it was!!!) This was a special one, because we made plans with Jim Cahill (from DNR) to repair and re-set the kiosk at the gate for our namesake Timber Tamer trails. As it turned out, we’d had about the driest early November on record with no rain at all since before Halloween. Of course, since we had trail work to do today, today was the day for that to change, so we had our more typical November all-day drizzle.
Continue reading “Walker Valley Work Party Nov 2019”Club Run to Reiter Oct 2019
At the Timber Tamer’s Club Meeting 2 days prior, we asked about the club trail run for this month. Since several members of our club already had plans to attend Steve Y’s birthday party Saturday evening, it just made sense to have our trail run at Reiter—since it’s only 10 minutes from Steve and Jamie’s home!
Continue reading “Club Run to Reiter Oct 2019”Clam Shack Build Oct 2019
For the past few years Operation Shore Patrol has been held at the Tidelands Campground in Copalis Beach WA. Dave, the owner of the campground has been really good to us and accommodating our group to the point of breaking some of the campground rules that are normally in force. So it was when Dave asked if there was any way he could get some help with building a new clam shack for guests there were several people from the Rainer Ridge Rams and the Timber Tamers that said they would be happy too. A date was set for Oct 12th when everyone would converge on the campground.
Continue reading “Clam Shack Build Oct 2019”Operation Shore Patrol Sep 2019
Keep in mind – it’s the trip, it’s the beach, it’s the friends, it’s the shared meal, it’s helping make the beach a cleaner place, it’s the jokes, it’s the fun, it’s the leg-pulling, the sound of engines, the heritage of wheelers being wheelers together – Operation Shore Patrol is overall – THE EXPERIENCE!
Continue reading “Operation Shore Patrol Sep 2019”Jeepcast Trophy Challenge Support Sep 2019
Given a choice of a romantic dinner at Skippers on two for one fish and chips night or spending the day at JTC (Jeepcast Trophy Challenge) Wendy chose to spend the day with me at JTC for our anniversary. All kidding aside it is the spending time together that is important and I can’t think of anything I would rather do than spend time with family. What an awesome day we had even if it was not a traditional anniversary.
Continue reading “Jeepcast Trophy Challenge Support Sep 2019”Gallagher Head Lake and Van Epps Pass Sep 2019
We scheduled this run a week prior and had 12 rigs signed up to go and ended up with 7 actually showing up. There were 3 meeting spots for this run. 7am at Bothell Shell station, where Travis in his red JKU and candidate Ken in his Tan TJ showed up to meet us. We then caravanned to North Bend to meet the rest of the crew, which was Moose and Mary in their TJ, Jon and Heidi in their JK, Curt and Wendy in their JKU. Hopping on the freeway we went… next stop Cle Elum to meet Chris in this Yellow XJ.
Continue reading “Gallagher Head Lake and Van Epps Pass Sep 2019”Twin Lakes and Walker Valley Aug 2019
Twin Lakes:
Travis, Ken and Ryan and I decided on a whim to go up to Twin Lakes in the Mount Baker national forest. Not sure if this would be an official Tamer run, But Travis and We are Tamers and Ken is a candidate.
We met up at the Shell station in Marysville at exit 88 at 8am and then traveled the two and a half hours to Twin Lakes – practically the Canadian border.
Continue reading “Twin Lakes and Walker Valley Aug 2019”Idaho Back Country Route Jul 2019
While racing sailboats we use to say that the race was won or lost before you even left the dock. Meaning preparation is extremely important. In the case of a BDR (Backcountry Discovery Route) it is the same. Preparation for an event like this takes a tremendous amount of time and research. Where to stay and what routes to take even what BDR to run.
Continue reading “Idaho Back Country Route Jul 2019”Manastash July 2019
What better way to celebrate the birth of a nation than by practicing that freedom in the forest of the PNW. So it was that Cassidy, Melissa, and I planned to go camping at Riders Camp and perhaps do a little exploring of Manastash in the Jeep. The invitation to join us for all or any part of the planned 5 day excursion was sent to some friends and the Tamers which resulted in a few taking us up on the offer. So it was that early in the morning on 7/3 Melissa, Cassidy, and I left the house heading out to Riders camp in order to hopefully secure a good camp site big enough for everyone that said they were going to join us.
Continue reading “Manastash July 2019”Liberty June 2019
It had been about 19 months since the family and I were able to get away on a weekend camping trip. It was my fault really since I wanted to build the Jeep, but with that mostly done it was time to reap some of the rewards of that effort. So it was that Melissa, Alex, Cassidy and I left about 9am Friday for Liberty and the Williams Creek campground in an effort to secure a good camp site for the weekend, but it was not soon enough because when we got there we found just one spot that would work for all of the people we knew were on the way. We made the best of it and because we had great campground neighbors it all worked out in the end.
Continue reading “Liberty June 2019”Tahuya May 2019
Another trip to Tahuya, and only a mere 7 months after the trip here! We had wonderful weather for today—partly sunny, comfortably warm without being hot—and no rain for today. After the trip we had last October when we found Tahuya to have really upped its game in challenge, we had a lot more rigs come along.
Continue reading “Tahuya May 2019”Rig Check and 40th Birthday, May, 4 19
Our fine hosts the Tenney’s did their legendary thing with the weather – it being a beautiful spring afternoon in the woods north of Monroe. Ed claimed to have been doing a sun dance in the back yard days before – while also claiming no one wanted to see him doing that. (Ed – I may now have to go poke out my mind’s eye – thanks for that visual….)
Continue reading “Rig Check and 40th Birthday, May, 4 19”Reiter Work Party Apr 2019
The morning didn’t start out well for me…..I accidently changed the time on my alarm clock, one hour forward while setting the alarm to get up an O’Dark am on Saturday. Of course this caused my alarm clock to go off an hour early, which most of you know, is not a good thing for me! Just as I was about to go back to sleep, a HUGE Hail storm hit and rattled the house…..fine, I will just get up, since the universe didn’t want me to get my beauty rest!
Continue reading “Reiter Work Party Apr 2019”