Tahuya July 2017

It is only Tahuya! Our good friend Roberto was heading to Tahuya to map out some of the new trails for a website.  Heidi and I also joined in.  I was looking for a milk run to get the CJ7 out on the trail.  After all its only Tahuya.  

The drive down was nice.  Believe it or not but the 7 cruises along at 65 very nicely and there was no traffic through Tacoma.   We hit the Belfair Safeway at 10:00 and we all topped off our tanks.  As I am aerodynamically challenged I was only able to get 12.57 miles per gallon on the way down.  (but I did not get a CJ7 for its gas mileage.) We quickly aired down and then hit the trails.  It was then I was reminded how easy it is to drive an old narrow jeep through the trails compared to our JK.  Then we headed down the short hill on the short loop to the flat road.   But the flat road was completely gone.

Well I had heard that there was some changes at Tahuya.  The road had turned into what I would call a mogul field.  Lots of up and downs plus axle twisters.   The twisters were bad enough that my tire came up to kiss the inner fender.  Not a problem it has done that before. Since there was only 3 of us and we all are experienced drivers we kept a pretty quick pace.   Next we came across the connector to the west loop which is a completely new area.  We decided to walk the first part of the trail just to see what it was like.  The words “this is not your fathers Tahuya came to mind”.  We decided to give it a go.  The qualifier is a large hump with a tank trap at the bottom.  First over was the CJ with its power steering pump singing like a sack of cats on the way to the river.  Up and over with no issues.   There were a few guys hanging around and watching.  Lets call one of them Jimmy.  Jimmy’s mouth dropped watching us go over the qualifier. While I walked back to spot Roberto Jimmy said “man u got lockers in that thing?”  I gave my most confused look and replied “ya I have one on each door”.  I am pretty sure that Jimmy did not know if I was kidding or not so he just left it.  The two JKs both made it over fine but did rub a little. I think Jimmy was most impressed when Heidi drove over.  I did not hear what he was saying but I am sure it was good.     The trail was well designed with lots of angles and off cambers.  It worked its way through lots of stumps that always seemed to be in the wrong place.

My CJ seemed to be doing fine….. well almost it did have one issue.  There was so much flex on this trail that the passenger side tire came so far into the wheel well that it pushed the inner fender up several inches.  Since fuel and spark are both connected to the inner fender is a good thing that it did not break off.  I have had the tire kiss the fender many times but never has it done damage like that.  “It’s only Tahuya.”   The 4 door required the most skill to get through the trail as it was hard to get the long JKU around all the tight corners and turns but Roberto drove it like a pro.  Heidi’s two door also needed some spotting but mostly because of width.  Besides my tire issue we all made it through.  We drove over to check out the west loop.  We saw a hill that can only be described as a bunch of rocks on a steep hill.  It kind of makes yellow jacket look like a cake run. No we did not drive the west loop.

We did some more scouting then headed back on the connector. We did not know it then but the connector to the west loop would claim another victim.  But it is only Tahuya.   We headed over to the South loop and stopped for a quick bite to eat.   The south loop was also full of new surprises.   Like the hill near Jake’s rock was full of moguls.   Back over to the parking area to air up.  To get home we  took the Seattle ferry.  Off the ferry Heidi and I turned north while Roberto headed east.  While on the freeway near Northgate I saw something hanging down from Heidi’s rig.  I was about to say something on the radio when I noticed that she was already pulling off to the shoulder.  Heidi’s track bar mount was snapped clean off.  “But it is only Tahuya.”  Zip ties got it back to my house where we removed the other side of the track bar.

I followed Heidi back to her house. Keeping an eye on the axle the whole time.  It was a little nerve racking to see the wheels move back and forth in ways that the track bar prevents.  At least I did not have to drive it.  Heidi lives near “no where” so it took a while to get her back to her house but the frozen salmon she gave us was worth the drive.

All in all it was a good day.

Cheers
Curt
Timber Tamer VP