Date, Location

July, 2013

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stevec
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Date, Location

Post by stevec »

I figure it's time to start planning for next year!

For 2013, I thought about trying something a little different. The historic Naches Wagon Trail runs through the Cascades in western Washington, and is open to 4x4's around July 15th of each year. I can plot a course that takes us over the Naches Trail, then up some other 4x4 trails to some fun rock gardens (google "funny rocks, WA"), down to Ellensburg on more 4WD trails, then over to Liberty (the site of the 2006 meet.) via FS and DNR roads. For the 2013 meet, I'd like to start out with a 2-3 day trail run starting with the Naches trail, and ending at Liberty. Once at Liberty, we can spend a few days there running trails.

This would mean effectively living out of your LJ for 2-3 days, until we get to Liberty. I haven't checked mileage, but I expect up to 50 miles of 4WD trails, plus a lot of dirt roads, and fewer than ten miles of paved roads. For those who prefer not to camp on the trail, there is gas and cabins near the end of the Naches Trail (first night) and gas, food, & lodging in Ellensburg WA (second night), but you would still have to carry everything you needed (i.e. food, clothes) in your LJ.

These trails are a bit more difficult than what we have run at some of the past meets (they are a lot like the Liberty trails), but there are also FS roads people can use to bypass areas they do not want to try, or to get into town early if needed. The trails aren’t all that hard, just very tight (lots of trees!) I’ve taken my LJ’s on nearly all of them in the past. Funny Rocks and Moon Rocks are completely optional; on holiday weekends they get pretty crowded, so we will sometimes just have lunch up there and watch everyone else break their stuff.

My parents have already committed to going, but will not want to camp on the trail, so they’ll set up a base camp at Liberty. Thus, for those bringing tow rigs/RV’s/etc., you can leave them at the Liberty campsite, and we can ferry the LJ’s over the mountains to my house or closer. If you just want to do the Liberty trails, you can do a few before we get there. It’s about 1.5 - 2 hours by LJ from my house to the start of the Naches Trail; if we want to stay closer to the beginning of the trail we can stay in Enumclaw or maybe Greenwater, or a FS campground.

Hopefully we can encourage some of you Canadian’s to bring your LJ’s down for this one, as it has been awhile since we’ve seen you guys at a meet (the first part of this is similar to the Whipsaw run we did a couple of years ago, but without most of the bugs!) I also expect some guys in my local club will want to join us. My trailer holds two LJ’s, and a couple of guys in my club have trailers that will also hold two rigs, so I don’t think it’ll be too much of a problem getting all of the LJ’s from Liberty to the starting point.

Please post up here if you can make it. If you only want to do part of the run, please let me know that as well.
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Tommy g
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Re: Date, Location

Post by Tommy g »

Ill probably go to this one!
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Re: Date, Location

Post by erik the red »

Nice! Having a "drop dead" date to make sure the LJ is up for it will give me something to shoot for! :cool:
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Re: Date, Location

Post by stevec »

We may want to change the location of this one - the Table Mountain Fire has burned about half the 4WD trails around Liberty this week. :-(
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Re: Date, Location

Post by McKFam »

Have we made a final decision on where you all are going to meet in 2013? Just curious as if it is in Moab I would like to try and make plans. If NW I would love to come but not a good chance I will make it that far.

Just curious.

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Re: Date, Location

Post by stevec »

McKFam wrote:Have we made a final decision on where you all are going to meet in 2013? Just curious as if it is in Moab I would like to try and make plans. If NW I would love to come but not a good chance I will make it that far.

Just curious.

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The "9th annual LJ meet" will be up here in the Pacific Northwest, in mid-July (when it is hotter than hades everywhere else, but probably in the mid 70's here! :P ) The exact location is still TBD, as I'm still checking on what trails were damaged by the wildfires last year. There doesn't seem to be much interest in the "overlanding" portion at the beginning, so we'll probably just do trail rides out of a base camp.

Smuz's local club, ZuksofKC, is planning a trip later in the year (i.e. September) to Moab, and LJ's are invited to that meet as well.
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Re: Date, Location

Post by stevec »

I've split the Moab posts off into a new topic here:

viewtopic.php?f=51&t=7087" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

For the meet in Washington state, please post up here if you plan to make it, and also post up as to what activities you are looking to do (i.e. a 2-3 day overland trip before or after the meet, or just trail riding.) Since there hasn't been much interest in the overland portion so far, we may just do trail rides out of a base camp. I've also thought about doing a portion of the WABDR before or after the meet (i.e. from the meet site to the Canadian border, if the Canadians are interested.) Please also post your preferred lodging (i.e. tent camping, RV, motel.) I know Myers and Tom prefer motels to camping, and others may too, so this may influence where exactly we go.

About half the trails at Liberty were affected by the wildfires last year. From my conversations with the Forest Service, more damage was done by fire suppression efforts than was done by the fires themselves. What I read this to mean is that, while the area burned, it was not hot enough to sterilize the ground, so while there will be areas where the trees are gone, grasses will be growing back by next summer. There will likely be lots of dead timber that will have to be downed before the trails can be opened; my local club is planning some work parties next spring to get these trails open again. The good news is that the other half of the trails were not affected by the fires, so there will be plenty of places to go!
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Re: Date, Location

Post by erik the red »

We're in. Lots of work to do on the rig between now and then but thanks to SteveC things are looking promising :D.

We'd definitely be interested in a few days overland before or after the meet. Being 4 of us, we'd need to bring the Sami as well if that is ok with everyone. Tent camping is our preferred overnight choice.
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Re: Date, Location

Post by stevec »

Sami's are certainly welcome - I expect a few of the Wazuks guys will want to come with us.
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Re: Date, Location

Post by Tommy g »

good i just noticed that your still having a meet in Washington, I am really excited to go and I am definitely going to try and make it. I will take the lj20 of course. What do you think border patrol will think about me towing my lj with my samurai with a towbar? How strict are washington police? Would they pull me over and give me a ticket?
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Re: Date, Location

Post by stevec »

If you''re flat towing you should be fine, just have towing lights on the LJ.
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Re: Date, Location

Post by Ruby »

Not much chatter here since this meet is only a little over a month away! Consider this a reminder. Who's going?
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Re: Date, Location

Post by Myers »

We are counted out for this one.
Maybe next year.
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Re: Date, Location

Post by stevec »

From what I can see, Tommy and Erik were the only ones who expressed interest. We're doing a WABDR run in July for Wazuks; if anyone here wants to come, you are always welcome. We'll also have a meteor shower run in August, and a Labor Day weekend run. We can plan a more formal LJ meet if there is enough interest, but from the responses I've seen, there doesn't appear to be much.
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Re: Date, Location

Post by stevec »

If anyone is interested, I usually plan a trip up to Tucquala Lake in August. There are about 10-15 miles of 4WD trails up there with alpne lakes, old mines, and great views. The trails aren't terribly hard - a stock rig will be challenged, but can make it (I've taken stock LJ's up there before.) You can also fish, hike, swim in the (cold) water, or just lounge around camp.

Here's the view from our normal campsite:

Image

One trail goes up past Gallagher Head Lake (there won't be any snow up there in August though!):
Image

Post up if you want to come, and I'll fill you in with the details.
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Re: Date, Location

Post by erik the red »

Wow, pretty area. I'd definitely like to get up there in August.

Things have been busy for sure so far this summer. This is the first time I've even been on the forum for quite some time.

The LJ is still up on stands. I need to take apart the transmission to see if I'm missing a seal or not. The good news is that the axles are rebuilt and ready to go under, and the Sami springs/shackles are bolted on and ready to go. Once I get it rolling again I'll start tinkering with getting her started.

Now if I could just get 30 hours in a day... :roll:
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