.
About 7pm Thursday evening cut over from the end of the Tipover
trail back up to Manastash Ridge, stopping here for some photo ops.
By the time we were navigating the rocky section on the
Manastash Ridge we were losing light fast.
One benefit of being on the trail this late was the
beautiful sunset skies.
When Friday morning rolled around and we had started off on the trail again we had just enough fuel by this point to reach Raven's Roost before heading to Whistling Jacks for gas. It was a long drive up the road to Raven's Roost and we by-passed most of the easy peasy sections of trail lower down the route. We did finally get on the trail for the last mile which is the best part of the hill climb. At this point the trail gets quite steep with long steady hill climbs up a ridge back. At the mid-way point to the top the trail levels out as it runs along a spine with the ground sloping away on each side. Onward and upward on the last bit of trail to the radio towers at the top.
The peak of Raven's Roost shares a flat top with some kind of microwave radio installation. Here we stopped for lunch today to enjoy the view while we ate. While I didn't see any hawks today we did see an AE-6 Navy jet go blasting down the valley BELOW us. It's quite an odd sight to see the back of a war plane when you're standing above it on a mountain top. We never saw him pull up so the pilot must have been practicing nape-of-the-earth terrain following through the valleys. Cool.
On the way down Joe popped a sidewall on his tire. None of us could figure out what happened since he had pulled off to the side of the road to check something, then as he was rolling forward the tire exploded. Hmph. There ensued a fight with some stubborn rusted lug nuts holding his spare tire on. The loser was a broken wheel stud on the tire carrier. In the end we got the spare on and were off to Whistling Jacks to refuel.
With full tanks we rolled across a bride to the south of Hwy 410 to check out Boulder Cave. I had been here before but it's a cool place to revisit. Literally. After the heat of the day the cool air near the cave entrance was refreshing. We hopped off the trail and climbed over and around some boulders upstream of Devil's Creek (which flows through the cave). About 100 yards from the cave entrance, hidden by some rocks is a hidden waterfall. Talk about cool. The light caught the water just right as it splashed against a rock in the plunge pool. We cooled off in the chill water and managed to rinse off some trail dust before finally exploring the cave.
As Devil's Creek exited the cave we followed it back to the parking lot. The half mile to mile worth of creek is great. It cuts through a shear basalt canyon and narrows down to a mere few feet wide in parts and felt like we were walking through an Indiana Jones movie. With no creek banks anyone taking this route is advice to bring water shoes.
By the time we reached the Jeeps it was closing in on 6pm and we made a lazy climb back up to our camp so we could get an early start on dinner in the day light: spaghetti with fresh italian sausage, mushrooms, a blue cheese salad and fire toasted fresh garlic bread. Tough life, this camping business. That evening when Steve fell asleep in the camp chair Joe and I stayed up watching Top Gear on Steve's iPad. So much for a game of poker.
Crossing the ridge back on the Raven's Roost climb. Still a few hundred
more feet of elevation gain ahead of us.
The top of Raven's Roost.
A panoramic image from the top of the radio tower at Raven's Roost.
The hidden waterfall near Boulder Cave.
Inside Boulder Cave.
Exiting Boulder Cave via Devil's Creek back to the trail head.
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Saturday, August 20th, 2011
Saturday was our last day out on the trail but we weren't in a rush home. We left camp set up and headed to the bottom of the Kaner Flats Trail to run the steep, long hill climbs back up to Lilly Pond Lake. These are my favorite sections of the Kaner trail but it was obvious that my worn mud terrain tires are nearing their useful life on my Jeep after nearly 7 years. When we reached camp again we spent some time to strike it and pack up the Jeeps. At this point it was a bit of a crap-shoot on which way to head out. With many of the roads washed out I didn't know if we could reach Funnyrocks / Moonrocks and exit via the Manastash Ridge Road, the route I intended. By 1pm we were all packed up and rolled out, down the rest of the Milk Pond trail to the FS Rd 1708 (which is closed from the trail to Hwy 410). So far so good. The remainder of 1708 up to the four fingers hill climb was passable and in good condition. No wash outs on this section.
We made our dusty dusty hill climbs at Four Fingers back to the top of Manastash Ridge, then it was a mater of minutes until we reach Moonrocks. With fully loaded rigs we didn't want to play on the rocks much but it was still fun being spectators. The early afternoon sun was beating down on the rocky wasteland as one of the locals wedged his Toyota buggy into a rock crevasse. Then we watched the next 10 minutes as it was scraped and dragged back out by two winches pulling in opposite directions.
After the extractions we crossed over to Funnyrocks, did some very brief and easy rock climbing of our own on the way out. We hit another gravel road and followed that to the start of the Manastash Ridge Road, our intended route out. There we met some of the local boys who directed us to a different route. It was nice that they did. We spent another hour working our way down the Barber Springs road into the Dry Creek valley near Wenas, a small, sparse community a few ridge lines south of Ellensburg. There we caught the gravel county road back in to Ellensburg. By 6pm we were washing trail dust off of our faces, arms, and necks at Rodeo City BBQ before settling in for dinner of BBQ'd meet. By 7:30 we were on I-90 for home at by 9:30 Saturday night were unpacking our rigs. Four full days of great Jeeping, good company, and incredible scenery were at an end. And but for Joe's tire there weren't any mechanical problems throughout the whole trip.
On part of the Kaner Flat trail between the two big hill climbs.
On the Kaner Flats Trail right before the last big hill climb.
At the top of Manastash Ridge at the top of the Four Fingers hill climb,
looking southward from the ridge.
.