The plans changed several times. I originally intended to lead an exploration of the east side of Gifford Pinchot National Forest - and still do in the future. 2022 presented a long late spring and the roads were still too snow packed for the adventure I had spent so much time researching. So, we reposted the trip at Kittitas Area Exploration. I had never been there and had no idea what to expect. The event had been posted on a meetup group I host in addition to here. I had been through a lot of communications and honestly had no idea who would show up.

I met up with Bobby & Mary Ann in Cle Elum, and shortly after we were joined by Steve. Nobody was messaging me, or responding to communications, so we gave it the college professor 15 minutes and headed out.

We followed a GPX track provided by @Dan Cronin and made our way to camp where we met up with Mark and Kim who were on the final leg of a week-long adventure.

Everybody set out to making some food and got their accommodations set up, followed by some quality campfire time. I have been out with Mark & Kim before, and we had a lot to catch up on. Bobby, Mary Ann, and Steve were new acquaintances to me, but had some familiarity with Mark and Kim. Needless to say, the conversation around the campfire lasted well into the night.

The next morning we made breakfast in the rain, but there were enough tents and awnings to make it fun. There's no story without a little adversity right? After everyone was all packed up, we started making out way to a spot marked on my map known as Dry Gulch. It was a drive through the clouds with very few views, but enough hills, mud, and rocks to make it fun.

By the time we arrived at Dry Gulch, the sun was out. So several of us opened up the tents to dry out while we took a lunch break. A few members of the group adventured out on foot trying to make it to the bank of the Columbia River.

We spent some time discussing options, and made the decision to depart Colockum and Whiskey Dick areas to go check out Douglas Creek on BLM land near Wenatchee that Mark had researched.

I highly recommend Box Canyon and Jackknife Rd, but watch out for the rocks. Bobby suffered some sidewall tire damage in the Land Rover and had to switch to his spare.

Our exit took us through Ginko Petrified State Forest which required several phone calls to the state park rangers to get codes for the gate. I should have taken some photos, but we were focused on the mission at hand.

We aired up tires and drove into Vantage. Bobby's Range Rover threw every code at him once he got up to speed due to the spare being smaller sized. So he decided to call it early and head home. The rest of us made the hour drive to Douglas Creek in search of a campsite. Several water crossings and a puckering downhill later we found a nice spot to call home for the night. Everybody was ready for some good food and another campfire lasting well into the night.

We plotted our course through the BLM area the next morning and got back on the trail. We definitely had some great challenges and a lot more mud to play in.

The views were much better on Sunday

Upon our arrival at the gas station in Wenatchee, we were greeted by natures car wash. It started with thunder and lightning, followed by a torrential downpour that cleaned off a lot of mud.

I'm looking forward to seeing these same folks on another adventure soon!