Season Opener, Greenwater, Saturday, 11/25/2000

First ride of the season up at Greenwater. More than eager to get out and ride after an long off-season, Brian Copps, Rob Schoedel and I went up with some skepticism about snow coverage and trail conditions. There turned out to be plenty of snow for the trails but not quite enough to cover the stumps and rocks in the play areas.

From the 70, we headed up 7080 towards Pyramid Pass. After the pass but before the first gate, we took a left onto a spur road that ended up at a beautiful viewpoint. Below, we could see the intersection we just turned from and miles and miles of mountain peaks. To our left, stood the remains of a large section of forest charred from what we assumed to be the result of a previous fire. We headed back down to the intersection, continued left back onto the 7080 loop, around the first gate, down off the 787 to an intersection with the 1914 road. A left at the this intersection takes you to the end of 1914 (we later learned that stretch of road is called "Backside Spur Road" - named after a situation where a guy broke his femur after getting hit by his buddy's machine on a failed high-mark attempt the year before). Anyway, staying to the right from 787 onto 1914, we reached the second gate and had a difficult time getting around, two of us got stuck due to steepness, ice and not enough snow to go up over the top. We continued on, reaching the 19 main road intersection and proceeded to the right up 19. This took us to the end where we found a carved pumpkin, some hay bails and a makeshift fire pit. People are still able to drive up by car at this time as we could tell by the monster tire tracks.

Heading back down, not far from the top/end of 19, we noticed a trail marker that pointed up the right side road bank with some snowmobile tracks leading into the woods. That would have to be for another day. We continued back to the 19/1914/791 intersection and decided to see what was out the 791. We reached dead ends on two separate roads so we turned around and headed back to the 19/1914 intersection. Taking 1914 back, we decided to turn up/left onto 789 to see if it completed a "loop". In fact, it did. The 789 took hooked back up with a groomed trail we were familiar with leading around Cornice Curves, through Naches Pass and up towards Government Meadows. This time we stumbled on to the historic Naches wagon trail (1175) that made us cross a long walking bridge before ending up in the meadow directly across from the cabin. Since there wasn't enough snow to go from Camp Ulrich directly back onto the 70 (through the woods), all the tracks continued onto the Naches wagon trail that took us down and around, past the historic sign marker and over a number of small walking bridges. The trail finally intersected with 261, where taking a left brought us to the 70 intersection and then heading right took us back in the direction of the snow park. Trying to avoid dry roads and rocky gravel, we did take one little variation on the ride home - we jumped off the 70 and took a road up to the left where it meets 7065 that connects back with 70 not far from the Pyramid Peak snow park.

Stampede Season Opener, Stampede Pass, Saturday, 12/23/2000

Brian Copps and I set out for our first season's ride out of Crystal Springs after an extremely busy month at work. Our plan was to head up to the 41 with hopes that we can get beyond a point that was blown over by snow last year making it impossible to cross (just after 620). Lucky for us, the snow hasn't quite hit us hard as of yet and the road was very well traveled. Cruising down 41 for several miles, we see Forest Service signs for Tacoma Pass and other points of interest. Further down the road, to our surprise, we came across an actual snowmobile trail marker. Now this is a first for us as anyone who rides the Stampede Pass area knows the snowmobile trails aren't all that well marked in comparison to other riding areas. When we hit this first orange arrow marker, what was most surprising were the words written on it: "To Greenwater". This marker, pointing to road 4112, is our first indication that there's a way from Stampede Pass to Greenwater by snowmobile! Obviously intrigued by the possibilities of connecting our two favorite playgrounds, we decided to try that another day and continued in the direction of the arrow pointing "To Easton".

Getting off 41 on to Cabin Creek road, we followed what looked to be an old rail road path - narrow and not very much traveled. We wound around through the woods and over an abandoned bridge and out on to a main road. This road was wide and straight enough that we continued down at about 90 mph to another set of signs that read "Manastash/Taneum" (arrow pointing right) and "Easton" (arrow pointing left). We took the trail to Easton and ended up right there in town by CB's. If we had brought our wallets, we could have drove right up to the restaurant and had some lunch!

Already curious about the Greenwater connection, Brian wanted to head down the Manastash path with ideas that we just might be able to someday ride all the way to Ellensburg! We continued on this trail system, following power lines for a good part of the way, crossing several bridges over streams until noticing we were about 3 miles out of Cle Elum. At this point, we decided to turn around and head back before our gas situation left us out in the cold.

This trip planted the seeds for two high adventure trips we thought would be cool if you could do by snowmobile: one trip from Crystal Mountain to Steven's Pass and the other from Stampede Pass to Ellensburg. We'll keep riding the individual areas looking for the connections and eventually work out the plans to travel each "expedition".

The Big Loop, Stampede Pass, Wednesday, 01/03/2001

Over my holiday vacation, my wife Dixie and I took a day to go up for her first time in a long while. We went to Stampede Pass and agreed to find the roads that make up "The Big Loop". Starting out from Crystal Springs snow park, we headed up to Lizard Lake via 54. At Lizard Lake, we took 5403 where it connects up with 5405. 5405 winds around for a while eventually merging with 5250 for a short distance before dumping you onto the 52 main road. Going left on 52 took us down in the valley for quite a while where the snow was pretty scarce in areas since the weather hasn't really been cold enough. Eventually the elevation started to increase and the snow got deeper. At one point, we reached a 'Y' in the road. Not expecting what I saw, we just found the next connection road to Greenwater - a snowmobile marker on road 7036 that read "To Greenwater". Understanding better how the logging road systems work in the mountains, I knew 7036 was a branch off the 70 main road that we already travel to reach Government Meadows from the Greenwater side! Every ride, we get a few more miles closer!!

Dixie and I continued on 52 that eventually heads up and over Tacoma Pass. On the other side of this pass about 2 miles, we dropped onto road 41 at the exact place Brian and I saw our first sign "To Greenwater" on 12/23/00.

Road 54 Oval, Stampede Pass, Friday, 01/05/2000

When Dixie and I were riding two days before, we saw a road on the other side of the valley that struck my curiousity. I wondered what that rode was and where it went. Before heading out on this trip, I looked over a map and learned that was road 54 which connected up at Lizard Lake. I got my father-in-law, Dennis, to ride up with me to see if we could take 54 down to 52, in the general area where Dixie and I were the other day, and then come back up the way her and I went down (5250-5405-5403). After checking out the Stampede Pass weather station, we did just that.

We jumped on to 54 at Lizard Lake and took several switchbacks down to the bottom of the valley floor. At one point we stopped at a large intersection for road 50. Later looking at a map, I see that hooks up Meadow Pass which has been another area I've wanted to explore. Anyway, we continued on 54 until it connected with 52. Someday I'd like to stay on 54 to the end where I hear Lester is as far as you can go before the gated watershed area?! I'd like to find out... I also see an airstrip and guard tower marked on the map in that area.

Anyway, Dennis and I took a left on 52 and traveled until we reached a 'Y' in the road. Like other main roads with spurs, it wasn't obvious which remained 52. In the distance, we saw a huge old railroad tressel that spans two mountain tops. For some reason at this 'Y' intersection, I chose left (which took us under the left side of the tressle) and apparently was the correct choice because we soon came up to the intersection of 5250 that was familiar to me from two days before. I'd like to eventually go back and see where the right branch goes...

Up the 5250, we came to another unmarked 'Y' that again, wasn't obviously which was the way back up to 5405. We took a right but I didn't feel comfortable and soon confirmed it wrong because while the tressel should have stayed to our backs and getting out of sight, it was now far in the distance down to our right. So we turned around at re-connected where we made the wrong turn (the intersection of 5250 and 5405) and continued up what we then figured out to be 5405. Since this was only the second time I had been on this trail and now doing it in reverse direction from two days earlier, I made the wrong turn at the 5405/5403 intersection. Taking the 5403 in the wrong direction, we landed up at the very end of this road with a nice view but not where we intended to be. Backtracking once again, we took 5403 all the way back to Lizard Lake and decided to head home since it was getting dark by then.

Impromptu Rescue, Greenwater, Saturday, 01/13/2001

Brian Copps, Les Baker and I went up for a ride to familiarize Les with the sleds in preparation for the Search and Rescue training the following weekend. We headed to the cabin on Government Meadows and played in the powder on the meadow for a while. We then took off to Naches Pass, took a right onto 789 just after the Cornice Curves and rode down to 1914.

On our way back, we were playing in the meadows for a while when Brian noticed a bright orange jacket crossing the width of the opposite side. You don't see too many people walking that far this time of year so it flagged Brain to go check it out. Sure enough, a women on an older sled got stuck on the Naches Trail, couldn't get the sled started and somehow separated from the two guys she was with. When we approached her, she was ok and walking to the cabin at Government Meadows to warm up and figure out what to do. So Brian and I left to find the machine, got it started and brought it back to her at Camp Ulrich. We then decided to escourt her down to the sno-park to make sure she didn't encounter any more problems. By this time, her friends had called 911 and the Pierce Country Sheriff was already on his way up to assess the situation. As we met up with him on the 70 main road, we gave him the scoop and apparently saved him an official search call-out.

Overnight Winter Survial/Snowmobile/Avalanche Training with RRAMSAR, Greenwater, Sat & Sun, 01/20-21/2001

This past weekend, I attended a winter survival/snowmobile/avalanche training course given by the Pierce County Sheriff's Department up at Greenwater. This was a required exercise if I wanted to be included on any call-out for snowmobile search and rescue (SAR) missions in that area through RRAMSAR. After a morning classroom session, we were on the trails by 1pm and headed directly to the cabin on Government Meadows for the first field debriefing. Here we went over plans for the afternoon which included some avalanche beacon training followed by a ride from the cabin around the 7080 loop. At one point on the ride, we stopped to be shown the Rock Face avalanche scene where two riders were buried by three consecutive slides the year before. Fortunately they survied but this was an eye-opener for me since we have played in that same general area once before - not quite in the exact location where these other two guys were found but most likely close enough to the edge of harms way if we happened to accidentally stray too far into the wrong place at the wrong time.

We continued riding and were periodically tested on skills such as hill climbing, steep descents, some side-hilling and general riding positions and maneuvers. Much of this was for the Sheriff and his Deputy to get a feel for our riding abilities and build confidence for future SAR mission operations. We finished the loop and returned to the cabin area around 4:30pm to set up camp.

In getting camp set up, our shelter options could have been anything including a snow cave, quan-zhee or tarp shelter. Teaming up in two's, my partner (Brian Copps) and I chose a tarp shelter because we found a grouping of fallen trees that provided two quick walls. Dinner was served by 6:30pm compliments of our little backpack stoves and by 8:30, it was time for our night ride. We left the cabin area and headed down to the Meadow Creek snow park to refuel the sleds. Coming back up was awesome with such a large group as we were able to see the pathway lit by headlights as riders snaked through the trees ahead of us.

Sleeping in the snow under the tarp wasn't all that bad. It got down to 20 degrees that night and 3" of new snow fell but the below-zero sleeping bag did a good job keeping me warm. Not exactly a restful night since my hip bone was perfectly lined up with a log underneath but we were up at 6:30am, eating breakfast by 7:30, all packed up and ready for another ride by 9:00. We headed out to Naches Pass and took a right onto 789 after Cornice Curves. Taking a left onto 1914, we went over the second gate and stopped at the base of "Devil's Backbone" where lots of people like to hillclimb when there's enough snow cover. We also learned that it's a likely place for avalanche conditions if the snow pack is right.

Continuing on 1914, we stayed right on this road at the intersection of 787 to the end. This took us to the top of a mountain and another open area where people like to play. Here's where we did some more avalanche exercises with our beacons, learned of probing techniques, carved out snow columns to see how to test for avalanche conditions and then had some lunch. At this point, it was time to head back to the trucks and pack up for the weekend. We finished the 7080 loop through Pyramid Pass, stopped for some pictures and ended the trip with a lot more experience and awareness regarding snow and terrain conditions, essential gear and how to survive in the winter wilderness in the event of of injury, incident or mechanical failure.

Afternoon Play, Gold Creek/Hyak, Saturday, 02/10/2001

Brian and I took a late afternoon ride up at Hyak. After doing a distance trip the week before, we were looking to play in some powder... and did we find tons of it from the Gold Creek sno-park (Exit 53 at Hyak). Second time out with the GPS, we tracked everywhere we went and later downloaded the tracks to my new TOPO! software. Looking at this area on the map, two places I'd like to explore are 1) the Box Canyon area up to Box Ridge and 2) the east side of Lake Kachess.

Mapping Trails, Greenwater, Friday, 03/02/2001

For the past month, I have been playing with the TOPO! software and the tracks we've collected during the past two rides. As I've looked at the Greenwater area with this software, I know there are several groomed trails up there that don't show up on any map, electronic or printed. So Don Gillett and I spent the day riding mostly groomed trails to collect GPS point to create an accurate map of this popular riding area. We also mapped a few ungroomed trails I had never been on that ended up pretty fun (like the Naches Trail from 1914 to Naches Pass).

Trail Maps
For additional TOPO! maps of snowmobile trail systems in Washington, visit our Trail Maps page.

...or read our trip logs from other riding seasons.