Last week my friend Mitch and I took a day to go play. We decided to check out the Wenas Wildlife Area which is a section of state land (in Washington) located between N. Wenas Road to the north and Highway 410 (to Chinook Pass) to the south.
Check out my new storage box on the back of my ATV! It actually isn't as roomy as my soft-sided one, but this one has a seat built into it for my daughter to ride on in case she doesn't feel like riding her own machine.
Looking north. The snow-capped mountains in the distance is a range north of Ellensburg & I-90.
As with most of our trips, we were lost most of the time. Here's Mitch looking at our map for a clue where we might be.
Ah, now we knew where we were! We came up to the top of this ridge and could see Naches and the Yakima Valley to our East.
The wind was blowing HARD up here!
Looking west down the ridge you can see more snow-capped mountains and hint of Mt. Rainier under the clouds.
We dropped down the other side of the ridge to see where we might come out over on Highway 410. Here's a view looking back towards the ridge. Cool rock formations.
After dropping down to more desolate terrain, imagin our surprise when we say this! This is Mud Lake. If you look right beyond the lake you will see a valley. Highway 410 is in that valley. I've driven through that section hundreds of times and didn't know this lake was that close. (I'm guessing the name comes from what the lake looks like by late summer/early fall. It was hardly muddy when we cruised down to it to take a look.
Not too much further beyond the lake we did run into 410. We then turned around and started heading back. We backtracked most of the way, but did find another route from the top of the ridge back down towards our trucks.
On this ride we found a really neat and remote campground. I figured it would be a good place to take the motorhome if there was a decent road I could drive in on. Well, we followed a decent road, but it ended at a locked gate! There was a big issue up in this area last fall where a local landowner stopped allowing access across his land. In this area, the landownership looks like a giant checkerboard. Alternating peices are state owned and private owned. This makes it tough for access to explore, hunt and/or fish. The State has been doing land swaps for many years trying to eliminate the checkerboard design.
Anyway, we had a good ride and found some great views. We didn't explore all of the roads in the area as the ridge road continued west and there was also another road at the bottom of the ridge (on the south side) also heading west. We'll have to make another trip up to see where they go.
Again, these roads had Tom Low writtin all over them...
Wenas Wildlife Area ATV Trip
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Topic author - ASV Supporter
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Wenas Wildlife Area ATV Trip
Matt
Selah, WA
-96 GMC Safari AWD Hi-Top Conversion -->Stalled 5.3L swap & 5" lift
-74 Ford Bronco -->Far from perfect but mine!
-99 V-10 Ford Super Duty Super Cab 4x4 -->Stock with 285 Cooper ATs
-00 Ford Focus Wagon -->The Red Turd
-95 Ford 24' Class C Motorhome -->My big block sleeper
-07 Can-Am Outlander XT -->My yellow 4x4 quad for work & play
-04 Ski Doo REV Summit -->Still several chassis behind!
No new projects until the current ones are done!
Selah, WA
-96 GMC Safari AWD Hi-Top Conversion -->Stalled 5.3L swap & 5" lift
-74 Ford Bronco -->Far from perfect but mine!
-99 V-10 Ford Super Duty Super Cab 4x4 -->Stock with 285 Cooper ATs
-00 Ford Focus Wagon -->The Red Turd
-95 Ford 24' Class C Motorhome -->My big block sleeper
-07 Can-Am Outlander XT -->My yellow 4x4 quad for work & play
-04 Ski Doo REV Summit -->Still several chassis behind!
No new projects until the current ones are done!
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- ASV Supporter
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Re: Wenas Wildlife Area ATV Trip
Boy, have I got a deal for you. I'll trade my place here in this flat mundane piece of land called Florida for your place in Washington.
1996 Safari SLX Hotair balloon transport vehicle
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Topic author - ASV Supporter
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Re: Wenas Wildlife Area ATV Trip
I lived in Valdosta, Georgia, for 3.5 years, so I hear ya! You may not have the mountains down there, but I always enjoyed the GA/FL scenery just fine too.Smiliesafari wrote:Boy, have I got a deal for you. I'll trade my place here in this flat mundane piece of land called Florida for your place in Washington.
Matt
Selah, WA
-96 GMC Safari AWD Hi-Top Conversion -->Stalled 5.3L swap & 5" lift
-74 Ford Bronco -->Far from perfect but mine!
-99 V-10 Ford Super Duty Super Cab 4x4 -->Stock with 285 Cooper ATs
-00 Ford Focus Wagon -->The Red Turd
-95 Ford 24' Class C Motorhome -->My big block sleeper
-07 Can-Am Outlander XT -->My yellow 4x4 quad for work & play
-04 Ski Doo REV Summit -->Still several chassis behind!
No new projects until the current ones are done!
Selah, WA
-96 GMC Safari AWD Hi-Top Conversion -->Stalled 5.3L swap & 5" lift
-74 Ford Bronco -->Far from perfect but mine!
-99 V-10 Ford Super Duty Super Cab 4x4 -->Stock with 285 Cooper ATs
-00 Ford Focus Wagon -->The Red Turd
-95 Ford 24' Class C Motorhome -->My big block sleeper
-07 Can-Am Outlander XT -->My yellow 4x4 quad for work & play
-04 Ski Doo REV Summit -->Still several chassis behind!
No new projects until the current ones are done!
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- I plan to be buried in my van
- Posts: 1768
- Joined: Wed Jun 06, 2007 7:11 pm
- Location: Bellingham, Wa
- Been thanked: 1 time
Re: Wenas Wildlife Area ATV Trip
Ha, great time, eh, Matt. Thats such a cool area. We were just talking about it tonite at the BBQ.
Its good to see you getting your value outta that quad. What a cool rig.
I should try to get Phrisk down to that area this summer and we can do the Wenas and Durr rds.
Excellent pics.
Its good to see you getting your value outta that quad. What a cool rig.
I should try to get Phrisk down to that area this summer and we can do the Wenas and Durr rds.
Excellent pics.
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- I have my van tatooed on my cheeks
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Re: Wenas Wildlife Area ATV Trip
Its funny, people tend to pack themselves into cities by the millions and when you visit those cities you tend to start thinking of the over crowding and the lack of personal space as tho everywhere is now inhabited, but the truth of the matter is that there is still alot of open/uninhabited space left ( thankfully) and pics like these prove it. One day I will hopefully make it out west to see for myself
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- I plan to be buried in my van
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- Joined: Wed Jun 06, 2007 7:11 pm
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Re: Wenas Wildlife Area ATV Trip
Yeah, thankfully people like to cluster together. Thats what I love about golf; it keeps a lot of people off the trails and off the rivers and on the golf courses (out of my way!).
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- I plan to be buried in my van
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- Joined: Wed Jun 06, 2007 7:11 pm
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Re: Wenas Wildlife Area ATV Trip
In case you are looking to get out more often, my good friend in Yakima is looking to get out on his quad more often.
http://www.pnwadventures.com/forum/outd ... -atvs.html
http://www.pnwadventures.com/forum/outd ... -atvs.html
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Topic author - ASV Supporter
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Re: Wenas Wildlife Area ATV Trip
Thanks for the post Tom!
Matt
Selah, WA
-96 GMC Safari AWD Hi-Top Conversion -->Stalled 5.3L swap & 5" lift
-74 Ford Bronco -->Far from perfect but mine!
-99 V-10 Ford Super Duty Super Cab 4x4 -->Stock with 285 Cooper ATs
-00 Ford Focus Wagon -->The Red Turd
-95 Ford 24' Class C Motorhome -->My big block sleeper
-07 Can-Am Outlander XT -->My yellow 4x4 quad for work & play
-04 Ski Doo REV Summit -->Still several chassis behind!
No new projects until the current ones are done!
Selah, WA
-96 GMC Safari AWD Hi-Top Conversion -->Stalled 5.3L swap & 5" lift
-74 Ford Bronco -->Far from perfect but mine!
-99 V-10 Ford Super Duty Super Cab 4x4 -->Stock with 285 Cooper ATs
-00 Ford Focus Wagon -->The Red Turd
-95 Ford 24' Class C Motorhome -->My big block sleeper
-07 Can-Am Outlander XT -->My yellow 4x4 quad for work & play
-04 Ski Doo REV Summit -->Still several chassis behind!
No new projects until the current ones are done!