Dustin posted on March 04, 2010 19:34
This past Sunday, Terrance Bailey, Chris Silva and I made a run from Dougan Falls across Silverstar Mountain and through the Gifford Pinchot National Forest over to Yacolt.....well almost. Terrance brought some of his "Gates of Mason County" along with him.
Hooking Up
Having never met Terrance, we opted to meet at Starbucks off of HWY 14 to make things easy. I have to say Terrance is a pretty cool dude and his trail friendly attitude was great. My kids thought he was the coolest thing on the planet being in the Army and all. As I posted, I really appreciate it when individuals take an interest in my kids as Terrance did. Garrett (my middle son) is still showing me the proper way to salute.
Mapping and Radio
Our first stop was at Dougan Falls Campground, I needed to kick off my newly installed (temporary with big strips of velcro) map setup and swap radios. I was very impressed the entire trip with the map and it proved pretty valuable towards the end of the trip when we got behind some gates. I am anxious to get the permanent mount installed but it will be a bit before I can get to it. Poor Terrance had to accommodate Chris and I on FRS radio as I am not HAM set up yet. Coming soon. We tossed each other radios and hit the trail.
First Stop
About ten miles in, we stopped to take in some of the views. Pretty amazing shots of the SE valley and Mt. Hood. Jenna and the boys had to get their picture taken as well. The weather was just amazing and really has me jazzed for more runs this spring and summer.
Skamania and Last Chance Mine
We headed several miles more and worked our way into the mine area. We never could discover Skamania Mine, we figured it was down on the river a ways below us. We did find Last Chance Mine. The trail became really narrow and overgrown, so we opted to get out and scout the last few hundred feet on foot. Terrance made his way across the creek and checked out the only open mine shaft. The kids kicked around some and checked out several of the old pieces of remaining equipment laying around, all small parts, but it was clear this was the mine we had been looking for. One of the coolest things were these big old growth tree trunks that still had the springboard notches cut into them from years ago.
The Rocks
Unfortunately, when we got up to the Silverstar Trailhead, there was a notice posted that motorized vehicles are no longer able to travel out to Pyramid or Sturgeon Rock. You have to now make the trek by foot, a half mile one direction or a mile the other direction. Saved this for next trip. We did stop for lunch and let the kids kick around for few minutes.
Headed up Jack Mountain
We crossed the Lewis River and headed up the East Side of Jack Mountain. Pretty good climb and found a few places for us to have some fun without hurting the environment. Terrance, with his lifted Runner is pretty dialed. I stopped to get some shots of him and turned around to see Silva launch his DII right behind Terrance. I missed the initial wave created, but you can see the water was up pretty good in the front and sides. Gotta get that rig lifted Silva!
Wrapping Up The Day
We made it up to the top side of Jack Mountain only to discover that there was a gate in our way about five miles from our delivery to Yacolt. We watched some goofball go around the gate...it was tight because when he got to the other side it was clear to see the damage to his rig from the gate post. We scouted an alternate route only to determine that we did not have the rigs to make that run. Getting late, we opted to head back the way we came...back down the side of Jack Mountain, found pavement and headed towards Yacolt. It was amazing when we pulled into town how close we were to Mount St. Helens. I could see the area on my map, but did not actually realize how close that town is to the area. After a while we ended up in Battle Ground and grabbed a quick dinner before we ended the day. Had a great time and we all agreed to get hooked up again for another run. Thanks to NWOS for another great connection out on the trail!
See you next time- Dustin