naches trail

98ZJ4X4 · Mar 1, 2010

You've got a deal Alan,

Stories of this trail and its history was one of the inticing things that got me into wheeling as it is done today. I would not care of it was a paved road, I want to travel over it.

Also I can be very slow on some trails or roads as I like to stop and take lots of photos as I go.

I am up for a one day round trip or a camp and run trails on the East Side, or even go to the east side and run Naches over and back then play on the east side so the tow rig and trailer are not left alone over night for the asshats to mess with.

Alan said:
Hi All:

How "tough" the Naches trail is all depends upon your experience as an off-road driver, and how well equipped your rig is.

I can't think of any reason a full-sized, but short (like a short-box p/u or K5) truck could not make over this trail. Yes, there will be a few spots that are sorta tight, but not that many. The worse spot might be a short (~ 100 yards) off-camber section over on the east side.

Ted, your ZJ will have no problems. I'd be happy to lead you over the Naches Trail sometime this summer.

Regards,

Alan

Murkman · Mar 1, 2010

Good Day Run for street legal rigs

Meet at Safeway in Enumclaw.

Proceed to Greenwater and over Naches pass.

Decide after the pass if you want to go via Kaner/Quartz, Kaner/Shoestring, Kaner/Tipover or Milk Creek to Tripod (with time at the Funny Rocks) or however you wish to run whatever way to Manastash/Rider camprounds.

Then on towards Ellensburg and return via I-90

Camp anywhere you choose and make it a 2 day run.

I do that loop at least once a summer. I run it as a loop from east to west or west to east. Can be easy enough that you can do it with only one or 2 rigs.

Cole1 · Mar 1, 2010

Murkman said:
Good Day Run for street legal rigs

Meet at Safeway in Enumclaw.

Proceed to Greenwater and over Naches pass.

Decide after the pass if you want to go via Kaner/Quartz, Kaner/Shoestring, Kaner/Tipover or Milk Creek to Tripod (with time at the Funny Rocks) or however you wish to run whatever way to Manastash/Rider camprounds.

Then on towards Ellensburg and return via I-90

Camp anywhere you choose and make it a 2 day run.

I do that loop at least once a summer. I run it as a loop from east to west or west to east. Can be easy enough that you can do it with only one or 2 rigs.

So I want to run this trail this summer too and was thinking of going from the east side to the west side then back....what would be the exit off I90 to take? Would a ranger station have maps of the trail or were is a good place to find one?

Murkman · Mar 1, 2010

colerush22 said:
So I want to run this trail this summer too and was thinking of going from the east side to the west side then back....what would be the exit off I90 to take? Would a ranger station have maps of the trail or were is a good place to find one?

The map you need http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/wenatchee/cle-elum-orv/orv-maps.html

The Cle Elum ORV Ranger will be at the Swap meet this weekend. I think she will have maps for $5.

abe lincoln · Mar 1, 2010

i would be up for a run this summer, we did 3 runs over there last year, 2 to kaner and the rocks with the explorer forum guys and the one night run over natches. meeting at safeway is easy for me iam only 5 minutes away.

Alan · Mar 1, 2010

Hi all:

Get off of I-90 at Cle Elum. Gas-up, hit the restrooms, buy anything you forgot at home

then head through South Cle Elum to the Forest Service roads up to the Manatash campground.

Yep, the Cle Elum ranger station can hook you up with a good ORV map of the area, and the NW Forest Pass that each rig is required to have.

Regards,

Alan

colerush22 said:
So I want to run this trail this summer too and was thinking of going from the east side to the west side then back....what would be the exit off I90 to take? Would a ranger station have maps of the trail or were is a good place to find one?

NotMatt · Mar 2, 2010

Did it once at night and as I remember it wasn't too hard, except we had a big group and had a few breakdowns/issues that held us up. A full size should fit, just be careful.

I'd like to do it again some time in the day time and take my time with a small group and check out the views and such.

Trailtoy1993 · Mar 8, 2010

Just don't do it with a large group of new toyota's that are terrified of scratches!! We did it one July and it took SEVEN HOURS!!!! It was hot and slow and boring! If you are a decent driver in a trail rig you can navigate the trail in a couple hours with only one real tight spot that I can think of (there is a notch cut in the tree for your mirror to pass through!) But, that spot isn't even that tight. Just don't go with a bunch of stock rigs and scared drivers!

ChrisCo · Mar 9, 2010

I didn't realize running Naches was supposed to be a timed event?

Digger 5 · Mar 9, 2010

ChrisCo said:
I didn't realize running Naches was supposed to be a timed event?

It's not. Without snow you don't need 4WD and the trail is smooth and wide enough that you can cruise. In snow it usually takes less than 3 hours (West to east).

2 years ago 3 of us left the east side (70 road?) and got to the bridges by government meadows in less than 50 mins. We even had some snow on top.

ChrisCo · Mar 10, 2010

Are we talking built rigs, mildly modded daily drivers, or new just-off-the-lot rigs here?

If it's the latter, Naches must be a little easier now than it was the last time I was there. It was well on it's way to "paved" status the last time I was there, so this is a distinct possibility now

Don't mind me... I'm just

'cuz I enjoy taking newbs down to Naches, and typically make it an all day event. I've had a few instances where more experienced members of WATTORA thought they needed to :stirpot: because they wanted to move faster than the pack. The last thing I need is to have a newb pushing harder than they're comfortable with just because someone doesn't want to make a day of it.

I hear some of the dirt bike guys can do Naches end to end in 30 minutes :stirpot:

pokey · Mar 10, 2010

Lets just say the dust devils like to cover a lot of ground in a short period of time (digger, treeclimber) :redneck: If starting at the very begining on the west side I would say a average time would be 6 hours traveling at a relaxed pace enjoying the scenery. I take a group through every year for jamboree starting from the east side and go all the way over and back from 7:00 to 5:00 or so depending on the group. There are lots of places where you can get onto the logging roads and cut a lot of time if needed. Just be sure you know where your going as some of the roads will take you wayyyyy out of your way and you could find yourself a long way from gas by the time you figured out you were lost:booo: