NCW Washington - Birch Mtn Solo Run
05-16-2010, 10:31 PM
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Join Date: May 2010
Location: Wenatchee WA
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Year: 1998
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0L
NCW Washington - Birch Mtn Solo Run
Hey folks!
Here are some photos I took on the XJ break in run up to Birch Mountain today with my Dad.
We went crawling up to the top of the mountain to where the Nat'l. Forest is, then we went around the face of the next two "shoulders" to the top of the ridgeline facing down into the valley behind it. I'll take better pics on the next trip, but "pictures or it didn't happen" was the idea here. :-)
Photo highlights include a picture of the Wentachee Valley with the Columbia Rvr. almost center below us, a cpl of random trucks going up a slightly steeper part of the hillside, another showing the snow covered Cascadian peaks a few ranges West past my Dad, some views into the Northern river valley with the Columbia Rvr. mostly hidden below, and a couple of the valley behind Birch Mtn. As you can tell in some of the shots we were pretty high up on the mountain, and most of the two-track around the shoulders was with 500 ft ravine below us, better pics on that next time, lol.
The mountain slopes were generally covered in wildflowers and Sage, with more variagation as we got higher and into the forest on top. Ornamental looking shrubs and some really delicate flowers tucked here and there among the random outcroppings of white or yellow quartz. We also found small Aspen stands in some of the terrain where water gets trapped during run-off.
The roadway was mostly dirt with ruts on the ascension, then more two-trackish with broken rock and minimal rutting of the trail as we crawled along to the back ridge. The more rutted parts of the road typically had alternate routes to follow which we took in some cases due to the rust on my 4wd skills and the lack of knowledge of the "new to me" Cherokee Sport. Not to mention it's still missing some nec. equipment like a rollcage and some recovery gear.
The roads up the face are heavily rutted in many places, if it's wet and muddy up there you will want to have some good clearance and the right tires. With my ride in it's current config I wouldn't have gone up if those were the conditions.
Overall the trip was a fun success and I'm happy with my choice of a base vehicle to improve for further off-roading fun. It performed very well for a 95% stock setup, with good torque characteristics on the low end and a very solid feel to the main driveline. The transfer case shifted so smoothly I didn't think it worked lol, nothing like the struggle with the TC shifter in my old 71' CJ5! Started out in 4H then had Dad help me out and show me how to get it past the N lockout since it was eluding me completely...
This equipment is so new fangled I couldn't figure it out on my own, so double glad he was there to sort that out!
It ran like a charm, with the temp creeping up to 210 deg. F running in the full sun in 4L @ 1800 RPM on steady crawl to the top. I need to double check that both the electric fans are working under the hood for the longer crawls, though this seemed reasonable considering the 85 deg F ambient temp.
She flexes like a champ, with the door seals emiting sounds like stressed leather as she worked her way over the rocks and through the ruts. The two-tracking part of the run included the usual tree related paint damage, which is why I will never worry about the paint job on one of these rigs, as I enjoy those rides way too much to ever want to stress about some scratches.
Anyone who wants to do some future crawling in the NCW area send me a msg and maybe we can hook up for some fun :-)
* Build thread coming as soon as my Woman decides if we are buying a house or not...
*
Happy trails!
(first post please forgive any errors, still working on getting the images plugged in)
Here are some photos I took on the XJ break in run up to Birch Mountain today with my Dad.
We went crawling up to the top of the mountain to where the Nat'l. Forest is, then we went around the face of the next two "shoulders" to the top of the ridgeline facing down into the valley behind it. I'll take better pics on the next trip, but "pictures or it didn't happen" was the idea here. :-)
Photo highlights include a picture of the Wentachee Valley with the Columbia Rvr. almost center below us, a cpl of random trucks going up a slightly steeper part of the hillside, another showing the snow covered Cascadian peaks a few ranges West past my Dad, some views into the Northern river valley with the Columbia Rvr. mostly hidden below, and a couple of the valley behind Birch Mtn. As you can tell in some of the shots we were pretty high up on the mountain, and most of the two-track around the shoulders was with 500 ft ravine below us, better pics on that next time, lol.
The mountain slopes were generally covered in wildflowers and Sage, with more variagation as we got higher and into the forest on top. Ornamental looking shrubs and some really delicate flowers tucked here and there among the random outcroppings of white or yellow quartz. We also found small Aspen stands in some of the terrain where water gets trapped during run-off.
The roadway was mostly dirt with ruts on the ascension, then more two-trackish with broken rock and minimal rutting of the trail as we crawled along to the back ridge. The more rutted parts of the road typically had alternate routes to follow which we took in some cases due to the rust on my 4wd skills and the lack of knowledge of the "new to me" Cherokee Sport. Not to mention it's still missing some nec. equipment like a rollcage and some recovery gear.
The roads up the face are heavily rutted in many places, if it's wet and muddy up there you will want to have some good clearance and the right tires. With my ride in it's current config I wouldn't have gone up if those were the conditions.
Overall the trip was a fun success and I'm happy with my choice of a base vehicle to improve for further off-roading fun. It performed very well for a 95% stock setup, with good torque characteristics on the low end and a very solid feel to the main driveline. The transfer case shifted so smoothly I didn't think it worked lol, nothing like the struggle with the TC shifter in my old 71' CJ5! Started out in 4H then had Dad help me out and show me how to get it past the N lockout since it was eluding me completely...
This equipment is so new fangled I couldn't figure it out on my own, so double glad he was there to sort that out!It ran like a charm, with the temp creeping up to 210 deg. F running in the full sun in 4L @ 1800 RPM on steady crawl to the top. I need to double check that both the electric fans are working under the hood for the longer crawls, though this seemed reasonable considering the 85 deg F ambient temp.
She flexes like a champ, with the door seals emiting sounds like stressed leather as she worked her way over the rocks and through the ruts. The two-tracking part of the run included the usual tree related paint damage, which is why I will never worry about the paint job on one of these rigs, as I enjoy those rides way too much to ever want to stress about some scratches.
Anyone who wants to do some future crawling in the NCW area send me a msg and maybe we can hook up for some fun :-)
* Build thread coming as soon as my Woman decides if we are buying a house or not...
*Happy trails!
(first post please forgive any errors, still working on getting the images plugged in)
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