I live in Washington
state, and for those that don't know, Washington is an outdoor enthusiasts
playground. With major urban locations
nested up against the jagged Cascades which split the state. It's easy to simply disappear into the piney
backdrop within 15 minutes and find your way into remote wilderness. With the investment of 30k into a new
capable vehicle, a Wrangler, I have decided to combine my love for the outdoors
and driving into a hobby. This is
something the previous car, QX4 was incapable of achieving with any
reliance. The suspension just wasn't
built to handle it on any regular basis.
Sunday, everyone was
busy so I was left to my own devices and decided that the best way to fill this
gap was to go for a drive. Most of the
camping we do is South of I-90 which connects the states Western and Easter
Interior, instead I decided to kick north to Highway 2, which also bisects the
state but runs through Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. Plenty of exploration opportunities.
Treating this as a
kind of adult treasure hunt, I selected some camp sites I have never been to
off of Highway 2. Both campsites are
located off of Index Galina Rd, and it looked like it would be a straight shot
down two and then left onto Index-Galena Rd.
I wanted an easy drive to play with the Wrangler and the maps I had just
picked up. I wasn't going to depend on
my phone in the mountains and I have less than 300 miles of experience on the
Jeep, who I will now be calling Oscar.
203 through Carnation and Duvall into Monroe
(where 203 meets with 2 west & East) is farmland in between two
ridges. It's what you would expect to
see, rows of crops and cows. The roads
are well kept but narrow in places and they use a lot of roundabouts to control
traffic. Once you get into Monroe it's
easy enough to find 2 since it runs through Monroe, once located I just kicked
out East towards Index. Monroe is big
enough but the farther you go east, the smaller the towns get. Highway 2 is a two lane road and traffic west
was already backed up around 1PM.
Goldbar is a small
town with not much going on. There is a
pizza joint and plenty of antique shops with heaps of crap in the front
yard. Highway 2 follows alongside a set
of railroad tracks and as I was motoring along several trains would often pass
me. Cadman has some quarries out there
so along the rail there are a lot of gravel stacks and whole carts full of
rocks ready to be gravel. The Skykomish
river also runs and twines with two as well and a lot of locals have hung signs
asking not to damn the Skykomish, my favorite being 'Don't damn the Sky'. I don't know the dependencies of damning the
Skykomish, nor do I know the environmental impact, but based on what I saw of
the Skykomish, I hope they don't. It's a
pretty river and wide, and at one point around Baring there looked to be a
place where the river has cut its way through some large granite blocks on
shore. There were plenty of people
milling about and it looked to be a great place to jump from if the weather was
a little better. Coming into Index, I
was looking for Index-Galina RD which wasn't marked but eventually
located. Index-Galena is a narrow two
lane road that leads to Index. Index is
actually located across the river and a really nice looking bridge connects
Index-Galina to Index itself. It's a
super tiny town with a park, a market, information center and a few other
things that promised white water rafting.
It's nestled right on the edge of the North Fork Skykomish River with
many a house whose backyard was the river bed.
Rolled out of Index over the bridge and back onto Index-Galina and
followed that down. It's a two lane
narrow road with a lot of old tall deciduous trees on either side. Radio off, windows down, and it's nice to
hear the leaves crinkle under Oscar's tread.
Although it isn't fall yet, the leaves are starting to turn the early
stages anyways. Unfortunately I couldn't
take it all the way in do to some flood damage.
I probably could
have navigated Oscar through but they have it blocked thoroughfare with some
large boulders. There were a lot of cars
parked at the blockade though and I think you could get to the campgrounds on
foot but the detour listed on the outage looked easy enough. Back down Galina left onto two and headed for
Skykomish, left on Beckler River Rd, which is well marked from Highway
Two. Beckler is a lot like Index-Galina
but terminates onto a gravel RD which belongs to Forestry Services, FS Rd 65 to
be exact. This is all gravel with three
paved single lane bridges. I was
actually surprised with the amount of traffic on the FS RD, though most of it
was going the other way, which I would expect on a Sunday.
Following FS 65 leads along a ridge as you
steadily ride that ridge up, and then back down farther along. Some decent views but nothing all that good
as you are riding along at about 2500 feet.
When you come back down to Jack's Pass, you have the options. NF-6574 leads back up higher along the ridge
behind you, right is NF 6550 which kicks east, or following NF-65 (continuation
of FS Rd 65), which is what I took.
There are a lot of switchbacks as you careen down the ridge towards the
North Fork Skykomish. It's easy enough (I
paced it around 30mph) with no difficulty as they are really well maintained,
only had to catch myself on some of the pins because I wasn't expecting another
car coming down the trail. This
terminates at a bridge which connects back to the other side of Index-Galina
and is paved, or you can follow NF-63 up to some springs. I chose the bridge and followed it to the
first of the camp grounds I wanted to see.
The road is nicely paved with a
lane or two here and there full of gravel from washouts. Nothing scary.
The first of the
camp grounds is San Juan Camp Ground (http://www.allstays.com/Campgrounds-details/32709.htm)
It's well
maintained, the bathrooms are flawless, and buts up right to the river, and is
a pay site.
Keep following
Index- Galina and you get to my final destination, Troublesome Creek Camp
Grounds (http://www.recreation.gov/camping/Troublesome_Campground/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&parkId=70639)
This had previously
been closed and just re-opened last year.
The site is split on either side of Troublesome Creek, with a walking bridge over the creek to connect both
sites. These are also pay sites but are
also very well maintained.
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Mission
accomplished. I didn't get hopefully
lost or stuck and Oscar behaved flawlessly.
From there I just
backtracked home, and had to sit in traffic for a long time coming back West on
Two.
