[ninefivezero]

So me and a bunch of friends went up car camping in the North Cascades, by Mt Baker. Here they be:



That’s my friend Dan, or the Danimal as we call him.



Meeting up with the other Seattle folks.



The drive was about 2 hours of freeway and 2-lane hi-way, then a few miles of dirt road which is always fun to drive.



The river cooler, this becomes a large part of the trip later, I'll explain why as the thread continues. I was sober all weekend actually, essentially the only one, haha.



The first night hanging out, eating burgers and whatnot.



We had a huge fire.



Oh no, flat tire! I heard a slow leak when we first pulled in to the site, and figured I'd just deal with it later, haha. This too comes in important later.



The compound.



Travis (travisty08 here) and Sam came in at like 4am, they had to leave Seattle later than the rest of us so had to find their own way. The directions they got were a bit off and they ended up driving up the valley a few miles to the snow, but in the end they got there and had a good time. We were all surprised to see them in the morning, we didn't expect them to make it.



Melting bottles in the fire...



Brenden brought his slack-line, which came in VERY handy later.



Trekking down the river.



Brenden carrying the dog across the river.



Hanging out on the log jam over the glacial river.



And drinking some of Brendens home-brewed beer.



Everyone loves my necklace! (Dan took that)



Gotta love the mossy northwest forest. Here we see Travis looking like he knows what he is doing.



A view up the valley.



Lunch time.



Snowmelt streams.



So as I said, Travis went really far up the valley to the snow trying to find the site. Well, the river level dropped, so the river cooler was out of commission. Hearing about the snow, we drove up the valley to get a cooler full to keep the beers cold.



Oh noes!



And off the road we go. I was sitting middle back, expecting to go a lot farther down the hillside than we did. Lucky we stopped where we did.



So the rescue crew takes off! We hiked like 5 miles down the valley to get my 4Runner to pull Brendens car out.



Checking out the scenes along the way.



See? Northwest forest > *



But we had the flat tire to fix, should have done it yesterday

(yah, I tend to get dirty, and shirtless)



The wheel was a bitch to get off, had to stand around and kick it for like 20 minutes before it finally came loose



So then back up the valley to pull the car out. Of course, that rope was not strong enough even doubled up and snapped, so we drove back down and got the webbing for the slack line.



And success!



A job well done. In 4-low, it was very easy to pull his car out, I hardly felt it.



After all that, Brenden needs a beer. Or 10.



And an even bigger fire than the night before.



But the beer is icy cold, so in the immortal words of George Bush, Mission Accomplished.



What a mess.



Yours truely, waking up hours before everyone else.



Packing up the mobile compound.



The breakfast of champions.



I had to teach Dan the proper way to fold a flag.



And to the town of Glacier. Where we had to take gear out of Travis car because when he drove up the valley at night, it started smoking and shifting poorly. We consolidated in two cars and drove to Bellingham.



Dan, Elliot and Travis, plus my shoulder on the way back.



To my friend Erins house! Who lives in Bellingham and goes to school there. From here the Outback headed back to Seattle.



I drove Travis back up to Glacier to the car in order to get it towed.



Then we went to my friend Robins house also in Bellingham and watched the end of the basketball game. Boo Miami...



The sun finally goes down on a long day.



Then Dan decided to climb out of my car and ride on the running board while on the freeway, but it was a traffic jam so we didn't get going too fast. Elliot also jumped out and took a pee in the median, then had to run to catch up to the car.

So, all and all, a pretty typical weekend

Now I'm off to get my tire fixed, buy some real tow straps, and heading back into the woods till Friday.

[Hubcap]

how the hell did someone manage to drive that wagon off the road? Pretty cool man. Wish i had a place like that which wasnt to far away. Gotta love free ice for the beer.

[ninefivezero]

It was a tight downhill turn on a wet gravel logging road. The back end slid out and we went right, he over-corrected and we spun left VERY quickly and there we ended up.

[Nothing.]

Awesome camping trip. This is how I want to camp, but there aren't that great of moutains here in Wisconsin. I want to camp for a week. I'll ask nidex if he wants to sometime soon.

[MSP]

I hardly camp that way anymore, I guess I'm getting old. Fiddy has seen how I camp, in a cabin!

[MovingTarget]

I'm in Phoenix AZ - that means NO mountains unless I drive 2 hours north to Flagstaff......or just south of Flag there is Prescott....go trhough there on "Gurly" road and hit the mountains behind there......

I need another 4x4....then I can go back to Strawberry and camp out there.......only good places require 4x4 to get to - but they are VERY worth it.....

I need to go camping again soon.....

[Bear]

Boo Miami? ....NIGGA, FUCK YOU!

[ninefivezero]

Car camping aint real camping, real camping means you have to hike somewhere, car camping is just an excuse to drink

And I just spent $900 on new tires, I'm broke now

[MovingTarget]

You only had one flat......were the rest worn down or something?

Just seeing people hanging out and drinking in the woods and whatnot makes me want to go.....Thats all....

[ninefivezero]

Yah, my tires were overdue to be replaced. Got the best ones they had though.

[mistawiskas]

This is precisely why I stayed up in the mountains for a year....I just didn't want to come down. If it weren't for collecting my anuity and getting provission once a week, I'd have stayed up there indefinately. If anyone needed to get in touch with me for emergencies, the head district ranger always knew where I was. He'd look me up and I'd broil us up some steaks and brew up some hellascious campfire coffee. That was the best year of my life. Good times.

Fiddy, you're so lucky, as am I , to live in the Great Pacific Northwest. I'm glad to know that there's still people that get out and enjoy this gift.

[couturedharlot]

Originally Posted by ninefivezero

Yah, my tires were overdue to be replaced. Got the best ones they had though.

overdue? just a little....i told you to replace them in like february when you put us into a ditch....and then again at snowbowl when i got your car stuck in the snow that my jeep could've handled just fine hahahaha

[nidex]

I still don't understand how you lose control of an AWD car coming down a hill like that.

[travisty08]

Originally Posted by nidex

I still don't understand how you lose control of an AWD car coming down a hill like that.

there were bad conditions and when he started to slide he overcorrected.


all in all it was a fun trip. i'm just pissed about my damn car

[mistawiskas]

Originally Posted by travisty08

there were bad conditions and when he started to slide he overcorrected.


all in all it was a fun trip. i'm just pissed about my damn car

Shit happens. I used to have a '68 rambler just for the mountains and booney crashing. It had a 199 six cylinder and got 24 MPG. I'd take that thing into places 4X4's wouldn't go. It only cost me 50 bux so if I totalled it....so what. I had that car for four years and got alot of fun out of it. Best $50 I ever spent.

[ninefivezero]

Originally Posted by brokenheartedangel

overdue? just a little....i told you to replace them in like february when you put us into a ditch....and then again at snowbowl when i got your car stuck in the snow that my jeep could've handled just fine hahahaha

Keep telling yourself that

[couturedharlot]

Originally Posted by ninefivezero

Keep telling yourself that

right.....you know i'm right face it, the jeep was way better than your car.

[ninefivezero]

Your jeep was a POS