Winter ATV Ride in Central WA

[mdmead]

A friend and I had been talking about going for a ride but his schedule had been a bit crowded. At the last minute he found some time so we decided to head out to the LT Murray Wildlife Area just north of Yakima, WA.

It was cloudy with a bit of fog down low where we unloaded. We've been under a stagnant high pressure for nearly two weeks and hadn't seen the sun during that time.

Please wave to Mitch. Here we are up on a ridge between Ellensburg and Selah. We are near the top of the fog. (We could see a bit of blue above us.)




A few minutes later we broke out on top. SUN!!!




This wasn't a good shot, but Mt. Rainier was visible several times when we were above the fog/clouds.




I had my full snowmobile gear on and was quite comfortable.




Here you can see we are just barely above the fog. In fact, we spent more time in it than out on this ride.




Mitch thinks my quad is a tank. (And compared to his, it is!) But he spent a lot of time on it.....




....Because I just had hand and thumb warmers installed on it and on this COLD (mid 20s) ride, they were needed. (He admitted he wouldn't have lasted half as long if he couldn't ride my Can Am to warm up.) He also likes that I can carry all his crap around... like lunch, camera, spare gas, etc.!




I did get a kick out of riding his Kawi as it is quick, fast and sporty. But at the end of the day, I still like my utility quad better. It rides better, has better clearance, and obviously can outclimb his in the technical stuff.

[T.Low]

Looks great. Must a been a ton of fun! 5 or 10 minutes and you're out of town and into the LT Murray off road area, right? Those are definitely two different machines. Like everything else, it just a matter of defining what you want them to excel at and what areas of perfromace you are willing to accept their comprimises. They both look appealing.

I've been on that trail from Selah to Ellensberg, but I can't remember the name. Is that called the Weinass (sp?) Rd? Great vistas up there.


Wow, you gotta winch on that thing! That thing is awesome.

[astrozam]

You've got your own little piece of paradise Matt ( lucky^%$%#% ) lol, thanks for sharing the pics

[WVKayaker]

Always love trip reports!
Thanks for sharing...

[mdmead]

Looks great. Must a been a ton of fun! 5 or 10 minutes and you're out of town and into the LT Murray off road area, right? Those are definitely two different machines. Like everything else, it just a matter of defining what you want them to excel at and what areas of perfromace you are willing to accept their comprimises. They both look appealing.

I've been on that trail from Selah to Ellensberg, but I can't remember the name. Is that called the Weinass (sp?) Rd? Great vistas up there.

You got it Tom.

N. Wenas Road runs from Selah over to Ellensburg over Ellensburg Pass. The area we were was north and east (depending on what section of road) of Wenas Rd. Our goal was to travel the ridge up towards Ellensburg Pass which would have put us up in the tree line, but due to the cold (Mitch's fingers!), we ended up staying lower in the sage. If we get another day... with a little warmth and clear views, I'll get some better pics.

Wow, you gotta winch on that thing! That thing is awesome.

I couldn't help myself... I was swayed by the shiny wheels... which are part of the XT package which includes aluminum wheels, radial tires, a winch and hand guards!