V21E2: From Mount St Helens, to Adams, to Rainier

foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] good morning everyone welcome to venture forward it's August 2023 and Adventure is afoot I covered a lot more grounds since last week's episode v21e1 in keeping with the volcano theme which isn't by Design I am in Gifford Pinchot National Forest in southern Washington at the foot of Mount St Helens but before I arrived here I passed through Oregon and traveled up the coast a little bit I spent one night at Rock Creek Campground which is a forest service Campground just off of Highway 101 and it's a small first come first serve campgrounds that you can count on being pretty busy during the summer months but the nice thing about Rock Creek is from your campsite you can walk back to the highway follow a footpath under the bridge and enjoy the beach it was lovely I walked up and down a little bit I got my toes in the sand I sat on a rock and watched the surf I've been looking forward to this moment so I got up here to Washington last night and from I-5 I turned East to venture into Gifford pincho this is the Mount St Helens area and it's pretty busy there's a lot of people outside seeing a lot of the other dispersed campsites are occupied but once I left pavement and got off a beaten path I was able to find this site which is pretty nice the forest written was rough and it was narrow with tree branches but it wasn't Technical and I was able to get the van through just fine it's a spacious clearing overlooking a deep wash There's A Primitive Stone Fire Ring enough room for two or three vehicles just an inkling of cell service and behind me through the trees when it's not obscured by clouds is Mount St Helens itself it was a good campsite quiet safe fairly easy to access but still private and secluded now I'm ready to do some exploring the goal is to head north through Washington State and travel as far as possible only on Forest roads to get close to Seattle or at least Mount Rainier my girlfriend Shannon is flying in to join me at the end of this week so I do have to make my way to Seattle but I have plenty of time to get there it's only Monday and I want to see where that goes [Music] fingers crossed for this root it's pretty overgrown there's a lot of dead fall and according to the motor vehicle use map it's I don't know maybe seven miles long that's the biggest challenge I usually face with a van it's very tall so if I encounter something falling over the trail I might not be able to squeeze under it and this is it this is my way down the mountain so if this doesn't work out then it's a lot of backtracking and pavement pounding foreign foreign [Music] foreign it looked like someone had cut a tunnel through that Dead Fall about the size of an ATV nobody ever thinks about the winnebagos that Deadfall doesn't bode well I'm about halfway done this Forest Road and there are plenty of opportunities for me to encounter something that I can't clear I'm still going to keep my fingers crossed I might make it through to the next major artery but it's a roll of the dice and if that isn't the case I need to be okay with it thank you win a few you lose a few it is indeed a Forest Road past this barrier on the motor vehicle use map but it passes through uh working Forest where there's likely a logging operation so I am going to have to backtrack quite far so I'll resume recording again when I'm back up the mountain down around and then somewhere over there somewhere new might be an hour or two or three [Applause] [Music] that gate really set me back it was around 11 30 a.m when I encountered it and now it's 3 P.M so I had to return to Pavement go down the mountain I took the opportunity to top off on diesel now since it's already so late in the day I have it in my Minds to seek out an epic campsite for the night so I very randomly picked this Forest Road to explore for a campsite and I don't know it's baseless it's just like oh that'll do I'm ready to find Camp settle in someplace for the rest of today and then tomorrow cover more grounds hopefully it'll be more productive foreign a really good campsite tonight and just in time because I am beat it was narrow single Lane but otherwise a very well groomed Forest Road that wound its way up this mountain a very beautiful natural scenery on the drive up there was an extraordinary view of Mount Adams which is directly to the east when I got to this spot the mountain was obscured by clouds but shortly before Sunset the clouds broke and the mountains in plain sight right over there there's a stone fire ring enough room for one or two vehicles and not much in the way of cell service but this is a great site I'm excited to see it in the morning light and I'm gonna get some shut eye [Music] foreign [Music] it was a beautiful Misty morning this morning when I woke up around 6 a.m that was exactly what I was hoping to wake up to it's just so Pacific Northwest now it's 8 A.M two hours later and there are still some low-hanging clouds in the valley but as you can see the sun is out the birds are singing shaping up to be a beautiful day I'm gonna get going but I'm making good headways so I'm not going to be focused on covering grounds today instead today I'm going to get an early start and explore this General vicinity try to find another campsites as beautiful as this one but ideally something that's next to water it doesn't matter if it's a lake or a river or a disperse site or a fee Campground I just want to enjoy this lovely area for one more night [Music] all right foreign wow the forest service campgrounds the fee campgrounds that are Lakeside here in Gifford Pinchot are all sold out right now in early August they look really nice typical Forest Service Campground amenities picnic tables fire Rings Vault toilets a little bit crowded right now though off season probably is the best time to come here and here's a free disperse site just a stone's throw from that crowded campgrounds and there's no one and it's beautiful this campsite is nice but it's the first candidate that I found today it's 10 a.m so I'm gonna put a pen in it and continue to explore maybe come back here if I don't find anything else all right I found a good spot after driving down almost every single Forest Road spur that I happened upon in the last 20 miles this is great [Music] I was starting to doubt that I'd be able to find a campsite like this by the water the lakes in particular are very busy but I found this neglected Forest Road spur on the motor vehicle use map I followed it down and here we go [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] nothing like going on a hike with a gut full of spaghetti and uh soaking wet disgusting pair of Chucks but this all of this is so amazing I was expecting the water to be frigid because the streams are rice cold probably water flowing down from the top of the mountain but the lake was just right Felt So Good the hike to the lake from this dispersed campsite was about one mile but at the lake there is a forest service fee Campground that puts you right there there were a few campers when I passed through which is why I opted for my privacy and came here and I don't have any regrets the spot is awesome it's not a big campsite there's room for about one vehicle any stock four-wheel drive can get here and it's about a mile from the main Forest Road I'm gonna settle in for the night catch up on some rest tomorrow I need to cover more ground so I'm gonna head north from here do some more exploring and seek out one more campsite before I wrap up the episode so I was traipsing around in some brush this morning behind the van by a fallen tree and I got stung by two bees so that's how my morning started all right let's try the day again foreign [Applause] North out of Gifford Pinchot National Forest to the town of Packwood Washington where I'm going to top off on diesel maybe grab a bite for lunch if I see some place interesting if not I've got plenty to eat in the van after that I'm going to venture back into the national forest farther to the north closer to Mount Rainier and find one more place to camp for the week I'll spend the night there wherever that may be and then I'll head into Seattle to pick up Shannon I can't wait it's going to be wonderful to share this adventure with her thank you let the record show that I wanted to try Packwood Brewing Company but it's supposed to be open there's a sign on the door that says today opens at three I don't have time to wait I'm afraid I'm hungry now and then I have to find a place to Camp so plan B it is I love Mexican food so we ate at Nachos Mexican restaurant and I had a chimichanga which tasted great after spending a few nights in the mountains it had rice beans sour cream guac and it really hit the spot [Applause] thank you here it is Mount Rainier when I got here it was obscured by clouds but as the clouds cleared I was surprised by how it just kept going up into the sky I mean yeah that's what mountains do but it's staggering to see its size and its Grandeur in person so three mountains this week Mount St Helens Mount Adams and Mount Rainier when you can see it this campsite that I picked out tonight isn't isn't really that much of a campsite [Music] it's just a pull-off at the side of this Forest Road way up in the mountains I found a number of much better campsites all around but none of them have the crystal clear view of Mount Rainier that this little pull-off has normally I went Camp somewhere so obvious right at the side of a Forest Road like this there's the potential for traffic dust and personal safety I like to tuck Myself Away much more than this but to the view so I'm making an exception in this case I've been here for about three hours so far there's been no traffic I think it's going to be a quiet night all right so I'm going to call that a wrap for this episode if you're interested in retracing my steps my detailed GPS data is available to patreon subscribers and the paid members of venture4wd.com before I conclude important announcements something different since Shannon got off work and she's joining me for the rest of this extended trip I'm going to deviate from my published schedule a little bit and while we're out doing this I'm going to focus entirely on recording so that means the next episode of venture forward is postponed while we're out here exploring together and collecting experiences we estimate that my next video will be published on Saturday September 3rd 2023 but I'll post weekly updates just to keep you updated so you know where we're at and you have a good idea of our timeline but Adventure is afoot it always is thanks for watching everyone

Channel: venture4wd

Views: 13,169

Keywords: 4x4, venture4wd, ok4wd, venture 4wd, van-life, vlog, overlanding, full-time mobile living, overland travel, winnebago revel, jeep wrangler unlimited rubicon, ursa minor j30, gaia gps, outdoor adventure, gifford-pinchot national forest, volcano, mount st helens, mount adams, mount rainier, lumix s5ii, gopro hero 8 black, summer in gifford-pinchot, onx offroad, oregon coast, oregon beach, adventure van, mercedes sprinter 4x4, offroad van, spaghetti, mexican food, packwood, washington

Id: JPI8jxP4sxU

Length: 25min 15sec (1515 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 12 2023