Working our way through the rest of the trail was an exercise in steering reflex. The trail was muddy, deeply rutted in areas, and wound constantly through tall, thick trees. It was not uncommon to be off-camber by as much as 25 degrees or so, and some of the larger trees bore the scars to show just how tight the maneuvering was.
As we reached the higher elevations, there were hopes of snow drifts that we could go play in, but again the weather did not cooperate. There was little snow, the mud was thick but not too slippery, and by noon, the sun was starting to come out. Well, you can't have everything.
By early afternoon, we'd finished the Naches Trail proper and began playing around on the nearby trail system. After mud and tight corners all morning, it was interesting to find what amounted to a big, rocky playground just a few miles away. This provided a couple of hours of clean fun for practicing our rockcrawling, testing our articulation, and seeing just how much traction our tires still had left.
As part of their annual pilgrimage, the club members don't start making their way back to civilization until well after dark. This way, they get to four-wheel all day, then wrap up the trip with a night run. Naturally, we didn't have any breakdowns until it was good and dark out, and then one of the members' rigs had his T-case blow out. That's not too bad as these things go, but it required that we throw a strap on him and tow him back to the trailhead.
All in all, it was a good day's 'wheeling. The scenery was spectacular, the trails were challenging, the vehicles were all well-built, and it was a part of the country that makes special demands of those who would explore it.