Places to go off roading near Tacoma Washington?

[e2stew]

My Tercel needs some work, repairs, mods/gear before I would trust it take my off road and home again.

I supposed I am looking for inspiration to do the work and spend the money.
And trip planing is part of the fun too.

What I'm looking for is help finding places to go off roading(in a Tercel 4wd of course) and I would like to camp if possible. Ideally not in a campground but in nature.
My job requires that I stay within a two hour call radius. I do get a weekend now and then when I'm off call.
So I'm specifically looking for places with in two hours of Tacoma, but feel free to share places in Pacific North West out side my two hour call radius.

Please provide as much of the following as possible, and anything else you would like to add:

Place, where is it?
Time of year it is assessable/open?
Any permits or permission needed? Type of land, National forest, DNR, etc?
Gear recommended or need beyond a stock Tercel 4wd?
Is Camping allowed/permitted?
Camp fires allowed/permitted?
Any points of interest on or at end of the road/trail?

If you have photos, videos, and or a travel log great. Post or put links in your reply.

Thanks

[ohcanada_00]

within two hours you have capital forest which is mostly forest service roads and some mud and water to play in, Reiter Pit is on the very edge of your two hours radius but has everything from a water pit to super +5 rated trails, Naches is another good one that pushes the two hour radius but has everything from super easy to hella tough.

as with any off roading, I suggest you bring parts, a buddy, a tow rope, a winch and enough gear to survive if you get stuck or trapped overnight or longer.

I suggest you go pose this question on NWToys.com or PSTOC.com as both sites are either dedicated to 4x4'ing or have a heavy concentration of guys that wheel thier rigs pretty regularly.

[Petros]

Welcome to the list!

There are some excellent free or low cost maps of open Forest Service roads available from any National Forest office (maybe even on-line now). Basically any DNR or National Forest roads that are open can be driven (as long as you stay on the road). You can camp for free anywhere in those areas that are at least 100 ft from roads, streams and lakes, and can have open fires except during times of high fire danger (not now!). Because of environmental terrorists destroying logging equipment, areas that are being actively logged are off-limits, but all other public lands are open to recreational uses. Right now in the upper altitudes because of snow, they create and maintain parking areas, so you are required to have a snow-park permit to help pay for the clearing and maintenance of the parking areas if you use these areas. These are for backcountry skiing and snowshoeing areas, so these would not be the best for camping or 4wd driving right now anyway. If you park or camp more than 1/4 mi. away from these areas there is no permit required.

National Parks are a different issue, and for exploring back roads I would stay away from them. You can only drive on roads that are designated open in NP, as opposed to NF or DNR which is any road that is not designated closed.

There are some off road club websites that will have members list recent road trips and keep you up to date on current regulations. These are your best bets for current information for places to explore. Most of the members like exploring back roads that are not too much of a challenge, so you will find them rated with difficulty and warnings. The stuff you see on the cover of Off-Road and 4x4 magazines is only a very small number of extreme hard core enthusiasts, so do not let them scare you away from those websites.

I have used the Forest Services maps to find areas to explore and have found them useful and good enough for my purposes.

Good luck.

[SynthDesign]

FYI , Reiter is closed. Not the best place for Tercel'n either way, nor a place you wanna spend a night.

[e2stew]

Thanks for the reply(s).

@ ohcanada_00, I look in to your sugestions.

@ Petros, the National forests would fit the bill for fun driving and wilderness camping. But I'm Leary of parking on the side of the road and camping away from the Tercel. On my one experience(on my motorcycle) on a National forest road in Washington I found people at nearly every turn out on the road shooting at beer cans and all sorts of trash(old toilets etc) for target practice. I would hate to have my transportation home turned into swiss cheese. In short I would prefer to camp next to my car if possible. However maybe that was just a bad forest road, and maybe people would have enough respect to not trash or steel my way home. I also didn't get more than 10miles off the main road sense I was on a motorcycle and I hit the snow line. Maybe it get better/cleaner/safer the farther in you go?
Anyone have any input on how safe it is to leave your car on the side of a forest road?

Thanks again and keep the suggestions coming.

[takza]

I have a lot of experience camping in various NFs. You need to realize that with the various wars going on against stuff...drugs...terrorists...US citizens....things are getting a bit different. Also...I'd guess the closer you are to the Canadian or Mexican border...the worse. Do know that to be left alone you'd need to be around 100 miles from any big city....and I wouldn't count on that now. They have closed a lot of roads...but you can still find a dead end trail where you can camp in or by your vehicle. If you see that kind of trash...both human and objects...best to just move on. You should avoid any vacation home areas...any place with activity such as logging, active mining, or grazing.

Even though you are in a NF...you still have county...state...and fed undercover types to deal with...and the local vigilante types (there are a lot of dutiful citizens that seem to enjoy harassing people with HS egging them on). Since they are undercover...you'll just have to guess. You will rarely see an FS truck.

Generally...if you are out far enough where you don't see trash and signs of activity...you can safely leave your car....as for how long...you'd just need to roll the dice.

If you are feeling real nice...take along a plastic bag and bring home somebody else's trash?

If you check out the various websites for each NF...you can usually find a .pdf map detailing the open roads and/or buy a paper map.

[Petros]

Yes, I think you did not go out far enough. In most places you can drive off the road enough to get to your camp site, at places where you can camp there is usually a short driveway or an area where you can get your car off the road.

It is pretty rare that your car would get vandalized when parked out that far. Miscreants bent of mischief go where there are people and property to victimize, that would not be out in the middle of the woods usually. My experience has been the more remote you are, the safer you are from two legged predators. Having a shot gun with you is always an option, thought I have been going to remote places since I was 10 years old and have never felt the need to be armed.

You are likely a lot more safe in the woods than you are in Tacoma anyway, based on the local news.

[ohcanada_00]

hey! Tacoma isnt that.... never mind yes it is...

e2stew: If you need any help getting the car cleaned up, come see me at Griots Garage on 38th and Union in Tacoma. Ask for Dustin and I'll come up and say hi!

[e2stew]

@ ohcanada_oo,
thanks I will come by as long as you don't laugh too much it's a project/rust bucket.
But hopefully with some work it will do it's job of getting to and from work and once and a while off road etc.

[ohcanada_00]

i think you'll understand when i dont laugh when you see how bad mine looks right now!!! swing by anytime!