Didn't have to camp but almost

My wife and I went exploring up on Clemen Mountain west of Yakima, WA a couple days ago.  We took a direct but slow route from Ellensburg. Umptanum Road, through the Wenas, then a straight shot to the top. Involved a lot of stopping and reading the map to make sure we didn't get caught on a route that ended up closed.  Tricky in places, but we got there.

We ran across this old Jeep Station wagon on the Mill Canyon road near the top of Clemen Mountain. The first time I saw it was over 50 years ago in December, 1970. We were snowmobiling and found it with chains on all four wheels, stuck in the snow and abandoned on the Sanford pasture road on the south side of the ridge. That's about two miles by crow and five miles on a pretty steep rough road. It was a very nice rig with a winch and a Warn overdrive.

The next time I saw it I was up there in my jeep the next spring just after the snow had melted. It had been completely stripped. The only thing left was the body, frame, and steering column.  I am curious to know how it got to where it is now???

From here we headed over toward Bald Mountain. We went and went and went, plowing through patches of snow in the road.  Others had plowed through at some earlier time and we were able to use their tracks, and we had 4wd-- until we augured into one that high-centered us.

I tried using a come-a-long attached to a tree and my snatch-um strap but no luck.  The only option to get unstuck was to dig down under the truck to the dirt.  After digging for about an hour it was getting late and I figured we would be spending the night.

The old Jeep Station wagon is a fairly rare model. It's a two door with two vertical rear doors, not a fold down tail gate. It has wood protecting the floor behind the front seat. The orange paint is in surprisingly good shape after spending over 50 years on the mountain. I suspect it was elk hunters that got caught in an early snowstorm that fall.