Corey
OverCamping Specialist
Last year I hit up Mount Rainier National Park and did not get much peace.
People constantly stopped to ask me about my roof top tent, cars, hikers, ect would slow down to gawk.
Nothing wrong with that, but I was there to relax, not play salesman.
This year I decided to hit up the forest service roads past the little town of Greenwater.
I have camped quite extensively up there in the past with my two sons when they were younger.
It is all back country camping with no tables or other pay camp site amenities.
I always try to get by a creek or river so I have a water source for getting water for dish washing instead of using up my supply or having to bring a ton of water along.
I arrived up there around 7:10 am and a lot of the good spots were already taken, so I settled for one that was a little smaller than I wanted, but it was ********** dab on the creek.
Beyond my tents window the creek was only a few feet.
The creek there had split into three forks with a calmer one on my side.
Down where I was there were no views of majestic Mount Rainier, but if you drive further up the forest service roads you are treated to fantastic views of the mountain.
Also the area I was in has a road that goes to the top of Sun Top Mountain Lookout, an old fire lookout that was used years ago.
Today it has been restored and is more like a visitor center where you can stop by and talk with the attendant who lives there for a duration.
From up there you can view numerous peaks to be on the lookout for fires.
Also in that general area are some of the best mountain biking trails around.
One such trail is Skookum Flats.
The link above says to enter the trail from a different forest service road, but there are a few different ways to get on it.
As soon as you turn off for the area I camped at, it is on your left only a minute in.
You can see in a few of the pictures below the entrance to the trail.
It does turn into some gnarly single track a ways in.
This entrance too was about a one mile ride from my campsite.
I rode part of the trail, but I did not get to do the whole thing.
One weekend day I am going to head back up there just to ride the trail then head home afterwards.
It is only a short 36 miles from my door.
From my door to my campsite it was about 38.9 miles.
This is why I like the area, you have lots of back country camping, and it is close to home.
I have gone up there for years and not seen all what the area has to offer.
My brother arrived later that morning on his expedition motorcycle, a BMW R1200.
His bike is all setup for expedition use which it has seen quite a bit of.
He has onboard air for airing backup after airing down for back country travel.
Nice aluminum cases for holding gear and a lot more.
After we retired that evening a college age crowd came into a site across the creek from us, they were noisy until 3 am the first night.
Barking dogs, screaming, all the kinds of stuff that would get you kicked out of a pay campsite.
Kind of took the joy out of camping that first night up there.
The conversion I did to my Zodi shower earlier in the year worked out great.
When taking a shower you just pull the trigger on the kitchen faucet sprayer, and let go to stop the flow.
This works much better than the head that comes stock on the Zodi showers.
And using the new Outback Privy tent was great, it sets up much quicker than the PETT one that came with my PETT toilet system I bought last year.
There are also more pictures in the Camping Gear Review thread on the forum.
I am going to look into a helmet cam system too for taking pictures and shooting videos while mountain biking.
My digital camera is a little to big to carry along on a trail, and I would have been upset if I had dropped it, as some areas on the trail are quite rough.
A helmet cam would be perfect for that.
Also made a new video on setting up the tent to replace the driveway one I made last year.
This shows you the ease of setting up my style of roof top tent and deploying the ladder.
It can not get much easier than that.
On my way out I also stopped at a favorite campsite I use to take my sons to long ago when we had the tent trailer.
Back up into the site, and you could park within feet of the small hill to walk right down into the same creek I was at this time so you could park a camping chair out in it to the side, or get out where it ran faster and body surf.
There was also a nice ten foot swimming hole there.
The site is ruined now, half of it has been washed away by past storms and the creek changing its course.
Now the creek is further away.
I could hear it, but not see it.
Funny how things change over the years like that.
It was one of the better sites up there.
Here are some pictures I took up there.
Most are just shots around the campsite, as there was not a whole lot else to look at.
If I had that helmet cam, I could have got some nice shots along the White River of Skookum Flats mountain bike trail.
Arrival at the site, setting up the tent.
I have a few other videos to go through still.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4927PoLecY
Closeup of the solar panel setup to keep the batteries charged while running the fridge and tents 12v interior light.
My backwoods still
Actually it is the Zodi shower setup.
Works fantastic, I should have tried it washing the dishes, but did not think to do so.
Toiletry kit I have had for years.
Tree made a good spot for it and the tent stake hammer.
Cabelas folding picnic table.
Perfect for back country camping where there are no sites setup such as pay campgrounds.
I have a Cabelas roll top table too I bought months back, but I did not see the need to set it up.
This table was fine for eating at and holding extra stuff.
The new expedition rig, a 2009 Specialized Rockhopper Pro.
It came in handy for exploring the area, and hitting up Skookum Flats mountain bike trail.
My brothers expedition motorcycle, a BMW R1200 GS.
People constantly stopped to ask me about my roof top tent, cars, hikers, ect would slow down to gawk.
Nothing wrong with that, but I was there to relax, not play salesman.
This year I decided to hit up the forest service roads past the little town of Greenwater.
I have camped quite extensively up there in the past with my two sons when they were younger.
It is all back country camping with no tables or other pay camp site amenities.
I always try to get by a creek or river so I have a water source for getting water for dish washing instead of using up my supply or having to bring a ton of water along.
I arrived up there around 7:10 am and a lot of the good spots were already taken, so I settled for one that was a little smaller than I wanted, but it was ********** dab on the creek.
Beyond my tents window the creek was only a few feet.
The creek there had split into three forks with a calmer one on my side.
Down where I was there were no views of majestic Mount Rainier, but if you drive further up the forest service roads you are treated to fantastic views of the mountain.
Also the area I was in has a road that goes to the top of Sun Top Mountain Lookout, an old fire lookout that was used years ago.
Today it has been restored and is more like a visitor center where you can stop by and talk with the attendant who lives there for a duration.
From up there you can view numerous peaks to be on the lookout for fires.
Also in that general area are some of the best mountain biking trails around.
One such trail is Skookum Flats.
The link above says to enter the trail from a different forest service road, but there are a few different ways to get on it.
As soon as you turn off for the area I camped at, it is on your left only a minute in.
You can see in a few of the pictures below the entrance to the trail.
It does turn into some gnarly single track a ways in.
This entrance too was about a one mile ride from my campsite.
I rode part of the trail, but I did not get to do the whole thing.
One weekend day I am going to head back up there just to ride the trail then head home afterwards.
It is only a short 36 miles from my door.
From my door to my campsite it was about 38.9 miles.
This is why I like the area, you have lots of back country camping, and it is close to home.
I have gone up there for years and not seen all what the area has to offer.
My brother arrived later that morning on his expedition motorcycle, a BMW R1200.
His bike is all setup for expedition use which it has seen quite a bit of.
He has onboard air for airing backup after airing down for back country travel.
Nice aluminum cases for holding gear and a lot more.
After we retired that evening a college age crowd came into a site across the creek from us, they were noisy until 3 am the first night.
Barking dogs, screaming, all the kinds of stuff that would get you kicked out of a pay campsite.
Kind of took the joy out of camping that first night up there.
The conversion I did to my Zodi shower earlier in the year worked out great.
When taking a shower you just pull the trigger on the kitchen faucet sprayer, and let go to stop the flow.
This works much better than the head that comes stock on the Zodi showers.
And using the new Outback Privy tent was great, it sets up much quicker than the PETT one that came with my PETT toilet system I bought last year.
There are also more pictures in the Camping Gear Review thread on the forum.
I am going to look into a helmet cam system too for taking pictures and shooting videos while mountain biking.
My digital camera is a little to big to carry along on a trail, and I would have been upset if I had dropped it, as some areas on the trail are quite rough.
A helmet cam would be perfect for that.
Also made a new video on setting up the tent to replace the driveway one I made last year.
This shows you the ease of setting up my style of roof top tent and deploying the ladder.
It can not get much easier than that.
On my way out I also stopped at a favorite campsite I use to take my sons to long ago when we had the tent trailer.
Back up into the site, and you could park within feet of the small hill to walk right down into the same creek I was at this time so you could park a camping chair out in it to the side, or get out where it ran faster and body surf.
There was also a nice ten foot swimming hole there.
The site is ruined now, half of it has been washed away by past storms and the creek changing its course.
Now the creek is further away.
I could hear it, but not see it.
Funny how things change over the years like that.
It was one of the better sites up there.
Here are some pictures I took up there.
Most are just shots around the campsite, as there was not a whole lot else to look at.
If I had that helmet cam, I could have got some nice shots along the White River of Skookum Flats mountain bike trail.
Arrival at the site, setting up the tent.
I have a few other videos to go through still.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4927PoLecY
Closeup of the solar panel setup to keep the batteries charged while running the fridge and tents 12v interior light.
My backwoods still
Actually it is the Zodi shower setup.
Works fantastic, I should have tried it washing the dishes, but did not think to do so.
Toiletry kit I have had for years.
Tree made a good spot for it and the tent stake hammer.
Cabelas folding picnic table.
Perfect for back country camping where there are no sites setup such as pay campgrounds.
I have a Cabelas roll top table too I bought months back, but I did not see the need to set it up.
This table was fine for eating at and holding extra stuff.
The new expedition rig, a 2009 Specialized Rockhopper Pro.
It came in handy for exploring the area, and hitting up Skookum Flats mountain bike trail.
My brothers expedition motorcycle, a BMW R1200 GS.
