Capitol State Forest

It was a gorgeous day today in the Olympia area. Heidi was parent-helping at Daniel's preschool and Madeline was also at school, so I decided to get some fresh air...via XJ of course! I made a quick run into Capitol Forest to explore some areas that I hadn't been to.

On the way to the Waddell Creek entrance I spotted a very nice 'import tuner style' Mitsubishi Lancer pulled over to the side of the road. There were a couple of teenagers milling around next to it, and it was apparent that they had a flat tire. I stopped to see if I could lend a hand. The rims looked like they were wrapped with a rubber band rather than tires, but to each his own. The owner stated that he had a spare but didn't have a jack...oops. I had the Hi-Lift jack with me, but it required more height than the 4 inches of ground clearance the Lancer was sporting. It then occurred to me that I had a factory jack under the rear seat, although I had never used it. Time to break it in! After some coaxing the jack barely fit between the frame and the pavement, but the guys were on their way after putting on the little doughnut spare. The funny thing is, the little pizza-cutter-doughnut spare had WAY more sidewall than the regular tires!

After this little diversion it was time to drive around Capitol Forest. This was to be a very short excursion, and more of an exploratory trip rather than an obstacle filled one. I was searching for worthy 4x4 trails as well as mountain bike trails. I managed to make some new discoveries and snap some pictures of the Jeep in the forest on this beautiful day. Check'em out!

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I encountered this beautiful view of Mt. Rainier near D-4900 on the west side of Mount Molly.

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At 14,411 feet, Mt. Rainier is the tallest peak in the Cascade mountian range. It has a topographic prominence of 13,210 feet which is greater than the well known Himalayan peak, K2.

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Just a short distance off of D-4900 :)

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This is my favorite picture of the whole bunch, taken on D-4000. Notice the western edge of Capitol Peak on the left side of the picture and Rock Candy Mountain just poking up on the right side of the picture at 2,356 feet.

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This picture was taken at a slightly different angle and shows Capitol Peak clearly in the background at 2,659 feet. The shorter hill in the foreground is Little Larch Mountain standing 1,340 feet tall.

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I hope to get another day like this soon. The weather was spectacular and the temperature even got up to a very comfortable 41 degrees. Hopefully I can cover a little more ground next time but half the fun is stopping, shutting the engine off, and listening to the silence intermingled with the sounds of nature. A close second place is the sound of my 4.0L at wide open throttle heard through the K&N FIPK high flow air intake! Until next time, see ya!