Here we are a year ago. Me(Mike), Erik and Blane We hear about this mostly dirt trip that runs from Oregon to Canada called the WABDR. With much apprehension on my part we decided to do it. But with my dirt skills, that I have..... I hope I'll survive. :eek1 So I'm all packed up and waiting for 5am. E.T.D.
When you get good, you can impress your riding buddies with maneuvers that result as shown below: I'm sure that Mike and I both will have plenty more pics like the ones above to add to this thread after our attack on the WABDR. Maybe Erik will too I we get lucky. Go team Z.H.N!
Stopped in Elbe to get a pic of the train. My. St. Helens on the way down south. Getting food before we hit the dirt. I'll try to post some dirt pics tonight if I have service.
Week signal so I'll just post this. First section is in the books. Setting up camp now. First dirt. Setting up camp. Will fill in at latter date.
No real issues, Blanes speedo stopped working and Erik had some bag adjustments needed. I noticed a cut in my bags. Stopped at the Ice Caves, pretty cool. Wish we had more time and better lights to check them out. Pit stop at the falling water. For the most part long relaxing dirt. I want to go back to that area and do some more exploring.
Starts out good. The first section is nice at the top going across Bethel Ridge. It's slow but good, I enjoyed this part a lot. The first nap of the trip, I'm shocked it wasn't me or Blane.:eek1 I guess I hit a rock.:huh After the fisrt part of section 2. Blane's a good friend, but his lack of patients got the best of me. I got mad and left. It was stupid. So now it's 2 friends finish the WABDR. I had different plans going on in my head...Go to Palouse Falls? I started heading to Ellensburg, part way there I thought I might catch up with the guys there. I though my bike wasn't running right the night before. On my way to Ellensburg I found out it wasn't. I kept having a fuel issue,my bike would die. So when I was close to Ellensburg, I decided was time to head home. Took me 7 1/2 hours to get to Puyallup from Ellensburg. This is in Hyak. Still not fixed. Hope you 2 have fun for the rest of it.
Got my bike fixed. My petcock was plugged, just a dribble of gas coming out. Should've left last knight to Chelan, but I wasn't sure that's where they were. Or if they wanted me back. So heading to Conconully to finish the last leg.
Good luck. Tell your buddies I said hi. I'm the guy they met on Sunday with the broken luggage rack on the DRZ400e. I hope their trip went well. We lost quite a bit of time on the first day when one of our guys fell and broke his leg, then dealing with my problem and about an hour later a thrown chain on my friends KLR. As a result we called it quits in Cashmere so we could get home on time.
Day 1 section 1 puyallup to stevenson to packwood Nice views on the way down to stevenson A good b feast to start the day The first dirt we hit section one was pretty long but fast and dusty A nice view of hood from atop section one The ice caves a nice cool break Another good spot to cool off on the way to packwood Night one we camped on the tieton river just down from bethel ridge Day 2 section 2 and 3 Nice views of adams and rainier Coming across the top of bethel ridge thier is some nice rutts and I was going way to fast for my own good Another great b feast on 410 We see a couple riding from cali on a 990 on wenas road Mike breaks off and we head up umtanum ridge we both manage to dump the bikes on the difficult sections Up on umtanum ridge We head down to ellensburg for a quick break before section 3 101 degrees HOT! Run into tow guys on a drz and and klr Up near horse camp we see a old cabin We head down to wenatchee to try to find a campground the campground in monitor says no tents try the fairgrounds so we head up thier and not to great so we head down to wenatchee state park a mesquito haven. Day 3 Section 4 Wenatchee to chelan my favorite section (much cooler even a quick rain shower). We stop at starbucks in wenatchee to check out the route and get some energy Along chumstick mt. Run into a couple f800s heading south from canada Windy camp area We make it down to 25 mile creek a great day for a swim in chelan Camp for the night and too much wisky Day 4 section 5 we hear back from mike hes gonna meet us back at conconully so we head up My second favorite section The first stop on this section Ran into some sand coming down A quick stop in carlton for a pic Then some open range cattle and washed out areas where blane has a drop before coming down ruby hill to the old town site Then into conconully to camp and meet mike at the state park Back to 3 of us Decided to wear shorts to ride up the road to get a bite to eat and leaned my bike over the wrong way OUCH! Day 5 section 6 conconully to the border then home Up near lone frank pass another old cabin in the woods unmarked Down to palmer lake and the border Stop in omak for some more chain lube before heading into winthrop for dinner Now back home not my recomendation I was tired should have camped in winthrop but rode home left winthrop around 7 stopped and chelan for sunset and a couple times for gas and made it home around 1am It was a beautiful and rewarding trip Ill look forward to making it again .
That burn is nasty....When I was younger it took me three burns before I got smart enough to ALWAYS wear long pants on a motorcycle. I feel for you because I know how bad those things are. It looks like you guys had a good ride with some experiences along the way. You also got to meet two incredible people. That's Matt and Kelli (Big Wan & Little Wan) in this picture. Watch for their ride report when they finish this ride. Little Wan will entertain you with her stories. Thanks for sharing your ride with us. I know the time and effort it takes to create ride reports and I appreciate that you took the time to create it for all of us to enjoy.
hey - it was nice meeting you, adventurerik and therivermonster! thanks for letting us check out your map. We were wondering how the rest of your ride went...looks like you had a great time! Glad to see your group was reunited (we won't tell Mike what you said about him... heh. they didn't mean it, zoomzu! ) hi Ladybug! did I spell your name correctly on that check? thanks for the kind words - but now people are actually going expect entertainment, dang it.