FS 17 -- 18 open!.. and other stories

On the way up FS 17 Turnsleft and I encountered the road cleaning
crew of Don Moore. they had opened 18 at Sniegleson pass yesterday.
Here it is,



on the way up we did a little exploring and found some new vista's. We plowed through some snow



went over some logs



and found some big views,







we also found this bird (a Kestrel?) protecting some eggs we surmised!



we left the bird un disturbed and found another spur blocked by snow. What a great day



these small creeks give a refreshing blast of cool air





Turnsleft confirms we are where the GPS says we are :huh



we didn't get down this road either, these blocks appear to have been cut last fall



back down at the junction of 17/18 we met this un suspecting rider from Seattle. Robin
joined us for an adventure





we rode up another road for more big views





Robin noticed something missing from his



on the way up to the big view there were countless water bars (little ditches for water to flow through
and not erode the road.) " My pannier ------!" Yep the left one wasn't there.



so we road on down and there it was, right where he left it :eek1



Kelvy had a cargo net that secured the box for the ride back. Nice to meet you Robin .



the FS was out and about



and the fox gloves were blooming



What a nice day for a ride! Thanks Kelvy for the idea.!

Your bird you saw was a Common Nighthawk. Nice sighting and great pics btw...what awesome views.

I saw a thread asking about this ride, and I thought, "I should check it out." I took off work early and headed up


Be careful at the bottom of 18. Trucks run fast and wide down that road.

Thought this would be the most snow I would see this day



Great view at the top


Then I ran into these hooligans!


Look what I found!


Lesson learned? If you see kids on 250s, ride with them, but don't try to keep up with them. No matter how cool you think your bike is!

Thanks guys! I hope to see you again. I will get that net back ASAP

Post inspired by Tom. Keep posting ride reports!

Nice RR and pictures Tom,y'all keep it up.

Thanks for the RR. Looks like fun was had by all. I cant wait to check it out.

Great news, and great pictures.
I'm planning another trip up this weekend with a buddy on his newly acquired xl250.

Did the USFS stop you, or were they out and about away from the truck?
I'm up there OFTEN as I live nearby (and hunt, fish, hike, photograph, ride, and camp up there!). I've only run across the USFS once, two summers ago, as they were trying to track down and put out three separate fires.

Tuesday I took my DRZ for a spin down to SPS to see if I could catch up with
Mr.Cob and Tom. Missed them and stopped by granparacer's work 20 to see what he was doing[was working till I got there].

I had planed on a tuesday evening ride up 17~18, but seeing Tom thought a midweek ride sounded like a plan. We did the usual 10:00 SSP&R meet up and headed out.

We got stopped here on the 2nd, but steamed right past[through] today.



I have never been up this road before altho I seen Guns and Master Chief go up it once. This is what Tom and I found.



Kinda hot to be cutting brush, but some times ya gotta do it. Got ahead of Tom and got a picture of him coming through the brush.



Tom, Lorne and I tried a trail just before the Gap that was pert over~grown, this is where it goes to[across the way]. Need to power saw our way up that one.



Just to the right[south] of the last.



The bird.







Farther up the same road. Did I say how nice the road was.



Tom a bit left of center. Hey I tried, kinda hard seeing into the sun.



This stopped us. Next time.



Turned around and headed for 18.



We went up 18 a ways just to see that we could make it. Didn't want to go to Darrington so we headed back for 17. Ran in to Robin at 17~18 intersection and had him go with us. Put on a little over 100 miles and had a very good time,eh Tom.

nice photos guys

I'll probably be headed up there Sunday after church

Radical, I know that dude Robin!
Nice pics, looks like fun

Great pictures as usual. Sorry I missed you guys, but I was planning a big adventure for the week on the eastside.

Very, very cool. Love that area. I was just up there Thursday the 12th. I'm up there frequently. Know the area well, been going up on 17 & 18 and side roads for the last 10 years.

On the way back to the truck heading west on 17 about a mile or two past the 17/18 junction just before the pond on the right, heading down a straight stretch through the trees, zooming along about 35, a large black bear dashed across the road about 30' in front of me. Big pucker factor. :eek1 That's the second black bear I've encountered in that area on the bike in the last two weeks. Had a young black bear run down the road in front of me for about 200 yards before darting off in to the bush two weeks ago.

Be great to hock up with anyone heading up in that area. Other areas by Darrington, Concrete and Baker Lake also.

Where is the best place to park a truck in the FS17/18 area to launch smaller DS bikes? I normally take the 610 all the way from home but the 450 might be fun. An hour of highway each way on the 450 is not the most fun however.

Just west of Darrington[about 4 miles] across the street from the gas station[shell?] there is a park&ride. I have parked there a few times.

Think it might be called White Horse.

There's also a park and ride near Clear Lake...where Hwy 9 and South Skagit Hwy intersect.
It's a 12mi ride to FS17 on S. Skagit Hwy, but it has a few decent turns as it follows the river--along with several cool pockets of air on a hot summer day.
Not the best place to leave a rig parked after dark, however.

SnoValley,
that area near the FS17/18 junction is PRIME habitat for black bear in the late spring/early summer.
Their diet is usually a lot of grasses and they LOVE the skunk cabbage that is very plentiful around that wetland. They do have a tendency to linger on the road. I've run across several along that stretch as well. A few more weeks and they'll start moving up the mountain...
Shoot me a PM next time you plan to head up...I live nearby and am always up for an impromptu ride. I know that area very well myself!

I always seem to see these pair of picture posting Kawasaki's cruising down S Skag Hwy or HWY 9 in my cage...one of these days I'll run into them up the mountain, on the bike!

Yah by golly its tha Swede Haven road, You betcha. It's tha White Horse Rd
across the street next to the gas station.

AWESOME RR guys!

Getting excited to pick up the new 690 Enduro tomrorow now - these posts inspire me to explore this state. :)

duane

I usually don't ride that much on this side of the mountains but I have been wanting to explore more in the Cascades so I took off on my GS. I headed up to FS-17 then to FS-18 into Darrington then proceeded down the Mtn Loop Hwy on my way home. I left kind of late so I really didn't explore much up off of FS-18 but I want to and also would love to take my KLX up there as well. What a great area.

I just wanted to give a shout out to Jeff the parts manager, and Mark the service manager, at Ride West BMW.

I contacted Jeff to get pricing and availability for that left bag mount. I mentioned I broke it on a bumpy ride.

Jeff then got in touch with Mark, and the two of them talked. Jeff said to come in and talk to Mark.

Now, they are replacing the bag mount, free of charge! I didn't ask for, or expect anything. I figured I was on the hook for the part. They saved me $150.

Now, I have to look into getting metal cans. Those plastic things don't do well off-road.

That is good news for you. That plastic outfit must just be for commuting to the office.

Ran up to Cape Horn and met up with a co-worker to take our little bikes up FS17, via the Upper Finney side.
I passed a pair of dualsports (a black DR and a maroon KLR?) on South Skagit on my way up around 6pm.

We stayed low along the creek, ran across a few campers, and jumped a small black bear (maybe 120lbs) near the first bridge crossing. Then decided to try to find some snow...which we did near the end of the road near Gee Point.
We stopped and snapped a quick, fuzzy cell phone picture of Little Gee Lake before the skeeters got us.



The lake was still 2/3 ice covered, but the small brook trout were surfacing like mad in the open water.

Seeing all the "no kickstand needed" snow photos, little Suzi decided she wanted to play too!



Total of 116miles round trip from Sedro Woolley...about 4hrs total...and a whopping 1.31 gallons of gas.