Rocks Flyin', Me Cryin', and God Looking On - A WABDR Adventure

We decided about a year ago to accomplish the WABDR together, but I never would have guessed that the three of us would start, and finish it together, with a man lost in between. More on that later.

The following is the story of Erik, Mike, and Blane's adventure on the Washington Backcountry Discovery Route taken early August 2012.

Click here for another report of this ride posted by Mike and Erik.


The Wolfman dry luggage is mounted and ready for the ride. I used two 1 liter Platypus water bags with the Platypus hydration hose. I would switch the hose between the bags when I emptied one. They took a pretty good beating on the trip, but they held up well.

Later in the trip, I would stick one in the left side bag, and keep one under the net. It didn't work well having both under the net due to all the bumps.


Fuel bottles strapped on the side bags, and camo tarp strapped to the medium Wolfman dry bag.


A view of the front half. Wolfman tank bag, ATV logic tank panniers (I used these to hold my tire repair kit, electric pump, tools, chain lube, and inner tube), Garmin 60CSX GPS which is a great GPS for this type of riding.

Don't forget to download the WABDR GPS tracks from the WABDR website.



Day 1:


Preping for the 0500 departure early Saturday morning


We snapped a quick pic of the bikes in front of the operating steam engine in Elbe. The engine was dripping water and spouting steam here and there in little puffs. Amazing machines.

The morning was fixing up to be great!


Taking a break on NF25 a ways south of Randle on the way to Stevenson.

The route down to the starting point is quite scenic on the paved NF roads. BTW, this is the published route from Touratech to Stevenson that is on the WABDR map, as well as GPS tracks.


Erik posing for a pic with stumpy little Mt. St Hellens. The mountain looked quite dirty that day. It was also heating up fairly quickly - great riding though.


We stopped for a pic where the pavement ended and the dirt began just north of Stevenson on NF6808. Generally the roads in the first section were nicely graded save for a few overgrown, packed dirt sections which were more fun to ride.

I don't remember seeing much wildlife on this section besides those crazy little chipmunks


About our luggage:

Erik had mounting problems with his Ortlieb side bags throughout the trip. The lack of proper side racks for the X Challenge, and having to use zip ties and short Velcro straps to mount the luggage took their toll on the bags just after a few miles, which is why we see him making adjustments early in the first section. Luckily, our partner Mike had some of his trusty green webbing (can be seen holding the bags across the bike) with buckles which saved the day once again. (Mike had to use the webbing to strap a broken rear rack together before).

Mike had proper racks on his KLR which he made himself. He was running Ortlieb bags just like Erik and had extended the Velcro straps that cross over the seat area of the bike, so they held much better. One issue he did have with his side bags is that one side developed a small V like cut in the "dry" material. We're not quite sure how that happened.

I have been using the Wolfman dry side bags with Wolfman side racks and medium duffel on the rear rack for more then two seasons and multiple dirt wrecks and they have done fabulous. They mount solid and have a tone of adjust-ability, however they do have more straps to deal with, and are somewhat difficult to mount and unmount from the side racks. Once mounted, you don't need to unmount during the trip unless it strikes you're fancy.

One thing about the WABDR is that it will rattle your teeth out. I learned that you really need to have your gear strapped down, and your nuts and bolts tightened up. I lost my spedo, and tail light to the vibration and bumps going down the trail.


A shot of the trail where Erik was making the adjustments, mods to his bags.

Note the GoPro on my helmet. It decided to burn its self up when I plugged it into the charger that night. No worries though, REI to the rescue!!


The sign at the Guler ice caves.

Read the text for a story of how they were formed. Make sure that you visit the cave, especially if it is a hot day. The cave was a very refreshing stop on an afternoon that was properly warming up. Not to mention that the underground structure is completely awesome!


Looking from the top down into the ice cave entrance. Note the snow down there on a 100f day.


Mike on the left and Erik on the right hanging out in the ice cave enjoying the brisk air.

Mike does this bad ass expression in a few other pics during the trip which is odd because he's as gentle as a butterfly. (Shhh. Don't tell anyone.)


Some fun ice formations within the cave. If you plan to visit the cave, you'd do well to bring BRIGHT lights.


Looking up and out of the ice cave. When we headed out, it was like hitting a wall of heat - not the greatest feeling.


Just great stuff to look at down in the ice cave.


Mike headed out of the hole. Check that bad ass out!


Not too far from the ice cave, we stopped at some nice falls right on the route in section one - you can't miss em, and they are worth it.


Erik freshening up in the crystal clear water. It was nice and cool.


A view of the lower section of the cascade. There was much more to these falls up above, and a nice little trail that leads up there if you are feeling up to a hike.


The Nikon Man (Mike) snapping some shots with his fancy DSLR.

He carried the camera in a camera bag mounted to his tank like a tank bag. So much dust made it through the zipper of the camera bag that it completely covered the camera. He kind of gave up on trying to use it for the trip and wrapped it up in a plastic bag.


Mike and I by the water falls. Check out my "Dark Knight" Batman shirt. I'm kind of famous for that shirt.


Stopping for a rest break at a junction. It's nice to get off the bikes once in a while.


Packwood is our destination and it's looking like it's about 23 miles of dirt from here. Nothing but riding bliss.


Pulling the gear off and ready for a nice meal in Packwood. I didn't really dig the place, or many of the places to get food along the way besides the restaurant in Conconully and Winthrop.

I don't remember the name of the place we ate this day, but It's right next to the gas station.


Dust covers everything, but it doesn't get inside of my trusty Wolfman dry (dust proof bags).


More dust! Note that chain lube doesn't last long on dusty dirty roads.

A side note: I absolutely love my DR650 - I fondly call her Betty Blue. You'll probably hear a lot about how I love my bike in this RR


It's getting dark out. Time to get camp set up.


From Packwood, we decided to get a running start on section 2 of the trip, so we headed east on HW 12 up over White Pass, down past Rim Rock lake, and into a camping area along the river just off 12 where we had camped before. Our choice spot was taken, so we settled on this location. The camp is just a bit east of the beginning of dirt for section 2.

Check out my little Kermit chair. I'm a big dude, and that thing is a little assed chair, but it really holds up. Let me not forget to mention that it comes with the trusty little cup holder to hold my little German cow cup. That little cup comes in handy for some refreshing libations along the way.

Handle bars and a back rack make nice hanging places for dirty gear to freshen up over night.


All of us did work on the bikes. Here Erik makes further changes to his failing luggage situation.


Mike trying to figure out how to handle the dust issue with his camera bag.

What's missing in this picture? A MILK CRATE!!! Haaaa haaaaa haaaaa.


Erik downing some H2O. With the temps it never seemed like you could get enough of the stuff.

I think that we all carried about 3 litters of water a day which seemed to be just about right for this trip in the 90f + temps that we were in.


Mike looking a little worse for wear.

Mike isn't a big fan of the dirt riding, and I think that the prospect of riding on the stuff for so long wears on him a bit. He does great though, so maybe he'll come around some day, eh.

I loved the camp shoes that Mike brought on the trip. They really seemed appropriate for some reason.


Mike chose the hammock for the first time on this trip. He said he liked it.


Erik chose the trusty REI tent, and I went with a simple tarp under the stars solution.

Look at my little cow cup there. That thing is stinking cute, isn't it?


This ends the first day. More to come soon.​

Packing up camp early in the morning of day 2, probably around 0600. It was a bit chilly that morning.


Dark Knight, baby! That's the face of content right there with my trusty DR650 in the background.


First road kill of the trip. A rattler?


Mike putting down a breakfast bar fueling up to hit the dirt..


We geared up and made the couple mile jaunt down 12 to hit Bethel Ridge road. Dirt starts for the second day, as does the most difficult section of the trip.

The difficulty of this section weighed on my mind a bit due to all the things that I have read in other ride reports. More on this later.


Starting the Bethel Ridge ascent.


Mike tearing off down the gravel road like a pro.


Erik right after him on his BMW X Challenge.


The nicely graded gravel road zigs and then zags up to the top of Bethel Ridge where there are some antennas. Past the antennas the road gets more interesting and the riding gets much better then it already is.


Looking down off the ridge you can see the dammed end of Rim Rock lake and Mt. Adams. Just beautiful.


There were some burnt areas of forest getting up to the ridge.


Mike joining us at the end of the graded road up on the ridge. Mt. Rainier looms up behind him.


All three bikes looking south into the valey and Mt. Adams.


Back on the bikes we head further along the ridge. The road begins to show signs of ruts caused by 4X4s and the track gets just a bit sandy.

On a top 5 list, this area has to be in the top 3 for most stunning of the whole trip. I want to go back so badly. Try not to rush through this area if you can afford the time.


Erik is in the lead and spots the critters that leave this hoof print all over the ridge - mountain goats.


He hops off his bike and follows them to where they clamber down an impossible bluff.

When Mike and I get there, we can hear them but can no longer see them. No worries though because the landscape takes the breath right out of me. Look at the vast scale of this scene. How small we are in our great big world.


Nikon Man shooting the action from an adjacent bluff.

I wonder if he has a bad assed look on his face over there. I can't really make out his expression.


The ruts get deeper and the riding even better.

Mike working the track like he's been doing it all his life.


Erik gets a little cocky and bites it nicely in one of the deep ruts.

He does a bit of damage to his leg, but he's more concerned with his beautiful BMW X Challenge. Now the front fairing says X allenge.


Nothing but pure beauty up there.


It gets better and better with every mile.

Up on Bethel Ridge we saw some great wildlife. An eagle and very large owl flew right in front of us, and we saw a gaggle of wild turkeys - maybe 5 of them only 30 or so feet away.

From here we head down to 410 for some breakfast and petrol. Unfortunately, Mike decides to head home due to mechanical issues and some personal reasons. Erik and I were very sad to see him go. Little did we know, he would join us again up north.

Erik and I head out on the second half, and MOST DIFFICULT part of the WABDR.


And it gets difficult (for me at least) pretty quick.

This drop happened on a fairly steep hill. The road behind the camera is just covered from side to side with the same kind of rock that the DR is lying on. When I hit the deep rock everything went haywire.

At least I didn't go off the side of the hill.


We continue on meandering around the base of hills and climbing up and down here and there. The track will be solid, and then loose with sandy ruts and lots of large loose rock. Riding all of these surfaces really builds your skills.


Up on the ridge I get stung in the face by something and come to a fairly quick stop. Erik, following close behind, runs into me falling on the hill.

Nothing but fun.


Big Wan and Little Wan two up on the 990 doing all the stuff that we are about to do. I don't know how they did it.

They are on the return trip of a 6000 plus mile adventure when we see them on the WABDR and they say, "oh, we're just headed home" like they're headed down I5 or something

Great people on the WABDR.


The top of Baby Head Hill (I think it is called by those who have ridden it).

This is really where all the "difficult" culminates as far as the difficult section goes. What you don't see in this picture is the grade of the hill (steep) nor the switch back turn, much less the earlier part of the hill.

To sum it up, it's a pretty steep hill with a canted switch turn in the middle with roots in the turn and baby head sized rocks throughout. IT WAS AWESOME!

I just made it through with feet out, throttle wide open and all 650ccs screaming, rock flying, me crying, and God looking on. It was kind of difficult, but it was the best part of the trip for me.

I have read that lots of people talk about going around it via the alternate route, but if you do you miss much of the best scenery and you most certainly miss challenging yourself with an obstacle that is worthy of your time.

Don't skip it if you're feeling up to it. If you do do it, go first and take pictures of your buddies doing it.


At the top of Baby Head hill taking a well earned breather.

Erik dropped his bike on the hill, so he really earned it!


Making the final push to the top of Umtanum ridge.

Down the hill from Erik in this photo, the hill was fairly steep with plenty more large rock waiting to damage your bike as you will see in a moment.


Up at the top is a fancy setup of antennas.


Damage caused to my bash plate from the previous climb up to Umtanum Ridge. The rock left a very sizable dent in the aluminum plate material.


We dropped out of the hills and into Ellensburg around 1530 or so. The days riding had been great, but we were a bit spent and needed gas. We fueled up then headed to DQ for a quick ice cream treat.

In the DQ parking lot we met these fellas. They were running the WABDR south to north, but had been delayed due to one of the riders in their group crashing and breaking his leg. They also lost another of their squad earlier that day that just wasn't enjoying the ride.

These guys seemed really excited to be doing the WABDR and had made sacrifices to be here. When we met them here in the parking lot, they were just headed out to start section 3. We would see them again in a couple of hours on the trail side dealing with more bike issues, and learn later on that they had to head home early due to even further mechanical issues. No fun, but I guess that's why they call it an adventure.


We decide to knock out section 3 right after our tasty treat at DQ.

FS3500 at the beginning of section 3 is nicely paved for quite a few miles. It meanders through pine forests and meadows. This area was really relaxing.


Table Top mountain out in the distance. The landscape was oddly flat further beyond.


Sinclair cabin sits along the route with a very nice meadow right out front.



We dropped off section 3 where Mission Creek Rd is closed due to the wash out further down the track. The alternate route took us down into Wenatchee arriving around 1900. We grabbed a burger and Coke which was very refreshing after completing section 2, and section 3 all in the second day. After dinner we got back on the road looking for a place to camp.

From our experience, camping in Wenatchee is not all that great. First we headed up the road to the country camp, but were turned away because they don't take tenters. The gentleman at this camp recommended the fair grounds in Cashmere so we headed up there. The fair grounds camping area was like a gravel parking lot fenced in with chain link fence. It was depressing. It was getting late so we decided to head back to the state park in Wenatchee. At first sight it looked to be OK. Nice green grass and not too busy, but then the mosquitos made their assault. There were mosquitos everywhere -thick as soup, but we were tired and decided to stay.

We set up camp - I set up my tent for the first and last time of the trip only because of the bugs, and we proceeded to the bathrooms to rinse our clothes out and take cold (free) showers. It felt great. It was very warm that night, so no sleeping bag was needed.

Look at all that green grass and they make you set your tent up on a patch of wet sand. :-/


Camping at Skeeter City marks the end of day 2.

We woke up and packed up early. This guy was trying to hitch a ride on my tent. I'm pretty sure that he wanted to get a little dirt in just like the rest of us.


We set up operations at the local Starbucks in Wenatchee.

Oatmeal and coffee are the perfect start to a day on the WABDR.


Erik pointing at some landmark on the map. Or subtly flipping me off.


We pack it in at Starbucks and hit the highway up to Cashmere. The dirt started shortly with clouds looming all around.

This third day of the trip and 4th section of the WABDR was fast and furious as we raced towards Lake Chelan. We were looking forward to a nice rest day at the lake and wanted to get there as soon as possible.

Unfortunately our get-there-itis caused us to miss out on a lot of breath taking scenery as we raced through. If I could recommend one thing on this trip it would be to take your time if you have it, and take lots of pics. You won't regret it later on.


When we did take the time to stop we realized that we were surrounded by beautiful landscape. Too bad we raced through so much of it. To be honest, it really makes me sad that we did - I want to go back for a second chance.


Coming from or going to, who cares. Just be there.


Erik checking on his bags again.

The clouds were actually a nice break this day as they kept the temps down a bit, did away with the harsh shadows on the trail that would hide a rock or rut, and brought some refreshing rain every now and again which didn't cause us any trouble.


Generally the roads were in good shape on this bit of the WABDR - maybe a little sand here and there.


Just look at that beautiful beast. You get yourself a bike like that and a cow cup and you're all set.


We met a couple of Canadians coming from the north on a couple of F800s. They were having a ball.


Some scenery from the trail that day.


The small town of Ardenvoir down in the valley. We stopped in the small town for a quick break.


We headed up and out of Ardenvoir on sandy double track for the final jaunt to Chelan. The clouds were still pretty thick, but it would soon be clear and sunny again.


The trail was great up there. Challenging enough, and fast.





The first views of Lake Chelan. I could hear it just shouting out my name.


Now here is where things got a bit tricky. I was the only one in our group of two running a GPS, but Erik is faster and no one wants to eat dust all the time, so he was out in front (way out in front) when he passed the turn for the "Jungle". We actually came from the road and direction that the bike is facing, and should have taken the turn to the right and up, but Erik blew past the hidden turn due the the lack of a GPS.


I waited at the turn for a little over a half hour with no sign of a motorbike running back up the road, so I resigned to head down the road that Erik took. It went down, down, down and dropped us off right at 25 Mile Creek camp ground.

I was kind of bummed to have missed the Jungle section, but what are you gonna do.


We hopped off the bikes at 25 Mile Creek and decided that this would be the place to camp for the night.


Before setting up camp, we headed up to Chelan for some pizza, fuel, and a bottle.


Back at 25 Mile Creek camp we unpacked, changed into something more comfortable, and then Erik began the ritual bag modifications for the evening


They are still on the bike at least.


Notice how he used wet wipes to protect the pretty painted surfaces on the X from the rash caused by the Velcro on the bag straps.

Who knew wet wipes were so versatile?!


Nothing but love.


Erik wading into the crystal clear waters of lake Chelan. It almost looks tropical, doesn't it?


The refreshing water breathed the life right back into me.


We actually swam in the lake three times that afternoon - we just couldn't get enough of it.

We held a competition between the two of us where we would dive down and come up with the biggest rock that we could manage. We almost drowned a couple times, but we did bring up some sizable rocks.

Nothing but pure, good fun. I missed Mike not being with us quite a bit. He would have liked it there.


Here's to the WABDR! I was certainly content, relaxed and taking in the night. Life is very good, isn't it?


Shortly after this photo I hit the sack, on my tarp, under the stars. As I closed my eyes, I put an end to day 3.

Great report fellas. Keep it coming!
*(you having to miss the Jungle section is the very reason why every bike in our grouphas a routed gps, a cardinal rule)

Back on his feet, Erik packs his gear surprisingly quickly. We break camp and head to Chelan for some breakfast.


We meet this fella along the highway. The smell was rather pungent.


The Starbucks in Chelan was very busy, but we found a good spot in the corner to get some oatmeal and coffee in us.

Heading up Cooper Mountain Road out of Chelan, we spot the last glimpse of the lake. It is a great lake and I will miss it. We had good times there, but now it's time for more dirt riding.

I was also very happy this morning for a different reason; Mike was heading back out to meet us at the end of this leg in Conconoly, to camp for the night and finish the trip with us in the morning.

The morning was beautiful, and it only got better.


The trail was great, the riding fast, and the temp was perfect.




Every now and then we hit stretches of sand, but if you keep your speed up then you do just fine.

We stopped at this stream for a little break. While there, I had a pretty little visitor.


Look at him hanging out there. I bet he was looking for a good spot to sit for a bit and get some dirt time.

We actually saw lots of big butterflies throughout the trip.



Visiting the very VERY small town of Carlton along hw97.

Hw97 is the connector between stretches of dirt in this section.


We stopped at Rock Creek camp just off of Loup Loup Canyon Road for a little break.


The trail surface varied in this area and there were lots of cows. Watch out for cows!


Erik dropped his water bottle along the way. No worries.


Cows.


Erik checking out the cows.

The one nearest to him on the right looks like a lioness to me for some reason.


I bight it at low speed coming up this wash.

No worries though. We just laugh about it.


Ruby Hill

Ruby hill was quite the experience. It is a very steep hill with large embedded rock in the track. I was pretty much on the rear break with the engine in first gear the whole time just creeping along. About half way down the rear break failed and I went to the front break. This got me down, but I'll have to admit, I was a bit rattled.

Erik seemed to think that it wasn't a big deal.


Here is my rear rotor after the Ruby Hill descent. I checked the rear break fluid reservoir at the bottom and I couldn't see the fluid line. I was thinking "it's empty, really? How could that be?" What was really going on is the the reservoir was completely full. After the bike sat for a while some fluid drained from the reservoir back into the line and the rear break came back to life.

If anyone knows what happened there, I would love to hear an explanation.


Getting off the dirt and heading into Conconully for a nice evening. Mike should be back soon!


Conconully welcomes us.

Our camp site is literally just across the highway to the left.


Setting up camp.

Once again I choose to sleep under the stars on my camo tarp.

I really am living the life here and I feel that my expression reflects that.

Looking back on the trip even though it has only been a few days, I am really missing it.


I just love this bike.

I know, I know, but let me get into this for a bit. This bike has served me so well ever since I have owned it. I've put just about 20,000 miles on it myself and it has NEVER EVER EVER given me any issues. It runs strong, pulls hard even with me on it, packs a lot of gear, and is comfortable going down the highway or dirt track. It's super simple to work on, and I mean just about as simple as it gets. All this on top of the fact that it's a good looking bike.

You just gotta love those DR650s.


I know, you're not supposed to put those WABDR stickers on your bike until after the trip, but Erik got them for all three of us and I just couldn't wait to put it on there.

I think that it looks pretty good right there myself.


Look at the little stream that runs right by our camp. I tell you, just perfect.


We're all set up and waiting for Mike's arrival, so we decide to head to the lake for a swim.


It was refreshing to have a dip after a hot dusty day on the trail.

No boulder lifting competition this time around.


Mike finally makes it after quite a jaunt from Puyallup, WA, up to Conconully. I bet he was tired of sitting on that KLR.


Right away when Mike arrived this little dragon fly landed on his shoulder and did not want to leave. You could pet it and everything. Crazy!


We headed to the restaurant just down the street from the camp ground for some frosty beverages and some dinner. Mike and I were feeling pretty good with our light beers, but Erik was feeling the burn, literally...


When we were parking the bikes at the restauraunt, Erik leaned the X over on the side stand giving the pipe the opportunity to do a nice brand job on his leg.

If you zoom into this pic, you can see a screw head perfectly branded into his flesh. Ouch. He was a sport about it though.


Back at camp he gives the burn some attention.


We didn't have a proper compress bandage, so he cut off a sock and made it work.


Check out the wire fencing they put around the bases of all the trees here. It's there to keep the beavers from gnawing the trees down.


Not long after it got dark the creatures emerged from the woods.


With eyes peering from the bush, the three of us crawled into bed for some much needed shut eye. This would end day 4.

Great report and pics.

Rear brake failure was likely boiling brake fluid. Unlike whiskey, brake fluid does not get better with age. It absorbs water which lowers the boiling point. Flush your brake fluid, use more cowbell going downhill and less rear brake. Use your front brake more, your not riding a Harley

Erik seemed to be sleeping well in the early morning despite his burn.

Wake up, buddy! Time to pack it up.


The whole town was crawling with deer. Big and little ones.




We headed out of Conconully and up into the dirt for the last time.

Honestly, I was very sad to be on the last leg of our journey. It's difficult to describe how this feels, but I'm sure that those that have known the feeling know exactly what I am talking about.


The day offered some great riding with some great friends.

There goes Mike.


Most of the forest around this area looked like this. Very dead.

Mike and Erik cutting up the roads having a ball.


Some shots of the ride that day...




We found this lodge in the meadows just off of Cecile Creek Rd. There was a cattle run near by, so I wonder if the lodge was used by cow hands tending the heard.


I really liked the construction of the corner of the cabin. Very earthy.


A cattle run nearby the cabin.


The deep, fairly good sized rocks in this downhill section proved to be a bit of a PITA. Good practice though, and once again, Mike beets the trail down like it's no big deal.


Dropping down out of the dirt for good. The valley down below was beautiful, but the mood was low.


Back on the highway headed to Loomis, WA we decide to stop at the Split Rock lake rec. area for a quick break.


We chatted with this character heading down to the lake. He was holding a kitten.


I have no idea what he was doing with the cat, but the poor little thing didn't look too happy. :-(


On the way to Loomis and Nighthawk, I noticed this statue standing along the side of the road.

Some kind of deep sea diver I guess. At any rate, it was pretty creative. Look for it when you do the trip.


Heading up the highway towards Canada.


There she is, the grand country of Canada.

Did you just fart, Terrance?


We headed up the the front door of the Nighthawk border crossing.

This building looked to be self sufficient with it's wind turbines and very large solar panel array.



Looks to be a little Canadian school building just across the border.


The three of us started and the three of us finished. That's all that matters in my book.


From the Nighthawk border crossing we headed east on the highway to hookup with hw97 headed towards Winthrop. On the way down, we noticed a lot of people down in the river dredging for gold. That looks like some hard work.


In Winthrop, we stopped in at Jack's Saloon for some dinner. This was my favorite meal of the whole trip.


We were all satisfied.



After dinner we packed up, fueled up, and hit the road headed for home.


I arrived home at about 2300. Satisfied with having done a great trip with great friends, but ready to sleep in a proper bed for the first time in 5 days.


This marks the end of our 2012 WABDR adventure.

It's been less than a month since I returned from a five day ride and your RR planted the bug once again. Good job.

Great conclusion of a short, yet great RR.
Friendship is what really counts.

Thanks for takin´ us with you.

But hey...erm...why two RRs of one ride?!

Loved the report.
The scenery. Just......Wow !
The roads .... awesome.
The commaradery

I'm ready to go.

Nice report !! We;ll be there 9/1 running north to south.
ps, Mike still lookin like he's rather be somewhere else

TRM,
Great RR....

Uh....that would be our customs office:

THE sweetest border crossing on the 49th in my opinion:




I will be in Conconully at the end of the month and will use it as a base for backroading for 4 days.....looking forward to it..

Lots of cool stuff to see in that part of WA.

hey rivermonster!
Sorry I'm late - I didn't know you were doing your own RR, too.

That pic I posted in Erik's thread wasn't the best. I found another one, but still not a great one.
Aw, I should have made you guys pose nicely so I could get a good photo




You did a fantastic job with your report - I think we all feel the love you have for the WABDR
It's sad being home, isn't it?


I hope I didn't get you in trouble with Mike
(I was just kidding around! I forgot - what happens on the trail, stays on the trail...)
It's great that you 3 were reunited for the last bit of the ride, Matt and I were happy to hear it.


Too bad you missed the jungle! It's really not a big deal, though.
We got it on video, but it will take a while to get to that part of my RR.
At any rate, now you have an excuse to go back...

kelly

TK-LA: I feel ya, but it hasn't taken me a month. I'm ready to go right now. I would love to take my family on a trip like that on motorbikes. I think that would be awesome.

Olorin_the_13th: It really is priceless being able to head out on a trip with good friends like Mike and Erik. I'll have to say that I love those fellas even though they are PITA's. BTW, two ride reports here because I felt Mike and Erik's was getting a little busy and mine would have blown it through the roof. I feel it's simpler this way.

Vinbowie: Thanks for the words! It was all around a super great trip besides Erik doing that job on his leg. Get out there and rip those roads up, man! Just make sure to take your time, see the sights, and be safe. Watch out for those logging trucks in section 5 as well as the super deep bull dust in that section.

DockingPilot: Thanks, man! I know that you were following Mikes RR, so you may know a bit more of the story then some. The pic you refer to - I think that Mike had fun that day, but I know that he did want to be heading home. I'll elaborate more on this later in the report.
North to south eh. Let me know how that goes. It seems that the trip would be more difficult going that direction. Do you plan on writing a RR?

motoged:Was that your black GS1200 parked in the parking lot of the customs house? If so, thanks for the chat and the pics. If not, why the hell didn't you come out and talk to us? :huh Edit: I just realized looking at the pic that you included with your reply that the building that I formerly called the school house is your customs office. I retract my school house lable and I must say, that is a very nice customs office. Quite possibly the nicest on the 49th to be honest.
I love that area, and am jellous that you get to claim it as your backyard. Have fun playing up by Conconully, and watch out for that guy with the kitten. If you find out what happened with that kitten let me know.

wohooo. only on page 1 and already lots of pics.

been waiting for this, wabdr is on my calendar, not this year though.

subscribed!

Yes.

Hey, Kelly! It's good to hear that you and Matt arrived home safely.

You mentioned not having gotten a great pic of Erik and I. You know, one thing that really sunk into me on this trip (and not really till we got home unfortunantly) is that the pictures are so important. I plan on putting a lot more work into my pics in the future, and slowing down and taking the time to make sure that I get the best shots I can. Also, I should have collected more info from you guys, as well as the rest of the riders that we met on the trail if not just to shoot a message saying that the RR is up, but to check in from time to time just to make sure everybody is safe. It really is great meeting people like yourselves on the trail.

As for Mike, don't worry about that guy. We talk about him behind his back all the time, like how he wishes his KLR was a Harley.
Mike's a pretty great guy.

Thank you for your kind words about the report. One thing that I was hoping to do was describe to other potential riders of the WABDR what it is like. I honestly don't feel like I did the best job in that department, but I think that it captures the essence of the trip nonetheless. However, like you said, it is a bit sad when the adventure ends.

No worries about the jungle. I hope to get back to that section soon and hit the jungle on our way back down to the lake. I really want to see how big of boulders Mike can pull in a 3 man heads up compitition this time.

By the way, I was meaning to ask you guys how you like your SPOT emergency unit. Have you guys ever had to use it?

Page one and all the pics - the RR is over,man. I glad you liked it. :huh

NSFW, when do you plan to make the ride?

Great report!

Nope, that wasn't me.....my GS is an 1100 but it is black....the only colour a motorcycle should be

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