Planning for Forever West 2012

[SilverBullet]

Originally Posted by blaisew

The only things left for me to do now are to get a rear rack for the Husky, and find some appropriate pants for my son who is returning to the states for this trip. The selection of something weather proof, with armor, is very slim unless you want to spend some big bucks. I keep hoping to find some Klim Traverse pants, used, size 30, but for a one time use buying new is a bit excessive.

For basically a one time use I would consider these. CE armor at the knees and waterproof liner, good value at only $70. Cycle Gear is close by so you can go take a look instead of getting surprised in the mail.
BILT Apollo Waterproof Vented Textile Motorcycle Pants

Or I personally recommend these as a great value at $80 but they are not vented and get hot when temps get over ~95 deg. Very rugged and better suited for off road riding than BILT pants though. These are the pants you saw me wearing at Big Bend.
A.R.C. Back Country Foul Weather Pants

_

[byways]

A growing wildfire--12,000 acres as of this note--is impacting area of the Forever West route in southwestern Wyoming. Please monitor this website. (Server is struggling mightily to keep up with visits.)

Here

Location: N42.43636 W110.62056

News release here.

Please refer to your Benchmark Wyoming Road & Recreation Atlas, p. 72, 4-G.

[Sourjon]

Originally Posted by byways

A growing wildfire--12,000 acres as of this note--is impacting area of the Forever West route in southwestern Wyoming. Please monitor this website. (Server is struggling mightily to keep up with visits.)

Here

Location: N42.43636 W110.62056

News release here.

Please refer to your Benchmark Wyoming Road & Recreation Atlas, p. 72, 4-G.

Thanks for the update. Here's a current perimeter in red overlaid on the route. That's La Barge Creek Road coming in from the bottom.


John

[blaisew]

Well that's the pits! Hopefully it won't force too much of a re-route, and it's still two months away. As long as the roads are clear we'll do it anyway. Lots of miles of the TAT was thru burned over areas. The only benefit was a clear view of the surrounding area. I'm heading shortly to a rally in CO and will have to go right thru the fire area near Colorado Springs. Pray for rain!

[byways]

Cell Block FW:

If you are among those who so generously have helped me defray the cost of developing the Forever West route, I would be happy to do what I can to help you plan around Wyoming's Fontenelle Fire, currently more than 45,000 acres and growing. Unfortunately, it appears to be impacting the western Wyoming segment of the 2,800-mile route.

Also, today I returned from further explorations in Montana with two new gorgeous mountain routes that could augment Forever West, although not so conveniently as the Fontenelle area. Just a few weeks ago, further explorations in the Great Basin in Utah and Nevada also led me to substantially expand it with excellent routes there as well.

In any case, since it is a grand loop, it provides options for amendment. So don't fret too much.

[byways]

Wyoming's Fontenelle Fire north of Kemmerer is currently more than 57,300 acres (evening of July 4). More than 800 firefighting personnel.

Photo is from www.inciweb.org

[Sourjon]

Wow it's really grown. Here again is the perimeter in red over the route. It has burned the campsite we planned to use. I'm sure there are many to be had.




John

[byways]

There are. No worries about that.

[Pantah]

Tony - I PM'd you. Thanks.

Blaisew- I have followed your planning thread and since I ride a Yam WR250R with the 3.7 Safari tank, I thought I could offer a couple small comments.

1. Fuel Range - I didn't need extra fuel for the Big Empty. I tested my WRR to 210 miles highway range and still had a little fuel left upon fill up. That is plenty for the Big Empty if you fuel at Farson, WY like we did.

The distance from the pumps at Farson to Atlantic City and down the Riverview Cutoff to Rawlins was about 175 miles. We made a nav error riding south on Crooks Gap by turning onto Bairoil Rd east to Baroil, but it was slow going and rocky, so probably didn't save us any fuel range. Certainly the Mineral X road would be the most conservative route since it is mostly paved.

My WRR is stock with stock gearing. I used a Wolfman soft luggage system packing about 35lbs. Our speeds through that section varied from 30-65 with most of it around 50.

2. Tires - The Yamaha will get plenty of range out of any tires on this route. The roads are almost all dirt or gravel, but they are maintained. The Oregon Trail was sandy soft in spots and could be tough if wet I am sure. I agree with Tony's suggestion the Michelin T63 is a great performing tire, lasts long, and also has the advantage of being soft sided so it's very easy to mount or remove by hand to fix flats. For me it's been a great sand tire too. I ran my tires at 35lbs to make sure they had range and didn't pinch flat on baby heads we might hit at high speeds.

If the Husky 630 is like my KTM 690, it will require a bigger rear tire than the T63 comes. I have lots of experience with Mefo tires on my old 950. A rear Mefo will last a long time and they are remarkably good in mud. Not so the Mefo front, though. My choice for the larger bike would be T63 or Pirelli MT21 front and Mefo Super Explorer rear. You should get the range you need on one set of tires and have a very good front end if you run into tough surfaces.

Hope that helps. Really great riding out there. I'm going back this September.

[byways]

Awesome advice, Pantah!

I used the T-63 for a long time. I recall getting something like 2500 miles out of the rear. Never got a flat. It was quite good on the highway as well, a real surprise.

Because I so often find myself riding long highway stretches between entry-exit points on routes -- and because I don't care for the exposure between knobs on knobby tires -- I've been trying the Duro Median, which I get from American Motorcycle Tire. (I have no affiliation with them whatsoever.)

It's sold as a 40 percent dirt tire, and the tread is reasonably knobby. It's real good on those long highway runs on my KLR, and seems just fine on the dirt roads I travel as well.

The current rear I have on is at 3800 miles, and will easily go beyond 4000. I've just ordered another set.

There are stretches of pavement on the Forever West Adventure Route. Also stretches of county-maintained gravel, as well as native surface.

[Sourjon]

Hey Ken. How are you coming along with the planning and prep? Would you share the name of the place you are staying in Oak Creek? I think we may do the same and I want to make some reservations.

John

[rallen]

Anybody have an update on the fire area as far as needing to re-route?
We are leaving from Santa Fe around Sept 13, and taking the GDR
up till we hit the loop. We plan on running clockwise, but I haven't
had time to look into re-routing the fire area.

[byways]

Rallen, if you're referring to the Fontenelle Fire in Wyoming, all roads in the area are now open, the Forest Service says. Caution is advised due to hazards from fallen snags (dead trees) and such.

[blaisew]

John, the place I looked at is Oak Creek Motel. Nothing fancy; just a nice little motel on the route that seems to be accommodating for rigs and trailer while we are off playing. I have not made reservations yet as out group is still in flux. I'm thinking it's just my son and me for this one, and we'll be in Oak Creek on the third, as originally planned. With just two of us, I may be a little flexible on the route and stopping points. My son has been riding crotch rockets in Korea for several years now, but should get the hang of gravel pretty quickly. It will be sink or swim, but he's a dirt natural and shouldn't have any problems. My fingers are still crossed that Craig A. can make it.

As for burn areas, I haven't looked closely, but as long as the fires are out and the road is clear, we are going to point the front wheel and go. Burned over areas sure aren't pretty, but you do get to see things that were hidden previously, some times for many years.

Just about everything is ready to go except for changing out the tires, and I will probably make the decision as to which to use when I get ready to mount them. 606's and K60's both on hand. How much wrestling do I want to do......


Ken

[Sourjon]

Thanks Ken. You guys have fun and be safe. We will be looking for your tracks. We hit the trail on the morning of the 8th and will be cutting off some of the northwest part of the track due to time so we may end up near each other towards the end. When do you plan to get back to Oak Creek?

John