WABDR (Washington Backcountry Discovery Route) 2015

Hey I finished the thing.

I bypassed Baby Head Hill, the Jungle, and due to the Uno wildfire I had to skip part of Section 8 (I took WA-153 to get back on track).

I had my gopro taking a picture every 30 seconds, so I made some albums of the prettiest shots.

Section 1: https://imgur.com/a/PBqfb
Section 2: https://imgur.com/a/HgRRZ
Section 3: https://imgur.com/a/oHwQm
Section 4: https://imgur.com/a/0wvyq
Section 4 (my Baby Head Hill failure): https://imgur.com/a/G0wdM
Section 5: https://imgur.com/a/F87Ab
Section 6: https://imgur.com/a/HmnnO
Section 7: https://imgur.com/a/GN0Ph
Section 8: https://imgur.com/a/asQg7
Section 9: https://imgur.com/a/mUF4y

I totally missed out on taking pictures of the washouts in Section 5, and the Sand Trap of Death just before Ruby.

I take up the whole lane sometimes (I think my width is 76"). The old Jeeps they scouted these roads out with back in the day were narrower than me, and they only bothered to make a single lane, so the only thing I can really do is go slow and hope you are doing the same. I was hoping I could provide a better choice than 90 degree wall, steel bumper, or 100 foot drop

Good news and bad news. I found your flippy floppys. Then I lost them.

My buddy was peeing up on bethel ridge and looked down and saw them. I oddly saw this post when I was planning our route and it stuck in my head. I through them under my benchmark atlas which was under my cargo net. Stupid idea. They fell out on Bethel Ridge. Then so did my atlas

I was so looking forwarding to mailing them to you. I'm sorry!!!

Day one of the WABDR in the books! Rain most of the way to Packwood but the road / trail was perfect all the way!

Section 2, 3 and 4 of the WABDR in the books! Baby head hill behind us, a little chalanging but made it up and over alive with 3 loaded 1200GS'A! No pics but will post video in a week.

Snow and a little rain on the second third leg and ended up at the washout but decided against it due to skillsets and 700lb GSA's!

Leg 4 was awesome, high desert type sand but nothing to challanging.

Today is leg 5 to Conconully, weather is good and looks to be another great ride!

Impressed by the 1200s!
We did this last week on an XR600 and XR650L.

Looks like you were thinking about it Ojai Rob

Wait a second...how many months old are your pics? What's up with the snow?

We found the sand!! About an hour or so before Ruby!

it was snowing on the third part ellesburge to cashmere! It was awesome!

Right gear!

Rode that sand (moon dust) last weekend (I'm local). It was a very engaging road on the 950. The piece before the moondust/Ruby grade was MAGIC on the 950... great riding.

It was! I let my guard down for a sec and down she went! Soft powder is all. Befor that it was flawless from the start!

I wouldnt want to have to right that GS by myself.

I got stranded up on Slide Ridge on Section 4 Monday night and it snowed on me until around 9am. Fortunately it melted by the time the Sheriff's Dept. pulled my bike back up the hill... Good times.

More info please and thank you

I wrote it up here: http://curiositykillscolby.com/2017/09/21/wa-bdr-section-4-a-comedy-of-errors/

I have hear from a GS owner friend that those big GS bikes are easier to pick back of than the KTM 9x0 bikes. No idea if that is true or not. But he was saying that the way the GS is designed that the weight is down lower and they don't tip over quite as far as the top heavy KTM do. Then again i got to watch 6 guys drag a 1190 up a muddy hill. It was entertaining as all get out.

Yeah, that sand was a bitch but I think the ride down to Ruby was pretty terrifying! That and the cows that were giving me stink eye!

Me and my GF finished sections 4 and 5 south to north and then north to south. It was a great ride! Getting some snow up on the higher passes and the rain has tempered all of the loose sand/silt to be a bit more manageable.

Wow, we had to end up skipping that exact section on the first pass which was the day your bike decided it was nap time. We ended up ridding from Ardenvoir to Chelan via the highway to make it to the end before dark. We didn't see a single person the entire 4 days, would have loved to come across you and help you get your bike out. I'm glad you didn't end up getting too hurt. A bummer about having to get the sheriffs all the way up there.