Washington Backcountry Discovery Route

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SuzukiTom
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Washington Backcountry Discovery Route

Post by SuzukiTom »

Not sure if this is the correct place to post this, but this year I graduate to 4 weeks of vacation time, and I've been looking for a good long 4wd road trip to take the LJ on. In my research of possible trips, I came across this one that sounds like it would be fun:
"The Washington Backcountry Discovery Route (WABDR) is a scenic route across Washington State from Oregon to Canada through the Cascade Mountain Range. The 600-mile route follows a connection of mostly unpaved backroads that can be ridden on dual-sport and adventure motorcycles or driven in 4x4 and high-clearance 4WD vehicles." http://www.wabdr.com/
I'm not sure I would want to attempt this with a single LJ, so I was wondering if any other LJ owners would be interested in a possible LJ/Suzuki meet. It would probably take an entire week by LJ to traverse the route, plus the time to/from your particular home base.

Tom
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stevec
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Re: Washington Backcountry Discovery Route

Post by stevec »

That's in my backyard - I've been planning a trip with my local club for this summer. They have mostly newer Suzuki's, but I'm planning to take my LJ81. Did you have a specific time in mind?

My summer is already filling up fast; I think we were thinking the week before the July 4th weekend, depending on the snowpack.
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Re: Washington Backcountry Discovery Route

Post by SuzukiTom »

stevec wrote:That's in my backyard - I've been planning a trip with my local club for this summer. They have mostly newer Suzuki's, but I'm planning to take my LJ81. Did you have a specific time in mind?

My summer is already filling up fast; I think we were thinking the week before the July 4th weekend, depending on the snowpack.
I haven't picked a definite date yet. I still have some logistical problems to solve first, mainly on how to get the tow vehicle from the starting point to the ending point of the trip since it's not a loop.
July may not work, since we'll be attending the meet in Colorado. We're also planning a side trip through Moab, UT on the way back from the LJ meet that will add to the total trip time.
How late in the year do the trails along the Washington route close due to snow?
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stevec
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Re: Washington Backcountry Discovery Route

Post by stevec »

Anytime through September shouldn't be a problem; October may or may not be fine. After that you could hit snow in places. Going the last week of June may also be an issue, given the amount of snow we've had.

The whole "tow vehicle" issue is why I am planning to take the LJ81 and not an LJ10. One thing you could do is to start in the middle, say Ellensburg, and do an "out and back" run in each direction. Take a day to drive south, taking all the shortcuts possible, then run the trail from South to North, then come back South quickly, again taking the shortcuts. Having your tow rig in the middle would also be good if you have problems, as opposed to having it all the way at the other end of the state.
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Re: Washington Backcountry Discovery Route

Post by stevec »

The GPS waypoints are posted on their website (free download), and they posted some videos on YouTube Monday, one for each of the six sections. We're still tentatively planning for the last weekend in June, but we have a bunch of other stuff going on, so we may end up only doing part of the route (i.e. the southern half).
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Re: Washington Backcountry Discovery Route

Post by SuzukiTom »

stevec wrote:We're still tentatively planning for the last weekend in June, but we have a bunch of other stuff going on, so we may end up only doing part of the route (i.e. the southern half).
That would probably be much more practical for us, too.

Tom
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Re: Washington Backcountry Discovery Route

Post by stevec »

I got the map and DVD yesterday - looks like a fun, scneic route - 577 miles, almost all on dirt roads. Not much in the way of technical stuff - most of it can be done in 2wd, but it is close to some fun 4x4 trails. My local club, Wazuks, is running this the last weekend of June. We're just taking three days, so we probably won't do the whole thing, but we'll go from the OR border as far as we can reasonably get, leaving enough time to drive home Sunday afternoon. I'm hoping we can get to Hwy 20 (about the 490 mile mark); the rest is basically out-and-back unless you want to cross into Canada.

I can get to the OR border on good paved roads through Mt. Rainier NP, and back home over Hwy 20, without running the route backwards or driving on interstate highways, so it would be doable even in an LJ10. I might plan that for a future trip...
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