Some friends with BMW motorcycles are doing this run and I'm going along as a support vehicle. Others are welcome to come along. We are going to be leaving from Ellensburg on the morning of the 16th and likely finishing up near Chelan on the 18th. It should be a pretty slow pace and reasonably short days, and we will be doing dispersed camping along the way. I am guessing we will be camping once before Wenatchee and then once before Ardenvoir, although we could wind up going further than I expect each day. There are plenty of join up options or bailout points along the way, so if folks wanted to join for just a day that's pretty doable. We will leave the IHOP in Ellensburg at 9:00am.
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Sounds like a great trip! There "may" be a little snow on the North slopes. Do you need a sag wagon at all? I am sure there would be some members that would love to be the mother ship!
Yeah, we're a little early, so we're going to see what we run into on snow! In theory I am the support vehicle in my Land Cruiser, but more distribution of all of the all the required gear would be a good thing,
Hey, if you submit this as an event, we’ll throw it up on our calendar and push it to FB. Only takes about 2 mins. The form is on the event page.
I'm "in" ... as a support vehicle (2013 FJ Cruiser). My wife too ... Sounds fun.
Ok Dan, I submitted the event. John, once it's up can you register through the website? Thanks!
Will do, thanks.
Nathan ... I registered on Monday but am not showing up as an "attendee" on the event summary. Just wanted to let you know we're registered. Thanks.
Just so it’s handy, here’s the event page for the trip: https://www.northwestoverland.com/events-1/wabdr-ellensburg-to-chelan
John, I'm not sure; I don't see anyone registered either. Dan, any idea?
But, I received the email confirmation.
Looks like the registrations are showing now, so all good.
I ran up to Ellensburg and checked out the start of the trail quickly today. From the IHOP in Ellensburg it's mostly straight north on Reecer Creek Road, which then turns into FS35. The first few miles of FS35 were paved and clear, with the pavement getting a bit worse once it enters the National Forest boundary. There were a couple of spots where the paving was bad enough that the preferred route was a social trail through the grass. The snow began to get thicker about where the paving ended, and at that point the road is still marked as closed to motor vehicles. The weather was awesome and the views were epic. There were a few other people in the area, mainly sport shooters. There was clearly a lot of potential for pleasant dispersed camping, with several side roads, and the area around the roads is very drivable. Obviously this is much further south than we would plan to camp on day one, but it seems like a good sign of what to expect on the east side of the Cascades. With well over a month until the trip I'm optimistic we won't have any snow issues for our adventure.
Harney Meadows would be a good first campsite for this trip, assuming the first day is relatively short. The issue will be Beehive Road, which may still be closed after the massive slide I photographed on Memorial Day weekend 2017....
Yeah, that does look like something that could still be a problem. I'm going to work on identifying some alternative routes if we get blocked. Any particular suggestions in that area?
Let's discuss ! Here is a re-route posted on the WABDR page. Basically just avoids Beehive Road (which is gated at the Northern entrance from Mission Ridge Road anyway) and re-routes to Cashmere.
https://ridebdr.com/News/WABDR-Section-3-Re-Route
Scott, I've got the alternative track now, thanks. It does give the option of more time on 97 over to Cashmere if we want to cut out the loop over towards Leavenworth, which is nice as an alternative.
However, it looks like the Forest Service made repairs right after your trip: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/okawen/news-events/?cid=FSEPRD543593
Does that sound like the section you saw closed, or is that a different section?
Nathan any problems is we bring our dog?
Hey Nathan,
My Wife and I are interested in doing the Ellensburg to Wenatchee segment (Sat Morn - Sunday). I saw the signup is closed, do you mind if we tag along? (Plus dog)
John- sounds fine to me if you bring your dog.
Nicholas- I think it'll be fine if you join- would love to have you.
All- we'll do a quick conference call a week or two before the trip so we can coordinate on planning and make sure everyone is ready and has what they need. I'll put information here in a couple of weeks for the call.
You guys are running pretty much through my "backyard." I live in Wenatchee and have run that route often.
I might be able to do a pre-run for you, but can't promise that just yet.
Looking up from Wenatchee today, towards Mission Ridge, there is still a considerable amount of snow showing. I suspect that the "Liberty-Beehive" road is still closed.
If I get a chance I'll take a look at the route prior to your trip.
Regards, Guy