2013 D100 Alternatives

Last Minute Ryan, Ghostface KLR, Shotgun Ruthie, and MotoBum all saddled-up on dual-sports. It wasn't for the annual Stumpjumpers Desert 100 event. It was for fun as everyone had decided not to attend the D100 for 2013.

The planned route looked like this:

But we ended up just here due to snow:

Fun was had. We crossed a couple of locked backcountry gates and had a really great time.

Here's the (unlisted) dual-sport video -- Port Townsend Dual-Sport:

Swamp Monster, and his dad David, had a separate D100 Alternative at Tahuya.

Here's the dirt bike evidence video -- A New Ride:

TDC 2012 WABDR Run - Retrospective

Eights months after the historic TDC run of the Washington Backcountry Discovery Route, Last Minute Ryan (LMR), Swamp Monster, and MotoBum each take a moment to tell about their favorite part of the trip.

LMR Speaks - The Bike video:

Swamp Monster Speaks - The Escape video:

MotoBum Speaks - The Ride video:



The Dirty Crew will adventure again.




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Posts in this series:
TDC 2012 WABDR Run - Primer
TDC 2012 WABDR Run - Day 1 of 3
TDC 2012 WABDR Run - Day 2 of 3
TDC 2012 WABDR Run - Day 3 of 3
TDC 2012 WABDR Run - Retrospective

TDC 2012 WABDR Run - Day 3 of 3

MotoBum and Swamp Monster got up early and made a mad off-road run to the Canadian border on the third day. Doubts were had as to whether or not it was possible to do WABDR sections 4, 5, and 6, and then ride all the way back to Seattle in one day. It was.

Chumstick Mountain video:

Chelan hang-out video:

MotoBum had lost his WABDR paper map and Washington State Discovery Pass along a highway connector. Swamp Monster found the map and the Disco Pass arrived in the mail a few days later. An honest person found it and mailed it to its rightful owner!

There weren't a lot of stops along the final day's journey to chat, take pictures, film videos, or sign autographs. The 21-hour day-in-the-making was starting to take its toll. The last digital memoir captures were few and far between. And both Swamp Monster and MotoBum were getting loopy from riding, riding more, and riding even more.

Section 5 video clips:

By the time we hit Conconully, it was time to head for home. But we didn't. With only 66 miles of the WABDR remaining, and no glimmer in the eye for realistically returning the same year to ride section 6, we decided to get crazy and just ride the damn thing -- the whole damn thing. And damn the consequences.

Destination Achieved video:

Sections 4, 5, and 6 are fast, faster, and fastest. We went, went, went all day and most of the night in order to achieve the three-day WABDR completion goal. It was a bittersweet victory as Last Minute Ryan missed the second half of the trek.

Overall, the route traverses some of the most scenic areas of Washington State. Many of the roads just follow ridge lines that provide views that can't be seen from any highway. It takes traveling the road less traveled see them. And words, pictures, or video do not do justice to the amazing beauty that lies right here in our backyard. It must be experienced personally to be fully appreciated.



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Posts in this series:
TDC 2012 WABDR Run - Primer
TDC 2012 WABDR Run - Day 1 of 3
TDC 2012 WABDR Run - Day 2 of 3
TDC 2012 WABDR Run - Day 3 of 3
TDC 2012 WABDR Run - Retrospective




******* TDC 2012 WABDR Run Scenic Photo Gallery *******

TDC 2012 WABDR Run - Day 2 of 3

Day two and Section 2 (of 6) was the hardest day for us on the WABDR, both physically and psychically. After a great night of backcountry camping, we spent the day preparing and recoiling from the events that unfolded.

Tricky Bit 1:
Swamp Monster sees the baby-head sized rocks that make up the "road," stands up on the KLR, hammers the throttle, and scoots past trouble without breaking a sweat.

MotoBum stands up on his KLR, hammers the throttle, and winds-up sideways on the trail. Breaking a sweat maneuvering ADVstunt1 up the remaining bit, he makes it without actual incident on his not-wisely chosen 50/50 street/dirt tires.

Last Minute Ryan (LMR) uses his bald rear tire to spin-up a party and instantly tips over while trapping his right leg under the 450lb F800GS.

MotoBum talks and Last Minute Ryan talks crashing video:

Bonus Video -- Swamp Monster and 30k KLR Miles:

Tricky Bit 2:
All find a long uphill section with baby-head sized rocks a nice challenge on 400lb streetbikes.

Swamp Monster rides directly to the top of the mountain.

MotoBum rides up without incident after getting completely sideways a time or two... or three.

MotoBum rides all the way back down the mountain to look for Last Minute Ryan, who had trapped his right leg under the F800GS again while spinning up the bald rear tire. By the time LMR was found, the soft luggage had been unattached, the bike righted, and luggage reattached. Ryan was visibly upset that neither Swamp Monster nor MotoBum had been available to assist with the incident.

Section 2 did have many goods parts.

Three random clips from WABDR Section 2 video:

MotoBum Does His Best "Austin Vince" Impersonation on Umtanum Ridge

Tricky Bit 3:
Swamp Monster flies up a short but extremely steep and twisty baby-head sized rocks bit.

MotoBum flies up the bit, nearly crashing on both sides of the trail due to a wandering rear end.

Last Minute Ryan makes it. He did have a nice rest half-way up the worst imaginable place to stop though.

LMR Takes a Rest video:

As we rolled into Ellensburg to get our hard earned taco truck tacos, we were all sad to hear the truth -- LMR's leg was hurting badly. He'd be taking the I-90 westbound for two hours back home to Seattle. Dang.

Swamp Monster and MotoBum pressed on north of Ellensburg onto Section 3. Table Mountain. Check. Lion Rock. Check. Amazing vistas. Check. Closed-road gate. Circumvented. Large log crossing with loaded KLRs. Check. Risk death on 18" path next to washed-out ravine. Check. Burgers in Cashmere. Check. Camp 30 minutes north of Cashmere on Section 4 in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Priceless.

Road Closed... To Cars

No Problem. Right?

No Problem

MotoBum and Swamp Monster Camp and talk the day video:



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Posts in this series:
TDC 2012 WABDR Run - Primer
TDC 2012 WABDR Run - Day 1 of 3
TDC 2012 WABDR Run - Day 2 of 3
TDC 2012 WABDR Run - Day 3 of 3
TDC 2012 WABDR Run - Retrospective

TDC 2012 WABDR Run - Day 1 of 3

Leaving Portlandia in the early a.m. was only facilitated by coffee and gasoline -- lots of it. We didn't know how bad the WABDR section 1 would be. We were probably thinking it'd be worst-case-scenario with fallen trees, complete washouts, and bits so rough that only teleportation technology could safely get us across. The reality was more tame than all that.

WABDR beginning - we were making it!

We crossed the Bridge of The Gods from Oregon to Washington state, fueled up in Stevenson, and headed for the hills. Words cannot describe how amazingly beautiful Section 1 and the beginning of Section 2 were. But these videos shed some light on how much fun we had.

Section 2 -- Top of The World video


Section 1 -- Mt. St. Helens, GS, and a KLR 10-second video


We camped that night on Section 2.

Swamp Monster's Bike and Abode

MotoBum -- Blue Bike, Blue Tent

All the Essential Ingredients

See?

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Posts in this series:
TDC 2012 WABDR Run - Primer
TDC 2012 WABDR Run - Day 1 of 3
TDC 2012 WABDR Run - Day 2 of 3
TDC 2012 WABDR Run - Day 3 of 3
TDC 2012 WABDR Run - Retrospective

TDC 2012 WABDR Run - Primer

A subset of The Dirty Crew did the Washington Backcountry Discovery Route (WABDR) on a long weekend in late July 2012. Swamp Monster saddled up on the trusty first-generation Kawasaki KLR650, MotoBum on his trusty second-generation Kawasaki KLR650, and Last Minute Ryan (LMR) on his bought-the-night-before-from-a-dude-in-a-parking-lot 2012 BMW F800GS. The following posts document the excursion for posterity.

The WABDR Route:
> 575 miles in length
> 90% dirt "roads"
> Stevenson, WA (on the Oregon border) to the Canadian border crossing at Nighthawk (near Oroville, WA)

Trip length was three days, plus an evening. Leaving separately as a team on Thursday after work, we headed to party and stay the night at The Friend Ian's house. There was a lot of partying and not a lot of sleeping, but getting to the WABDR trailhead from Portland was much easier than trekking all the way from Seattle on the first day.

The WABDR is conveniently thought of as being six sections in length. The one-liner description, in our experience, looks something like this.

Section:
1 - Oregon-->Packwood: slow going, amazingly beautiful, smokes & liquor found in Packwood
2 - Packwood-->Ellensburg: camped, three tricky sections, lots of crashing, LMR was broken
3 - Ellensburg-->Cashmere: team tackles gated "road," large log hopping, and a dangerous ravine
4 - Cashmere-->Chelan: camped, Chumstick Mountain, fun and fast
5 - Chelan-->Conconully: fun and faster
6 - Conconcully-->Nighthawk: fun and fastest... then a long way from home

Some snapshots and snapshot-style video clips were captured during the micro expedition. The following posts in this sequence, representing our three days of the WABDR, contain words, pictures, and some choice unlisted YouTube videos. The videos are raw and rugged. There is no music. There are no other people. The audio has not been scrubbed. These vids are just as the WABDR is. Perfect.

MotoBum - The Poster Child for TDC 2012 WABDR

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Posts in this series:
TDC 2012 WABDR Run - Primer
TDC 2012 WABDR Run - Day 1 of 3
TDC 2012 WABDR Run - Day 2 of 3
TDC 2012 WABDR Run - Day 3 of 3
TDC 2012 WABDR Run - Retrospective