Overland explorations of the Pacific Northwest.
One of my favorite regions in Washington state is the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Once the snow melts in late spring, I make several trips to the area throughout the summer and fall.
Over the last four days, I completed a 681 mile adventure (not counting the additional 465 miles to get to the starting point and back home again) following an overland route through the Cascade Mountains of Washington state, stretching from the Columbia River near Carson, Washington to Chopaka at the border crossing with British Columbia. From my records, about 63% of the overland route was on forest roads.
Todays goal is to drive from Cooper Mountain Lookout (near Chelan, Washington) to Chopaka (border with British Columbia).
To Drive from near Blewett Pass (Cle Elum) to Chelan, Washington via as many forest roads as possible.
Daily Goal: To Drive from Babyshoe Pass (on FS-23 near Mt. Adams) to Cle Elum, Washington (I-90) via Bethel Ridge and Manastash Ridge.
Today was going to be a very long day. Not only would I be attempting to reach my destination in Packwood, I would also have to include the drive from my home in the middle of Washington state to the southern border near Oregon to start the tour of the Washington Cascade Mountains. My goal was to complete the drive from the Oregon border to the British Columbia in four days.
For the past year, I’ve wanted to map out and drive an overland route through the Cascade Mountains of Washington state from the Columbia River near Oregon to the northern border with British Columbia.
After a nice peaceful night in a hotel in Ellensburg, Washington, we loaded up the Land Cruiser and headed out for a day trip to the Quilomene Wildlife Area. After topping off the fuel tank, we met up with the Northwest Backroads Drivers group for breakfast. Today, in addition to the participants from the previous…
After a night of camping along the Yakima River, my daughter and I got up early, broke camp, and headed to Ellensburg, Washington, to meet up with the Northwest Backroad Drivers group to explore the Whiskey Dick Wildlife Area just east of Ellensburg. After a stop for a quad iced americano and to top off…
This year was the third year attending the annual PNW4WDA annual jamboree. As in years past, I volunteered to help ARB serve their annual Friday dinner for the event. This is always fun and a great group of people to work with. They do a great job of putting on the dinner. Since the event…
Summer in Western Washington usually doesn’t start officially (at least weather-wise) until July 5 of each year. Today (06.24.2007) was no exception. The forecast for the day was for rain and a snow level of 5000 feet. Since I worked the night before and my wife’s nephew was coming over for dinner, I had to…