Washington Cascades Overland Tour 2007 – Final Thoughts

Over four days, I completed a 671 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.

Over these four days, my Toyota FJ80 Land Cruiser was driven hard, physically traveling roughly the same mileage that it would take to get to Los Angeles from Seattle via I-5 without leaving Washington state (is this what is considered “severe service” by the manufacturer?). Near the British Columbia border, the odometer on my LandCruiser also achieved the 190,000 mark.

Through all the abuse I dished out to my 80-series Land Cruiser (all these forest roads were not nice graded roads), the only mechanical failure I had was a broken catalytic converter support bracket (once I had climbed up the Bethel Ridge road I noticed a new knocking sound that was terrain specific). The only physical damage occurred while driving the FS-1701 on Manastash Ridge when I heard something hit (stick, rock ?) underneath the body. I stopped and could not locate any damage, so I continued. It wasn’t until I was at home, under the vehicle doing maintenance, that I noticed a dented rocker panel under the drivers door.

Had I known local road closures and conditions better, I could have eliminated some of the backtracking and alternate routes that I followed. I guess that’s why this was also an exploratory route finding trip.

Since I began posting my trip reports, I’ve received suggestions for several possible alternative routes to explore. Obviously, a person could substitute more 4×4 trails to the route, especially in the Naches/Cle Elum/Liberty areas. There may also more 4×4 trails or unimproved roads that are not clear on the maps that could be added in the route. Since I was traveling solo, driving designated 4×4 trails was not a goal for this trip.

After mapping out and driving this route, I’m hoping that this trip may lay the groundwork for an official overland route such as the Oregon Discovery Route (too bad the Oregon Discovery Route ended near Walla Walla and not closer to the Cascades).

My goal for this trip was to break down the North-South route through the Washington Cascades into manageable daily drives. I had originally planned each as follows:

Day One: Carson to Packwood.
Day Tow: Packwood to Cle Elum.
Day Three: Cle Elum to Chelan.
Day Four: Chelan to Chopaka.

The only day I did not reach my daily driving goal was on day one. Had I got an earlier start and eliminated some backtracking and/or driving dead end roads, it would have been an easily achievable goal. If a person desired to stay in comfortable accommodations, you could easily plan out each nights stay.

Would I do this again? In a heartbeat! (probably not this year though). I would rather have some friends/vehicles along to include more designated 4×4 trails. I would also add an extra day or more to the time frame to not be so rushed. I would also like to spend a day exploring the ghost towns and mines of the Okanogan region of Washington state.

Trip Summary:
Total Miles Driven: 671 miles (approximate)
Paved Highway: 95 miles (14%)
Paved County Roads: 158 miles (23%)
Paved Forest Service Road: 133 miles (20%)
Improved Gravel Forest Service Roads: 252 miles (38%)
Limited Maintenance Forest Roads: 33 miles (5%)

In case you missed some of the trip reports, you can catch up on each day by following these links.

Trip Report: Washington Cascades Overland Tour 2007 – Introduction
Trip Report: Washington Cascades Overland Tour 2007 – Day One
Trip Report: Washington Cascades Overland Tour 2007 – Day Two
Trip Report: Washington Cascades Overland Tour 2007 – Day Three
Trip Report: Washington Cascades Overland Tour 2007 – Day Four
Trip Report: Washington Cascades Overland Tour 2007 – Final Thoughts