PLANNING/FEELER: WA Backroads Discovery Route

by **Saxis** » Thu May 03, 2012 4:48 pm

Stumbled across this from the Washington Overland Rally & Workshop thread in the PNW Chapter over at Expedition Portal.

WA Backroads Discovery Route

575 miles across Washington state, broken up into 6 sections with plenty of stops and crossings through towns along the way. 5-6 days for the entire route, but I'd be interested in doing a couple sections per trip. Probably start out at the beginning in Stevenson and challenge the first two sections in a weekend. The first section looks easy, mostly gravel road. The second section gets a little harder, a couple passes/valleys with some good climbs/descents with rutted road.

I'd have to seriously kick my build into gear and get more info on trail difficulty before I attempted it. Since the trailhead is fairly close to Donny, maybe I could talk him into it... :poke:

Looks like a group from Portland is taking the route on the way to the Overland Rally around the weekend of July 26-29th. Might be a good time to learn the route or get info on it's difficulty...

by **fishsticks** » Thu May 03, 2012 8:35 pm

Stevenson is 45 minutes east of me. I could definitely be talked into it. :mrgreen:

by **fishsticks** » Thu May 03, 2012 11:00 pm

I did a little more reading and as far as difficulty, there won't be much. Just a cruise on some fire roads/two tracks it seems. Sounds relaxing.

by **Saxis** » Thu May 03, 2012 11:31 pm

That's what it looked like to me also. Saw a few pictures of the second section with some good climbs and ruts which might actually need 4x4. Sounds good for getting my tires wet, and the views are supposedly spectacular! I wouldn't want to get into anything too difficult without having proper protection on the rig yet.

I just got in touch with a friend from high school who was the director of the PNW Overland Rally in Ellensburg and ran the route last year. Who knew!?! He might be interested in doing it again and leading the way. I guess good maps and GPS are very helpful if not required! He could also probably give me a good rating of the trails.

Edit: Indeed, it looks like we may have a trail guide for this!

Offroad Trailblazers and Envoys