I snuck out of work this past weekend long enough to attend a presentation held at South Sound BMW (motorcycle dealer) regarding the making of a Washington Backcountry Discovery Route (WABDR). This is a mostly off-road trail that goes from the Oregon border to the Canadian border. This route can be "ridden on dual-sport and adventure motorcycles or driven in 4x4 and high-clearance 4WD vehicles". I have ridden sections of this route before… but not all of it and not all at one time. I intend to first ride it end-to-end as a scouting trip and then will most likely pack up the family in the SMB and do it over again. As part of the WABDR presentation, there appeared to be only one section (called the ‘Jungle’) that I would avoid in our van due to significant overgrowth. WABDR is 600 miles long, so at a leisurely pace in the van it might take a week.
Below was the view from Chumstick Summit (June, 2007), which is part of this WABDR route.
I started a thread about it on ADV rider... it looks like a really cool route and I too am going to do it on bike first and then take the van on it with the family. I missed the presentation but I guess they will be doing another one at ride west in April. The GPS tracks are out. http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=620440
Also I did a big part of the OBDR last Sept on motorcycle. I was thinking that too would be a great van ride with a couple river crossings.
Nice.
I will be doing the OBDR this year on a m/c.
Personaly I would use a Jeep or Toyota for NW four wheeling over the portly SMB.
But I know you will have a great time.
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Two wheels or four, its all good. :-)
'10 E-350 EB V-10 QuadVan 4x4, SMB penthouse top, Van Specialties interior
Great! OBDR has been on my to-do for a while... does the south end of this WABDR pick up right where the OBDR ends? Would be a really fantastic combination given enough time to enjoy it all!
Great! OBDR has been on my to-do for a while... does the south end of this WABDR pick up right where the OBDR ends? Would be a really fantastic combination given enough time to enjoy it all!
Thats a really long ride. I took 7 days to do the OBDR and that was putting in a lot of miles a day. Thats a lot of seat time. I am thinking the WABDR is going to be about the same to really ride the entire thing.
Back from the dead!
Anyone make this in a van yet? Thinking of doing it in early July. I have read that it is overgrown in the early sections and will undoubtedly cause some pinstripping. And possibly some snow up higher.
Are there any super narrow, exposed sections that may be too small for a full size van?
Back from the dead!
Anyone make this in a van yet? Thinking of doing it in early July. I have read that it is overgrown in the early sections and will undoubtedly cause some pinstripping. And possibly some snow up higher.
Are there any super narrow, exposed sections that may be too small for a full size van?
This is on my short list too, but I may need to wait for my younger son to have a couple more years on him to tolerate the bumpy seat time.
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2006 E350 Diesel, SMB 4x4, RB50- "Hopper"- SOLD
Both OBDR and WABDR are on my list. Hopefully do one of them next year. Am figuring two to three weeks each.
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Larrie
Read detailed trip reports, see photos and videos on my travel blog, luinil.com.
Current van: 2002 Ford E350 extended body camper with Colorado Camper Van pop top and Agile Offroad 4WD conversion.