scotty905
Member
Went for a little bike trip through Washington (April 17 - 21). Myself and two friends had hoped to start the trip by going on Hwy 20 through the Cascades but it is still closed due to snowfall. So we decided to take the #3 Hwyto the Nighthawk crossing near Osoyoos. The weather was cold and wet when we started and thought the whole trip was going to be pretty soggy. By the time we got to Hope things were looking better. Just as we got a littleoutside of Hope the clouds parted and the sun was beating down on us. So we got rid of some cold riding gear and really started to enjoy ourselves.There was a little snow on the sides of the road in Alison Pass.
Things were going pretty smoothly until we hit the Border Crossing. I handed the customs guard my pass port and Blair handed him his birth certificate and drivers license and Mark hands him just his drivers license. The guard says to Mark that all this proves is that you can drive and not even how well, now what's your citizenship (DOH!!!). So the two customs guys play good cop bad cop with him for a couple of minutes ( while he's thinking about the boring ride home alone!) and then they let him through. We then headed south towards Lomis and took some back roads that came out just north of Omak. This area was very scenic and the roadswere a lot of fun. Lots of cows and a couple of cowboysthat really seemed to like each other.
From Omak we headed south west past Omak Lake and followed the Columbia River. This was pretty laid back riding on paved road but took some gravel whenit was to be had.
We took the 155 south to Grand Coulee and checked out the Dam (nothing special) and continued on t Steamboat Rock. This was Hwy riding but the scenery is quite something. We camped at Steamboat state park for our first night after 600 kms of riding. We started riding at 7:30 and finished at 6:30.
We were a little sore after a long days ride so some painmedication was in order.:hb:
From here to Moses lake we took a mixture of Farm roads and Hwys (nothing to interesting). When we got to Moses Lake Marks bike wouldn't start. So he jump started it and went to the local bike shop and tested his battery and it was toasted! Luckily they had one in stock. We had to wait for an hour for it to charge but no big deal. Now off to the sand dunes:clap:. We off loaded our gear and had a blast.
Blair had a tougher time in the sand due to his worn deathwing tire.
After playing at the dunes for a couple of hours we got back on the I- 90 to Vantage then took the Vantage Hwy to Ellensburg. We tried to do some back roading but they were all closed to vehicle traffic for restoration purposes. From Ellensburg we took Canyon rd to Yakima and all I can say is wow. This is a major road but it is twisty and the scenery is amazing. No pictures of this road due to high speed and not wanting to stop
. When we got to Yakimawe headed off road for a place to camp.
This place was gorgeous.
We got to the top of a ridge and found a nice place just past here.
This day we only road 400kms due to the battery issue and having fun in the Dunes. The temperature was very warm right through the night at over 3000 ft.When we woke in the morning we headed down off of the ridge. The two very small dots in the picture are Mark and Blair.
There were flowers all over this ridge and valley. That's Mt. Adams in the distance.
This road believe it or notwas on the GPS.
Ran into quite a few wild horses.
When we got back down into the valley we came to a Native Indian Check point and found out that we should not have been in this area at all. The Guard at the gate said that it is a wildlife refuge and only Native Yakima Indians can enter this area. The roads that we traveled had no signs to indicate this to us. The guard didn't seem to be too concered and let us through the gate. So off to Toppenish for breakfast we went.
More tocome
Things were going pretty smoothly until we hit the Border Crossing. I handed the customs guard my pass port and Blair handed him his birth certificate and drivers license and Mark hands him just his drivers license. The guard says to Mark that all this proves is that you can drive and not even how well, now what's your citizenship (DOH!!!). So the two customs guys play good cop bad cop with him for a couple of minutes ( while he's thinking about the boring ride home alone!) and then they let him through. We then headed south towards Lomis and took some back roads that came out just north of Omak. This area was very scenic and the roadswere a lot of fun. Lots of cows and a couple of cowboysthat really seemed to like each other.
From Omak we headed south west past Omak Lake and followed the Columbia River. This was pretty laid back riding on paved road but took some gravel whenit was to be had.
We took the 155 south to Grand Coulee and checked out the Dam (nothing special) and continued on t Steamboat Rock. This was Hwy riding but the scenery is quite something. We camped at Steamboat state park for our first night after 600 kms of riding. We started riding at 7:30 and finished at 6:30.
We were a little sore after a long days ride so some painmedication was in order.:hb:
From here to Moses lake we took a mixture of Farm roads and Hwys (nothing to interesting). When we got to Moses Lake Marks bike wouldn't start. So he jump started it and went to the local bike shop and tested his battery and it was toasted! Luckily they had one in stock. We had to wait for an hour for it to charge but no big deal. Now off to the sand dunes:clap:. We off loaded our gear and had a blast.
Blair had a tougher time in the sand due to his worn deathwing tire.
After playing at the dunes for a couple of hours we got back on the I- 90 to Vantage then took the Vantage Hwy to Ellensburg. We tried to do some back roading but they were all closed to vehicle traffic for restoration purposes. From Ellensburg we took Canyon rd to Yakima and all I can say is wow. This is a major road but it is twisty and the scenery is amazing. No pictures of this road due to high speed and not wanting to stop
. When we got to Yakimawe headed off road for a place to camp.This place was gorgeous.
We got to the top of a ridge and found a nice place just past here.
This day we only road 400kms due to the battery issue and having fun in the Dunes. The temperature was very warm right through the night at over 3000 ft.When we woke in the morning we headed down off of the ridge. The two very small dots in the picture are Mark and Blair.
There were flowers all over this ridge and valley. That's Mt. Adams in the distance.
This road believe it or notwas on the GPS.
Ran into quite a few wild horses.
When we got back down into the valley we came to a Native Indian Check point and found out that we should not have been in this area at all. The Guard at the gate said that it is a wildlife refuge and only Native Yakima Indians can enter this area. The roads that we traveled had no signs to indicate this to us. The guard didn't seem to be too concered and let us through the gate. So off to Toppenish for breakfast we went.
More tocome
