I, of course, have to work during the week, so the idea was for me to drive down Friday, hang all weekend, then bolt back over the pass and go to work all week, then bolt back over the pass next Friday nite for the remainder of the weekend, then drive her home. Its best that the in-laws only get small doses of me.
The
is not just in the "staying" but in the "travelling" too. So...The most scenic route over the pass is Hwy 20, the northern most route that actually closes all winter due to snow fall. My friend Jerry told me that if I go ahead and take Hwy 20 to Winthrop, (coolest one stop sign town in Washington) I could take fire service roads south thru the mountains 100 miles to Chelan, and most of it unpaved.
Friday nite we arrived in Winthrop, hit the fire service roads after sunset, drove until we found a nice little clearing off a 2 tracker, slid out the Guacho couch and slept.
Saturday, we awoke to the morning bird chatter, cool mountain air, and sunshine trying to pry apart the forest canopy. Decided to make a B-Line for a scenic vista to make coffee and breaky.
The driving was great. A couple of extra curricular hill climbs,(I couldn't resist), but nothing too challenging for the van. Only saw 2 trucks and 2 parties of dual sport motorcycles the entire hundred miles. Great views, perfect weather, and the scenery changed from evergreen forest to shrub steppe somewhere in between.
As we passed Nelson Butte, we hit a steep section with rocks and minor washouts. As we did only 10 mph down the hill, I hinted "I could ride down this twice as fast". Jen said, " Go ahead, I'll pick you up at the bottom". So I got my mountain bike off the back of the van and rode the last 25 miles into town. The steep section was pretty sweet, but soon got out of the forest and into the 90 degree sun, and it definitely wasn't all down hill.
Jen finally caught me on the first real uphill, and I waved helplessly as my chic and my Astro both got me with the Louisiana Move (Blew By You!)Jen is still over in Chelan. She put pics on photo bucket for me. Here's an unedited slideshow if anyone wants to see, starting with a link to google maps showing the route. Winthrop to Manson was the (more) fun part.
This weekend, I'll drive strait to Chelan Friday nite, then Saturday morning meet up with Jerry to do another multi-rig day trip of fire service roads from the south west side of Chelan, as opposed to the northeast approach we did last weekend, solo. Oh, at Matt Meade, you, sir, are still invited.
The route: may have to copy and paste(?)
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&g ... 5&t=p&z=11
The unedited slide show:
http://s232.photobucket.com/albums/ee25 ... =slideshow
Next Saturdays trip:
http://www.pnwadventures.com/forum/trip ... -08-a.html
Cheers,
Tom
!
