WABDR postcards

prologue
The plan was to start from the south and get as far as we could across a long Labor Day weekend. In order to start at the beginning, we first have to get there.


Entering Mt. Rainier National Park



Climbing to Chinook Pass as Mt. Rainier rises on the left



Windy Ridge: one of my favorite rides in Washington



Mt. St. Helens from the Windy Ridge viewpoint - use the parking lot on the lower left to get a sense of scale.

Here's our total route for the trip…

EDIT: this map displays the first leg, ridden in 2012. We completed the northern second half in 2013, that action picks up in post #19


We covered the southern section for the long Labor Day weekend. Fortunately, it was also just before the forest fires escalated.



Southern start of the WABDR: WA side of 'The Bridge of the Gods'



Pavement ends. Say hi to Mike as you go past.



Typical forest road on the southern section



Mike in motion



Time for a nap. I have, ah, 5 of these across the trip.

Based on a tip from southbound WABDR riders (Peter and Stefan, their trip report is <a href="
http:// advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=830651">here</a>), we followed the "easy" path around Bethel Ridge and took the side trip up to Timberwolf Mountain. It was spectacular.



We went to the mountain top.



360 view of this.



A father and his son were flying radio controlled gliders in the thermals...check out the glider on the left.



Glider transport



Timberwolf summit



Morning view from Timberwolf



This is me



Mike on Timberwolf



Outhouse on Timberwolf. Don't go in there. Seriously.



Sunrise on Timberwolf

We camped in a meadow just below the summit at 6000 feet.


Meadow through the trees



Tent site for the night.



Upper meadow at Timberwolf...you can just pick out my green tent on the left edge of the grass



Meadow road



The Biolite stove is slick - great for warmth, and it will charge a GoPro.



One more meadow picture

We were climbing a rocky section just north of 410 when my front wheel slide to the right and the bike decided to take a short cut up the cliff.


No damage to the bike, but I did need Mike's help getting this back on track.



Let's get this bike up the hill


Mike captured this recovery on video, which I'll share at the end of the trip report. The first photo above doesn't quite share the exposure of the hill to the left of the trail, it's a significant drop.

Thanks for posting nice WABDR pics!

Timberwolf Mtn is now on my list! Nice!

What a beautifull area. Your pics are terrific. What camera do you use.

This one is close enough to home I will need to put it down on my to do list. Great camera work to boot. Thanks for sharing

...for the kind words and feedback. Timberwolf turned out to be a real gem. Hat tip to Stefan and Peter for the discovery on this, I just turned the stop into a photography workshop, and we were delighted to park there for the night. The glider guy we met on top seems like a regular, and we encountered a few 4x4s making pilgrammage to the mountaintop. So it seems like a good local hidey-hole, so to speak.

On the camera front, both Mike and I carry a Canon S100 for quick shooting on the bike. It slips into a gear pocket easily, shoots RAW, and carries good vibrancy and sharpness. I also use a Canon 50D with 17-40L lens + polarizer for when I'm off the bike and can walk around. Both camera types were used in the above posts, and you'll see the mix again in the Table Mountain sequence coming up next.

Frankly, the real key to both the Timberwolf and Table Mountain series of photos - we arrived as the sun was going down, and the light was just magical.

More road shots...



Morning sun hits the road



NF 1712



Checking out the house for sale. Great view, no cable.



South of Ellensburg

Great RR and pics!

Great pics, thanks for posting

Thanks for the compliments! The WABDR is a great trail, and we had a great time. Highly recommended.

Mike scored an epic campsite on Table Mountain, a couple of hours north of Ellensburg.



Glamour shot on Table Mountain



View from Table Mountain...best shot of the trip thanks to the fading sun.



The hammock pitch



Pull up a chair and enjoy the sunset



Long shadows



Going, going, ...



Sunrise shadows

I'm mike in the above photos...It was a great trip - thanks for posting all of this and I can't wait to get to the second half. Table Mt. was a big highlight on the trip. the route was fun and the views amazing. and captured well due to the great photographic skills of Craig.

Great trip Mike! Can't wait to finish it off next year.

We're in the home stretch now, a couple more scenics to share before the closing credits start rolling...



Heading into Wenatchee



Yet another beautiful view. This stuff is addicting.

Here are video highlights of the trip, including the bike save outside Route 410. A bunch of helmet cam footage will give new folks a sense of the roads, and the action picks up about 90 seconds in.


<IFRAME height=337 src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/49129096?color=ffffff" frameBorder=0 width=600 allowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen webkitAllowFullScreen></IFRAME>
WABDR - South to North - Stevenson to Wenatchee.

More photos available on my SmugMug gallery here.

Wenatchee marked the end of the trip for us, the weekend ran out and we had return to our regular weekly programming. We completed the rest of the WABDR in 2013, which starts in the next post.


cue closing credits&#8230;now

One year passes…

With the first leg explored and recorded for posterity, we went after the second half in this past August. Just let's just pile on to the original thread and pick up where we left off.



Start with the big rock on the left in Cashmere, and the little rocks show where we spent the night.



Say hi to Mike



And the fun begins. Truth be told, this part wasn't too bad, even on Tourances.



I had a hard time on this section, dropped the bike twice. :0 All of the pre-ride guidance recommends knobby tires. I did the second leg with Tourances on the front and back, so it's doable. You'll just wish you had put knobbies on, I would have enjoyed those sandy bits a little more. Nevertheless, I only dropped the bike 4 times across the three days.



The intrepid explorers



Our view of what's left of the forest fires. Lots o' smoke.



We had hoped to make it to 25 Mile State Park the first night, we were running out of daylight and energy so anchored here for night one.



And we were short of water…fortunately, it drizzled over night, and we captured just enough to make morning coffee.

great report. I just did some of the WABDR two weeks ago. Such a great experience for a noob like me with only 3 yrs riding under my belt.

Did you guys hut the jungle area of 8410?? Or take the bypass that continues along 8410