I left my house with no clue where I wanted to go...

[WhoIsWardLarson]

Hello. I've never posted here but I've been lurking for a while, and finally bought a bike capable of highway speeds ('82 Yamaha XJ650). It's not an adventure touring monster or anything but it works for me! It may be old and ugly, but it's mine.

I woke up this morning to a gorgeous 90 degree day with no clouds in sight. It seemed like sort of a crime to waste it inside so I decided to pack my camera, some peanuts, a few gatorades, a swimsuit and a towel and see what I could find. My basic goal was to go swim a bit and do some exploring. That I did.



I hopped on, spent way too long trying to take this self portrait^, and I was off. I decided to head north on Hwy 97 Alt toward Chelan. I stopped after a half hour or so to check out Rocky Reach Dam, a hydroelectric dam with a visitors center and museum and stuff. I wanted to be a tourist in my own town, and decided since I hadn't been to the dam since second grade, I might as well check it out now.

This is a turbine just like the ones inside the dam. It's like 30 feet tall and it spins at crazy speed (propelled by the water rushing through the dam) to create electricity. Our electricity is sold to us "at cost" via out public utility district. Pretty cool stuff, and power is ultra cheap here.






I headed into the visitors center, was metal-detected and passed through. Decided to check out the fish ladder viewing area where you can watch fish as they swim on the man-made ladder bypassing the dam. The ladder system covers one mile upon which the fish climb 97 vertical feet. This cuts down on the number of fish killed by the dam.


The viewing area is about 10 feet below the surface of the ladder, so you see fish close up:




This is the fish ladder from outside (and above, of course):


After I was done with being a dam tourist I went further north on Hwy 97 toward the town of Entiat. I turned just before the town on a road that had signage indicating trails and camping areas. I tooled up that road for about 15 miles before finding a neat little trail, only about the width of a full-size truck, but paved pretty nice. It was shrouded by vegitation and flanked by a creek on the left side. Very cool riding road, lots of curves, and the width makes 30mph feel like 60mph!

This is at the top where the road widens and becomes chip-seal paved:






After descending a ways I stopped and parked by the aforementioned creek. Stripped off my clothes and threw on a swimsuit and took a nice, refreshing dip into some 50-60 degree snowmelt-fed creek water. Spend probably an hour here eating peanuts and drinking gatorade. Only saw one car the whole time I was there. Nice and remote for a beautiful friday afternoon.









Probably looked like a total goof taking my own picture, but I wanted the memories

Pre-plunge:


Post-plunge:


I think the deer liked this spot too:


On the way home I ran out of gas, had to hitchhike to the nearest gas station, fill gatorade bottles with gas, hitchhike back, put bottles of gas in my tank, drive back to same gas station (on bike this time...) and fill up, before finally heading back home. All in all though, worth it!

[radianrider]

Great way to spend the day. It's not what you ride, it's that you ride. Enjoy the bike.

[PineyMountainRacing]

Nice pics - beautiful scenery :)

[pfloydgad]

Excellent first ride report. And that is a classic old Yammi you have there.
Startiing a ride like this is one of my favorite types of runs. No where planned, new experiences to be had.
Excellent pics with your ride also. Your off to good start, keepin that Yammi runnin is probably also an adventure.
Ride safe all.
Greg

[ADVCoot]

where the ones where I had no clue where to go; running out of gas made it an adventure ride that you won't soon forget. For your first ride report, I tip my hat(helmet) to you. You did a good job and the pictures were interesting as well, leaving us wanting more from you. I like your choice of bike. It'a all about the ride!

[Mastros2]

Originally Posted by radianrider

Great way to spend the day. It's not what you ride, it's that you ride. Enjoy the bike.

+1 Excellent report! Thanks for the share!

[Indie-tas]

Nice pics, great looking place.

[WhoIsWardLarson]

thanks everyone. glad you enjoyed it. I feel lucky to live where I do and I look forward to spending more time exploring it. I've lived here my whole 20 year life and feel like I've only seen the tip of the iceberg. Also, sorry for the watermarks on my photos, but i'm kind of tired of my stuff getting ripped off. hope it doesn't detract too much. I also can't say enough about this web site! Super inspirational!

couple of photos from this evening (cell phone, sorry) I took a 3-mile dirt road to a trail-head near town:





What do you mean "dual sport"

[Bocephous]

Great pics and a cool bike.

[DigDig]

Great looking bike and a beautiful area for a ride. Just walking out the door is and going is the way to do it !
Now put some miles on that bike.

[redog1]

I had one of those bikes, bought it from my mother when she quit riding. It was fully dressed with full Windstar fairing and collaspable side bags. Kinda wish I had that bike back. Black with blue metalic. Ride on and enjoy!

[ggoytia]

Awesome Trip.... thanks for the photos.

[WhoIsWardLarson]

thanks everybody. I kind of wish I could find a cheap fairing or at least a windshield for highway rides. also looking to get some saddlebags soon.

[whatsgnu]

Very nice RR ! Great looking bike also, as so many have said before....it's not what you ride, but that you ride ! Be safe and have fun

[acejones]

Wish I had some places like that to ride to. The Mississippi Coast sucks for riding, plus it's just so damn hot.