Overland/Trinity mine 27 Jul 12

[BaddAndy]

A few friends of mine were set up to lead some offroad runs for the Overland Ralley in Plain WA this weekend. One of them is also a vendor so I asked him if I rode over could I sleep on his trailer floor and he said yes. So Friday I packed the bags for a short 2 day trip.
My route would be pavement from near Tacoma to Greenwater, then forest road north over Green Pass to Easton, then pavement again on I-90 to Cle Elum, Hwy 97/12 to Leavenworth, then Plain.
I filled up the tank in Enumclaw and saw my 1st of many fellow Adventurers I would see today. I was running into groups all along my forest road route going every direction. Talked to a few of them, we were all having a great day. No pics, talking too much.
In Cle elum, I pulled in a roadside burger joint for a tasty fishwich and fries. The pavement ride was uneventful except that I need a laminar type lip on top of my screen as the turbulence is painful. I skipped getting gas in Leavenworth before Plain as I would have plenty to last on the way back thru (or so I thought).
185 miles later, I pull up to Doug's trailer and he states "it looks like someone is ready for a ride". I'm thinking/feeling I'm done for the day. He says he's heading up to the old Trinity Mine/Ghost town site, 38 miles round trip, and that Don has already lead the Overland group up to there 15 mins ahead of us. I say lets go. Luckily, Doug's selling water and I grab a bottle as my camelback is almost dry. 10 miles of payment, then 9 miles of a very potholed rocky dirt road. I had to stop 10 times to reattach my GPS as it kept getting vibrated off (time for a RAM mount)!
All of Trinity is actually located on Wilderness land which starts at the gate in the pic. If you Google "trinity mine washington" you can read all about it. Don knew the old caretaker, so he's been there umpteen times and has an in with current owner. That is how we got in, and got a full walking tour with narration from the owner! Good thing I brought that water as it was very warm, especially walking all over in bike gear.
Photobucket scrambled the pics, most are in reverse. The 2 bike pics with the clouds are around Green Pass. The jungle with the water leads up to the now collapsed mine entrance. The brown house is the previous land owners, and the white are the currents.
I put away the GPS for the ride back and was able to pretty much haul ass back to Don's for tea, then camp. After we got back, I walked to the store and cafe in town(across the street), and everything was closed, a pizza joint CLOSED ON A SATURDAY AT 8PM? So I had some jerky, trailmix, and water for dinner. I told Doug that if I got up before he did, I was leaving. All night long I had BIG BREAKFAST on my mind.
Next morning at 7am, I again walked to the store and cafe for coffee and food, CLOSED. I'm outta here! So I packed up, dressed, said bye to Doug as he came out just before hitting the start button, and hit the road with the fuel reserve gage showing 19 miles to a 14 mile distant gas station. Needless to say, I made to gas(got 225 on this tank), A MOUCHA AND BIG BREAKFAST, and arrived home with a very sore ass. Bike and gear are now all washed a put away, nachos ate, race watched, and now letting you folks know how my weekend went. Enjoy the pics.
Funny thing is, I bought a clone of his GS that he bought a year earlier and I didn't even know until he found out I got mine, then told me at the Dirty Face DS ride last month.

[benwiggin2]

Holy crap that looks awesome.

Now I have top go back a read about it!!!!

[rich_e]

Nice write and good pics. Thanks! Can't wait to get out that way. Not much scenery like that here in the flatlands.