Fall Dualsporting

I have a few posts left from this summer's road trip, but I wanted to put up something a bit timely.

Jerry and I've been out riding now that the KLR has been fixed (more on that when I finish the summer road trip story).

There is always something special about being out when the leaves are changing colour, it's cold in the morning and there is no longer any dust to worry about, though there's plenty of moisture.


We've been incredibly lucky and the last two Saturdays have been dry and warm... well, ok, not freezing cold ;)

Last weekend we went exploring in the Mamquam valley around Squamish. Since it was the first off-roading since I've had the KLR apart, I was a bit nervous when we got further in the back. But it was gorgeous.




Jerry's version of this photo ;)


Yup, we both wear dorky hi-viz gear.

We only stopped for photos on the way out. The sun was low even at mid-day and on the way in I was generally way to busy trying to see and wasn't thinking about the scenery.


We didn't go straight out, instead heading up to the "Lava Flow" are to do a bit more technical riding. On the way there we stopped to take a good look into the valley we'd just come out of:


The ride down was different than I remembered it because there are new powerlines and a bunch of single track has been removed. It's been a few years but I came through there with Bill on his 620 KTM years ago. Though the looks we got were the same. Something like "WTF are you doing in here with _that_ bike?"

Jerry and stopped at one point to talk to some guys on full on dirtbikes to make sure I was heading the right way and it's hard to describe how incredulous they looked. ;)


This weekend we headed East instead and rode in on the West side of Stave Lake in Mission.

Michelle and I had done some very minor exploring in there this summer. But again, the conditions were completely different. Gone was the dust and the pebbles, instead all we had was hard packed, moist and grippy dirt.

I told Jerry I'd take it easy and got a "Uh huh..." in response.

Three words: Dirt-Super-Highway. What a blast! We passed trucks, bikes and quads. :D

Eventually it got tighter and towards the end got a bit technical, mostly because of the loose and large rocks. Again, gorgeous spots along the way.






Untouched valley



Fresh snow on the peaks


Low clouds? High fog?



Good times


Stave Lake from the North end


After this we once again set a good solid pace out. Tons of traffic was heading in as we were coming out and Jerry said he'd never seen it this busy. I guess a lot of folks were trying to take advantage of the excellent fall weather, just like us.

We did a bit of exploring on the way out, including in some spots that perhaps we were not intended to go (is that what the gates mean?).

After helping me get past the concrete blocks and gate extension, Jerry's bike got very tired and needed a nap. ;)


My camera decided it had suffered enough in the cool conditions and the battery gave up. Great day of riding. :)

Fall days are some of the most fun on a dual sport. I'm not sure why, perhaps the fact that the season is almost done and you know there are not many days like this left.

2014 Dual sport road trip - Day 7

Leaving the lodge in Halfway after a damn fine breakfast Tony and I went looking for a ghost town that was just north of Halfway. One of the reasons we'd chosen it for a stop was it's proximity.

It was a short run till we left civilization behind



Or did we? This was immediately to the left of the picture above:

Now, you might ask, who needs a wifi hotspot in the middle of nowhere? Well, don't look at me, I don't have the slightest :)

Unfortunately most of the buildings in the 'ghost town' were actually occupied or had big No Trespassing signs, but there were a few we could get close to.





Tony took more photos of the buildings, I stalked this deer :)

Yeah, I didn't get all that close. But I had fun.

Our bikes, resting.


From there we rode west and even a bit north. At one point I wasn't sure if we were on the right path (note: GPS units only help so much), but we were and the road was amazing, and so were the views.




The road


From here we rode to "where the hills have eyes". If you don't know, consider yourself lucky ;) Didn't stop there for lunch after all though, but we did chat with a bunch of sunburned Harley riders. The looked at us rather suspiciously with all our gear on. Then we pushed on, further across Oregon and towards The Dalles.

It was damn hot, so shade got the thumbs up


Lunch was at an old diner in Hoeppner. The town had had fought a wildfire just a few days before and the entire town was surrounded by scorched earth. Pretty scary.

The last stop before The Dalles was an abandoned old house just off the highway.


That's not a bloody hand print, is it?


I sure hope there isn't some creepy mass-murderer inside!

Nope, just Tony :)

The bikes were getting impatient, so we mounted up and rode towards cold beers and food.



It's strange, but these days when I get into The Dalles it feels awfully close to home. I've made it back from there in a day, but Tony and I were planning to make one more stop. Though finding a room proved really difficult as just about everything we wanted was sold out.

But that's something for the next post :)

2014 Dual sport Trip - Day 6

I know it's been a while coming, but that happens ;)

We headed back west for the first time, though we also went south, so it didn't feel like we were heading towards home at all.

This shot turned out very well, I like how the bikes look ready for us to start the day.


Just past rattlesnake canyon, it was time to take a stop in Oregon








You can see some of the haze. We were now heading towards the fires and the rain at the same time.


Where we came from


And then it got wet. Leaving Enterprise, OR we started riding through some very strong wind and some increasing rain. The bikers coming towards us were wearing their rain gear. Tony and I were just in our jerseys and armour, which Tony did get a very positive comment about at the gas station, from a mother who liked the example we were setting for her sons.

Us? Role-models? LOL.

Anyway, we got through the rain, bit cold and slightly wet, but never enough to stop and put on the rain gear.


Beautiful red rocks around Tony


Mandatory stop at the Hell's Canyon lookout







This was pretty much all the blue sky there was ;)






I'll split this day in two and talk separately about where we stayed this night.

2014 Dual sport trip - Day 5

Up the Lolo.

Tony and I had several options mapped out for Idaho. But we also wanted to get into eastern Oregon, so we decided to hit the Lolo Motorway. I'd done it once by myself in 2009 and didn't mind heading back to it.

Of course I completely forgot how to get there, so I just kind of rode by feel. We were on a great road, twisty and fun and eventually, yup, we were in the right spot.

Easy gravel to start


Confirmation


Soon enough we got off the big gravel road onto the small Lolo motorway, the actual path Lewis and Clark took.


Along the way the big story boards told the tale


Just past here was the first rough climb and ... no Tony.


Turns out he got a bit close to one of the trees sticking into the trail and knocked one of his side cases right off the bike. No permanent damage and I didn't have to ride too far back to find him again.




The trail was much rougher than it was 5 years ago when I rode it. At the time I did see a grader working on it, so perhaps I got lucky. Our progress was slow, with both uphill and downhill rock gardens.

But we did reach some gorgeous spots. It was hot, so parking in the shade was the way to go.


Dusty too.


The drops offs were not too bad, but we were up there, over 6000 feet.


Not far to the very top.


Oh yeah, the view :)



After this it was still a ways till we got to the only cut out where we could get back to the highway. It was this or ride the entire motorway.



Even more dusty ;)


Since it was past 2pm we decided to cut out, hit the highway and head towards Lochsa Lodge and get some elk burgers. Well the fact that Tony would have run out of gas may have had something to do with the decision as well.

The ride out was a pain, either sand or rolling marbles. But we got to the highway and I _thought_ I'd picked the right way. Eventually it proved right and we got to the lodge, got gas and had some food. Out of elk but I had a very tasty bison burger. YUM.

I did hit the mother-of-all-bugs on the way to the lodge:


After a good meal, it was back to the hotel, another 2 or 3 hours of riding. It was smoking hot again when we got there, over 100 F. But happy none-the-less.

Back at the hotel before we went back for more mexican food and grade cervesas, this is what a good day looks like:



Tomorrow we'd head into Oregon and leave Idaho behind once again.