We live on the edge of two public forests......the Gifford Pinchot national forest and the Yacolt Burn state forest. Both of these forests have many miles of unpaved roads for the purposes of logging and fire suppression and they are legal for licensed vehicles. I bought my dual sport bike so I could explore these roads, get an easier experience of off road riding, and see some new territory. Carolyn and I have been on some of them in our 1987 Toyota four-wheel -drive pickup, and it's fun having her along, but it's a slow way to go. One of the routes I have been trying to ride for the last two months is a loop over to the town of Carson in the Columbia River Gorge, and then back to an area east of us called Chelatchie Prairie. (Prairie is what the early settlers called a clearing in the forest). The loop is a little over 100 miles starting and ending at my house. I have been trying without much success to ride this loop because snow has blocked the roads at several points. Today, though, I finally made it. A friend who has a big BMW adventure bike joined me and we did the loop between 9 am and 1:30 pm including a stop in Carson for gas and pie and coffee. The pic below shows the final narrow track through the snow that we had to negotiate:
This is pretty amazing to have snow at this elevation (around 4,000 ft) on July 26. I have several other routes I want to try that are even higher, so it may be mid August before I can do some of them.
This is Joe:
And this is me:
Is an "adventure bike" the same thing as a "dual sport?" And were you being a snarky Missouri boy about the "clearing in a forest" prairies?
ReplyDeleteAn adventure bike is more highway oriented, but capable of riding on rough unpaved roads. A dual sport is more of an off road bike, but still street legal.
ReplyDeleteI'm long past being a Missouri boy, snarky or not.
Very nice blog so far!
ReplyDeleteFollowed you here from one of the 650R forums - a 6n rider from Denmark myself...
Hat's off to you for the ability and spirit to still do this at your age; pushing 40 I'm keen to not let go of that kind of attitude! Kinda draws a sigh from me everytime I see someone with The Big Wilderness and mtn. twisties right of their doorstep. Denmark is too small and crowded for that.
All the best, happy riding! /Simon