A Proper ADV Adventure

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Hudson

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Other than a few forest road excursions, I hadn't properly broken the KTM in yet, so I called a pal who rides a GS1200, and we made plans to do sections of the WABDR. That is, until mother nature interfered. The forest fires in Central WA gave way to thunderstorms, which brought mudslides. The rangers we called told us not to bother.

So we headed west to the Olympics, using some tracks pulled off the ADVRider forum. That would prove interesting.

Woke up at the crack of dawn, and gassed the beast up after having loaded up the night before.

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A guy walked up. "What is that? A dirt bike?" I told him it was a dual sport, a cross between a dirt bike and a sport bike. "Well, it's so clean it looks like you haven't been out in the dirt yet, eh?" That one stung.

Kyle and I high tailed it around Olympia up to Hoodsport, and stopped to grab some snacks.

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We took one last look at the Hood Canal before heading into the woods.

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We had planned to tail some riders who were doing the AltRider ADV ride, as we only had GPS tracks, not routes, and a scan of the printed maps showed lotsa squigly forest roads, easy to get lost in.

We found one rally straggler, who let us take a photo of his rally map. This was to prove both helpful and very confusing, as it is impossible to read forest road numbers on a tiny phone. Thereafter, we headed up to what we thought was the correct way, passing the end of Lake Cushman. It's one of my favorite camp spots, having been the first place I camped when I arrived in the PNW 20+ years ago.

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Ten miles later, we arrived not at the trail head we were expecting, but at a ranger shack. Wrong way. Time to get out the GPS and navigate to the next waypoint. It was ten miles back, plus another five miles.

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We found the right trailhead and began climbing and climbing. Ridges gave way to peaks.

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We climbed another ten miles before the road suddenly got very narrow, much more than seemed appropriate.

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Kyle walked out to inspect and while it was clear a slide had taken out part of the road, it was still passable.

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So we hopped back on and tried to avoid the boulders.

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Having gotten around, we continued to gain elevation.

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The views below were pretty breathtaking.

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But you had to keep your eye on the road, as it increasingly became littered with obstacles.

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And more obstacles. This did not strike me as the kind of route that 100 rally riders had passed through hours before.

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But the views were becoming so nice that I wasn't dwelling on the possibilty we had taken a wrong turn.

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Then this happened.

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No getting around a 20 foot drop into a creek. Not that we didn't look hard for a crossing. If we made it, the stopping point was 3 miles away. But...we had to backtrack, which took us another hour. By then, it was late afternoon and we still hadn't figured out where to camp.

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We got back to highway 101 about an hour and half later, and looked around for some camp options. All the state parks were filled, so we grabbed a couple of cold beers and a bag of chips to snack on when we found a spot. Kyle scoured the GPS and maps, and we headed into the woods using the next day's route, figuring we'd find a clearing to camp out.

That turned out to be another 20 miles up a gnarly dirt road, with nice shale and rocks since the rains had washed out the gravel. But the climb was well worth it.

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Got the tents pitched quickly, and built a fire using scraps and dead branches.

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Dinner was freeze dried backpacker lasagne with meat sauce, or chicken stew. I chose the lasagne. Kyle brought some decent vodka and a mixer, and we kicked back, traded tales, and watched the night lights come into view.

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I was feeling pretty tired given the early waking hour and having ridden for about 8 hours, climbing and decending numerous times, so I retired to my tent after 10 p.m. It had surprised us both that the campsite was littered with open cans of food, and Kyle had found a box of unopened food next to a pile of blankets, but we didn't thing anything of it.

At 2 a.m, I was awoken from a deep sleep by rustling noises. I figured it was a deer or racoon, come to vist for food scraps, but we burned our trash. The rustling got closer to my tent, and then I heard grunting and hissing. Not a good sign. I grabbed my flashlight, peered outside, and couldn't see a thing, so tried to get back to sleep. Then I definately heard human noises. That was it. I looked outside, and asked quietly "Kyle, is that you?" Silence. Then more grunting. This was not good.

I got my flashlight, which decided right then to lose power. Ok, switch to my cell phone and the flashlight app. I walked to Kyle's tent, and woke him up. "We got company." I figured it was either some late night tweakers, or we had stumbled on somebody's meth lab. I walked over to where the noises came from, and asked "who's there?"

"Crystal" came the answer, a gruff but clearly female voice. "Are you alone?" "Yes". Hmmm. Shining the light onto the pile of blankets, I could see they were now occupied. Whoever walked up here for at least a two hour hike. "Well...well, don't cause any trouble" I said, and returned to my tent. Sleep was fitful the rest of the night, but I nodded off, clutching my pocket knife.

In the morning, I woke early. Crystal was sound asleep.

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I looked around the campsite, but nothing was disturbed. The bikes and gear had not been messed with. I made breakfast, then broke down camp as quietly as I could, then Kyle awoke and came over.

Crystal was awake by then, puffing a Winston. We chatted with her a bit. She'd been down on her luck and walked up from Olympia, staying in camps when she could and visiting food banks most likely, which explained the box of eats.

I felt slightly embarrased. We had invaded her sanctuary. Part out of guilt, and mostly out of relief our stuff hadn't been burgled, I left some money with her and told her to grab a nice breakfast, whereupon she asked if either of us had room on the bike. The walk back to down was 2-3 hours by foot (which she had made the night before, alone and in the dark of night, with no flashlight).

But we were headed back into the woods, and while I didn't mind having Crystal sleep on the ground a few feet away (while I had one hand on my pocket knife), I wasn't keen on giving her a ride back to town, as I suspected drugs were one reason Crystal was out here by herself.

We got moving, but not before a quick pause to enjoy the sunrise. I kinda got why Crystal liked waking up here each morning.

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We spent another two hours playing in the woods, then as we were headed into the back country again, stumbled on this tasty one lane road, which unexpectedly went from gravel to reasonably well paved. It was about 15 miles long, and super twisty, with a few frost heaves thrown in for good measure. Totally FJR worthy. I reset the bike's settings to "road" and Kyle and I hammered away until we caught up with a pickup truck.

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The road turned back to gravel and we had another 30 miles of dirt roads, and passed by several lakes, including this one which looked to be a resevoir, as it was fenced off.

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By then it was past lunch time, and I needed to get home to preserve domestic tranquility, as did Kyle. We hit 101 and wound our way slowly back over the Kingston Bridge to the Bainbridge ferry, and got right up to the front just as the ferry was loading.

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Kyle and I both reflected on the short adventure, and then watched as Seattle slowly came into view.

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I never get tired of that view, even if I can't quite grasp why we have two massive stadiums, side by side, but no decent functioning rail system.

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While we both had to hustle home, we did make time for stop at the local tavern for decent burger and a beer.

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Jumping back on the bike for the final ten miles home, a guy walked up to admire the KTM, and asked where we'd been, what with all the dirt and dust on the bikes, our clothes, and our faces. Finally, I didn't have to make any excuses for a dirt bike that was suspiciously too clean.

 
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..and then, a knock on the front door, it was Crystal.

Looks like I have some 'xplaining to do with the Mrs!

Wonderful RR mi amigo!

Good to see you're taking care of my next ride. :)

 
You're missing some pretty great local riding without the knobbies, George! That Tenere would be quite fun off-road, but I would highly encourage taking a PSSOR course just to brush up on the off-road basics. It give you loads of confidence too.

I told Crystal I was already spoken for Don, but I did know a nice older Irish guy who lived in the sunny AZ climate, who might be open to a relationship. JSNF!

 
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You should have told her you were a lawyer, Dave - THAT would have scared her into leaving the premises... ;)

Awesome report - thanks for sharing. I can attest that the Tenere performs well offroad with knobbies. :)

George, we can meet up and I'll let you ride mine with the Twinduros installed to compare. I had the Heidaneau K60s and really enjoyed them, but wanted a step more aggressive this year. The K60s are solid gravel road performers, but nothing beats knobbies in the dirt.

 
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