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Great trail across Washington state, OR to Canadian Border

7K views 16 replies 9 participants last post by  Oro 
#1 ·
#2 ·
My son is a forestry major graduate, and his first job out of college was in the Gifford Pinchot nation forest on a timber measuring crew. He lived in Stevenson Washington. I've driven some of those roads and many of them are fairly well maintained as they are used by trucks hauling logs. It's a beautiful part of our country. He no longer lives in that area but when he did I enjoyed our drives through the forests there. You will have a very scenic trip.
 

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#3 ·
itsmehb said:
I've driven some of those roads and many of them are fairly well maintained as they are used by trucks hauling logs. It's a beautiful part of our country. He no longer lives in that area but when he did I enjoyed our drives through the forests there. You will have a very scenic trip.
Thanks, I really think so, too. I plan on taking my step kids not long after school is out; it's dry by then and the weather on that side of the mountains isn't too hot yet (and really never is at those elevations).

I have to do some planning as I haven't done anything like this by vehicle before. I have a lot of off-road motorcycling and trail/mountain horse-back riding experience. So I'm not a "noob" in the woods or on trails or with a map, but I have to read up on what I need to think about and carry for the vehicle itself. It looks like that section, from the description, avoids anything very technical or that my M+S rated but still HT tires can't handle.
 
#5 ·
Sounds good to me! Count me in!
 
#6 ·
Cool, glad to see it got the same reaction from other people.

I am thinking about doing it the week before or after the 4th; kids are in school until the 19th. Either go across 90 and hit it there and head north, or maybe down to 410/Chinook Pass and then north from there. That sounds better as 90 would cut too much out, I think.

The ghost town at the end, Nighthawk, looks awfully cool to spend the night:

http://www.ghosttownsofwashington.com/nighthawk.html

Maybe then back through the Methow and the N. Cascades highway (haven't been there in years). Fun trip!
 
#7 ·
I used to live and work in Skamania county, so count me in.
 
#8 ·
If people are interested in meeting for some/ part of the trip, that would be cool. There's lots of camping spaces I take it, and heck, I'm sure my step-kids will get tired of talking to only me for several days. ;)

I will talk to their mom tonight and try to start shaping up some days, then look at the route in detail and try to count when/where we might be.

Update: So I think we'll do some pre-planning and take a camping trip out to Liberty ghost town/Roslyn area this Saturday-Sunday, mainly so I can get a burger and beer at The Brick. ;)

As to the trail, I think this is the plan:

1) Monday, June 22 leave Eastside Seattle area and go SE on I-90 to Cle Elum and pick up the trail from there.
2) Spend three days or whatever getting to Nighthawk ghost town up on the border.
3) head from there back down 97 to 20, then west over the North Cascades Nat. park, spend a night around Winthrop/Mazama; I haven't been up there in 10 years, we used to ride horses in the mountains up there every year.

Some other friends asked me to drive to Yellowstone with them next week (not in Trooper/camping), so I may be on the road a fair bit the next two weeks!

Question: what would be a good map set to take/have? Something that has the forest roads on it in enough detail to be useful, but not something overly detailed like the USFS hiking maps.
 
#9 ·
Hey man, hope you are having a good time! I use Gaia Topo app and you can download / offline tons of maps including NF routes. Just plan ahead and download where you think yer headed and your set. Been using this app for 8 years and mapped miles of the Cascades and Olympics with dispersed sites and accessible routes
 
#12 ·
Wow - thank you guys for those ideas. That was next up to figure out, mapping/trail software. I knew I needed some.

I just got back tonight from the 10 day trip, 3,100 miles. I'm a little tired but excited to plan the offroad/overland trip now. This last trip, we did 3,100 miles (not in the Trooper/slx) in 10 days but only five states. Nice. Washington/Idaho/Montana/Wyoming - back into Idaho, then Oregon to the coast, full loop back up WA coast and around Olympic Peninsula.

In a 2019 camry so only on roads, but now I am more excited to get off-road since I saw so many places I wanted to go, but could not.
 
#13 ·
Hey my wife works right across the street from the brick at the mexican grill!

Oddly found this trail too during lockdown and cant wait to get ready for it ourselves. After some weekend off roading up on lake cle elum I'm pretty sure 31s and a winch will be all we need. Best of luck!

Also onXoffroad paid version is pretty good but the free version not so much.
 
#15 ·
Nope; as I was gearing up for it the kids voiced their displeasure about it (or more, the younger girl).

We had a sit-down and they wanted a low-key vacation w/o moving around a lot. I understood their point of view, so we compromised and went down to Coos Bay, OR and then did little day trips around there and one down to the Redwoods in CA. Great time.

So it's going to happen, but more like next May/June when things dry out again.
 
#17 · (Edited by Moderator)
2020 June Hole in the Rock.jpeg
I got this planned (from like Ellensburg north).
;)

I am open to other stuff, and also in Eastern WA; I love anything past the Cascades. I will go there at the drop of a hat - In fact Thanksgiving afternoon I was so burned with western WA I went to Spokane for the night, then CDA and Sandpoint, ID, even a touch of MT for the weekend. ;)

I was on the phone and texting with a school friend from Kentucky just the other day; I was talking him into coming out this summer and we or he and his wife would take my trooper around the Olympic mountains in June or July.

I will ski through May and then be road trippin'. In Feb. I have some hotel res. for a few days, either Wenatchee to ski Mission ridge or Sandpoint to Ski Schweitzer a few days. I booked them in December cheaply. If I/we (my stepson, his school vacation then) go to Schweitzer let's meet up to say hello.

I posted this pic elsewhere, but this was above Liberty, WA early June 2020:
 

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