With most of us well rested we again met at 7:00am. Since there were no issues on the trail from the day before I offered to let the group change there place in line if they wanted to. I guess they liked where they were at and no one changed. On this type of run it is a good idea to spread out so you don’t choke on dust. But we also don’t want to lose anyone. So at intersections where it is not clear which direction to go we use the relay method.  The lead stops and waits for the next rig. As soon as it shows up the lead takes off again. This ensures that no one gets lost while keeping the dust down. Of course if you do all the work to plan the trip that means you are in the front and don’t have to worry about the dust. The down side is having to do things like put together a run report.
And then we were off. Headed south on 97 toward Chelan. Amazingly Terry’s Tj was pulling the hills at a much better rate that yesterday. I guess his failing AC unit was sucking power the day before.  Where the road climes to Lake Chelan on Alt 97 we saw some possibly bad news. There was a triathlon in Chelan expect delays it said. In my head I quickly came up with a backup plan. If we could not get to the trail head we would take up the WBDR at Ardenvoir and then head south from there. You always have to be flexible on a trip like this. We stopped and did a quick top off of the tanks and headed toward the south side of the lake. There we found the triathlon in full swing. They did stop us but let us go through. We had to drive slow due to all of the runners and bikers but for the most part we were able to drive around them. At one of the stops one of the organizers shouted Jeep parade at which point several of us started our parade waves.  In time we made it all the way through the bike traffic and back to an open road. This is where we came to another possible issue. Up ahead was a road block reading local access only. When stopped the fire fighter said we could go through but he had crews on both sides of the road and asked us to go slow. I think they were clearing brush as there was no fires and yes we drove slow.
Climbing away from the lake we made our way up a small valley.
We stopped to air up along a stream where several of us watered trees. We later found out that we where only a few hundred yards from an outhouse but oh well.
We headed out again and climbed out the other side of the valley where I had a choice. Take the easy road which would be faster, easier but with less views or we could take the harder, steeper and slower route but with amazing views. I once had to write a report on Robert Frost so you better believe that we took the road less traveled.
Robert Frost Quote. Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference
The trail was overgrown and from the looks of it no one had been on it for a while. The forest was burnt out here somewhat recently which did also make the dust worse in places.
But the views more than made up for the lack of trail quality
We made several stops including a quick stop at an old radio tower.
On this trip we were using our CBs but also had the GMRS radios. We started to pick up the local water park on GMRS 4. Listening in was very entertaining. At one point we heard an employee talk about needing to take a pee and some personal time.  I am not sure what she was doing for personal time but she needed to take it. Wendy added to the water parks conversation and said something about a woman losing there bottoms. Although the water park could not hear us it did make for good entertainment for all of us.
We broke for lunch just before the top of one of the passes. It was a little on the hot side and on a steep hill side but you could not beat the view. We then started a long descent and I mean lonnnnnng descent toward the Entiat Valley.
Near the valley floor we aired back up and drove to Cashmere for another top off of the tanks before heading back over the pass. The views on the WBRDR are simply the best in the entire state but more importantly it’s about getting out and having fun with friends. We will be planning new trips next year.
We also saw a lot of animals this trip here is my daughters full list which she asked me to include in the run report. Cows, coyotes, dogs, rabbits, quail, hawks, butterflies, deer, horses, chipmunks wild turkeys, grouse, bees nest and mice.
We really enjoyed this trip and look forward to doing it again.
Curt Brady
Timber Tamer Run Leader
Cat Behavior Consultant
Big foot Tracking Expert
Chief of Prophesy Fulfillment
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