We started with 11 riders and picked up 2 more in Easton for a total of 13.Meetup at the North Bend Chevron fuel station at 10am. We will ride back roads up to Snoqualmie pass ending up in Easton. There will be fuel in Easton if needed. Then we will ride to Stampede Pass to Tacoma Pass then to Greenwater (there is also fuel in Greenwater).
There will be a couple of challenging spots. I would say a 4 out of 10 on the difficulty scale. This ride may be to difficult if you are a beginner or never been off road.
Your bike needs at least 30/70 tires to handle the rocky, loose gravel and rocky hills. This ride will be big bike friendly.
Bring your lunch and fluids to drink.
I will have a quick rider meeting at 10am then head out.
All are welcome to join me in Greenwater for ice cream :)
| Time | Minutes | km | kph avg | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6:14am | 8.8 | getting ready to go | ||
| 6:22am | 117.1 | 223 km | 117 | |
| 8:20am | 4.6 | Costco gas stop Tacoma | ||
| 8:24am | 34.0 | 43 km | 76 | |
| 8:58am | 27.9 | McDonalds breakfast Maple Valley | ||
| 9:26am | 26.1 | 28 km | 64 | |
| 9:52am | 28.9 | Mt. Si Chevron, North Bend Meetup Start | ||
| 10:21am | 24.1 | 29 km | 73 | Kickstands up, the ride begins |
| 10:45am | 4.4 | NF-55 cross the South Fork Snoqualmie River | ||
| 10:50am | 27.1 | 27 km | 59 | |
| 11:17am | 9.1 | Kachess Lake Rd | ||
| 11:26am | 16.8 | 13 km | 46 | |
| 11:43am | 10.7 | NF-4828 | ||
| 11:53am | 3.1 | 3 km | 51 | |
| 11:56am | 14.8 | Easton Shell Station | ||
| 12:11pm | 8.5 | 13 km | 89 | Highway stretch |
| 12:20pm | 1.6 | I-90 Exit to Kachess Lake Rd | ||
| 12:21pm | 23.1 | 15 km | 40 | |
| 12:44pm | 74.7 | NF-41 & NF-4113 Tire Repair(!) | ||
| 1:59pm | 9.4 | 6 km | 35 | |
| 2:09pm | 2.9 | NF-5200 | ||
| 2:11pm | 11.5 | 7 km | 39 | |
| 2:23pm | 4.9 | NF-7040, NF-5200, NF-5200-3 | ||
| 2:28pm | 16.0 | 8 km | 31 | |
| 2:44pm | 15.3 | NF-7040 (Valley View pictures) | ||
| 2:59pm | 12.4 | 8 km | 39 | |
| 3:12pm | 14.2 | NF-7036 (Rainier View pictures) | ||
| 3:26pm | 11.9 | 8 km | 41 | |
| 3:38pm | 5.5 | NF-7030, 70, NF-7210 | ||
| 3:43pm | 10.6 | 13 km | 73 | |
| 3:54pm | 1.8 | NF-70 turn onto Hwy 410 | ||
| 3:56pm | 3.0 | 3 km | 63 | |
| 3:59pm | 62.4 | Greenwater ice-cream | ||
| 5:01pm | 14.9 | 22 km | 90 | |
| 5:16pm | 2.9 | Silver Creek Visitor Information Center, "Where can I get gas?" | ||
| 5:19pm | 12.0 | 14 km | 71 | |
| 5:31pm | 28.7 | Hwy 410 and 123 waiting for tow truck | ||
| 5:60pm | 32.5 | 38 km | 70 | |
| 6:32pm | 7.5 | Gas stop in Packwood | ||
| 6:40pm | 133 | 218 km | 98 | Packwood to I-5 to home |
| 8:45pm | 218 km | Arrived home | ||
| 14h28m | 8h35m moving | 728 km | 84.8 kph | 59% moving, 354 minutes of breaks |
It's notable that I never felt like I hit anything hard. I didn't check tire pressure before the trip, but I think it was good. The decal on the bike recommends 29 psi. I pumped it up to 36 psi after the repair and rode a bit more conservatively afterwards.
TBD I need to put together an off-road tool-and-spares kit for each bike I ride off-road. It should contain at least:
At about 5pm, I begged off as I still had about 3 hours to ride home and I'm still on Central European time, so it already feels like 2am.
I only have 2 bars showing on my gas gauge and think I have maybe 50 miles of fuel remaining. I can head West and have a long, ugly ride home or South and have a pretty ride. I hope there's gas somewhere along the way. I proceed at 50 mph to get best mileage.
After about 20 miles, I stop at a ranger station to ask where I can find fuel. She says equal distance back and foward, so I proceed on towards Packwood. She says about 35 miles. I'm pretty sure I'm good for that, but maybe just barely.
At the turnoff from Hwy 410 to 123, there's a traffic pause while they pull a car back up that went over the edge. We wait around for about 28 minutes.
From here it's mostly downhill to Packwood. I ride a few miles of it with the bike off, coasting in neutral.
A lot of it is at 80 mpg or more. Made it into Packwood with 1 bar showing, but not flashing yet. Got exactly $20 of fuel at $5.299/gal and see that I averaged 50 mpg since Tacoma. The Africa Twin gets pretty good mileage flogging in in the dirt. The spec is 4.97 gal, so the 50 mpg range is about 250 miles. I was only at 190, so still had 60 miles remaining.
Nice ride from Packwood, but West into the setting sun, then only I-5 and home 15 minutes before the Google estimate.
Total day was 6:15am to 8:45pm or 14.5 hrs and 728 km (455 miles). About 44--50 miles on unpaved roads.
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