2nd Annual Family Overland Trip

[daPitbull]

We’ve been home for almost 3 weeks now, after almost 4000 miles, and 3 weeks on the road, I’ve finally had some to time to put our trip report together. Last years trip consisted of about 3000 miles over a 3 week span... trip report is here:
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/144989-3000-miles-2-5-weeks-Family-Road-Trip
This year the plan was to go north! We originally planned to meet up with some friends at the Oregon Coast. Those plans fell through, but we decided to keep the same itinerary.
Oregon Coast – WABDR – Kelowna – Banff – Glacier NP – Yellowstone – Grand Tetons – Truckee – HOME!
Brought the whole team along; wife, kids now 2.5, 4.5, 6.5 yrs old) and dog (1yr old).
I’m a horrible writer...apologies in advanced....I’m more of a picture guy, so here we go (mix of iPhone and 5D mkii)
Before I get to the actual trip report, I’ve had friends ask for tips and tricks for taking young kids on long roadtrips...here are a few:
In-car things to do like...coloring

Snack breaks

Stops at random parks...and lots of them

Random stays at KOA campgrounds so they can swim

Trail breaks at awesome lakes

Recharging plush Air BnB’s...recharging = letting them binge on TV one morning

 

[daPitbull]

Now on to the actual trip report...
Our journey started from the Oakland Hills. Ideally we planned to leave early am, but that never really happens with kids in tow.


Our first destination was Oregon. We pulled into Medford quite late, so we decided to stay at a cheap motel. We had the dog with us so options were limited. Hind sight, we should have just found a camp site. During the night stay, some one ransacked my rig and stole one of my water cans off the trailer. Only damage was a cut strap. I thought the rig was hidden well enough in the back of the parking lot. Oh well lessoned learned.
We woke early the next day and headed to one of our stops, Cape Lookout State Park, were our original plans had us meeting up with family friends. Awesome place to stay, campsite, while developed, was as close to being on the beach without being on the beach. Did some exploring around the state park and hung out on the beach mostly.








We pack light

After 3 nights at Cape Lookout, we headed to Cascade Locks, OR, where we had hoped to start our journey on the WABDR. I had been checking daily on advrider.com for up-to-date trail conditions. I was reading there were a few downed trees and snow on Sections 1 and 2. We were traveling solo, tragging a trailer, so decided to bypass the first 2 sections.
Great thing about roadtrips, we’re able to adjust on the fly. We decided to bypass section 1 and 2 and head to the North West Overland Rally in Plain, WA. We had an extra day to spend, so we tackled section 3 of WABDR on route to the NW Overland Rally.
On route to section 3, we stopped at a rest stop. Ran into an older couple headed up to Alaska on a 6 week trip. Maybe they’re on here??

Start of Section 3

Midway on Section 3

 

[daPitbull]

We pulled into the NW Overland Rally kinda late...and it was raining pretty good. Setting up camp, late at night, hungry, with road weary kids...in the rain was not fun.
The rally was a blast. Wasn’t sure I’d like camping in such close proximity to others...but it wasn’t so bad. We met some great people, and awesome like minded families. We hope to meet up with them in the future.


raffle

And the Mrs...in the womens’ only 4x4 Course, led by the ladies of XOverland



To a run up Sugarloaf Peak, led by one of the NWOL members. Awesome view.

After 3 nights at the NW Overland Rally, we headed back to the WABDR, running Sections 5 and 6.

 

[daPitbull]

Towards the beginning of Section 5 of WABDR, with Lake Chelan in the background. We stopped here for lunch.



About 40 ish’ miles into section 5, we encountered a huge washout on the trail. There was a bypass around the washout...one side was offcamber the other was a mud puddle. I was chose mud puddle – I was concerned with tipping the trailer if I took the off camber route. Instead of checking the depth of the mud puddle, I made a rash decision and rushed through, sinking the driver side in some pretty thick muck.

Unloaded the crew, and we started digging! I picked up a pair of Tredz at the NW Overland Rally for a bargain. I ended up using them for the recovery, but lost one of them in this mud pit. It literally got sucked into the pit. I wasn’t able to break loose, so decided to un-hitch the trailer and get the truck out by itself. Once the truck was free I crossed back over the washout and pulled out the trailer.
Once free, and hitched the trailer back up, we slowly took the off camber line....should have done that in the first place...wasn’t as bad as I initially though. Lesson learned...
Me and dog fishing for my Tredz.

And some of my help and a glimpse of part of the washout.

After getting through this recovery, about 1 mile down, we encountered this:

The trail wasn’t wide enough for me to turn around...so I decided to back it up, surrounded by a shear drop off and washout. Anyone whose ever had to back up a trailer knows this wasn’t the easiest thing to do. After 10mins or so, making slow progress, I felt myself getting frustrated so I turned the rig off, stepped out of the car for a few minutes, and re-evaluated. Decided to un-hitch the trailer again, and physcially turn the trailer around, which was difficult since we were facing downhill. Was finally able to get things back together. We navigated around this washed out stretch via adjacent fire roads, and finished section 5.

 

[daPitbull]

That day was tuff on all of us, and a rest day from camping and the trails was needed. Section 5 of WABDR ends at the Town of Conconully, WA. A really small and quiet town, with a river flowing through it, local lake, and great open space park for the kids. We stayed 2 nights at Gibson’s North Fork Lodge. The owners there are super friendly. If you find yourself at the end of Section 5, and need a place to stay, we highly recommend this place. They even had a little playground for the kids to blow off some steam.

Main Street...and one of my new Tredz


Some park time


Early morning, we cleaned out the rig, repacked the trailer, and was on our way, starting Section 6. This days’ destination was the Canadian border, and staying a few days in Kelowna.

Beautiful meadow at the beginning of Section 6.


About ½ way through

Towards the end, near the border at Lake Palmer.

We crossed the border at the Nighthawk border crossing.
More to come...To be continued!

 

[Mykh]

Awesome! Great to see families that keep the fun and adventure going with their kids!

 

[daPitbull]

We try!

 

[daPitbull]

More pics along WABDR:

 

[daPitbull]

After crossing the Canadian border, we made our way to Kelowna. At this point we're about 1.5 weeks into our trip. I figured the family would need little downtime so we booked an Air BnB for 2 nights. Pretty nice carriage house on an apple farm.
Big blue taking a rest in the apple orchards

We spent some time at the lake...


Went to a local kangaroo farm


And took a stroll around the neighborhood

 

[daPitbull]

After Kelowna, we made our way to Banff NP.

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[daPitbull]

Morning run


Did the Icefield Parkway drive halfway up to Jasper. Certainly top 3 scenic drives I've ever done...and didn't even leave the pavement.

We did a few nights in Banff, then made our way back to the US border...destination Glacier NP.
Made it a little interesting and took some gravel back roads

Passed through some awesome rolling hills

 

[daPitbull]

Glacier NP in the distance

We stayed at a KOA right outside of Glacier. It had a nice pool and water park that the kids loved.

Set up camp and cooked dinner...Putting the kids to work washing the dishes.

Early morning we took off to explore Glacier, via Going-to-the-Sun Road. FYI, trailers aren't allowed to be pulled through this route.







More to come later!...

 

[t-rex grrr]

Looks like another amazing trip, Ray! Banff looks beautiful.

Sorry to hear about the water can. It really sucks that there are those types of people out there...

 

[daPitbull]

Thanks AJ. Banff IS beautiful. When the kids can carry there own packs, we'll go back and explore more on foot. So much to see there.

 

[daPitbull]

Continued....
After a few nights in Glacier, we made our way to Yellowstone. We stayed the night outside the park before the West entrance to the park.
Bright and early, we packed up and headed into the park. Yellowstone is a really busy park; it obviously has really awesome landmarks to see, but the amount of people, RVs, campers, cars, and traffic puts a big downer on things...at least for me. It’s also not a very dog friendly place. No dogs allowed just about everywhere. All those things aside, we decided we’ll come back to visit once the kids are old enough to do some hikes.




We sat around waiting for Old Faithful blow....

We grew tired of crazyness of Yellowstone, so we made our way south to the Grand Tetons.