pnwadventurer
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Washington Cascades Overland Tour - August 10-13, 2007
For the past year, I've had the desire to map out and drive an overland route through the Cascade Mountains of Washington state from the Columbia River near Oregon all the way to northern border with British Columbia.
Last year (August 2006), my son and I completed a portion of this route from Cle Elum to Mt. Adams but did not go any further South because of time constraints. At the time, I knew little of any possible routes from I-90 North to British Columbia.
Shortly after that trip last August, I sold my Jeep YJ Wrangler and purchased my Toyota FJ80 Land Cruiser with the goal in mind to make it into an overland expedition vehicle.
Winter and Spring came and finally the snow thawed in the high country. With vacation scheduled for August, I started getting serious about mapping out a route through the Washington Cascades.
Just any forest road route wouldn't do. I wanted more. My goals for the route were the following:
1. To be navigable by any stock four wheel drive vehicle.
2. To stay as close to the crest of the Cascade Mountains as possible.
3. To be scenic and well worth the drive.
4. To avoid dead end routes and only travel routes that led to somewhere.
5. To have scheduled fuel stops every hundred miles or so.
6. To break the route into sections that would permit staying in a hotel on a nightly basis if so desired.
So after a number of hours looking over forest service and topographic maps, I came up with a proposed overland route through the Cascade Mountains of Washington state.
Basically, the route I mapped out was broken into the following sections:
1. Carson to Packwood, Washington.
2. Packwood to Cle Elum, Washington.
3. Cle Elum to Chelan, Washington.
4. Chelan to Chopaka, Washington.
With time constraints and projects at home, I finished up a couple of projects on my 80-series Land Cruiser to make it more practical for overlanding (namely a rear cargo box and a second battery with additional 12 volt power outlets.
With every thing packed and ready to go, it was time to test the route. My estimate for the route was four days. That's all the time I had, so I had to make it work in that time frame.
I departed for my journey early on Friday morning (08.10.07).
To be continued...(I'll be posting each days journal as I get them typed up).
Originally posted at http://www.pnwadventures.com/adventures/washington-cascades-overland-expedition-2007/
For the past year, I've had the desire to map out and drive an overland route through the Cascade Mountains of Washington state from the Columbia River near Oregon all the way to northern border with British Columbia.
Last year (August 2006), my son and I completed a portion of this route from Cle Elum to Mt. Adams but did not go any further South because of time constraints. At the time, I knew little of any possible routes from I-90 North to British Columbia.
Shortly after that trip last August, I sold my Jeep YJ Wrangler and purchased my Toyota FJ80 Land Cruiser with the goal in mind to make it into an overland expedition vehicle.
Winter and Spring came and finally the snow thawed in the high country. With vacation scheduled for August, I started getting serious about mapping out a route through the Washington Cascades.
Just any forest road route wouldn't do. I wanted more. My goals for the route were the following:
1. To be navigable by any stock four wheel drive vehicle.
2. To stay as close to the crest of the Cascade Mountains as possible.
3. To be scenic and well worth the drive.
4. To avoid dead end routes and only travel routes that led to somewhere.
5. To have scheduled fuel stops every hundred miles or so.
6. To break the route into sections that would permit staying in a hotel on a nightly basis if so desired.
So after a number of hours looking over forest service and topographic maps, I came up with a proposed overland route through the Cascade Mountains of Washington state.
Basically, the route I mapped out was broken into the following sections:
1. Carson to Packwood, Washington.
2. Packwood to Cle Elum, Washington.
3. Cle Elum to Chelan, Washington.
4. Chelan to Chopaka, Washington.
With time constraints and projects at home, I finished up a couple of projects on my 80-series Land Cruiser to make it more practical for overlanding (namely a rear cargo box and a second battery with additional 12 volt power outlets.
With every thing packed and ready to go, it was time to test the route. My estimate for the route was four days. That's all the time I had, so I had to make it work in that time frame.
I departed for my journey early on Friday morning (08.10.07).
To be continued...(I'll be posting each days journal as I get them typed up).
Originally posted at http://www.pnwadventures.com/adventures/washington-cascades-overland-expedition-2007/
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