Forth and Back, TOR '22
 

A least I am starting this year's report two months earlier than last year.

Ralf(Beekeeper) and I planned to do TOR this year after missing the last two. We were going to meet there and then take our usual beeline drive back to my house. Ralf scored a campsite at the Grand Canyon so I left home early to meet him there before TOR. For the first time ever I had camp reservations for the ten days it would take to get to Paonia.

Here is a map of my travels. 24 days and 5935 miles-

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Day 1-Home to Windy Point CG, WA-172 miles

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Little late leaving home but a somewhat short day. Looks like someone else is not ready to leave home-

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The always stunning Mt. Rainier-

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A back road on the other side of the Naches River from Hwy 410-

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Happy at camp with a river view site-

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A helicopter passed over as I was out walking. It be an omen of things come-

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I always look forward to your and Ralf's adventures RB. Great photos as usual!
Chris

Day 2-Windy Point to Eagle Creek, OR-245 miles

I forgot to mention yesterday started with a detour because someone was on the side of Hwy. 410 shooting at passing cars so the police had the road blocked off.

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The morning broke warm and sunny. While packing to go, I heard some sirens and noticed a couple stopped very close to the campground. I suited up and headed for the highway. There were two State troopers blocking the highway and the camp entrance. Traffic was stopped somewhere both east and west of me. So much for an early start. A few minutes later a Life Flight helicopter landed on the road right in front of the campground-

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I don't know who was at fault but a logging truck sideswiped a large utility truck going the opposite way. The delay was expected to be an hour plus for the medical help and to clear the road. Time for photos-

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Finally hit the road to Yakima then south to the Horseheaven Hills along the Columbia River. In the spring a friend had found a cooling house in Bickleton and on the map I had found some interesting looking road I had not been on yet-

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A guest arrived while I was eating lunch at the Bickleton General store-

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Heading southwest on some new to me roads-

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Pre-interstate or WA 14, the road wound through the hills above the Columbia R.-

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Day 2-continued

So many great views on this route and zero traffic-

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When you turn south off WA14 to cross the Columbia River you only have about 200' to read all these signs-

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Eagle Creek CG is supposedly one of the first campground the forest service ever built. Nice but on a hillside overlooking the I84. Ear plugs at night solve that issue-

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Walking through the campground then a nice hiking trail along the creek-

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Excellent and very enjoyable day finished a great sandwich for dinner. Can I have more please?

Thanks for doing this.

Day 3-Eagle Creek to Clyde Holiday CG-308 miles

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Woke up in the tent without a rainfly to a beautiful morning and a day full of promises-

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Table Mt. in WA across the Columbia from camp. Decided to revisit The Bridge of the Gods for a better photo and then backroads along the river-

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Re-visited Panorama Point south of Hood River for a morning shot of Mt. Hood. The last time I was at the viewpoint it was really smokey-

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Just south of the viewpoint is Old Dalles Drive that goes over the mountain. Unfortunately after a few miles it is gated and I had to detour further south but there were some views of Mt. Adams-

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Day3-continued

Arrived in the Dalles and checked out some old buildings-

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A shot over the city to The Dalles Dam-

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I decided to head east on I-84 to check out some new roads. Blalock Road down to Rock Creek. Old school in Rock Creek and a sign that really didn't help much-

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Day 4-Clyde Holiday to Bruneau Dunes, ID, 354 miles

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Headed back north on Hwy 395 from Mt. Vernon, OR past my most photographed church. The Fox church just doesn't have a bad side. Although the cars in the lot next door seem to have been there awhile-

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I turned SE at the Middle Fork of the John Day River and really enjoyed the road that snakes along the river bank. Found a couple of nice campgrounds too but it was still early in the day-

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I have always driven Hwy 245 from Unity to Baker City-

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I wondered what it was like to just go east to Durkee, OR on the road in the canyon that stay along the Burnt River. I took a break in the shade and one word described the day HOT-

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Day 4-continued

I found this little gem of a church in Durkee-

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I followed the old road but was forced to take I-84 for a few miles. Got back on the two lane heading into Huntington, OR where it was 106ºF.-

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In Idaho I picked up Hwy 78 which would take me to Bruneau Dune CG-

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Oh man. I'm really jealous.
I'd like so much to travel for days on such roads.

Good to see this!
Thanks

Day 5-Bruneau to Ruby Lake, NV-247 miles

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Got up early(for me) to try and beat the heat-

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Bruneau Sand Dunes State Park is home to the tallest single-structured sand dune in North America at 470 feet tall-

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Hitchhiker-

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Feathered edges on my TKC70 Rock. Need to slow down a little in the heat-

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Road kill-

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This is the third time I have taken Hwy 57 south from Bruneau toward Owyhee, NV. Every time it has been Mormon Cricket season-

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Very creepy, they come out to eat them own and if you stop they walk toward you-

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Just gross, some motorcyclists have crashed on insect remains. I was avoiding the apexes-

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Day 5-continued

Wild Horse Reservoir in NV-

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Hwy 227 & 228 south out of Elko looks a lot like the east side of the Sierra Nevadas in CA-

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Old Harrison Pass Road over to Ruby Valley is scenic too-

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Time for an evenings walk-

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Day 6-Ruby Lake to Pine Valley, UT 305 miles

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I forgot to mention at the start of this report our theme music this year was 'Movin' On' by Bad Company-

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The heat yesterday wasn't too bad in the mountains but today was going to be a long slog through Nevada. I started my hot weather routine using a Camelbak filled with ice then water. Sip of water every 10-15 minutes then stop to pee around half an hour later. Repeat until I need more water or gas.

Up early for sunrise and beat the heat again-

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Nice? Straight road across Long Valley. 12 miles from where the bike is parked to the next turn on the other side of the valley. Looking to the right I realized things could be worse, someone's drive shaft with U-joint was laying in the ditch-

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Approaching Ely, NV again things could be worse again. A car had eggbeatered off the road into a schoolyard-

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One of the aforementioned pee stops-

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Spline shaft failure no doubt. Those GS's will do that!

Wonder why the star rating was only four stars at this point? Who's the sourpuss?

Day 6-continued

I took a break in Pioche, NV which had some interesting architecture-

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Quick stop to check out Cathedral Gorge State Park before turning east for Utah-

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Historic Pine Valley Chapel and with some increase in elevation a little relief from the heat-

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Nice campground in a pine forest by a reservoir, time for an evening walk-

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Day 7-Pine Valley to Desert View CG, Grand Canyon 291 miles

I find kind of ironic that it is 30ºF. as I write this day's report. Got to get moving, another hot day. It was already very warm when I passed through Saint George so I hurried on after getting gas and water-

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Got lucky with some cloud cover across the flat wastelands east of St. George-

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Looking down toward the Vermillion Cliff where the heat goes up-

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Probably 40+ years since the last time I drove through Marble Canyon. Little did I know a second bridge has been built-

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How I wish. Maybe I'll just load up the truck and be your SAG wagon.

Day 7-continued

Made it to the park around 1:30PM. At the campground entrance another motorcyclist approached from the opposite direction. What timing, it was Ralf. We found our camp site and I started whining about the heat and lack of shade. The camp host came over and asked is we would mind moving as a new arrival's rig was too big for his site and needed a drive-thru like ours. No problem as the overflow site was next to ours and had shade. We helped the new guy pull in with his big house/toy trailer. While I was setting up the tent I looked over and noticed the new guy was a double amputee doing a one legged hop to the back for his wheel chair. He had three chairs in the toy hauler. One regular, one motorized and a very cool off road model. We chatted for awhile then suddenly I felt very fortunate and the temperature didn't seem nearly as hot-

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Time for some sight seeing and finding dinner. Forty years since my last visit to the South Rim and the view is still impressive-

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