Day 5 & 6

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DAY 5

Up late today (8am) motel breakfast then changed oil & filters in our bikes. (1st service 500kms although we had done around 800kms). Few other minor adjustments to the bikes then we cruised around 120kms to Ellensburg Washington State so we could join the back country discovery route tomorrow.Oir route into Ellensburg was all seal, hot and alongside a river. Being Sunday there were people jet skiing, swimming, fishing & riding the current in rubber duckies.

We had booked into a Motel 6 (the same one we stayed in 2 years ago) had Mexican for dinner & readied for an early start tomorrow.

DAY 6

Out of town after a breakfast burger & coffee we soon joined the WABDR (Washington Back Country Discovery Route) which climbed quite rapidly to around 1800m on a rough, rocky gravel/dirt forestry track. We meet a few other riders on this track most going the same South to North route as us. One group were stopped for a coffee on the track with one of the riders wearing a 6 gun in a holster. When Ian asked him if it was real he said yes, its for shooting riders who pass me!

Spectacular views across the landscape as we rode among burnt trees from a previous fire. We had heard there were new fires in this area & were on the lookout for smoke or track detours. No such obstacles so after normal corner-man issues we started up another gravel (read rocky) forestry track out of the town of Cashmere. We had travelled around 120kms & it was still only around 11am. After approximately another 80kms of hard packed gravel, interspersed with soft sand patches & some whoopdees that could easily catch you out, we descended into the small settlement of Ardenvoire. We stopped here under a shady tree for lunch which we had bought with us. Starting out again we re-climbed up to around 1700m on rougher rockier trails with a few challenging sections where there had been rock slides across the track. In many places this track was narrow & overgrown so it was necessary to set a slightly slower pace as there could be other Discovery Route riders coming North to South towards usl After around 140kms of this in hot dusty conditions, we started our descent towards Chelan Lake. The views of the lake & the town in the distance were spectacular, the drop-offs were a little scary but with careful riding, frequent stops we arrived at sealed road for the last 30kms winding around the lake into the town of Chelan A total of just over 300kms mostly on trails meant our airconditioned motel room was a welcome relief.

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