Oregon BDR 6/23 - 7/7

[jdunk]

So the planning is underway for next years big trip!

We've decided that we're going to do sections of the Oregon Backcountry Discovery Route. http://www.oohva.org/

Starting in North East Oregon with Route 5 Section 4, continuing through Route 5 Sections 3 and 2. Then cutting West on Route 2, completing the trip to the coast using Route 6. That's 975 miles of the BDR!

So far, I've been able to find a lot of information around people running it in dual sports, but I haven't had much success finding recent information on what it's going to take to do with 4 wheel drive vehicles.

And then, to add to the complication, the only time we've been able to get everyone to find common ground on is 6/23 to 7/7. This leads me to concerns with what kind of snow we might have to deal with, and how bad these roads are going to be. I'm that early in the season, there will be a large number of trees to deal with, as well as a number of washed out roads.

I expect that the rigs will be my XK, and KL (if it hasn't been replaced by a WK2 yet).

I would be very appreciative of any information that people may have from living in the area, running all, or parts of these routes.

My hope is that this will serve as a useful tool for me to gather information and plan my trip, as well as assisting people who may be looking in the future.

 

[John Galt]

You are gonna love this trip. I havent done all the routes you are planning on running, but we did do Route 4 and some of Route 5 section 4 at the beginning of May this last year. The snow is always a concern early on in the year and we had to deal with it at the beginning of May. We had to reroute a few times and eventually got stopped completely by snow up in Granite (we were running the route the opposite way you will be). It all depends on how big the snow pack is and how warm the spring is. The other issue running it in May was that we were the first ones on the route this year. So deadfall was a huge issue. We had 3 saws going constantly. In one section on route 4 there were trees down every 100 ft! Makes for a very slow progression on the trail. I have all the tracks I got from a guy who ran them on a moto and that is what I followed. I also have my own tracks from our trip. If you want to know more check out the trip report HERE Also my personal tracks from the trip are available for download HERE

 

[cruiserpotamus]

That looks like lots of fun. I should be in Christmas Valley by then. I may not be able to participate in the whole trip, but I might be able to join for a couple of the legs.

 

[jkxranger]

Looks like fun, I have always wanted to do a couple of the sections,

 

[jdunk]

My preparation has finally had some noticeable results. I'm testing out the "My Maps" feature on google. So far it seems to be working well for collaboration.

I think I'm going to do a review on the BDR order itself. Since getting the maps costs real money. I'm going to write up what my thoughts are on it. I expect it will be 2 parts. One as a planning resource, and the second will be done after I've used the information provided on the trip.

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[jdunk]

So, between the couple OB events, and, well, work. This trip is just around the corner.

I'm still on the hunt for some of the "must see" sights.

If there's anyone from the area that would be willing to share some of their "local knowledge" that would be fantastic!

Counting down the days! Ok, still counting the weeks, but it's getting closer!