The Oregon BDR Experience: Episode 6 (ORBDR Section 2)
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- Опубликовано: 18 сен 2024
- The Oregon BDR Experience
Episode 6: ORBDR Section 2
In this episode, we travel from Christmas Valley to Plush Oregon. The first 40 or so miles we find ourselves riding over ancient lava flows into an ancient lakebed. We ride in some of the remotest country to be found in the lower 48 states across a vast desert wilderness that seems endless and yet contains its own charm and beauty like nothing I have seen before. The infamous cattle guard mentioned on the BDR route maps is out here in this section. After traversing miles of desert lava and sand, we ride parallel to high voltage powerlines that look like they don’t belong. Before long we wrestle many cattle gates and overgrown sagebrush trails. The sage tears at our luggage and even rips a piece of mine apart. It is slow going until we finally found a “real” road that lead us down into the valley below Hart mountain. Upon arrival at the town of Plush and are greeted by the town mayor … A black Labrador retriever. After a nice dinner, and mingling with real cowboys we camp in the town park … the only green grass we have seen for the last 200+ miles of travel. AND it was the only green grass in town. It was a day to remember for sure.
OBDR Route Description
The Oregon Backcountry Discovery Route (ORBDR) is a 750-mile, multi-day off-pavement ride designed for adventure and dual-sport motorcycles. The route traverses a vast climate area. The ORBDR is probably the most diverse BDR route to date in this regard. The RideBDR website suggests that folks start in the southern desert near the Nevada/Oregon border and traverse north with gradual ingress towards pine mountain forests. We did the opposite, as we started our trip north of Seattle on adventure motorcycles and explored ancient pine forests of Washington State and enjoying some of the southern portions of the WABDR. We officially started the ORBDR at Hood River and worked our way through the northern Oregon cascade mountains witnessing all the major volcanos of the state, after which, we found ourselves in the remote high deserts of the southeastern portion of Oregon. Lava rock, “moondust”, sand and mountain rock were forces to be reckoned when riding a motorcycle through here. The sagebrush, lava tubes and glaciated volcanoes are sights to behold and experience along the way. These natural wonders provide a prime rugged outdoor adventure experience. Be prepared, however, as the Oregon BDR is not to be taken lightly. It is one of the hardest routes they have mapped out to date. Beginners are urged to cut their teeth elsewhere. Explorers should be prepared to be self-sufficient, camp, prepare for rain, extreme desert heat along with the many physical challenges provided by the terrain all without the comfort of cell phone service or motels. Distances along the route are measured by hours to travel rather than miles. We did not move fast. Instead, we took a cautious and methodical approach, touching on all the highlights of the wilderness and skipping a few of the more technical challenges to maximize our Experience. To avoid the extreme heat, we planned out trip in September to avoid the summer crowds and summer heat. We were fortunate as the highest temperatures experienced were no more than the low 80’s (deg Fahrenheit)
I hope you thoroughly enjoy this episode of our travels. It is presented to show the joys, wonders and hardship of this route from a non-sponsored, not-for-profit perspective.
Please “LIKE”, “SUBSCRIBE” and comment if you enjoyed this. It will encourage me to do more of these types of productions in the future.
As always, Thanks for Riding with me, ~GrizzLee
Read more of my Moto travels here:
www.advrider.c...
Great update......All the best from Canada!
Really good cinematography Griz! Best representation of what to expect on Section 2 that I've seen. Thanks!
Thanks for the kind words. The 40 miles just outside of Christmas valley heading south keep you on your toes. Was still a wonderful trip. Now that I know what to expect, I hope to explore further out there. Cheers ~Grizz
Awesome video -- Looks totally do-able on the rig. Keep them coming
Section 2 would be a challenge for me and my hack. You can probably bypass some of that if you examine your maps. Being anal about the cosmetic condition of my hack, I wouldn't want to thrash my fiberglass on that brush. It is dry and stiff (not pliable like mountain shrubbery). Also a good chance that I would "hi-center" as it is 2 track with deep tracks, sage brush in the middle and no room to the sides to ride out. Would love to see pics and vids of you doing it though. Would make for a great adventure tease (Maybe an LBS Pac-Mule would be the ticket. 😄). Cheers buddy ~Grizz
Been Eyeing one of Mike's Pac-Mules ice he announced them.Of course that would mean getting rid of one of my two rigs which ain't going to happen yet.. The Overland was made so I could explore this sort of stuff and already has a certain amount of patina from my last couple of adventures so plans are afoot :-) @@RubiKonAdventures
Love the singing part! So many times while crawling through rough patches in my Jeep, I would start singing songs from _HMS Pinafore_ or Great Big Sea songs. Good stuff!
Looove it! 😀 ~Grizz
Great day of riding! My only complaint is I wish my knee replacements would let me do that. lol Be safe and enjoy!
If you look closely at this video and the last one, you may notice I’m limping . Dr says I will need a knee replacement at some point 😢 I’ll go until I can’t. Thanks for riding along buddy. ~GrizLee
(haven’t) been there, done that! Yet😊
Now that I know what to expect. I wanna go back and explore some more. There are alot of interesting places out that way. Hope you can make it out there. We had good cool weather. It got no hotter than 83 deg or so. Thanks for riding with us. ~ GrizzLee
Great stuff guys!
Happy Trails
I ride a 1200GS ive watched all of the sec it seams 1 and 2 are the tuff ones rocks and sand! I dont like sand! Lol im 71 and will ride some sec this year when its warm 😎🤯
Sec 1 & 2 can be a bit rough. Many riders coming north said Section 1 wasn't really worth the effort. I also would say parts of section 3 is sandy as well for a GS. A lot of "pumis sand" throughout starting at Detroit. However, those sections might be a bit better earlier in the year. We rode in Sept timber and everything was dry, dry, dry. A little moisture might help it stick together better. Glad to see you still at it. Gives my hope as I get on in years as well. I'll be out on more rides with my GS as this year. It's a great bike and I love it for the big tours. Especially north. Take care and be safe . ~GrizzLee
I ride alone 99% of the time....I totally understand the singing to ones' self 🤔😔😆.
That said....my songs are 110% not RUclips approved...😉
😂 That’s funny. I like to make up funny lyrics to songs while I ride. When my wife rode with me, we had communication headsets. She said if I sang, she’d tune me out . And she did. 😮. Thanks for sharing your insight to coping while riding alone. I’m with you. ~GrizzLee
Why do you say you wouldn't be out there on your GS?
It was pretty sandy and rocky. I’ve ridden other BDRs on my GS and this one was the roughest so far. The BDR site ranks this as one of the harder BDRs. This particular day we rode a section about 40 miles over ancient lava flows that were then covered by glacial floods. So it has deep silt and large basalt rocks. The smaller the bike the better. I know that I would’ve gone down on my GS as both of us had many pucker moments on our T7s. The lighter T7 with the 21” front and 18” rear wheel is much more suited for this type of riding. Will be riding my GS to the Trans Tiaga this June though. It’s pure bliss for long distance touring. Thanks for riding along .~Grizz
Before I watch your video I have a bet with some friends how many times you will complain about section 2. Please don't let me down!
Oh no. I hope I didn’t cost you money? Only a 40 mile section that was consistently rough. Wish I had filmed the guy we met at Lake Abert. He was wincing about the 40 miles we had just come through. Didn’t like section 1 at all. Coyote Hills was cool. Although my bad knee was really starting to bother me quite a bit. You may notice some limping. Cheers~ Grizz