Washington BDR: My Turn!

 

After a good night's sleep, we went outside to find the Ural covered in a rather photogenic layer of frost!  With the third wheel, however, I did not have nearly the concern that I do when this happens on my two-wheeled journeys.

Trout Lake has about 600 residents, so finding the best place to fill up was not hard - this is the only one.  Finding the lake is a lot harder.  There really isn't one, we were told.

After about seven miles on the pavement, I turned off onto a gravel road that I thought should be the next section of the Washington Backcountry Discovery Route.  Jonathan consulted his GPS, and soon confirmed my decision.  

At this point, I'll highlight a new addition to the Ural's sidecar accessories.  The windscreen came with only a thin steel bar to hold on to for support, while careening around mountain curves.  I approached my personal leatherworker (Rich) with this problem, and soon we had a prototype designed and constructed to provide a padded, larger diameter grab bar.  The plan was to test it on this trip, make any changes necessary, then Rich would tool it up to match the bike's handlebar cross bar pad and saddlebag, that he had done for me earlier.

So far, so good - according to the expedition's official test monkey!

It was still cold when we began the day's first climb, but being designed and built on the fringes of Siberia, the Ural was in its element!

That first gravel section had been close to ten, bone-chilling miles.  At the end of it was another paved road that would have taken us back to Trout Lake.  A quick glance at the clock revealed that we still hadn't passed the half-way point of the morning, however.  Between here and the next option for returning south looked like about 15 miles on the map.  If those roads were reasonably well maintained, like the last part had been, we would have plenty of time.

Is it just me, or is that road ahead completely covered with ice? 

Oh yes, it was!  Had to get a shot of the tracks we were making in the frost, before briefly joining FS 88, en route to the next unpaved section.

I did take it a bit slower than normal, but it was nice not to worry about sliding over on the ice.  A third wheel has its advantages!

Turning off onto Forest Service Route 8810, the concrete slab bridge over Trout Lake Creek was not all that photogenic.  But I took a picture of it anyway!  You all know, I have a thing for bridges.

The creek itself was much more attractive - only enhanced by the front end of my Russian steed.

You can see here that the frost on the nose of the sidecar is finally melting off, and the promise of riding in the sunlight spurred us on.

Mid-way up the next climb, we broke free from the shadows and rejoiced in the energizing warmth of that flaming orb in the sky.  Hey, I'm not a poet.

But soon, we were back in thick forest, and our glasses began to fog up - Jonathan's more so than mine, for some reason.  Probably a difference in helmet design.  We had been about to swap positions on the rig, but decided we'd better wait until Jonathan could see!

On the other side of the ridge, things improved dramatically, and I relinquished the driver's seat.  Jonathan had driven the Ural before - even on gravel.  But never with someone in the sidecar.  Well, he did take me for a short spin around the block in my neighborhood once.  But I don't think he got it out of first gear that day.

This would be my first real ride in the "tub" as well.  I was eager to see how rough it actually was on backroads - and how terrifying it might be!  Had my friend just been too kind to tell me the truth?  So far, I was enjoying taking pictures in every direction without needing to concentrate on driving.  

Guess I should be a little concerned about how Jonathan was doing.

Can you tell?  

Are his glasses still clear?