Big summer trip last minute change of plans, looking for some WABDR/general PNW 4x4 Touring Advice.

pic of my Taco in Colorado for attention.

I've been planning a big trip starting 7/17 consisting of driving from Arkansas to Seattle to pick up an old bud and then head way up north to drive the Dempster Highway. Unfortunately due to a huge passport backlog, and a rejected photo that had to be resubmitted one month into processing (thanks Wallgreens) I won't be how they like to say "free to leave" in time.

So I'm pivoting to plan "B": Drive a big chunk of the Washington Backcountry Adventure Route N to S, maybe check out the Oregon Dunes and Mt St Hellen's, then head east to rendezvous my bud with his girlfriend somewhere around Jackson WY, and head home. Can spend up to two weeks getting from Seattle to Jackson.

We'll be leaving Seattle on 7/24, looks like getting on the WABDR near Okanogan would be our best bet, right? Is there good dispersed camping in that area, or is it all campground camping? Any can't miss POI's on this route?

Thanks for suffering my rambling here, and big thanks for any advice.

 

Sounds like a fun trip!


I have not done the WABDR, but there is dispersed camping all over the place here. No hassles that I have ever heard of.

Enjoy!

 

Sorry about the trip but I think the BDR is also a fantastic destination worth doing. And you'll be just in time for it being freshly cleared and opened up too. As far as camping goes you should be able to disperse camp anywhere on national forest land and a good majority of the places you'll want to camp at along the way will be national forest or DNR land. Have you checked out the ridebdr.com website I'm assuming? Lots of good info there as well.

 

Yes, got the paper map in the mail yesterday and everything. Sounds like I'm in for a good trip! It's a balmy 100 degrees here in Northwest Arkansas, looking forward to cooler weather for sure.

 

I've only done sections 2 and 3 of the WABDR, but from what I've seen, and what I've read, you shouldn't have any issue dispersed camping along the trail. Quite a few amazing spots, and TONS of "good enough" spots, lol. Here are a couple cool spots if they fit your day. The first one is fun whether camping there or not, the second, is a MUST camping spot.

https://goo.gl/maps/EgrH7CQQPXg9DfVw6

Red is on BDR Section 3, Yellow arrows show trail my buddy and I cleared a couple weeks ago. Tronsen Ridge trail. If someone else cleared the trail south of the pin (camping spot) it leads right back to the BDR.



View south from that Pin.




https://goo.gl/maps/2kCNYqrb81CzMGWE7

Bethel Ridge on Section 2, South Facing cliff face. Great camping with awesome views anywhere along this stretch.

 

Great PNW pics there. That's the best kinda of camping.

 

There's more dispersed camping on the BDR than you can shake a stick at. You'll never have an issue finding a spot.

 

And we shake a LOT of sticks around here.

 

Thanks for all the info y'all, I'm really looking forward to this now!

 

I’ve done 1-5, try to find some trails alongside the route that you can do detours through (like shoestring, naches, etc). Most of it is easy/kind of boring if you stick to the main path.

 

Welp my passport finally showed up today so plans are changing a little. Yukon is a mess right now so I'm not going to bother. Plan now is to drive the WABDR south to north and then cross over into BC for a week of running a couple of other canned routes north of Vancouver.

 

FWIW I've run the Oklahoma section of the Trans America Trail, it can't be as dull as that lol.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/p...WJMtt1qTfoX83-gz4LLw=w1292-h969-no?authuser=0

Two solid days of pretty much this.

 

Scenery is definitely better, but no technical stuff for the most part. A stock 2wd truck could do basically all of the wabdr in the summer.

 

Right, in the summer for sure. We did it in May 2021 and there was so much snow remaining, we dug and dug and winched and yanked and dug for hours, definitely the first group through. July looks to be clear and a huge group went through for days with chain saws and cleared the deadfall last month. You can find snow level topo maps online. Be prepared for high heat, it was 120° in the cab at one point and we didn’t turn on the ac in order to postpone overheating.

There are a ton of dispersed campsites. I certainly recommend making it out to bethel ridge.

 

Well it did not disappoint. I stayed at the two most georgious camp sites I've seen in the U.S on it. BC was awesome too, but fires had me scrambling for plan C. It was awesome up there but it is was way too short. I'm on my way back to Arkansas now.

 

AND THIS IS THE ONLY PICTURE WE GET?!?!?!

 

The two epic camp spots. I'm posting from a laundromat in Montana and trying to catch up on some internetting...

 

Also I think I snubbed a Washington member at a rest stop yesterday. Who drives the bobbed 2nd gen access cab on big ass tires? I should have stopped to say hi...it was a loooong drive yesterday.

 

Love it! Glad it worked out and ended up being a highlight. Its absolutely beautiful out there! I've only done section 3 but I'm dying to do section 2 here soon.