Photos and Words by Olivier de Vaulx
The Blue Route
Crossing the USA from Canada to Mexico in 14 days through the mountains and the deserts of the west coast gives you three thousand miles of trails to explore. That’s more than enough to get lost, unless you have a great GPS track, like the one provided by GPSKevin.
American history is tied to the very notion of conquest, it’s no wonder why riders from all over the world are passionate about crossing the American wilderness. But travels on such distances, mainly off-road, are a logistical nightmare. Indeed, how can you trace a route on more than three thousand miles, without spending years wearing out your eyes on paper maps and computer screens? This colossal task doesn’t seem realistic considering everybody’s busy schedule and would stop most of us from even thinking about such a big trip. Some riders would give up the adventure and end up doing some tours with a big company, where everybody is riding at the same pace, in a single file in the middle of the trail. Luckily, there’s another way, thanks to the work of some few pioneers who put together tracks on the internet.
A Unique Concept
Although Kevin Glassett was an engineer at Hewlett-Packard for his career, his real passion has always been riding off-road with a motorcycle. After years of exploring, racing and teaching his kids how to ride a dirt bike properly, he finally retired and took the time to compile all of his travels on his website. Using pieces of information and data from other explorers as well as his own, he put together a massive library of tracks, ready to be uploaded on any GPS device. If it were just for that, Kevin would deserve his name in the hall of fame of overlanding. But Kevin also developed a new way of riding with a group. The goal is to allow everybody to ride at his own pace, to make his own adventure, but with the safety of a group of riders. Of the 20 riders registered for the 2018 Pacific Divide Route, a 14-day trip covering 3,000 miles across the USA from Canada to Mexico, everybody had already ridden with Kevin.
Some even did the Continental Divide, another mythic route made easier thanks to GPSKevin’s tracks. They all know that each day they will go in small groups from 2 to 6 riders and follow one of the three options displayed on their GPS: The blue track is the main route, usually going off-road, contrary to the green track which stays mostly on pavement. Last, the few red tracks suggest more difficult or unproven trails for those who want a spicy adventure. Nobody has to start at the same time, nobody needs to arrive within a certain limit. All of the groups will have their own way to ride during the day and each day, everyone can change groups. The accommodation is already booked, and a Mercedes van is waiting in the parking lot with everybody’s bags. This logistical support allows the travelers to ride with a very light load while having the safety of traveling with a group and the freedom to choose his own path. It seems too good to be true!
Extended Range of Bikes
On the morning of the first day, in Oroville, WA near the Canadian border, the motel parking lot is full of big bikes such as Honda Africa Twins, KTM 1290 and 990 Adventure, BMWs 800 and 1200. There are also some medium and small bikes, with a Kawasaki KLR 300, two Suzuki DR-Z400 and DR650S, a Honda XR650L, two HVA 701 and one KTM 690 Enduro. Last, but not least, one rider came with a Ural side-car! The average age is over fifty and four countries are represented: USA, Canada, Mexico, and France. Some already rode a few thousand miles to arrive in Oroville, from New York or from Arizona. But the real adventure starts here, in the trails of the state of Washington, just after exiting the little town. Before we all start, Kevin, aka Yoda, explains to us for the last time why we need to pay attention to the donuts. He’s not talking about the famous American pastries, but more about a life saver he asks us to rely on.
Magic Donuts
Indeed, the omnipresent dust prevents even the best buddies to ride together. The fastest will go first and, once the dust settles, the others are following, one after the other. This way, you have a clear vision of the trail, but you’re always a few minutes away from your partners of the day, and it’s easy to get separated from the group. Then, two scenarios are possible, and will more than likely occur a few times (at this point, we strongly suggest our readers take a pen and paper and make a neat drawing to understand the following hypotheses better). Let’s say that the guy in front of you misses a fork, does a U-turn and quickly comes back to take the right way. Now, he has no clue if he’s still leading or if you passed him. Indeed, what if it took him just a bit too long and you went directly on the right path, ending up now in the first position? What is the best option for him? He could ride faster to catch up with you, with the risk of putting more distance between you both if he’s still in front. Or he could decide to wait for a while, letting you go if you went up front. These situations are more frequent than one might think, and Kevin found a magical solution to prevent them from ruining your day. The infamous “donuts,” shown on the GPS tracks, are mandatory meeting points. No matter what your position is in the group, you’re supposed to stop here and wait. Even if you think you’re the last one and nobody is waiting for you. You might as well be the first one! Again, the magic of navigation makes the positions to flip all the time, and playing by the donut rule makes the game way safer. If you have to wait for a few minutes, you can still use this time to eat an energy bar, remove your jacket, check something on your bike or make a pee stop. You’ll do so with no fear of being left behind because you know that sooner or later the rest of the group will show up at this donut. No wonder there weren’t any tensions in the group during the whole trip.
The magic of the donuts eases the burden of wondering what happened to the others and erases most sources of conflicts. Talking about battles, it can be useful to highlight the fact that, following Kevin’s guideline, the roommates will be different every night. This way, you always have something new to say to the guy sharing your room, and you’ll be relieved to know you’ll waste only one night if he’s snoring like a pig.
Pacific North West
Once all of these rules are understood, it’s time to explore the open spaces of this unusual journey. After the mandatory picture on the Canadian border, the small groups of riders start the first day on the ridge of small mountains. The trails are fast and the bright sky offers a clear view of the surrounding summits. The arrival at Lake Chelan is the cherry on the cake, with a private beach at the hotel. The next day, the groups encounter more technical trails with steep cliffs and rocks, and the dead trees give a surreal ambiance to the stressful ride. The side-car rider was wise to stay on the green track! The third day is all about good dirt, under a light rain. There’s no mud, the traction is awesome, and with no dust to reuse the visibility, it’s easy to race your buddies. The average speed on the morning was definitively above any reasonable limit, but who cares? Ride fast, take chances and safety third is the mantra when the conditions are so good. Anyway, everybody knows that the trails are open and that, if you want to avoid a head-on collision with a pick-up truck, you better stay calm. Or at least try to stop yourself from taking all the blind corners on the inside! Easier said than done, but, well, it’s in every rider’s mind. Crossing the Hood River bridge, with gusty winds and heavy traffic in the opposite direction, while riding on a metallic grate providing no grip to our tires is a scary moment. It seems a miracle that nobody fell under a truck. The accommodation today is at the Timberline Lodge, a historical monument built on a summit with a view on Mt Hood, and it’s an understatement to say that everybody’s relieved to sit in the cozy restaurant for an unforgettable meal. The wooden walls and the dark ambiance in and out of the old building make the whole night look a bit menacing, and you could feel yourself being trapped in a Dracula movie. No wonder they used this hotel in the Stanley Kubrick horror movie “The Shining.” In the morning, the rain and the freezing temperatures do nothing to comfort the riders. With 27°F, you better have a great set of gear, including warm gloves! Later in the valley, the first gas station offers a great choice of hand-made pastries, and everyone’s morale is going up quickly. Approaching Bend, OR, the Three Sisters show their summits surrounded by sticky clouds above a desolated landscape, where burnt trees give a dark black and white tone to the ride. Long sections of silt, thin dust viciously hiding rocks and holes, are challenging the riders.
Luckily, the only casualty would be the clutch lever of the DR650, broken in a fall at low speed. The trails improve the closer we get to Crescent Lake, and it’s time for a well deserved hot meal near the lake! In the morning, the thick fog spreads the orange sunrise light and help us forget about the extreme temperatures. The gravel roads are well maintained and riding fast warms up our cold bodies. In the afternoon, the golden light becomes gorgeous, and it’s just impossible to resist the temptation to shoot more and more pictures. We can feel the California vibe, just 10 miles away. The last trails, more technical and single-track like, give a last touch of fun to a perfect day. In the motel parking lot, we share beers and chips. After five days, friendships are born and sharing stories of the day with your buddies makes you feel good.
Smoke in the Woods
Northern California is burning, and the sky is whitened by the smoke of the huge wildfires. Luckily, we follow the tracks towards high elevations where the atmosphere is more breathable. These fire-roads crossing the mountains are a pleasure to ride. Small lakes are shining like gems, the whole scenery is so colorful it looks like a postcard. The cows spread all over these alpine meadows barely pay attention to our motorcycles. Back in the plains, we follow small paved roads, with no traffic whatsoever. One rider still finds a way to break his chain, and immediately, everybody stops to help him. To be more accurate, one guy, mechanic in Alaska, is figuring out a way to fix the broken chain while the others are watching.
Isn’t it some kind of solidarity? Anyway, Dahl manages to repair the whole thing with just a plier and receives a round of applause for his exceptional skills. In the afternoon, we’re getting close to one wildfire and the trail we planned to follow is closed.
Some riders will negotiate their way with the officials to follow the blue route through the woods. Some others will just stay on the highway, taking a longer but safer way. Everybody will finally make it to the hotel, and once again, it’s time to share beers and stories! We leave a smoky Redding to reach the next mountains, spared by the fires. In the canyons, black rocks, yellow grass, centennial trees, and a few river crossings make the ride so fun you can’t ask for more. But the next day proves to be even better! Taking more altitude, we reach dead forests, followed by strange mossy red trees. We ride in these unique landscapes, under a sky so blue it looks painted. Back on pavement, it’s another windy road with thousand of curves to use the side of our knobbies. The last part of the day is again on dirt, but we barely enjoy it as we just learned that our friend on the side-car had an accident. The rider is safe, but the side is salvaged. The proof is that mankind is safer on two wheels than three!
Southern California
Transitioning between Northern and Southern California, we endure miles and miles of silt, making it difficult for the biggest bikes. But it doesn’t last, and the next two days, the trails will be more than perfect, crossing golden hills and turquoise rivers. The sky is still pure blue, and the temperatures are now above 80°F. The ambiance is so different compared to Washington and Oregon that we feel like we’re making a second trip in another country! Despite some closed trails we finally reach Yosemite National Park. There are still a lot of tourists driving at walking speed with their rental cars, but the view of the Half Dome is worth the traffic. Leaving Camp Nelson at sunrise, we cross Sequoia forests to go down to the desert.
The KTM 990 Adventure immediately gets a flat. Which means, again, that most of us watch and talk while three are working on the tube with iron bars and a compressor. Hey, at least we stayed, right? In the desert, the trails are so good you can’t help but speed. Reaching 100mph is no big deal on most bikes. The colorful landscape shifts fast, but the last canyon before California City is definitively more technical.
Surrounded by infinite plains of sand, the little town is well known for its OHV areas. At first light, the rising sun is blinding, and we try to ride with one hand up to protect our eyes. Luckily, the trails are pretty smooth! As soon as the light becomes better, we twist the throttle wide open. Here it’s legal to go off-trail, and we ride as if we were racing the Baja 1000 or the Dakar. After a few sand washes, the trails become rocky, and you’re definitely relieved to reach Banning.
Border to Border
For the very last day, most will try the red section. Steep sandy downhills will give everybody the adrenaline shot they were looking for. Front tires are giving up grip in the sand, the handlebars changing direction with no warning. Each mile is a fight. We grab lunch at a small restaurant called Paradise Valley, we all needed a break! The afternoon is also pretty technical, with more rocks and temperatures rising above 90°F. The riders who stayed on the green and blue routes will wait at a Mexican joint on the road for the others to catch up.
This way, everybody will reach the Mexican border at the same time. The American officers don’t mind moving their Border patrol car to allow us enough room for a group picture. But the trip is not over yet, and we still have one hundred miles on pavement to reach Alpine, the last stop of this three thousand mile journey.
As the night falls, almost everybody gives a speech around the table. They all talked about friendship more than motorcycles. If traveling is a way to reach borders, this specific trip gave the opportunity to these riders to meet people they would never have met in other circumstances. No matter your age, your job, your country, you become friends, or should I say brother in arms with your fellow riders. And it’s not just an emotional feeling inspired by the fatigue of all this riding. Weeks after the end of the ride, most will continue to exchange e-mails and share pictures and videos. The snow is already here in the North, and most of the bikes are in storage for the winter. But we all know one thing for sure: we’ll get back on the trails as soon as possible, and will wait for our friends at the donuts!
Special Thanks:
To Kevin Glassett, who put together this amazing ride. Check his website at www.gpskevinadventurerides.com for the upcoming trips; Greg who did an incredible job driving the support van, loading our bags and shopping for chips and beers everyday; Jane Glassett who managed to book our lodging all along the way; Chris Glaspell at Upshift for building this impressive 2018 Suzuki DR-Z400 and DR650SE; Alpinestars for the all-new Venture R jacket and pants and the SM-10 Helmet; all the riders who helped the author during so many improvised photoshoot sessions: Dahl, Larry, Bill, Steve, Roberto, Christophe, John D and John J, Daniel, Joe, Turu, Jeffrey, Tim and Kevin were definitively the most patient models ever!
