Category Archives: 2022 Updates

Teaser #4 – this location will take you out to western Montana for a visit to Big Hole National Battlefield. There is good riding in every direction! The site was closed last year (sad) because it was being used as a staging area for fire fighting efforts, but should be open again this year. At 6,000+ feet, this is one you will probably want to plan later in the season.

The GPS coordinates are at the entrance sign off of MT-43. That is where you will take your picture so that you don’t have to pay to get in, but feel free to stop and enjoy a visit, too

GPS – N 45.6359, W 113.6435

Teaser #3…Oregon coast, sort of 🙂

Agness, Oregon. Who knows where that is (besides Butch and Beckie Dunlap)?

This is a great area in the coastal mountain range, but there are a few notes to make. First off, there is a lot of dirt in the area. You dual sport riders will probably love this one! The paved route is on Agness Rd from Gold Beach on the coast. The road from the north (Powers) is a lot of dirt forest service road.

Credit for this location goes to Butch Dunlap 🙂

Location – N42.555167, W124.064433

At an elevation of 230 feet, this one isn’t going to require snow tires, but finding a dry stretch of riding weather will be a challenge in the early going.

Here’s teaser #2!

If you have never visited Hell’s Canyon Dam, you are in for a treat! If you have been there before, you probably won’t mind going again

This location will take you as far into Hell’s Canyon on paved roads as you can go. A little past the dam, this visitor’s center is the end of the line. It doesn’t matter which direction you travel from, you will enjoy lots of scenery and curvy roads.

Warning – if you save this one until late July into August, you will be very, very hot.

If you are sniffing flowers, take the time to ride up to the Hell’s Canyon Overlook for a bonus view of the canyon. It is a paved NF road all the way up, the last couple of miles is still paved but not a full 2 lanes. You will go from about 1,500 feet at river level to roughly 5,500 feet at the overlook. Saying that the view is spectacular feels like I am cheating you of a proper description.

Location – N45.25363, W116.69724

Here’s your first teaser of the season…

I wanted to drive up to this location to make sure the roads were in good shape and paved all the way up. Success! Lots of snow, many fallen trees and mud slides, but paved and in good repair. Once winter has run its course this road will be a very enjoyable ride.

Wynoochee Dam is located in the southern region of Olympic National Forest. There are multiple forest service roads leading up there, and most of them are dirt and gravel, so you dual-sport riders will have a great time! There is one paved road that runs from Montesano (along US-12) all the way up to the dam and Wynoochee Lake (Wynoochee Valley Road). As a bonus, the dam overlook area has rest rooms, and a little further up the paved road you will find the lake day use area with more bathrooms, picnic areas and a nice beach.

Located at N47.38490, W123.60682.

The numbers so far:

• 167 riders registered and paid.
• 44 of these riders are new for 2022!
• $1317 raised for the YMCA so far this year 😮 – thank you!

Coming soon, a teaser location to keep you interested during these cold winter months. I don’t know about you guys, but the snow at my house has been amazing this season. All mountain passes across the Cascades have been closed for several days now and I-5 was closed due to flooding between Portland and Olympia for a brief time. Here’s to April 1st 🙂

Registration has been open for a couple of weeks now and the response has been encouraging. We have roughly 150 riders signed up so far, and many of them are new this year (which I think is very cool). Thank you to all who have signed up already. It is going to be a fun year!

I want to take a few moments to say thank you to a few people who have helped me with this rally the last 2 years. Tim Seawel, Brady Mullins, Justin Long, Wayne Horner – you guys have been extremely helpful in many different areas, including scoring the many pictures that come in, answering questions on Facebook and giving me feedback on my ideas. Several of you have given me suggestions of future locations, and I greatly appreciate it. Riders will find several locations this coming year that were suggested by other riders. I have a long list of places that are fun to visit in the PNW, but I haven’t been everywhere and it is fun to see locations that others find enjoyable. In particular, Dale Wilson gave me a very entertaining group of locations for this year and I liberally used them! Finally, Suze had a big hand in how the rally logo looked last year and the more I look at it, the happier I am with it. Her son put in some time for us early last year – I am eternally grateful because I am just not that creative when it comes to artistic stuff 🙁

Alright, the award show is over. I have the 30 locations for this year picked. I do have a couple I want to scout out before committing to make sure the location is available to all of us without having to ride a Ural. As we did last year, no dirt (without an alternative paved location). In fact, this year there is no dirt and I didn’t need alternatives. There will be some forestry service roads involved, but they will be paved. Perhaps not clearly marked, but paved nonetheless.

Do you want to visit just a few that are nearby, or maybe you want to finish, or maybe you want all 30? Any way you decide to attack it is just fine with us. I have it set up so that the average weekend rider can finish pretty easily. Do you want to visit all 30? You are going to have to put in some work! I intentionally select locations that require some riding. You will not be disappointed, but you will use up some tires!

More to come, including a couple of teasers….maybe!

I managed to get my files set up early, so I decided to open registration earlier than I expected. The registration process is different for 2022 – I am using Ride Master to handle the records this time. Navigate over to the Rules & Registration page (link at top of website) and review the rules. If you are interested in participating, click the Register button at the bottom of the page and you will be directed to the correct page on Ride Master.

Cost for 2022 is $22. I am again asking for a totally optional donation tot he YMCA – it will show up as one of the fees in the registration process, and if you desire to donate, just select the amount and add it to your total. We raised over $1,750 last year through these donations and my local YMCA was very appreciative of our efforts!

If you are a returning rider from 2021 and register before February 28th, I will assign you the same number. If you are a new rider, your number won’t be assigned until early March.

Questions? Reach out to me using the Contact page on the website or e-mail me at pnwgrandtour@gmail.com.

Quick answer to the most common question – yes, we plan to do this again in 2022! I am already planning locations in out of the way places and hope to provide an enjoyable group of options to get you out and about next year.

Some updates planned for 2022:

• I am planning to have the registration page active at the end of December. Stay tuned!
• Returning riders who register early (date TBD) will be able to request their 2021 rider number. I need to cut it off at some point to make sure flag orders can be sent and received in time for mailing.
• Entry fee will remain affordable. I am still looking at planned prices, and believe the entry fee will stay close to $20.
• I am choosing to not accept mail in registrations and payments this year. You will have to register online, and pay via PayPal (you do not have to have an active PayPal account to do this).
• I am setting up a discussion board on the web site for riders to use to ask questions, share stories and just interact. This is a first step in my plan to make Facebook less of a part of the tour. I am testing it now with a few people and hope to make it active at the end of the year.
• I am thinking about providing the option to purchase a tee shirt with the rally logo on it. Just need to sort out prices and delivery timelines. I should have an answer about the same time registration goes live.
• Finally, I am hoping that health guidelines allow us to have a mid-season get-together to meet and greet and share stories. If we are able to pull it together, there will be a small price (in addition to registration) to help defray food and beverage costs.

As always, I am always open to suggestions – send me a message using the contact page on this web site.

I hope your holiday season is blessed!