Three of our members just completed a 2 day excursion to points south
-Twisp, Loup, Lake Chelan, Conconully, Okanagan, Loomis, Nighthawk,
Keremeos and home sweet home. They witnessed the devastation caused by the Washington fires this summer. It
was widespread and brutal, burning everything is site. Roads were
washed out by flash floods from the rains that followed. A local disaster.
The weather predicted for Chelan was 26c WRONG! It was actually 33c warm so they had to strip off layers to keep cool. Beautiful warm evening with wine, women and song. Mid Towner Motel was a treat as usual - great accommodations - modern ,clean, fine staff all for $59 !!!!!! Red Apple Restaurant was waiting.
An early start allowed for some unusual exploration. We have all heard Vic speak of Conconully, so off we were. What a great find in the elevations of this area - up, up, up, we went until we came to the town - a quaint settlement with a tourist flavour - campgrounds horseback riding etc. We were determined to explore this area further so off we went following the bitumen as far as it took us. First the centre line disappeared, then broken pavement, then good gravel, then marginal gravel, then well, I guess you would call it 4X4 trail! At that point we checked Glen’s GPS as it indicated only 28 kilometres more to go on this forest service road back to Hwy #97. An executive decision was made to abort this route for more favourable footings. So back we went from where we came. My camera tagged the photo at that turn around point and shows us in the middle of the National Forest somewhere. A truly execrating experience to be repeated again at some point in the future.
Time allowed for touring all of the side roads through the Okanagan and Omak. Lunch at Rancho Checko in Tonasket was welcomed and delicious.
The boys at Night Hawk were waiting and we breezed through Customs without a glitch, wine and all. (1.5L Yellow Tail $8.49)
Return trip home was via Green Mountain Road. Goodbyes were said to Bill and Glen and I home was reached around 4:30 PM. Round trip approximately 750K’s. Weather flawless!
The weather predicted for Chelan was 26c WRONG! It was actually 33c warm so they had to strip off layers to keep cool. Beautiful warm evening with wine, women and song. Mid Towner Motel was a treat as usual - great accommodations - modern ,clean, fine staff all for $59 !!!!!! Red Apple Restaurant was waiting.
An early start allowed for some unusual exploration. We have all heard Vic speak of Conconully, so off we were. What a great find in the elevations of this area - up, up, up, we went until we came to the town - a quaint settlement with a tourist flavour - campgrounds horseback riding etc. We were determined to explore this area further so off we went following the bitumen as far as it took us. First the centre line disappeared, then broken pavement, then good gravel, then marginal gravel, then well, I guess you would call it 4X4 trail! At that point we checked Glen’s GPS as it indicated only 28 kilometres more to go on this forest service road back to Hwy #97. An executive decision was made to abort this route for more favourable footings. So back we went from where we came. My camera tagged the photo at that turn around point and shows us in the middle of the National Forest somewhere. A truly execrating experience to be repeated again at some point in the future.
Time allowed for touring all of the side roads through the Okanagan and Omak. Lunch at Rancho Checko in Tonasket was welcomed and delicious.
The boys at Night Hawk were waiting and we breezed through Customs without a glitch, wine and all. (1.5L Yellow Tail $8.49)
Return trip home was via Green Mountain Road. Goodbyes were said to Bill and Glen and I home was reached around 4:30 PM. Round trip approximately 750K’s. Weather flawless!
