Weekly Update (June 6th)

Another good week and business is picking up! But first, the business 🙂

Let’s talk about GT17 (Aquarius Campground). I went up there last week for the first time (I scouted it virtually for this year’s rally). One other rider had visited this year and provided me some feedback, so I really wanted to get up there and see it for myself. Bottom line – not what I would have picked if I had scouted it in advance. The roads out to the small “town” of Headquarters, Idaho are a lot of fun and worth the trip. The first section of the FS road from Headquarters to the campground is OK, but about 8 miles from the campground the road deteriorates and just becomes sucky. Add to that the widespread logging in the area and the scenery aspect is questionable, too. If you decide to go all the way to the campground, the Clearwater River flows nearby and that is pretty cool, but the ride out there is a slog.

So, what to do? I decided to update the bonus to a building in Headquarters. If you want to ride to the campground, you will get credit for it, but the building in Headquarters is also good enough. I will update the website in the next day or so. Sample images are also included below. We are making a solid effort to advance scout a lot more in preparation for next year. I really want the rides to be enjoyable, and crappy roads make that difficult.

We saw activity pick up in the last week as weather conditions improved. It is crazy to consider the amount of snow the Cascades have received this year. For example, Chinook Pass (up around Mt Rainier) still isn’t open. It is typically clear and ready to go by early June but WSDOT is saying a few more weeks. Late season snow has slowed efforts. I looked at historical opening dates and found that late-May/early-June is typical. It has opened as early as April 2nd (really an outlier) and as late as June 23rd in the past 10 years.

  • We now have 112 riders with at least 1 visit (9 in the last week).
  • Those riders have visited a total of 406 times (63 last week).
  • No new finishers last week.
  • We still have one location without a visit – Big Hole National Battlefield. I will say that at this time there is a crazy Texan on the move up there, so this one is probably going to fall soon 🙂

Personally, my favorite 2 rides so far have been out to Hells Canyon and out to Elk City. Hells Canyon is simply amazing with lots of twisty roads and good places to pull of for pictures. Elk City is a ride along a river that also has lots of twisty curves. Based on feedback in emails, others seem to agree. By the way, yes, I do try to read your comments on emailed pictures, so keep it coming!

Rider 183 took his Ducati out to Hells Canyon. I imagine that would have been an absolute blast to ride out there!
Rider 119 visited Elk City last week. We waved at each other (he was inbound, I was outbound).
As you can see, the sign at GT17 was fixed 🙂
Here’s the new sample image for GT17. It is an either/or kind of thing. This building is located at the end of ID-11 where you make the turn to go to the campground (still 20+ miles away).

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