Day Five: Section 5 - Chelan - Conconully

Day five consisted of finishing up Section four and if all went well, Section 5 to Conconully. After spending the night high on the ridge at just over 5000 ft, it was time to pack up and head to Chelan and then on to Conconully. We were only two hours shy of Chelan but looked forward to this next section. There was the 8410 by-pass and this time my CDO (OCD but the letters are in alphabetical order) was over-ridden by common sense. I heard the route was overgrown and there was no escaping the pin-striping unless I took the by-pass. Not willing to scratch up my rig unnecessarily, we took the by-pass. Great decision on our part as we were greeted by a magnificent view of the early rising sun glistening over Lake Chelan. For those that plan on doing this section of the WABDR, I highly recommend you plan on staying on the mountain and arriving in Chelan in the morning so as not to miss this great view. Every turn we made provided yet another spectacular view of the lake, almost better than the one before. We were so thankful we didn’t push through the night just to get to Chelan. To think, a late start coming out of Wenatchee after the alignment gave us such a fantastic section to this journey.

Lake Chelan is beautiful. I've heard this is a place so many companies take their folks to for a business retreat. I could understand why. It was very peaceful driving by the lake as cyclists and runners were hitting the pavement in stride. Once we fueled up and made a short pit stop in Chelan we began our ascent up Cooper Ridge Road past the Echo Valley Ski Area toward the 5,867 foot summit of Cooper Mountain. We were closely monitoring a fire in Chelan during this trip but thankfully it was under control. It began to dawn on me that we may actually be one of the lucky ones to complete this trip without having to take a diversion due to fire. The route then passed Black Canyon Creek and along Fox Peak before heading back to the paved road again. We went past the one-store town of Carlton up Benson Creek road past Thrapp and Woody Mountains. One of the more scenic sections of the route was Loup Loup Canyon Road in the Loup Loup State Forest. We spent quite a bit of time there taking in the scenery and observing how different this forest looked compared to the Wenatchee forest. It was a beautiful sight to take in as we observed two Osprey's following us along the Forest Road. We stopped to catch them on camera and on video. It was almost as if they were performing for us. This whole area was a bird watchers paradise. We would see a family of Ruffed Grouse and White Tailed Ptarmigan scurry across the road ahead of us every so often. I lost track of how many times we saw them.

We finally came to the highlight of this section - the steep Ruby Grade. We slowly descended the ridge towards the old mining town where Ruby once existed. I must admit, I felt pretty accomplished after completing that section. I had to pose with my rig next to the old sign describing the bustling mining community that was the center of commerce in the Okanogan area until the market for silver collapsed in 1892. Coming off of Ruby concluded day five as we headed to the Conconully State Park to pack it in for the night. This was by far one of the best sections.

The early morning sun glistening across the calm waters of Lake Chelan


Around every turn there always seemed to be yet another great photograph that just had to be taken.


Weathered and worn over the years. You can't capture this beauty unless you're on the top of the mountain.


One of the two Osprey's entertaining us along the way.


Fires raged across Okanogan County and the Wilderness in 2014 as homes were lost, hospitals evacuated, and hundreds fled. This is what remains of the old Douglas Firs and Ponderosa Pines on the mountain.


To me, this was a pretty big accomplishment. Ruby Grade (ridge) was not to be taken too lightly. A Forest Ranger recommended we by-pass this section. He said it was too difficult. My rig flexing for the photo-shoot.


Dropping into the valley on our way to Conconully - breathtaking.


For those wishing to spend the night where we did before heading into Lake Chelan I've posted the topo and the coordinates. I can always send you the waypoint.gpx file if you want.