8 minute read
FaR FLUnG anD RoCkY
FAR FLUNG & Rocky
Bikepacking from Tarpiscan to Vantage
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Bryan Dolejsi crests the final climb and drops into Ginko Petrified Forest State Park with the Vantage Bridge and Wanapum Dam in the distance.
Ray Birks, foreground, and riding buddies Marlin Peterson, Wenatchee, and Bryan Dolejsi, Seattle, contemplate the rockiness of life somewhere high in the Tarpiscan.
by ray birKs
The Tarpiscan and Colockum areas of the Wenatchee Mountains are notoriously rocky.
It’s almost as if a giant hand swept across north central Washington, moved a large volume of rocks and deposited them into this area of the world tucked in between the Columbia River and Mission Ridge. Or they were flung there in a strange ritual by a long forgotten nomadic tribe specializing in trebuchets and slingshots.
I guess there’s probably a more acceptable geologic reason involving lava flows and erosion and less about medieval weapons, but I was a humanities major and one can dream.
I’d been aching to explore this area for a few years simply because I didn’t know a lot about it but I understood it to be vast and underappreciated.
I knew it was a seasonal wintering area for elk and I’d read a few trail reports on W.T.A. (Washington Trails Association) about hikers making their way to West Bar, which is the large sand bar across from the town of Crescent Bar along with recreationalists on
bikes or motorcycles heading over Colockum Pass, but there were not many descriptions of bike travel from Tarpiscan to Vantage.
So, out came the maps and the Google. Luckily, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife puts out some very detailed green dot maps.
I picked the brains of some hunters I knew and others who had ridden their side-by-sides and motorcycles out in the area, shed hunting and scouting for elk.
I even rode the first part of the trip a few times just to get a feel for what the terrain was like and was amazed at the vastness and beauty of the region.
But the most intriguing pieces of information I got were from some YouTube videos compiled by Wardenproductions of a
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Tarpiscan Creek, near West Bar, is a reliable source of water in early spring. From here the route heads south and the climbing starts in earnest.
An epic sunrise disc tossing session instigated by Marlin Peterson, background, on the sandy shores of Quilomene Bay.
}}} Continued from previous page four-day bikepacking trip that was repeated annually for a few years.
These explorers did the route without the fancy bags and lightweight tents we had. They rode with older bikes pulling trailers and wearing backpacks and seemed to relish in their weighty adventure.
If all worked out according to plan, we would start riding mid-morning, camp somewhere along the way and arrive in Vantage around noon the next day. The goal was to explore unknown territory and take in the sights of spring wildflowers and sweeping views.
The mileage was not concerning, I estimated it somewhere near 50-plus miles but the elevation and topography had me wondering if that’s why the YouTube group took four days to complete it.
After some more thought I decided it would be feasible to complete the trip in two days, although maybe a bit less enjoyable. So we packed up two days worth of food, water and gear and made our way to the start.
The first seven or eight miles climbed up on mostly double track through areas that were obviously affected by recent flooding.
The road has one major washout within the first mile that makes vehicle passage impossible so much so that we had to dismount and push our bikes up the steep cut out of the creek bed.
The first bit of riding is somewhat rocky, but not “I’m walking my bike downhill” rocky. Remember I was a humanities major? That’s my inconspicuous attempt at foreshadowing.
After crossing the bridge at Tarpiscan Creek, we headed south and climbed up to the junction with Brewton Road where we took a left and started the descent toward West Bar.
Tarpiscan Creek is the first possible water source but we knew we’d also cross Tekison Creek at the bottom of Tekison Road in a few miles.
This descent was rocky and beautiful with many basalt columns, birds and wildflowers lining our passage. We were greeted by a few lazy cows and happily filtered and filled up our water bottles as we knew we’d be climbing for a while from this point and it was starting to get hot.
We were probably close to 20 miles in but buoyed by the ever changing landscapes and broad views.
We climbed up Little Brushy Creek Road for a few more miles, very steep and rocky in places, and eventually gained a false plateau.
Here we took stock of our camping options and mileage and decided to deviate from our original plan which was to stay on the green dot roads all the way to Vantage.
Looking at a combination of Google Maps and our Green Dot maps we wondered if we could go overland for a few miles and drop down into Quilomene Bay, directly across the river from the Gorge Amphitheater and Cave B Winery, and spend the night on the river.
We weren’t sure if we would get cliffed out and have to backtrack to the road but luckily our hunch panned out.
After a few more miles of rugged biking and some extended hike-a-bike, we descended a scree slope and found ourselves alone on a large sandbar in Quilomene Bay.
I anticipated that since it was a Friday night and one of the first hot days of spring, there would be a flotilla of boats and water-
Marlin Peterson and Bryan Dolejsi enjoy some hot camp food on the sandbar at Quilomene Bay. This bay is directly across the Columbia River from The Gorge Amphitheater and Cave B Winery.
craft, but luckily it was deserted.
Our goal of getting to Quilomene Bay was not only to camp on the river but to expedite our adventure the next morning by putting us closer to our destination.
Our initial route would have bowed out and away from the river and included much more climbing with no guarantees of a good camp spot or water. This was perfect and well worth some anxious moments of indecision.
We set up our tent, cooked some dinner, dipped in the chilly river and tossed the disc around, all a great reward for a hard day of riding.
Quilomene Bay is one of those places you see on a map that looks inviting until you realize you either need a boat or a 4×4 and lots of patience to get there so to be there under human power was sublime. The sandbar juts out into the Columbia and is shadowed by a large basalt cliff full of roosting birds. It was a pleasant and serene night. Our trip the next morning started with a rousing climb out of Quilomene Bay, a rather rude wake up call after such a peaceful night. The next few miles were rolling and rocky with a left turn down Box Canyon Road and then a quick right on Jackknife Ridge Road which we knew would take us right down into Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park and Vantage. Cue up the aforementioned foreshadowing. Jackknife embodied the word “rocky” and at points, with a fully loaded bike, I found myself deciding that the best route downhill was to walk my bike with the brakes on. It wasn’t worth going over the bars in the middle of nowhere for such a small slice of pride. Even in a 4×4 this would be a jarring road but I think it gets a lot of attention from snowmobiles in the winter. After the jarring descent, Jackknife goes through a beautiful valley complete with a rushing creek and a mandatory water stop, lots more beautiful flowers and basalt cliffs that kept us company. A lot of miles and another few climbs and descents later and we were perched over the Columbia River at the entrance to the State Park. A long drawn out view showed the river and the Vantage bridge along with the Wanapum Dam in the distance. More rocky cruising downhill and we were at the Vantage gas station, where we stashed a car, and our journey was done, except for the obligatory unhealthy gas station post-ride snacks. This route scratched a deep itch for adventure and knowledge and it’s one that I would do again. There is so much terrain in the Tarpiscan, Colockum, Quilomene and Whiskey Dick areas that you can get yourself lost and find yourself pretty easily.
