10 more riders got out and collected their first visits this past week, and 2 riders achieved Finisher status (Ian Sibbald and Tim Seawel). Quite a few of you took advantage of a few days of good weather to go to spots in every state except Montana. Given the tenacious hold that winter has on us, I guess Montana isn’t too much of a surprise. I am betting the couple of riders who ventured down into California were surprised to encounter 100+ temperatures.
For the past week:
- 10 riders collected their first visits of the year.
- 103 riders have collected a total of 343 stops so far (74 last week!).
- 2 new finishers this week (Ian Sibbald and Tim Seawel).
- Washington still leads the total count by a large margin over second place Oregon (178 to 89).
We tried to put together an informal ride-to-eat to coincide with the opening of Elk Lake Resort in Oregon’s Cascade Mountains, but mother nature got wind of the plan and the weather was just too cold, too wet for it to be enjoyable. We will try again since the resort is in a very nice area.
Location Updates
GT03 (Elk Lake Resort) should be available now. The resort opened for the summer on Friday, May 27th. I have been up there (the gate to the resort and sign was closed because they were not open, yet) and the roads are in good shape. There was a lot of roadside snow on the section between Bachelor Mountain Ski Resort and Elk Lake (from the west) – some clumps fell off onto the road, so take it easy through that area). The section of the highway coming from the south is virtually clear of roadside snow until approaching Elk Lake. Either direction offers some great scenery!
GT14 (PCT Sign) has been visited by one adventurous rider, so technically it is available, but with a warning. There are still several fallen trees across sections of the road north of Trout Lake, and the snow cover prevents motorcycle access to the actual sign. We will be lenient in scoring these picture (as we usually are), but there is no rush. My advice – hold off for a few more weeks, let the snow melt and give forestry crews time to clear the trees. Note – the section of road from the north is almost certainly still closed, and likely will be for several more weeks. It is dirt FS road and not really that much fun on a bike anyway.
GT28 (Big Hole National Battlefield) – I have no status and it has not been visited. This location is at a pretty good elevation and might have snow still. My experience in the past has been that the roads in this area are generally open and you just need to watch the weather, but this winter has been a bit odd, so who knows.
One final thing to discuss – lost flag. I am adding the ability to use a hand-made sign to replace your lost flag until we can get you a placard to replace it. You can see an example of this in the next image. Note – a flag left at home IS NOT a lost flag. Once you tell us your flag is lost, you cannot use it again…because it is lost.
