Just finished the WA Backcountry Discovery Route

Knightspirit

Well-known member
Sep 22, 2019
251
84
Mount Shasta, CA
This is the Washington Backcountry Discovery Route - which goes from the Oregon border to the Canadian border. It took us 6 days to complete in our completely stock Discovery 1. I put together a little video from the footage that we got (mostly an iPhone hanging out of the window) so you can get a feel for the terrain etc. Perfect time to go - as the flowers are all popping right now! All trails were clear of trees and snow.


You can find more information about the route here:


We used Gaia GPS with a tablet in conjunction with a regular Garmin. You can download all of the GPS tracks from the web site above and load them into your devices. Once you download the maps of the areas you will be in from Gaia - you are good to go. We also bought the paper map as well just as back-up. I would not go with just a paper map!


Prep your vehicle and bring your tools and recovery gear - AAA isn’t coming!

I was a little apprehensive about trying this in a stock rig with street tires, but the Discovery 1 is an amazing off road vehicle, and all said and done, I only engaged the center dif twice in 600 miles! Having said that though - this is better attempted with all-terrain tires as we completely shredded a tire on a sharp rock and had to go buy two used ones to complete our trip. They are rating this as one of the easier trails, so perfect for just getting your feet wet.

Fun Facts:

- We ran our street tires at 26 PSI
- We blew an upper shock bushing, a rear tire, a heater hose and lost our brakes at one point from overheating. Then the check engine light came on, LOL! We never got stuck though.
- There are some nice places to stay along the way if you want to break up the camping - which we did.
 

Toran

Well-known member
Feb 3, 2017
416
48
Ohio
Very sweet video, looks like you had an awesome time in nature! Thanks for posting the tips. Was that your personal drone or a rent-a-trip drone?
Thanks!
 

robbyb20

Well-known member
Oct 2, 2019
227
34
Seattle
Ive been wanting to do this. I just hopped over to ONF last weekend and toured NFS 2312 which was fantastic. Looks like a great drive.
 

pdXDisco97

Well-known member
Dec 6, 2011
277
36
Oregon
Awesome! It's on my "someday" list of trips to take from my home base of Oregon. Thanks for sharing!
 

Tugela

Well-known member
May 21, 2007
4,754
562
Seattle
I did this a couple years ago. Memorable trip and I look forward to doing it again. Congrats on completing it in style. There is a little something special about driving the Discovery route in a Discovery.

20664675_10155648400949549_7503432450458347140_n.jpg
 

Knightspirit

Well-known member
Sep 22, 2019
251
84
Mount Shasta, CA
I did this a couple years ago. Memorable trip and I look forward to doing it again. Congrats on completing it in style. There is a little something special about driving the Discovery route in a Discovery.

20664675_10155648400949549_7503432450458347140_n.jpg
I saw your post about it and that was what got me wanting to do it. So thanks for that!
 
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