I have a four day weekend on Columbus day weekend in mid October, so this weekend has become a tradition to go riding and camping somewhere in Eastern, WA.

This year we started the ride from Foggy Dew campground.......
We've been planning this ride for a few weeks and I asked Jon if we should try to camp near the trails this year.  Jon said "Heck yeah!!"
My newly acquired hotel on wheels provided adequate accommodations.

5 of us made the ride: Tim and Steve from Chelan, WA, Blick from Portland, OR, Jon from Omak, WA and myself - from Spanaway, WA

In the past, We've got up at 5 am, loaded the bikes and gear, drove an hour and a half from Omak to get to the trailhead, and somehow never get on the trail as early as we should.   And after the ride, it's not fun driving back in the dark after a long hard day of trail riding.  Camping at the trailhead would ensure we got an early start to riding, and then a relaxing evening around a campfire.

2002 was the last time I rode in this area, and we failed miserably because we tried out a new trail.  It went nowhere other than straight up the mountain and basically ended in a rock pile.  I suspect it is suitable for hikers, but not trail bikes.

1999 was the last good ride we had in this area, but we failed to reach our destination then too, because we got a late start.

What was our destination during all these rides?  A mountain pass the locals call "The Wall".  The official name is Deadman's Pass.  I've done 4 rides there now and have still not reached the far side of the basin to ascend "The Wall".  This year would have been possible had it not been snowing.

Blick, Tim, Jon and myself camped at Foggy Dew, and Steve drove up the next morning and met us.  We left camp around 9:20 am and soon were climbing from 2100' to about 4200' in elevation at the trailhead.  About a mile before the trailhead, the rain turned to snow.  We stopped at the trailhead for a few photos, I took off my helmet and put on my balaclava to keep my head, face and neck warm, then we continued up the trail.  Grip heaters did a fine job of keeping my hands warm along with snowmobiler's style gloves.

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