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Washington trails

Zswickliffe

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Hey all,

I'm potentially moving to Washington in the not so distant future, was wondering what the general availability was for OHV trails and land access? I've recently spent a bunch of time in CO, UT and Idaho and loved the BLM land and ability to just see a trail and head down it.

But in my quick googling it is less clear what the general situation was in Washington state/Oregon. Is it similar where you have tons of open trails to venture down? Or is it more limited to specific areas?
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NoGlad8r

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Hey all,

I'm potentially moving to Washington in the not so distant future, was wondering what the general availability was for OHV trails and land access? I've recently spent a bunch of time in CO, UT and Idaho and loved the BLM land and ability to just see a trail and head down it.

But in my quick googling it is less clear what the general situation was in Washington state/Oregon. Is it similar where you have tons of open trails to venture down? Or is it more limited to specific areas?
There are quite a few places you can go wheeling, whether that's ATV, SxS or Jeep. Here is a site that has some of them. I've been wanting a Gladiator for a while, just can't pull the trigger. I go wheeling in my SxS, but I see a lot of Wranglers when I am out.

https://www.riderplanet-usa.com/atv/trails/washington_list.htm
 

booneja

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Hey all,

I'm potentially moving to Washington in the not so distant future, was wondering what the general availability was for OHV trails and land access? I've recently spent a bunch of time in CO, UT and Idaho and loved the BLM land and ability to just see a trail and head down it.

But in my quick googling it is less clear what the general situation was in Washington state/Oregon. Is it similar where you have tons of open trails to venture down? Or is it more limited to specific areas?
Additionally, a you tuber Chris Shontz ( I think that is the spelling (confirmed)) of Venture4wd does a lot of overlanding in his JK (orangie) and regularly uploads his GPS tracks to Gaia GPS and if you are a patron subscriber of his you can get them free as part of your subscription, including his camp spots that he highlights in his videos (might be worth the look?)
 

beram

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I am in SW WA. Besides knowing of some of the trails in the area I have also used:
trailsoffroad.com
onxmaps.com
gaiagps.com

A friend of mine has mentioned alltrails.com though I have not tried it yet.

Due to that free 6 months of onx elite, thanks to Jeep, I primarily have been using that since end of August. Used it for the 26 days Overlanding trip I did in September across the Western US (10 states).
 

tobyw

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Compared to UT, CO, and ID as you specifically pointed out, we have almost no off-road trails... Yes there are a few areas that have some trails and a even a few off-road "parks", but nothing like what is available in UT, CO, or ID. I have literally spent my entire lifetime in and around the off-road scene everywhere this side of the Mississippi, and the states you mention simply cannot be compared to anywhere else in terms of trail quantity and accessibility, period. To be quite honest, WA is among the worst.
 

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Fouts

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Compared to UT, CO, and ID as you specifically pointed out, we have almost no off-road trails... Yes there are a few areas that have some trails and a even a few off-road "parks", but nothing like what is available in UT, CO, or ID. I have literally spent my entire lifetime in and around the off-road scene everywhere this side of the Mississippi, and the states you mention simply cannot be compared to anywhere else in terms of trail quantity and accessibility, period. To be quite honest, WA is among the worst.
I have been mostly Washington, Oregon, and Idaho so I cant compare to where you have been but there are tons of great places in Washington. Little Naches is great, I like Ahtanum forest, Wenas, all around Rimrock lake, nice trails off of Bethel Ridge, and many others. Most trail are marked, some for ATV only, and many with a varied difficulty rating. I am kind of anxious to see how the Gladiator does compared to my JK, JL 2 doors. Kind of concerned there will be some place I cannot get into because of the size.
 

tobyw

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Can’t disagree with any of those trail areas you mentioned, they are fantastic. But, they are all within a 50-mile radius…. Taking into account the size of the state, and that nucleus of trails being a significant portion of those available state-wide, it’s pretty sad. We just don’t have good motorized access to our public lands.
 

TheRealGinjaNinja

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Can’t disagree with any of those trail areas you mentioned, they are fantastic. But, they are all within a 50-mile radius…. Taking into account the size of the state, and that nucleus of trails being a significant portion of those available state-wide, it’s pretty sad. We just don’t have good motorized access to our public lands.
This has been my realization and disappointment as well after being here in WA for 9 years. I am a Colorado native and spent 4 years in AZ...I much preferred the ease of finding trails and the type of terrain/views available out there.

Cheers
 

Glad Jeeper

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Hello, I am starting to plan a jeep trip for myself and inlaws for Memorial weekend. We have done leg 1 and 1/2 of leg 2 WABDR. Was thinking about Rimrock Lake and complete leg 2 and continue to leg 3 and 4. My question, have any of you traveled this route early in the year? Is it still somewhat snowy top of Bethel Ridge and top above Lake Chelan? If so then we will stay lower; Rimrock, Naches and Vantage. Any info would be great.
 

MPMB

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I was up in the woods by Index on Saturday and the snow was on the ground to at least 2400'. There's still going to be snow in the 3000'-4000' range for a few more weeks. In a month, probably not. There might be some pockets here & there, but most snow is gone by Memorial Day.

I spent more than a handful of holiday weekends on Lake Chelan and Memorial Day weekend is the start of summer there. I don't recall seeing snow much anywhere going over by car, sometimes a little snow visible by plane.

We've camped at Fish Lake for years on that weekend and sometimes it's cold, sometimes comfortable. Snow sometimes way up top.

You'd have to check to see if this year's snow is above average or not. But I'd think it should be mostly gone. You won't be far from a small town and a decent bypass route if there is a lot of snow.
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