The NorthWest Passage (NWP) Moto Adventure Route
Episode 2: Ghost Towns & Lost Lakes

In this episode…
I leave my mountain meadow camp after having a fabulous evening under a blanket of stars. I won’t lie, it was cold during the night. I awoke with frost on my tent on my bike. The morning sun warmed my tent and I had a glorious morning. I made my way down off the mountains to the small town of Oroville, after enjoying a great ride over Corral Butte and down the Toats-Coulee Road to Palmer Lake. I then followed the Similkameen River to the what’s left of the town of Nighthawk (Ghost Town) and stopped to see the Enloe Dam (aka Similkameen River Dam). From there, I made my way over to Oroville and resupplied. I then made my way to Old Town Molson. To get to Molson required following an old rail grade up to a plateau known as the Okanogan Highlands. I passed through an old border town that was disbanded by the US/Canadian governments as it straddled the US/Canadian Border. Old town Molson is not too much farther from there and I stopped to have lunch and walk through the old buildings. Afterwards, I made my way toward Chesaw, another old town out there, and came across many abandoned homesteads houses and barns. My day ended at Lost Lake. Lost Lake is a gem in the Okanogan Highlands. It is nicely wooded and the campground is nestled in the trees next to the shore. It was drizzling a bit, but only a handful of campers were there. The camp host host stated that I could camp in among the trees by the lake as there were so few people. This was great news as the trees afforded protection from the wind and the off and on drizzle. In between the spitting rain, I’d get patches of blue sky. It was a great place to end my day and relax.


The NorthWest Passage (NWP) Moto Adventure Route Description
Dave Peterson and his crew at BestRest developed an off-road adventure route that runs from the Pacific Ocean, eastward across the top of Washington, skirting the Canadian border for most of the way. It then continues into the panhandle of Idaho where one can easily connect to the Northern starting point of the Idaho Back Country Discovery Route. But, even so, the route can be taken northeast into Montana where it connects with the Continental Divide Route at Roosville MT. It is a nearly all dirt route that goes through outposts along the way, no major towns or cities. So bring your camping gear. The route is designed for mid-to-large Adventure Motorcycles. Leaving Seattle and back provides about 6 -7 days of Adventure riding through backcountry in the remotest areas in the Continental United States. All the needed information is free on the Best Rest website, including GPS tracks, daily Itineraries, maps and a link to a video that you should also watch. They did a really great service for the community. It is also a great way to connect the Idaho BDR, the Wa BDR and Continental Divide Route to maximize the most out of the outdoor Adventure riding experiences in the United States.

This video production is my personal experience in riding this route. I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed putting it together for you. As always, Ride Right, Ride Safe and Ride Responsibly in the back country.

I hope you thoroughly enjoy this episode of my travels. It is presented to show the joys, wonders and experiences of this route from a non-sponsored, not-for-profit perspective.

Please “LIKE”, “SUBSCRIBE” and comment if you enjoyed this. It will encourage me to do more of these types of productions in the future.

As always, Thanks for Riding with me,
~GrizzLee

Read more of my Moto travels here:
https://www.advrider.com/f/threads/gr...

Tracks for the NWP can be found on the BestRest website:
https://bestrestproducts.com/northwes...