Idaho BDR Fall 2023 on route

Despite going to the Giantloop Rally in Crane Oregon, Touratech Rally near Leavenworth Washington and the home grown Adventure Bike Gathering I just had the feeling I hadn’t got my fill of motocamping this season. So I called up my buddy Murray Comley from the Subshine Coast and asked him, how’d you like to do the Idaho BDR (Backroad Discovery Route) with me at the end of September. Murray is always up for an adventure and it didn’t take much to convince him. I can also credit Murray for getting me into motocamping in the first place 5 years ago.

Lift off took a bit to come to fruition. Murray’s vintage BMW GS adventure bike hadn’t ran in a few years, but Murray is ever confident in his abilities and was sure he could breath life back into it. Try as he may, electrical issues became insurmountable. Always quick to pivot to the next solution Murray tackled the oil pressure issue on his other vintage BMW RT street model and he was off! He left Sunshine Coast for Vernon on Friday and the adventure begins …..first a loose relay brought him to a halt not far from the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal. Got that figured out, made it to Pemberton when the clutch started to go! Got as far as Lillooet when he realized he didn’t have his passport. His amazing understanding spouse Liana Campbell puts his passport on a float plane and gets his passport as far as Vancouver. Murray limps is clutchless bike BACK to Vancouver to get the passport. Now it’s Saturday evening, with passport in hand Murray sets out for Vernon on his clutchless Beamer. He arrives at our house somewhere near 2am and lets himself into the house for what’s left of the night. That was the Cole’s notes account of his adventure. If that intrigued you check out his page at Ecospirit Life. He’s an excellent and entertaining writer.

Ok, so it only took 2 days but Murray made it to Vernon. With Murray’s bike not in rideable condition we pivot to another solution. I normally ride my 2017 KTM 690 Enduro bike, so we put Murray on that bike and I suit up my new to me 2017 KTM 1290 super adventure R. I acquired that bike more for Karen and I to ride more street and a small amount of gravel road but it’s a very capable adventure bike. Albeit larger than I had imagined taking on the Idaho BDR. I was a little nervous about my ability to handle such a large bike on unknown terrain.

So we managed to get out of the driveway around noon with our first destination being Creston BC. This leg would be all pavement to get us near the north end of the Idaho BDR. The route is designed to be ridden south to north but we planned to ride in reverse order starting at the end of Section 8 at the Canada/USA boarder.

The day is cool but we dressed appropriately. Murray enjoys the heated grips on the 690 while I am relieved that the Nylon rain gloves I found days before are keeping the wind and cold off my hands. It was pretty cool on highway 3 over the Polson summit and the notorious Salmo Creston Summit. I had scouted a wild camp spot just outside of Creston using an app called i-overlander. It can be helpful but the information is provided by users to reliability can be sketchy. This situation was no different, just a slight widening of a logging road was someone’s idea of a camp site. We tried another i-overlander spot at a boat launch near Creston but it was already occupado. So off the a legit campsite called Scottie’s Campground. First of many camp set ups in the dark but we were safe and sound. Ready for our first leg, section 8 of the Idaho BDR tomorrow.