Touratech West Rally in Plain, Washington June 24 - 27, 2025 (photos see below)

Many of our friends have gone to the Touratech West Rally in Plain, WA in previous years and enjoyed it, so we decided to go this year to see what it's all about. The plan was to stop at the rally for the weekend and then continue on to Canada for a week or so. Spoiler:We didn't make it to Canada because Jayne had a bad cough (still from her Paraguay trip) and then she twisted her knee at some point during the rally, probably by getting on or off one of the bikes.
It's a nice area around there and it was a good ride to the location. We took two days for the way up to ride through our favorite National Forest, Gifford Pinchot, and we camped along then way.
The ride from Leavenworth to Plain is quite nice, winding and even has a couple of switchbacks. We arrived early, as Jayne had booked a SheADV off-road class for Thursday at noon, and we were surprised that the gates opened for everybody at 10 am, as we were told that only she could get in before noon because of her class. The large, shadeless field for camping was still largely empty when we arrived. We picked a spot not too far from the porta-potties, but far enough away and set up camp. Throughout the day many more riders would follow and surround us, but it wasn't crowded. For once we were lucky with the weather, it was warm and dry, but not too hot. Every passing motorcycle on the dry field created a dust cloud, even though most were riding slowly to avoid stirring up too much dust. We even got a rain shower at the first night, but it didn't help much with the dust for the rest of the event.
In all there were about 1500 motorcycle riders at the event. The largest motorcycle rally we had ever attended, and the largest in the PNW.
We walked through the camp and saw just about every make and model of adventure motorcycle, and every possible farkle you can put on a bike. Surprisingly most of the bikes were rather new and only a few seemed to be well used travel bikes. We also looked at the huge variety of tents, from somebody having a sleeping bag under a tarp, to 6+ person tents (for a single rider), everything was present.
There were 20+ vendors in the "infield" and, to my surprise, there were 6 factory trucks with bikes for test rides. They were Zero, Suzuki, CFMoto, Honda, Harley Davidson, and Yamaha. There would have been room for a few more, but Royal Enfield, BMW, and KTM weren't there. But still, 6 factory trucks, that's impressive and shows how serious the manufacturers take this rally. Subsequently I spent most of my time there test riding motorcycles instead of going on the guided ride-outs. They offered guided test rides, about 8 miles long, and surprisingly, 50% of that was off-road, which is very unusual for test rides. I went on 9 test rides on 8 different motorcycles. Yes, I rode my first Harley, the Pan America, and I did it twice (on-road only), once on my own and once together with Jayne.
Jayne did a presentation on doing good while traveling, which unfortunately wasn't well attended due to a time slot in the middle of the day with competition from test rides and ride-outs. Well, because of her presentation we got in for "free", but it's still frustrating for her to put a lot of work into the presentation and then have hardly any attendees.
They had several food trucks and a big truck supplying free drinking water. There also is a small restaurant across the street and a small grocery store. Some vendors gave away a free keg of beer in the evenings, but in general you have to supply your own beverages.
It's a really well organized event. The only thing missing, in my opinion, is a communal fire or something (they can't have a fire due to fire danger at that time of year). Just something for everybody to come together and talk bikes and stuff, while having a beer. As it is, most people sit in front of their tent with a few friends, but that's not the communal thing that I've seen at other events and really enjoyed.