Who We Are!
The Border Riders Motorcycle Club “BRMC” is a not-for-profit 501(c)(7) organization for gay men who like to ride motorcycles and who like to go camping on their motorcycles. Our membership spans the Pacific Northwest with the greatest participation in the Portland, Seattle and Vancouver B.C. areas. We are one of the largest and longest-running gay motorcycle clubs in North America. We welcome like-minded guests to our Meet & Greets, day rides, and to our monthly meetings and summer campouts with a sponsoring BRMC member.
Table of Contents
All the news you need to know about the BRMC
June Run Weekend Recap By Dennis H.
June Photos By Tom C. and Darryl H.
July Meet & Greets Portland and Seattle
Plus
Members’ Birthdays
The BRMC 2026 Calendar of Events
Non BRMC Motorcycle Events
Request for Pictures & Closing Comments
June Campout Recap
The June trip to Union Creek Campground was a long haul for the 9 that attended. We typically have one trip per year that is a “stretch run”, but it gets us to roads that we typically can’t experience unless passing through there on an even longer trip. However, just passing through the area doesn’t give much exposure to the fun roads in the area. In my time with the Club we have only gone one place further and that was Enterprise, Oregon. Other stretch trips have included Emigrant Springs and Lake Bonaparte. About half the group arrived on Thursday, and some split up the trip into 2 days rather than what would be an 8 hour plus day for some – though Darryl had an unexpected extra day with a shift fork replacement in Pendleton.
This was the Club’s first time to Union Creek – we were scheduled there once before but that got cancelled due to Covid. The campsite overlooks Phillips Lake and was lightly treed so that wherever you set your tent up you never would get baked by the sun. The group site was well enough separated from the other campers, so we had a relative degree of privacy with flush toilets. Unlike the temperatures getting to and from the campground through eastern Oregon and Washington the temperatures were fairly mild due to the elevation and a slight breeze from the lake, we even had a little bit of unexpected drizzle overnight to settle the dust.
Day rides – there were day rides on Friday and Saturday exploring the wonderful roads in the area including a 3.14 (pie) run for getting a wonderful berry pie to be enjoyed around the campfire on Saturday night (yes, a campfire, probably the last for the season)
Dinners and breakfasts together – with a couple of vehicles in camp (mine included as I got a check engine light 20 miles from home and switched to 4 wheels) were in Baker City 18 miles from the campground. Most rode in vehicles and saved their energy for the day rides and travels to and from.
I haven’t seen the other reviews yet but based on comments would guess it to rate a 9.5 on a 10 scale.
Make sure to join us in the future even if it is a stretch for you.
- Dennis H.
June Photos
July 2026 Day Rides
Portland
No day ride planned for July due to the fourth, hopefully in August.
Seattle
Seattle will be skipping a day ride for July due to the 4th of July holiday.
July Campout
The July camping trip is not a long haul like getting to Union Creek in June as it’s more centrally located on the Olympic Peninsula. Like June it is located on a lake – Wynoochee Lake. The site is much more remote, 35 miles north of Montesano. This is one of those trips that you will want to think about doing some simple meals in camp due to the travel time to and from town. We were scheduled to do this campground last June but changed it up due to basically being in the rain forest. Hopefully this time the weather will cooperate.
You can register here, and we will see you there!
July Meet & Greets
Portland M&G
Portland’s July Meet & Greet is cancelled.
British columbia M&G
We are still looking for a member in BC to take the lead on this. Please let Dennis know if you are able do this.
seattle M&G
The Seattle area Meet and Greet returns to The Lumberyard in White Center Wednesday July 8th. Arrive around 6 or thereafter for dinner, official Meet and Greet starts at 7pm
Address is: 9630 16th Ave SW, Seattle, WA 98106
We hope to see you there!
High Mileage Competition
Members are invited to join our annual High Mileage competition! Read the rules in the Members Area.
This mileage competition is open to any and all active Border Riders Motorcycle Club (BRMC) members who choose to compete in the most miles ridden on their motorcycle(s), including 3-wheeled vehicles that have handlebars and a saddle for the use of the rider.
Reader’s Corner
A place for you, the reader, member and/or guest, to contribute.
Tell us about your travels, adventures, mishaps, etc.
To contribute, send your story & pictures to News@BorderRiders.com
Keep in mind, you can write about a trip that happened over the summer. It’s doesn’t have to be something you did last month.
Gear Store
The Gear Store is officially closed until the 2027 banquet. If there is something you need from the Gear Store before then, let a member of the board know and we will get it to you.
From the Handlebars of the President
Our annual riding season is well underway. So far this season we have had 2 camping trips and many have participated in Team Oregon classes. Consider joining us for the 3 remaining weekend trips of this year – and each is very unique and provides a mini vacation to see parts of the northwest that you otherwise may not see.
July – Coho Campground in the Olympics
August – near the coast by Florence Oregon
September – Salt Spring Island off of Vancouver Island.
I hope to see many of you on these events, and until then keep the shiny side up!
Dennis H.
President
president@borderriders.com
Road Captain Rumblings
Day rides are a great way to get some group riding in and meet up with the club in a non camping environment. The June circle around Mount Rainier for Seattle area riders was great with even a little snow at Chinook Pass. Skate Creek Road was in better condition than many years in the past. Unfortunately, due to the fourth we won’t have a day ride in July, but consider other months or join us for a Meet and Greet!
Dale C.
Road Captain
Treasurer’s Ramblings
Secretary Thoughts
A Brother’s Birthday
We have three brothers with a birthday this month:
Iain M June 8th
Mark B June 28th
David F June 28th
Take a moment out of your day to send birthday wishes!
2026 Events
July 17-19 - Coho Campground near Montesano WA
Aug 1 - Day rides
Aug 14-16 - Sutton Campground near Florence OR
Sep 5 - Day rides
Sep 18-20 - Ruckle Park on Salt Spring Island BC
Monthly Meet & Greets
BRMC members will be available for interested individuals to meet and learn more about the club and how to get involved. For locations and times, check out the following list of times & location. Watch our FB for last minute details or changes.
Portland: Meet & Greet - 1st Wednesday of the month, now a moveable feast! 5:30pm at a restaurant in the Portland area. Watch the newsletter and/or Facebook for last minute details.
Vancouver BC Meet & Greet - The club is looking for a host for this event, please contact Dennis if you are interested.
Seattle: Meet & Greet - 2nd Wednesday of the month, 6 pm at someplace new. Watch the newsletter, website or Facebook for exact location. We usually meet for dinner at 6 pm followed by the M&G at 7.
Member & Guest Non-Sanctioned Day-Rides
In addition to the club's monthly M&Gs, local rides frequently happen on the 1st Saturday of every month. Additionally, members & guests going on an impromptu day-ride, or to some other activity, will post their plans on our FB page so others can tag along. Again, watch our FB page for last minute details or changes.
To learn more about local event’s, impromptu events, or to check status on any event, check out our FB page or email the Road Captain at Captain@BorderRiders.com.
Hey, did you notice that trend? Yep, keep an eye on our FB page for last minute changes and details for all events.
Contributions of Photos & Stories
Please feel encouraged to send us your photos of our activities to News@BorderRiders.com. Please be aware that often your email client or and/or our storage system might downgrade the file size/image quality.
Club Archives - We are working hard to consolidate the digital archives. We recently added over 4,000 new photos going back to 2004, but there are still lots of gaps.
We need your help!!! Please consider scrubbing your image archives and submitting them to the club in the original size. This will help us complete the picture. (You will be given instructions on how to upload them to our Google Drive.)
Create folders if needed and include the year and month first, then your name. Event name is helpful but not required. For example:
2021 03 Seattle Day Run – Don Pics
2025 01 Don Pics
2025 02 Don Pics
Also, if you do anything interesting outside the club, we’d love to hear about it. Send us a short story with some photos and we will try get it into the next newsletter. It doesn’t have to be motorcycle related to be interesting. We are very diverse.
If you have photos and stories to share, please send to news@borderriders.com