*Motorcycle Roads NorthWest

Long known by its name, the newly minted Oregon State Route 402, is considered by some Portland sport-riders to be a destination road in its own right.

It’s a mere 35 miles long and links the towns of Kimberly and Monument and the hamlet of Hamilton with US 395 on the east end and Oregon SR19 (aka John Day Hwy) on the other.

This road is reputed as the sport-bikers dream shortcut due to its low traffic volume and excellent curves. I’m sure it is enjoyable, although I’d hate to have to decide between the southwest route of the wondrous southern leg of SR19 and heavily-patrolled US26 and the northeastern route of SR402/Kimberly-Long Creek and the also-heavily-patrolled US Route 395.

I imagine this is a common sight along Oregon 402. Do keep an eye out for them.

Photo by Angie H. (Creative Commons: Attribution)

• County: Grant County, Oregon
• Length: 34.88 miles (per ODOT)
• Towns: Kimberly, Monument, Hamilton

Microsoft S&T file for Oregon State Route 402 ‘Kimberly-Long Creek Highway’

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Oregon Route 214 may not be the sportbike-haven that you get in the mountains on side of the Willamette Valley, but there’s enough curves to go around and plenty to see and do along this highway.

In Mount Angel, you can visit a Germanic-style Benedictine monastery and stop for comestibles at the Mt. Angel Brewing Company while on your way to or from the 8,700 acre Silver Falls State Park. In Silverton, you can visit the extensive Oregon Gardens and you can see Frank Lloyd Wright’s Gordon House and when you’re done there you can visit the shops and art galleries of downtown Silverton.

If you’re more interested in vehicles that roll on rails, be sure to visit the Oregon Railway Historical Society. They should be easy to find with the restored engine out in front near Cleveland Street.

Here are some photos of Silver Falls State Park:

Photo by Martin Bravenboer (Creative Commons: Attribution)

Photo by Sellwood Street (Creative Commons: Attribution)

Photo by Christopher Chen (Creative Commons: Attribution, CopyLeft)

Photo by Christopher Thomas (Creative Commons: Attribution, Copyleft)

• Road Name: Oregon Route 214
• Counties: Marion
• Length: 43
• Towns: Downs, Drake Crossing, Mount Angel, Silver Falls City, Silverton, Woodburn

Download the Streets and Trips file for Oregon Route 214

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This road is not the normal kind of road you see posted here at Motorcycle Roads Northwest. For one, it has 23 miles of graded gravel. For another, there’s quarter-mile long two-tower suspension bridge out in the middle of nowhere that goes over the Dworshak Reservoir. For a third, the southern paved section (below the bridge) is so tight that I’m surprised I wasn’t passing the back-end of my bike coming the other way on those switchbacks.

Heading west out of Orofino, There’s a little road that goes alongside the north edge of the river opposite US 12, and on that road is a very well-marked turnout for Wells Bench Road. This road climbs right up the side of the huge cliff that overhangs the valley floor, and it really does twist back and forth through the narrow canyon going up to the top.

Way up at the top of the canyon, after having ridden a good eight to ten or so very tiring miles up the side of the escarpment, you come to a wonder. There’s a huge pull-off overlook area (about 2/3 acre?) that looks down over the reservoir and the quite majestic Dent Bridge some hundreds of feet below.

Dent Bridge. 1,550 feet long, one of the longest in the world.

About a mile north of the bridge and likewise a mile south of Elk River, this road turns to gravel. It’s definitely not a primitive road, as the roadbed is obviously graded from time to time, and it is packed well enough that the ‘Strom only bogged down in deep stuff when I got too close to the edges of the road.

Up at the top of the road is Elk River. Elk River’s a neat little place, apparently populated by 10x as many ATVs as cars, and home to Elk River’s Huckleberry Heaven.

Just be careful of deer and elk while you’re out that way. This whole area is just crawling with the eponymous hooved rats, as a good friend of mine discovered to his detriment while coming into Elk River from the west on the tarmac. His touring rig was completely totaled, and he’s extremely lucky to suffer little more than scrapes and used-up riding gear. On that same day, I saw a fawn being born right on the roadside heading up towards the bridge overlook and many more deer grazing the surrounding hillsides.

• County: Clearwater County, Idaho
• Length: 42 miles
• Towns: Orofino, Elk River

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Out along the Oregon Coast, on the tidewater side of US101, the intrepid motorcyclist can find the Cape Arago Highway.

This highly scenic roadway begins at the west end of Newmark Avenue in Charleston, Oregon at Empire Boulevard and follows the edge of Coos Bay out to the South Slough Bridge after which 7 Devils Road branches off and Cape Arago Highway heads out towards the rather famous lighthouse that bears the same name as this roadway.

View from Cape Arago

Photo by Clinton Steeds (Creative Commons: Attribution)

If you follow the Cape Arago Highway out past the lighthouse, you’ll arrive at the end of the line at a trio of State Parks: Sunset Bay State Park, Shore Acres State Park, and Cape Arago State Park in that order.

This is another one of those roads that attracts tourists, as the lighthouse and the state parks are quite a destination. I haven’t ridden this road on a weekend so I can’t say for sure, but as always, the weekdays will probably be much less busy.

• County: Coos
• Length: 11 miles
• Towns: Charleston, Barview, Shore Acres

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I had a lovely opportunity to ride this road recently. While the weather wasn’t anywhere near perfect, it’s probably what you can also expect along the Oregon Coast most of the year.

This road does lack a bit in engineering with its frequent bumps and dips, but it’s a fine weekday cruise. Weekday, you ask? Yes, just about every report that I’ve received from other riders mentions that this road has a fair bit of traffic on it. I rolled through on a damp Monday and saw no one else at all, but apparently this is definitely not the case on the weekends.

This road, like OR SR53, has a tendency to run through existing small creek drainages systems and is thus often below grade level. No big deal until you start coming across deer in the sometimes tight shrubbery-lined corners. I saw several while I was on this road: at 10am in the morning, in the rain. Must’ve been some hungry deer.

Back to the road itself, it’s really a rather enjoyable road, but like many of these coastal roads, are perhaps better enjoyed on something with a bit of suspension travel or dirt competency. These roads are mostly built on what are very large, permanent sand dunes and any road that gets large trucks will start to deform quickly.

If you can catch this one, I do still recommend it. It beats the hell out of sitting on 101 behind dozens of RVs puttering through the corners at 35, but don’t expect perfectly track-smooth surfaces and clear lines of sight either.

The scenery on this route is rather mediocre, so I’ve included a nice shot of Nehalem Bay at the north end of Miami River Road, just a few miles or so west of the OR 53 junction.

Photo by Michael Cornelius (Creative Commons: AT-SA)

• Road Name: Miami River Road / Foley Creek Road
• Counties: Tillamook
• Length: 13
• Towns: Garibaldi, Wheeler

Download the Streets and Trips file for Miami River Rd / Foley Creek Rd

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A fine example of the Eastern Oregon highway-building, Oregon Route 19 does a little bit of a Jeckyl & Hyde routine. With this in mind, I’ll be covering this road in sections.

Viewing the road from south to north, it follows Eastern Oregon’s John Day River from the US Route 26 junction in the midst of the John Day fossil beds up to the Route 207 split at Service Creek. This southern third of the 120 mile route (43.9 miles) forms a wonderfully scenic stretch of roadway that hardly ever seems to be moving in a straight line. The riverine bends simply sway back and forth along the river, usually without any discernible rhythm or pattern except alternating lefts & rights.

Fuel & Services are kind of thin in this section of the roadway, but in the village of Spray, you can find gasoline, food, and even lodging can be found at a couple local bed & breakfasts.

Cathedral Rock along the John Day River:

Courtesy of the US Nat. Park Svc.

The upper two-thirds of this road between the OR207 and the Columbia is much less interesting than the lower third. While it’s definitely not perfectly straight, the road doesn’t necessarily curve as much as it changes heading slightly every mile or so. This part of the road does have much more in the way of services, with the larger towns of Fossil, Condon, and Arlington in the north half.

Amongst those services, is the Shelton Wayside(Wheeler) County Park. They offer three dozen campsites at very reasonable rates.and are located about 20 miles SE of Fossil and roughly 5 miles north of the OR207/19 split. Before you stop there, you may want to double-check if the park is open however, as I heard that a wildfire destroyed several buildings in the park in August of 2007.

One suggestion, if you’re actively hunting out twisties while you’re traveling in a north and westerly direction, I’d recommend taking OR 207 at the 207/19 split instead. You’ll enjoy the wild twisties of 207 far more than the gentle sweepers of the rest of Route 19.

• Counties: Grant, Wheeler
• Length: 40 miles
• Towns: Service Creek, Spray

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This little stretch of road is a welcome break if you’re droning along I-84. I’ve seen it mentioned in a number of different motorcycle forums as an alternative route to whatever other road they had originally planned to do.

Obvious from the responses of other motorcyclists, it’s not perceived as a destination road in its on right on the merit of its own twisties, but I rather like it from the aforementioned welcome break from droning and the historic merits of this road as past of the Oregon Trail and an old US-30 alignment.

While it often looked down upon by motorcyclists, it’s a very scenic route with rolling hills and the Umatilla River nearby. Indeed, it’s a notable favorite of long-distance bicyclists who are avoiding the trash-filled shoulders of nearby Interstate 84. The OPRR itself isn’t exactly race-track smooth as it’s a lightly-traveled County Road throughout its length. I think it’s one that you’ll enjoy if you’re not in a hurry.

Photo below: Glen Williams (Creative Commons: BY-SA)

• County: Umatilla
• Length: 23 miles
• Towns: Pendleton, Echo, Stanfield

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The scene is set in the late Spring of 2007. A year not known for summery weather at best, it was decided that a trip out of Hurricane Ridge was in order. My wife has been demanding such a visit for years, and I was in no position to argue over such a visit.

None of the names of the roads leading up there really convey the sense of the trip. It certainly has curvy bits and quite excellent ones, for sure. It also ascends 5200 feet in about 21 miles, right from absolute sea level at the shore of the Strait of Juan de Fuca to over 5200 feet at the Hurrican Ridge Visitor Center. I’m not entirely sure, because my GPS lost tracking at one point in the middle of a cloud, but the altimeter read around 6,000 at one point.

I would also be on a sharp lookout for hooved rats, you know: Deer. Those foul vermin that attack motorcycles: They’re everywhere up there in the park, probably because they know they can’t be hunted up there.

This road is also slightly tough to classify. It definitely has some sweepers on it, especially in the lower half of the mountains. The curves at the top are rather nice, but they’re not exactly on par with the squiggles of St. Helens FS99 either. I’m going to make another trip up there when the weather is not so completely miserable (38F at the visitor center in late May), and we’ll see how it goes.

Some pictures from my 2007 visit:

View back along Heart o’ the Hills Road from the Hurricane Ridge Visitors Center.

A view into the real Heart of the Olympic Range.

A bit of hiking trail on the south side of the road, around 4000′.

A viewpoint about 1/3 of the way to the top. You can see the Dungeness Spit in Sequim from one of these pullouts.

• County:
• Length: 18 miles
• Towns: Port Angeles

Microsoft Streets & Trips File for Heart o’ the Hills Road & Hurricane Ridge

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Oh Frabjous Joy!

Or something to that effect. This road is a real kick in the pants, hidden in the Oregon Coast Range.

Yes, it’s a bit short and is the shortest-distance route between Oregon Route 202 and US 26, but it’s still a gas. When I rode it this past summer, it was also freshly-paved and as smooth as the south end of a north-bound infant. Seriously. I think I could’ve rolled a quarter from on edge from the 202 intersection all the way to US26.

Now, there’s no services on this route except for a towing yard, and nobody wants to have to use their services. And there’s plenty of logging trucks too, so no guarantees that the road is going to stay that nice either.

The only thing that was seriously wrong with this road is that it was too short, only 9 miles. Were it not raining, I would’ve turned around and done this one a few more times.

But for the meantime, you can enjoy some seriously Coastal Range-style twisties. Even in the rain, this one was a kick.

• Counties:
• Length:
• Towns: Jewell, Vinemaple, Jewell Junction

And keep an eye out for Sasquatch. He’s reputed to live in those hills.

Microsoft Streets & Trips file for Oregon Route 103 ‘Fishhawk Falls Highway’

Garmin GPX file for Oregon Route 103 ‘Fishhawk Falls Highway’

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Editor’s Note: I keep wanting to call this Fishkill Falls Highway. Guess I spent too many years Out East.

Editor’s Note: Garmin GPX file added at the bottom

The first time that I rode through in August of 2007, the western stretch of this road was a wondrous piece of pavement with fresh, racetrack-smooth pavement that was to die for even in the wet.

Then the paving stopped. And it became an adventure road. It was wet, gnarly, bumpy, frost-heavy, and oh yes, highly twisty.

With either a fresh coat of pavement or dry weather, Oregon 202 would’ve been highly enjoyable. As it was, between the damp weather and the logging trucks on Monday morning, it was very nerve-wracking.

Riding out of the south end of Astoria Oregon, one easily finds oneself on this old forest highway. It starts on the south side of Astoria where US101 splits off to the right and crosses the Youngs Bay Bridge. Once you get out of the Astoria area, there’s little to nothing for services. Make sure that you’re fed, fueled, and hydrated before leaving town.

It’s not rather unexpected in this particular damp part of Oregon, but this road has a couple of nice waterfalls.

The small waterfalls along the roadway are rather pretty and a nice spot to rest and stretch. This one, Barth Falls, along the Klatskanie River is only a drop of a few feet but has an interesting little fish ladder to the left.

Much to my surprise and even though it looms large on my maps, the town of Jewell isn’t really a town but rather a spot where the farmhouses are a little closer together. It’s very easy to miss the turn down Fishhawk Falls Highway, that is if you’re heading back to 101. There’s also no services there, so you’re out of luck until you get to Mist or back to 101.

If you’re heading back to Portland, you might was well stay on 202 until you meet Oregon 47. From there you can pick any number of excellent backroads that will take you back to the big city.

• Towns: Astoria, Jewell, Mist
• Length: 43
• Counties: Clatsop, Columbia

Microsoft Streets & Trips file for Oregon Route 202 (Available soon)

Garmin GPX format file for Oregon Route 202

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