*Motorcycle Roads NorthWest

For riders used to the hustle & bustle of Western Washington, Washington’s Route 20 is prone to inducing a bit of mental dissonance. If you departed on your trip from Seattle, you’ve spent the last couple hundred around lots of cars, motorcycles, and RVs. Well, that pretty much seems to end once you’re east of Okanogan.

Once you cross the Columbia at Tonasket, you’re into a whole different time and place. Riding through the canyon floors of these sparsely-forested hillsides, it’s very easy to believe that you might be riding through the early years of the 20th century and not the 21st. Indeed, I kept half expecting to see some miner on a doney or a rancher riding down out of the hills every time I came around a corner.

No, there were no cowboys or gold miners, instead I got deer. All over the place they were.

Most of Route 20 is rangeland, mostly fenced thankfully, but rangeland nonetheless. I would see deer near the road or in adjoining fields every 4-5 miles. On many occasions during this 150+ mile ride, I’d see deer grazing alongside big beef cattle as nonchalantly as if they too were completely domesticated.

Finlay Canyon across to the Methow Valley:

Once you’re east of Tonasket, this road takes on that Old West feeling that I mentioned before. The landscape is brown with a few resinous pine trees along the roadside. I spent the morning out around Wauconda and Republic, all by myself. There streets of Republic were almost deserted. I saw several cars parked along the side of the street, but almost nobody was stirring even at 11am on Sunday.

The only “major” town along the route is Kettle Falls/Colville. You can get all the usual items there and Google reports that there’s a couple motorcycle shops in town. Not surprising really, in that this entire area is a dual-sport paradise. Dirt roads everywhere once you’re off the main highway.

As far as the road itself, well, it’s simply incredible. It’s one of the best stretches of roadway I’ve ever ridden. You can do 30-40 miles of awesome sweepers at a stretch. Then all the sudden you get a few miles of gentler sweepers and cross a river, and you’re back into some of the most incredible touring twisties this side of the California state line.

• Counties: Okanogan, Ferry, Stevens, Pend Oreille (pron. Pond O’Ray)
• Length: 157 miles
• Towns: Okanogan, Riverside, Tonasket, Wauconda, Republic, Kettle Falls, Colville, Ione

A lovely view of one of the waterfalls along the route: Crystal Falls

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Note: This isn’t any particular road, but rather a serious of loosely-connected roads that allow one to thread their way through some surprisingly empty country laying between Interstate 90 and WA SR26.

The Inner Passage holds a marked allure for me. Usually, when I am trying to get an event or a function, I’m in a hurry. I want to meet my friends, have supper, and enjoy myself before turning in for a good night’s rest. On the way home, I’m feeling mellow and reminiscent, and that where roads like this one come in.
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Nestled in a bend of the Columbia River is the Rock Island Dam. This dam and the eponymous nearby community sits in a little spot along the river that looks like the river channel used to flow though there.

Just a few miles east of Rock Island Grade and quite near the dam, is an unpaved road leading up to the northeast and eventually north up to Douglas on US Route 2. For those serious dirt riders, Rock Island Road meets Route 28 just across the Columbia (via the dam) from Coluckum Road.

Douglas County DOT says that this road can be used in dry weather by most vehicles, so unless it’s really crappy then it’s probably good enough for a V-Strom or GS.

• County: Douglas
• Length: 19
• Towns: Rock Island

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This windy little highway connects two interesting little towns that lie in the shadow of Mt. Adams and the Yakama Indian Reservation.

While these two towns obviously don’t have motorcycle dealerships to handle repairs (Hood River’s just 25 miles away), between the two of them, they seem to have the basics covered.

There’s some lodging in Glenwood including a notable B&B frequented by Supreme Court judges and a regionally renowned rodeo that’s been hosted in June annually since 1934, in addition to a couple restaurants.

Trout Lake also has a number of lodging options nearby including camping at Elk Meadows RV park. Trout Lake also has a number of dining options available including the all-important espresso shop, a necessity for any Seattle-ite. There is reputed to be a gas station at the junction of “Mt. Adams Road” and Route 141.

• Road Name: Glenwood - Trout Lake Highway
• Counties: Klickitat
• Length: 15
• Towns: Glenwood

Download the Streets and Trips file for Trout Lake Highway

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This listing requires a bit of explanation.

Most of the road that you see below is only marginally a “motorcycle road”. In the summer, it’s hot and straight and not generally much fun throughout its length. Most riders could take it or leave and grudgingly acknowledge that it’s better than slogging up Interstate 5.

But I also said “most of the road”. Straddling the Washington / Oregon border you’ll find an amazing piece of pavement called the Rattlesnake Grade. When you mention this to any rider who’s done this twisty piece of paved paradise, their face will light up with an appropriately beatific smile.

If you’ve ever seen my review of the Spiral Highway, that’s pretty much what you can except to see out on the Rattlesnake Grade. It twists back and forth for miles to traverse the elevation change of the Rattlesnake Grade. The primary difference is that there’s no nearby town for this road. There’s nothing much else to do expect ride this road over and over until you get low on gas and have to slog back in to Joseph, OR (40 miles) or Asotin, WA (25 miles) to fill your tank.

View of Oregon 3 / Washington 129 near the border:

• Road Name: Washington State Route 129/Oregon Route 3
• Counties: Asotin, Wallowa
• Length: 85
• Towns: Anatone (WA), Appleton (OR), Asotin (WA), Clarkston (WA), Enterprise (OR), Flora (OR)

Download the Streets and Trips file for Washington State Route 129 / Oregon State Route 3

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Washington State Route 20, the North Cascades Highway, is the northern-most route across the Washington section of the Cascade Range. The first path to be surveyed, it was last to be completed and the most difficult.

Containing several sections of wonderful curves, SR 20 ascends the western foothills of the Cascades to Rainy Pass via the Skagit River, Ross Lake, and Ruby and Granite Creeks. The road winds and curves most delightfully across the width of the Cascades into Omak where SR20 multi-plexes with US97.

A fairly typical sweeper on Route 20.

Near the town of Concrete, SR20 passes within a few miles of Mt. Baker, and Lake Shannon is immediately to the north. Throughout most of its length, SR20 passes through the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest and lands held by various other conservatory agencies.

A view towards the Northern Cascades from a wide sweeper west of Winthrop.

Between Twisp and Washington Pass, SR20 follows the floor of the Methow Valley and the Okanogan National Forest. The area abounds with campgrounds, small lakes, hunting, swimming, even a golf course south-east of Winthrop. While you may not be able to partake in the use of the area’s many boat ramps, they might be good for those looking for a full-feature weekend with an RV, boat, and some dual-sport bikes.

A very steep roadside rock formation at the east end of Route 20 near Diablo. Courtesy of Ted Timmons.

Indeed, many of my friends and acquaintances who hail from this area seem to spend as much if not more of their two-wheeled recreation time on the area’s hundreds of miles of Forest Service roads.

Washington State Route 20 Overview Map, Burlington to Okanogan:

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There’s a sweet little piece of tarmac up over the Cascades that offers a much better route for the corner-loving sport-touring rider. US2 is this road, the interesting part running between Monroe and Leavenworth. US2 runs up over Stevens Pass and has some very nice mid-speed sweepers, marked at 50mph including a very nice hairpin up in the top of that pass within the 4-lane “freeway” section.

One of the primary drawbacks to US2 over Stevens Pass is the RV and tourist traffic. If you end up in the main weekend traffic flow out of and returning to the Seattle area, you can expect 35mph lineups extending for miles. Summers are especially trying as the traffic is slow, drivers frustrated, and temps are quite warm.

While some of the road does look like this, there are some sweet high-speed sweepers up in the mountains:

Photo by Robert Ashworth (Creative Commons: AT-SA)

As US2 is fairly local to me, I’ve ridden it on any number of occasions. It’s one of the taller passes in Washington State and the scenery is quite nice with its mountainsides sheathed in evergreens. Even in the hottest of summer afternoons Stevens Pass stays reasonable. On July 4th a year or two ago, a fellow rider and I headed east over Stevens Pass to Wenatchee. Even with temps in the upper 80s on the wetside, temperatures remained cool all the way out of Cashmere before we hit the “Wall of Heat” of the Central Washington desert climate.

Do be careful in the little towns on both sides of the pass. The speed limits are often obnoxiously low, poorly marked, and zealously enforced. There’s very little in the way of economy in many of those little towns, and you rarely get off with just a warning.

If you’re not in a hurry, there are many short side roads to explore along US2. The lakes and hills around Stevens Pass provide a variety of recreational opportunities and Leavenworth has a number of very nice shops to visit in their Bavarian tourism theme. Stopping for gas at Coles Corner just east of Stevens Pass is a convenient spot to regroup and round up your riders for a short jaunt north on SR207 to get to the north end of Chumstick Road (Old SR209) that drops down through a wonderful bunch of curvaceous corners into the east end of Leavenworth.

Note: Sometimes the traffic is really bad in Leavenworth, and it might be worth your while just to go up 207 and come down on the east side avoiding the stop’n'go.

Downtown Leavenworth:

Photo by Chas Redmond (Creative Commons: AT-SA)

One thing to keep in mind is that even if it isn’t terribly hot east of the Cascades, it’s almost always extremely dry. Carry plenty of fluids and remember to keep your electrolytes in balance. If you’re thirsty, you’re already short on water and need to get rehydrating pronto. Also remember that like any ride into the backhills, you need to thoroughly prepare your bike as cell coverage can be spotty on these non-Interstate mountain passes.

• Counties: Snohomish, King, Chelan
• Length:
• Towns: Monroe, Sultan, Gold Bar, Skykomish, Index, Coles Corner, Leavenworth

Microsoft Streets & Trips for US Route 2

Overview Map of US Route 2, covering the section running from Monroe to Leavenworth:

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US97 is a dry side road. It wends its way up from the Columbia along the valley floors, scatterings of abandoned pastureland and hardwood pines punctuating the Eastern Cascade scenery. The views are impressive and the highway is as well-paved as it is desolate on our mid-October weekend excursion.

At one fairly flat spot south of Satus Pass, you can stop at a roadside marker where you can see four of the Cascade Range Volcanoes: Hood, St. Helens, Adams, and Rainier further in the distance. A wide vista of the valley floor, all the way up to the Cascade foothills can be enjoyed there. I highly recommend a short visit, as it’s a good spot to turn around if you want to go through the sweepers again.

View of Mt. Adams from the Cascade Volcano Viewpoint along US97. Very pretty, and a nice place to stop on a very lonely road.

Along Satus Creek and across its namesake mountain pass, the roads curve along the walls of the canyon. The sweeper are clean and infrequently traveled, and the revenue enhancement patrols were simply not in evidence on that sleepy weekend. The few State Patrol cruisers we saw were not very interested even in our fairly elevated speed.

Between Toppenish and Satus Pass, US97 passes through the lands of the Yakama Nation. There are relatively few homesteads along the route and a number of side-roads dead-end about an eighth of a mile from 97. The posted speed of the road is quite liberal for a two-lane US route, and ascends several of the large ridges between the Yakima River and the southern Columbia.

US97 up near Satus Pass, much high-altitude greenery

North of Toppenish, US97 is not worth mentioning as it’s an arrow-straight 1960s-era concrete freeway just like any other character-less freeway in the Midwest. North of Union Gap a few miles further, US97 multi-plexes with Interstate 82.

At Maryhill, US97 crosses the Columbia and enters from Oregon, where the average driver isn’t even trusted enough to pump his own gas. Heading west from Maryhill (and where you end up if you miss the left-hand turnoff to cross the Columbia and stay on 97 South) , is Washington SR14. A real gem of a road, and was once a US three-digit route as an alternative to US30/I-82 over on the Oregon side of the river.

This route was largely that taken by Lewis & Clark on their expedition in the very early 1800s, and is known as the Lewis & Clark Highway.

• Towns: Toppenish, Goldendale, Maryhill
• Length: 59
• Counties: Yakima, Klickitat

Microsoft Streets & Trips file for US 97 Maryhill to Toppenish

Overview Map of US97 from Maryhill to Toppenish

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Old Washington SR209 is a small, narrow, winding country road that provides easy access to Lake Wenatchee without the traffic inherent in traveling through downtown Leavenworth while tourists are in season. The road in indeed quite narrow and very twistly, winding between the various farms, railroad trestles, and geologic formations and artifacts.

“The road surface itself is typically rough and patchy. the corners are generally 30-35 with a couple very nice hairpins in the center area of the road. most of the corners themselves are very nicely radiused and cambered properly. Indeed, the corners very frequent but with the obvious and inherent limits that places on sight lines in a forested area.

You can get to the north end of 209 from US2 by heading north from Coles Corner and taking SR207. There’s a very good gas station there at Coles Corner from which you can head directly north for a few miles before the more than adequately-signed right hand turn onto 209.

If you prefer to do 209 from the south, head north from the large grocery store on the east end of Leavenworth. I don’t recall at this time, but it might be signed as Plain Rd. or Chumstick Rd. at that point. Please let me know if you know which it is.

A little historical note of interest to road and highway buffs, 209 is actually no longer a Washington State Highway. it was decommissioned by the State Legislature in late 1992. If my memory serves, the very large sign denoting the right hand turn off 207 still has the SR209 sign posted on it.

Download the Microsoft Streets & Trips file for Chumstick Highway

Old SR209 is located north of Leavenworth and heads up to Lake Wenatchee.

Map of Old State Route 209:

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Canyon Road is a wonderful ride, and a refreshing alternative to the four-lane high-passing-speed slab of Interstate 82. most of the curves are semi-sweepers that do not require much deceleration prior to entry, although some of the sharper curves are quite dramatic.

A hazy Mount Adams off to the south-east as you ease your way swayingly down towards Selah.

The road follows the Yakima River between (just north of) Selah and Ellensburg. Numerous raft and watercraft launching ramps are sited along the highway affording access to the river. As the road necessarily follows the river, it winds in between the ends of the various ridges and does not gain any significant elevation.

Ourselves and two trailing bikers slicing down the southern reaches of Canyon Road.

The main road itself has asphalt paving of fairly decent quality, and is clearly a favorite for area automotive enthusiasts as evidenced by the ‘Canyon Safety Corridor’ designation and the proliferation of Washington State Police on patrol or sitting along the road. The curves are well-marked and generally maintain a steady radius, quite luxurious for a rider from Western Washington. There are solid steel guide-rails around most of the corners as well, much better than the steel post and cable ‘cheese graters’ I expected to find. If traveling south, I would recommend approaching this road via Interstate 82 and the Thrall Road exit just south of the I90/I82 Ellensburg interchange. The segment between Thrall Road and Ellensburg has had horrendous patchy concrete paving creating a vicious wash-board experience. (See comment below) It truly felt as if my fillings were coming loose. The road has been re-surfaced south of Thrall Road, and the contrast is so total and complete that I would believe the roadbed might have been rebuilt in its entirety.

The pavement was much worse before the DOT repaving job

Other than being burned out by a nasty brushfire earlier in the week, this road is a slice of cycling heaven.

Several of the ridges we passed had recently experienced brush-fires. Trees simply do not grow here, and the hillsides were completely blackened from the flames, as if even the rocks themselves had burned. Unfortunately these fires do not seem to be naturally-induced or even accidental, as many people I spoke with in Yakima mentioned arson and negligence as prime causes of most of these conflagrations.

Yes, things DO grow here. Albeit with a huge amount of irrigation.

Related research to this road shows that the current alignment of SR821 runs from the I-82/US97 exit near Selah north along Canyon Road to Thrall Road, turning east on Thrall to it’s terminus at I-82/US97. Many folks are aware that US 97 used to run along Canyon Road, the curves and road design just has that certain 1950’s feel to it that I’ve written and spoken of before. While far and away most drivers take I-82 to Yakima, I found that SR821 was only a few minutes shorter from the I-90 to the terminus exit near Selah, being 40 minutes instead of 31 minutes. I highly recommend that you give this road a try.

Roadside Monument

In closing, please do be careful while riding this road and others of its kind. They are loads of fun to rip through, but the recreation boaters are clearly not focusing on driving or even more than marginally aware that their trailers are wider than they are. They’re certainly not thinking about oncoming motorcycles as they make that left hand turn.

Download Microsoft Streets & Trips file for Canyon Road.

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