*Motorcycle Roads NorthWest

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

Google Map:

View Larger Map

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:

Google Map:

View Larger Map

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:

Google Map:

View Larger Map

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

Google Map:

View Larger Map

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:

Google Map:

View Larger Map