*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

Google Maps:

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This is a nice little road that’s on the back way home from work. It winds along the Green River in amongst the trees, and provides a nice getaway from the aggressive freeway traffic.

There’s no photos here, as the road doesn’t have much in the way of a view. It follows the river for the most part, but it’s rarely so close that there’s no trees in the way of a good view. Perhaps I might take a photo of this road from the Route 18 freeway on the other side of the river, which is farther up the ridgeline and has a rather nice view of this road.

This road dovetails rather nicely with some other roads in the area, including Hobart-Issaquah Road down into Ravensdale which if you continue south eventually takes you down into Black Diamond and just a few blocks from this road. If you take this road from East to West, it also has the intersection for Green Valley Road near the Route 18 exit.

• Road Name: Auburn-Black Diamond Road
• Counties: King
• Length: 12 miles
• Towns: Auburn, Black Diamond, Morganville, Wynaco

Download the Streets and Trips file for Auburn-Black Diamond Road

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Google Map of Auburn-Black Diamond Road:

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Northwestern Oregon is a treasure trove of fantastic motorcycle roads. Many of the roads are very mountainous in nature with lots of fir trees and log trucks. This one, on the river side of US30 is a bit different. This one runs through a still hilly but far more agricultural and bucolic settings than the more mountainous setting between US26 and US30.

One key difference for me was that the curves were probably a fair bit safer. Less likely to 1) come across an oncoming log truck in my lane or 2) come across an oncoming bull elk in my lane.

There’s some pretty views on this road too. I rather like the little view down to the Columbia from the top of this bluff.

View of the Columbia near Mayger

A few hours further into that day and you probably could’ve seen Mt. Adams and maybe even Mt. St. Helens.

The roadway itself is a little rough after Quincy, and indeed after the Quincy turnoff I didn’t see any more sportbikes. Not a thorough-going V-Strom road, but one that requires a bit of care rather than encouragement of peg-scraping angles.

Friendly folks along the road too. I stopped the take the picture above, and the farmer stopped to make sure I didn’t need some assistance.

One really convenient part of that road is that it’s just a dozen or so blocks east of where Oregon 47 comes down out the hills. Just enough distance to stop at the handy gas station and fill up before heading across the river and off towards Quincy.

Note: the photo above was taken near the ‘B’ on the Google Map.

• Counties:
• Length:
• Towns: Quincy, Mayger, Alston

Download the Microsoft Streets & Trips map for Quincy-Mayger Loop

Google Map:

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This road is one of the favorites of the local Portland riders. Rather easy to tell really, since I saw a half-dozen riders on this road in 10 minutes and that was more than I’d seen in the previous 3 hours.

This road starts up at the top near the quasi-hamlet of Pittsburg and comes down out of the Northwestern Oregon evergreen forests. It’s chilly up there in the trees, but if the sun is out you’ll warm up on the way down.

While this road seems to be mostly sweepers, they’re rather nice sweepers that just keep coming for mile after mile. Just keep an eye out for traffic on this road, as its proximity to Portland makes it a little busier than comparable roads.

If you’re careful, you can maintain a really nice pace on S-V Highway. I was passed by a couple riders on sportbikes who were running a somewhat more imprudent pace, but the curves are still quite enjoyable around 40-50 mph.

• Road Name: Scappoose-Vernonia Highway
• Counties: Columbia(OR)
• Length: 20 miles
• Towns: Pittsburg, Scappoose, Spitzenburg

Streets and Trips file for Scappoose-Vernonia Rd

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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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This a classic forest road in the rural backwoods of Western Washington. Nestled within the glacial river valleys that once drained Puget Sound down to Grays Harbor, this road is bracketed throughout its entire 24 mile length by ridges, ponds and hillsides.

Just as you would expect from geography and location, the road is tree-lined pretty much from end to end. And just as you would expect from such a rural thoroughfare, you have the spectre of the dreaded hooved rat.

I had one very-close encounter of the antlered-kind, and two wherein deer were fleeing up the hillside by the time I got there. One of those deer in the middle section of the road was so confident that it stood in ground in the middle of the road until I was almost to a full stop.

This road is one of the older routes between Shelton and Elma. It’s been superseded by newer roads, and its state of maintenance is apparent. It still has mileage markers telling you where you are on the road, but it no longer has the smooth surface of a modern highway.

Much of the road on the extreme ends are still made up of the original concrete slab roadway as well. Obviously, the surface is extremely bumpy and rides much like Interstate 5 South near Tukwila. In between, where the deer are, is a much more enjoyable smooth asphalt surface with excellently-radiused curves.

I really like this road. While it definitely has a high deer quotient, it’s rather rewarding of smaller motors like the V-Strom where keeping the motor perking is the answer rather than monster torque.

• Counties: Mason, Grays Harbor
• Length: 24 miles
• Towns: Elma, Shelton

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For those not from Western Washington, State Route 503 may need a bit of explanation. This road starts over at Interstate 5 and heads East to the village of Yale, then turns to the South and down towards Vancouver, Washington. While the West Leg of 503 is a nice little road, it’s becoming increasingly urbanized and widened and is not a topic for today. For our purposes, we’ll discuss the South Leg of Washington State Route 503.

South of Yale, 503 twists around in a surprisingly delightful fashion much like FS25 or FS90. To get curves this nice, one generally has to go to Idaho, as even the forest service roads have far worse pavement quality. The countryside up on the north end is a mix of heavy woods and semi-cleared scrubland, all overpoweringly green.

Once across the Lewis River, it settles down more into what one expects out of a Western Washington rural state highway. The curves are more “sweeper” than “twisty” with a few notable 90-degree exceptions. The countryside is vastly different too, with more open farmlands and more people.

Ultimately, of course, this road ends down in Vancouver. Pretty much straight down at that end, it’s busy and suburban. But if you’re heading north and you can put up with that for a mile or two, it’s a road that’s well worth the trip.

• County: Clark & Cowlitz Counties, Washington
• Length: 30 miles (and another 5 miles up to Cougar & FS90)
• Towns: Yale, Chelatchie, Amboy, Fargher Lake, Brush Prairie, Union

Google Map of Washington Route 503:

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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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Overview Map:

Google Map:

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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

Overview Map:

Google Map:

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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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