*Motorcycle Roads NorthWest

This road is a fun little stretch of highway that zips across the Deschutes River Valley (via Tygh Valley) south of Tygh Ridge. The road intersects with US 197 about 7-8 miles north of Maupin’s sweet twisties and heads back to the Deschutes River and its own set of twisties.

There’s fuel and food in Maupin, whose location down in the narrow river valley is really quite interesting. The speed limits are low in town, but that still doesn’t prevent you from scriping pegs on the south side of the valley or leaning over on the sharper curves going up the hill on the north side.

The twisty bits themselves in the Deschutes River Valley are like a mini-Rattlesnake Grade. Just like WA 129/Oregon Route 3, you go down from a ridgetop through an impressive set of twisties and cross a reiver before heading back up the other side.

Deschutes River Valley from atop the East side of the ridge:

Deschutes River just upstream from Sherar’s Bridge:

Photo by Glenn Williams (CC: Attribution)

• Road Name: Oregon Route 216 (Tygh Valley-Buckley)
• Counties: Wasco
• Length: 17
• Towns: Buckley, Fargher, Sherar Grabe, Tygh Valley

Download the Streets and Trips file for Oregon Route 216 (Tygh Valley-Buckley, OR)

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I did this road in July 2008. While not exactly a stellar summer by even Puget Sounds standards, Northern Idaho seems to have been blessed with much nicer weather. No trace of rain to speak of while I was there, even though Seattle was getting a mid-July drenching.

Halfway through this ride, I dubbed it “The Long Way Around the Lake”. And while this a good description on paper, the whimsical title would completely ignore the somewhat intense reality of this extremely tight and somewhat hazardous roadway.

I have not in my entire life seem so many construction zones, new houses, boat slips, blind corners, and scenic overlooks packed into one place. The road ascends from lake level on either end up to the top of the bluff near Powderhorn Bay. In between these three points, it precariously hugs the side of the ridge with a steep uphill slope on one side and a nasty drop-off on the other in many places.

It’s also very busy as one might expect of such a scenic road in close proximity to Coeur d’ Alene too. The road is rapidly filling up with fancy houses, and in a few years this road will probably have to be pulled from the last no longer being suitable for anything beyond blue-hair riding speeds.

One thing it’s got in spades is scenery.

West across Wolf Lodge Bay:

North across the Lake from atop the bluff at Powderhorn Bay:

No chance of crappy scenery here. No sirree.

The south end of the lake is a little less intense but still moderately curvy. And as long as you don’t get behind a logging truck, you’ll enjoy Idaho 3 down into St. Maries.

• County: Kootenai, Benewah
• Length: 48 miles
• Towns: Beatty, Eddyville, Harrison

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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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One thing that is immediately apparent about Apiary Road is that it’s rural. If you’re coming in from the north end around Rainier or Clatskanie, you have to climb up out of the river valley to get there, and then you go up a set of wonderful uphill esses that take you up onto the plateau.

If there’s no traffic, you can have a significantly fun trip up through those curves and still not be in serious hoodlum territory. Those are some good sweepers.

Unfortunately, that also means that the bicyclists like them too. I had to wait at intersections several times for the bicycle race that was running that weeked that went up through Fern Hill Road and then down Apiary back to US 30.

The south end of this road is more timer country than rural. The trees are thicker and taller, and evergreen instead of deciduous, and the farms don’t have lovely manicured lawns out in front of the house once you’re a few miles past the wide spot in the road that is the hamlet of Apiary itself.

One thing to keep in mind. Get gas in Clatskanie or Rainier before you head Apiary Road. There’s no services along the roadside and services are very scant even further south on the roads this one connects to.

Note: On the Streets & Trips map below, the leg east of the yellow #2 marker is technically not Apiary Road. It is however a section of Old US 30 that I enjoy and leads you right up to Apiary Road.

• Road Name: Apiary Road
• Counties: Columbia(OR)
• Length: 23
• Towns: Apiary, Hudson, Rainier, West Rainier

Download the Streets and Trips file for Apiary Road

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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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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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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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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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Another rural highway, this one runs along the Siletz River in the Central Oregon Coast.

As you can see from the map below, this road doesn’t lack for curves. There’s many lovely corners on this roadway, and I very much enjoyed following a souped-up Ford Mustang piloted by a local chap who really knew the road’s corners.

Three things that my ride log forRoute 229 makes note of are the sunken grades, abundance of 50-80 degree curves and pavement quality.

This is another one of those roads where there is an overhanging tree canopy that can make visibility of the local fauna challenging. Whenever the sun is out, the run as numerous section of 20-100′ where the sun is completely obscured by the tree canopy. Obviously, this can be highly hazardous when moving through these curves with gusto and you can’t see what’s in the middle of the next curve.

Second, these are really awesome curves. Unlike Washington roads, the roads in Oregon always seem to have a rhythm. Engineers in Washington seem to just drop the road wherever they can manage to, but even though Oregon might have far worse pavement (not this particular road though), they ride is almost always far more relaxing and useful in honing one’s skills.

Third, this road has a very good pavement quality. Perhaps it’s just relative to the truly horrendous roads such as 202 in Clatsop and Tillamook Counties, but this road is very nice. Unlike 202 and 180 (Eddyville-Blodgett), I had absolutely no problems maintaining a good cornering line on this road even while following that well-piloted green Mustang.

Last, and certainly not least, it has some neat old bridges too.

• Road Name: Oregon Route 229 (Toledo-Kernville)
• Counties: Lincoln(OR)
• Length: 32 miles
• Towns: Bellamy, Kernville, Mack Landing, Martin Eddy, Melco Landing, Morgan Landing, Roots, Siletz, Toledo

Download the Streets and Trips file for Oregon Route 229 (Toledo-Kernville)

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