*Motorcycle Roads NorthWest

This road is one of those little country roads that ends up being curvy by virtue of the fact that it has to go in between existing farms, and it’s conveniently situated to go over to the town in the next valley. It’s a tableau full of sweepers, executed in chipseal with excess-gravel shoulder, but otherwise it’s a good grippy surface without much in the way of heave or buckling and no tar snakes.

One note of concern for sportbike riders and newbies: East of Lenville Road, this road is gravel. You’ll get up to a fork in the road: on the left is the Lenville road which is gravel, and on the right is the continuation of Genesee-Juliaetta Road which turns to gravel shortly after the bridge.

I was in a bit of a hurry so I did not do the entire gravel section, but the section I did was quite washboardy.

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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.

Switchbacks. South of the Dent Bridge from the Dworshak Reserver scenic overlook.

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

Google Map of Route:

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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

Google Map:

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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

Google Map:

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For those not familiar with the geography around Mount Rainier, SR165 is the highway that provides access to the northwest corner of the Mt. Rainier area. SR165 isn’t what you expect for a state-funded highway, as the roadway is only marginally maintained (less as you go higher) and the guide rails along the road are completely falling apart.

Back to that marginally maintained part. SR165 is a wierd road that’s rougher than many of the backstreets of the various South King County suburbs. There’s no shoulder to speak of and the guardrails are rusting. The road surface itself is almost entirely chipseal. The less traveled versions of it are not at all polished, but have the sharp edges of the stones sticking up chewing your tires and making wet corners a significant concern.

Bridge over the Carbon River

The nice part, well, there’s curves. Many curves, in fact, of all shapes and types. If you’re at all familiar with the Oregon Coastal Range around OR42, it will most likely seem very familiar. The views are fantastic, and I’m sure I would’ve gotten many more gorgeous photos if I hadn’t chickened out when the road went completely to hell a few miles south of the Y that splits between the Mowich Lake Road(SR165) and the Fairfax Forest Reserve Road into the NW corner of the National Park. (But not the NW corner of the National Forest though, it’s really big).

The highway 165 starts up in Buckley, and it’s fairly easy to get to. The signs are large and highly visible while cruising down 410 through Buckley. There’s a bunch of 35 zones through the little towns between Carbonado and Buckley. While there wasn’t any overt enforcement going on when I rolled through, I don’t run a detector or look like a likely suspect on my 20 year old Honda and may have been ignored by several suspicious-looking Crown Vics and Suburbans I saw with police-style lights by the mirrors.

View up towards Mt. Rainier

Besides, the point of this one isn’t high-speed blitzing, it’s hitting the right line. The locals are scary as hell since they’re never expecting anyone coming the other way on these quiet country roads. The non-locals are scary as hell too, since they’re usually hauling their quads and dirtbikes. As I’m sure any good Pacific NorthWest rider knows, the recreational off-road motorsports types here are the absolute worst drivers, as they always seem to have a chip on their shoulder.

An old hotel outside of Carbonado, now converted to offices

Another bit of advice it to avoid SR410 between Buckley and Sumner. The roads are filled to overflowing with testosterone-addled SUV cagers who take out their passive-aggressive tendencies on any vehicle smaller than they. The highway is littered with stoplights and stripmalls now, and it took me a half hour to get from Buckley to the “start of the 4-lane section just east of Sumner.

Make sure you bring a bit of cash if you’re going up into the National Park, they charge at that gate just like they do on the other roads into the Park.

Carbon River Road. The left side of the Y

Map of WA State Route 165

Microsoft Streets & Trips file for Washington State Route 165

Google Map:

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