*Motorcycle Roads NorthWest

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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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.

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

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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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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

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I had an opportunity to ride part of this road recently. I found it to be a very nice rural road without much traffic. The western half of the road that I did was quite enjoyable with very smooth pavement and built with well-engineered curves without extreme changes in curve radius.

If you’re riding a “serious sportbike” or a heavier sport-tourer, you should be aware that there is a multiple-mile stretch of this road that is completely unpaved on the extreme eastern end. It doesn’t show much for curves in maps, but other riders I’ve spoken with indicate that this section has some significant switchbacks in this unpaved area that may be problematic for such bikes bigger or more street-oriented than my V-strom. Also problematic is the road this one connects to: Eddyville-Blodgett Hwy (OR SR180). It’s in dire need of repair since large trucks have been using it as a detour around the US 20 construction zones and tearing the roadway up mercilessly.

I don’t have any pictures available yet, but will upload those once they’re developed.
One of our readers did this road in September 2006 and found it to be quite nice, with a layout that not’s overly technical and newish smooth pavement.

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Courtesy of kbfalken:
I rode this one about a month ago (mid September 2006). This road totally rocks if you like twisties. Combine with the Siletz highway (also more turns than you can count), and you’ll have one of the best sport-bike type rides I’ve ever experienced. Good times!!

• Road Name: Logsden Road (Siletz-Nashville, OR)
• Counties: Lincoln(OR)
• Length: 22
• Towns: Logsden, Nashville, Siletz

Download the Streets and Trips file for Logsden Road / Rock Creek Road

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This is another of the Clearwater River Valley grade roads. Like Greer Grade Road, this one starts down at the bottom of the valley quite near the village of Greer goes up to the top of the plateau and comes back down near Pardee.

I have no other information on this road, including its condition. If you happen to know about this road, please post a comment below as I plan to ride this one next spring.

• Road Name: Woodland Grade Road (Greer, ID)
• Counties: Idaho
• Length: 23
• Towns: Greer, Pardee, Pardee Corner, Tramway

Streets and Trips file for Woodland Grade Rd

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Just about everyone in the Pacific Northwest is familiar with Forest Service Road 25, the road that goes around the east side of Mt. St. Helens and provides a way to get to FS99 and Windy Ridge. Where FS25 is a twisty, curvy work of art done in asphalt, FS23 is another matter.

FS23 splits away from WA 39 shortly before it turns in FS25 and heads east. In the middle of FS23 is a somewhat twisty section of gravel that lasts for about 5 miles.

This road isn’t a nicely maintained as FS25, and is probably recommended for adventure bikes if you plan to do the whole route. In my opinion, if you take FS90 across (and deal with its own gravel section), you get the best of FS23 if you come in there after the gravel section of FS23.

As for the rest of FS23, it comes down out of the Gifford-Pinchot National Forest via SR 141 through Trout Lake into Bingen and White Salmon where it intersects with Washington SR 14.

• Road Name: Washington State Route 141 / Gifford Pinchot Forest Service Road 23
• Counties: Klickitat, Lewis(WA), Skamania
• Length: 79 miles
• Towns: B Z Corner, Bingen, Husum, Randle, Trout Lake, Underwood, White Salmon

Download the Streets and Trips file for Gifford-Pinchot FS 23

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This road follows the Nehalem River out through the Cascade Range out to Nehalem Bay near Manzanita.

While I’ve never had an opportunity to ride this road myself, I’ve been told there are significant sections of the roadway that are not merely unpaved but at dirt 2-track trails.

Note: This road is known as Foss Road at the western junction where it meets US101.

• Road Name: Foss Road / Lower Nehalem Road
• Counties: Clatsop, Tillamook
• Length: 27
• Towns: Batterson, Blyvbach, Elsie, Foss, Helloff, Lukarilla, Lynnbrook, Maples, Nehalem Falls, Rector, Salmonberry, Snark, Wakefield

Download the Streets and Trips file for Lower Nehalem Road / Foss Road

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Google Map for Lower Nehalem Road

Lincoln County Recreation website lists this road as a 22′ paved route for at least the first 10 miles. Watch out for elk in the mornings here, as this area has well-known elk migration routes to feeding areas by the river.

• Road Name: Yachats River Road / Five Rivers Road
• Counties: Lincoln(OR)
• Length: 27
• Towns: Axtell, Denzer, Euclid, Fisher, Yachats

Download the Streets and Trips file for Yachats River Road / Five Rivers Road

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Google Maps for Yachats River Road / Five Rivers Road

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The Nestucca Valley Road is a sparsely-traveled road that croses the Coastal Range between Carlton and Beaver in Northwestern Oregon. The road is very technical with gravel in many of the corners and no discernable rhythm. It felt far more difficult than FR99 coming down from Helens. NOT a road for beginners or recently-returning riders. The road on the east side of the summit (easily identified by the multiple miles of gravel at the top) had quite a bit of gravel down the center line of the lanes and absolutely no signage warning of curves or recommended speeds.

Most riders in our group were taking the corners at 25-30mph, the corners all being very tight and usually blind. Some members of our group had to stop to relieve themselves because of the vibration and washboard rather quickly overwhelmed the rear suspension on the group’s Dyna Glide rider and also my 84 Sabre even at maximum compression damping.

The sweeper on the west side of the Coast Range were quite a bit more forgiving, although many still had no recommended speed or signage. I was able to maintain 50mph regularly through most. Much lower frequency of gravel mid- corner as well.

NVR slices down out of the Coastal Range into Beaver. Most desired services are available in Bear, noable food, fuel and auto repair. Indeed, although I did get a photo, there is reputed to be a ‘Beaver Service’ station for auto repair somewhere in town. NVR meets US101 in Beaver, linking you to the rest of the Pacific Ocean shoreline.

If you’re looking for a less-challenging connecting road off US101 to make your hop over the mountains worthwhile, I suggest Oregon 22 eastbound out of Hebo, a few miles south of Beaver on US101.

• Road Name: Nestucca Valley Road
• Counties: Tillamook, Yamhill
• Length: 45 miles
• Towns: Beaver, Blaine, Carlton, Nenamusa

Download the Streets and Trips file for Nestucca Valley Road

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Google Map for Nestucca Valley Road:
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