*Motorcycle Roads NorthWest

Up in the far reaches of Northern Washington, nearly bumping into Canada even, is a wonderful little backroad perfect for sport-touring.

Why, you might ask would you go all the way up there to ride good roads? One fine reason is there’s hardly any other traffic on them. 37 miles of rural 2-lane with only the occasional farm truck and a couple dozen deer to dodge.

Most of the time at least, that is the case.

Unfortunately, when I went through they’d torn out the middle 10 miles of the road down to the bedrock. I was rather glad that I had opted to keep the quasi-dual-sport tires on the strom as the clay-ey soil would not have been fun on sportbike tires like the previous summer’s Conti Road Attacks.

And it is a good road, don’t get me wrong. I had a lot of fun on it, but the locals don’t look too fondly upon riders going much over the 40-ish mph speed limit. And the deer really are plentiful and fearless.

And even better, contrary to some reports from various mapping solutions, this road is (or will be) completely paved from end to end once construction on that center section is done.

Fuel is a bit spotty on the north end of the highway, but there’s food, lodgings, and fuel in Colville.

And this ride is quite fantastic when paired with its natural counterpart of riding Route 25 up into Northport. In fact, it’s quite the hillclimb getting out of Northport on Aladdin Road. Very steep incline that will have smaller motors working overtime, but very cool tight corners in that stretch too.

County: Stevens County, Washington
Length: 37 miles
Towns: Spirit, Northport, Colville, Aladdin

Google Map:

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I know a bunch of folks say these roads are boring. And I can’t argue that if you don’t enjoy open countrysides, the scenery isn’t much to write home about.

One thing this stretch of 206 offers is fast and lonely sweepers. Well, lonely if you don’t count the occasional deer in the fields and the numerable ground squirrels living along the verge of the road. At one point along the plateau a dozen miles SW of Heppner, I was seeing a squirrel scurry in front of me every easily hundred yards.

It’s fast and lonely though. Not hardly another soul on the road to hold things up. And when you do see a car coming the other way, they’re usually waving to you.

Canyon corners between Condon and Heppner:

Most notably, it also offers several sets of fantastic twisties with a canyon-edge hairpins every 10 minutes or so between Heppner and Condon. The curves really are great and there’s so little traffic that the chip-seal doesn’t get polished. The traction was simply amazing on the rural Oregon roads. It has really spoiled me for riding in Washington.

Wind farm just west of Condon:

Yeah, I was too busy strafing the curves to stop for photos in the middle.

Regarding services, it’s better than most roads in Central Oregon. There’s fuel in Heppner, Condon, and all along the I-84 freeway. There’s a little biker-friendly hotel in both Condon and in Heppner, and camping outside of Heppner on Willow Creek Road.

In between? Well, there’s not much but a couple semi-abandoned hamlets, much twisty road, and many deer.

• Counties: Gilliam and Morrow
• Length: 43 miles
• Towns: Heppner, Condon

Google Map for Oregon State Route 206 from Heppner to Condon:

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Sunrise Park Road
Road to Sunrise Ampitheater

The Road to Sunrise Ampitheatre is extremely twisty and challenging. The paving also leaves a lot of be desired with large frost heaves and sunken sections of pavement. Be quite careful when riding this road due to these concerns and the astonishingly heavy tourist traffic in the afternoons.

However, where the paving is smooth, you’ll find a technically-challenging road with several sharp switchbacks and lovely tight curves. The curves are fairly well-planned, but the road has been sorrowfully neglected recently, and doesn’t appear to get much in the way of preventive maintenance.

The Road up to Sunrise Ampitheater

Do be careful of the turns, as there are rather large drop-offs and no shoulder or guide rails in much of the area.

Above: A Map of Sunrise Park Road

Below: A General Map of Mount Rainier National Park

Additional Photos from my August 2008 trip up to the Sunrise Visitor Center:

Google Map:

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This road provides a excellent path from Ashland to Klamath Falls across the South Oregon Cascades. It’s very scenic and passes by Emigrant Reservoir ascending three 4,000+ foot mountain passes. These fantastic passes include Hayden Mountain 15 miles or so west of Keno.

There are a number of very good roads that intersect with Oregon 66 including Topsy Grade Road (which eventually turns gravel and goes to California) and Dead Indian Road that heads NorthEast out of Ashland near the western terminus of Oregon 66.

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The following in-person report was written by Bandit.PDX during his November 2008 trip.

This week I’m traveling to my southern Oregon offices. So along with the daily work I’m doing for the offices the trip gives me a little scouting opportunity.

Oregon Route 66 runs about 65 miles between Ashland and Klamath Falls. In the expected scheme of things it would land at the end of the end of the first day. So the official opening day of the ride would take us across California from Eureka to I-5 on some twisty mountain roads. Then a bit of breather as we ride up I-5 towards Ashland. Then possibly this 65 mile stretch into Klamath Falls. I say possibly because there are a couple of other routes to get to KFalls if you choose to be different.

After the slab run north to Ashland, OR66 opens with 10 to 15 miles of constant turns. At this stage the road is mostly going up along the face of the hills. In spite of the photos included here most of this section does not have guard rails. In the car I was mostly able to stay between 30 and 40 MPH.

The road surface varies some but it is in good condition. There is a spot right about the 10 mile post where you come around a U curve and it looks like the roadbed slipped a bit, leaving two offset gashes in the right hand lane. The road is lined with red ‘lava stone’ gravel. Even this early in May it was quite clear. Except for some rare spots, if there’s any gravel on the road, it’s on the outer edges. The photos above and below are taken at about the 13.5 mile post, looking back and forward.

This is by far the twistiest part of the route. It goes on like this until about the 20 mile post. Then it mellows out as you decend the back side of the first range of hills.

The landscape is open oak/pine savanna like as you go up the hills. Then turns to pine forest. At least at this time of year, everything was very green and lush. With the spring we’re having, I’d be surprised if it turned brown by the time we pass through. About 30 miles in, OR66 passes through the hamlet of Lincoln, OR. This marks the spot where the road straightens out noticeably. In fact, mile post 30 marks a two mile stretch of straight rolling road. Then there’s a couple of curves as you approach and pass Jenny Creek. Then things go straight again with more sweeping curves through timbered forest.

More sharp turns come as you descend towards the Klamath River crossing. Right at the crossing the road is smooth and silky. But prior to the that pavement is more variable due to wear and tear. There’s an occasional pothole, some cracks. After crossing the Klamath County line going up to the the Parker Mtn. Pass (elev. 4356 ft.) it seemed there was more gravel encroaching on the lane. Not just along the edge, and the occasional spattering along the center lines, but also a bit more in the center of the lane.

It’s also important to remember that you may run into critters both big and small along the road. A deer stepped out into the left lane at 9:44AM. And of course there were the scurrying fuzzy-tailed rodents darting across the road.

The Klamath River crossing is quite picturesque (above) and there is an easy pull-off for a little breather. The rest of OR66 turns into a typical rural byway with a increasing density of residences as you approach KFalls. Soon you enter Keno. This is really the first village with some amenities, such as a gas station maybe a convenient store. But not a lot. So if you are cursed with a small gas tank be sure to check your fuel, and maybe refuel on the west end of the segment in Ashland before starting this segment.

As you travel onward you follow along the Klamath River and its wetlands. This region is rich in bird life. That includes a lot of waterfowl. On my trip I saw some cranes, geese, ducks. I didn’t see any pelicans on this trip, but I have in the past.

To get into the city center of Klamath Falls, you do a little cloverleaf ramp where OR66 meets up with OR140 and 97. Then go a couple of miles then exit right into the west end of town. The Quality Inn is right at the base of the ramp. That’s where I’m writing from…

With the stops for pictures, estimate the OR66 took about 1.5 hours to traverse.

The room I’m in has a jetted tub, a queen bed, a love-seat, chair, desk, small fridge and microwave. The pool is currently closed for repairs, but the front desk expects to be open by the end of the month. It’s a little ragged on the edges (peeling wallpaper in the bath) but clean and usable for a night. And it’s an easy gathering spot before heading up Rt. 97 the next day. And there’s a gas station across the street!

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• Counties: Jackson, Josephine, Klamath
• Length: 64
• Towns: Ashland, Keno, Klamath Falls, Pinehurst

Streets and Trips file for Oregon Route 66 (Ashland-Klamath Falls)

Overview Map:

Google Map:

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Way over in the eastern end of Oregon, is one of the most challenging sections of rural highway Oregon has to offer. Called Dooley Mountain Highway, it’s an amazing piece of road that leaves almost no time at all to enjoy, let alone ponder, the fantastic scenery from 4000′ or so feet up.

Abandoned Barn along Route 245

It’s a very technical bit of twisties going up the west flank of Dooley Mountain, and there’s not much in the way of straights between those curves either. And you can’t really call them linked in the sense that you might expect from California’s most excellently engineered roads. It’s just that there no room to put straight stretches in without running right off the edge of the mountain.

It’s really hard to emphasize how good this road is. But like everything else, there’s a few warts on a road that’s otherwise all “cake and win”. Just about every single curve on this road had gravel somewhere in the corner. Sometimes they were in the entrance and others in the exit. And not a few of them had gravel not just outside the tire lines but all the way across.

And as is typical of Oregon, the locals know these roads extremely well and generally assume that there’s not going to be anyone in the opposing lane when they come around the corner. It certainly behooves us to maintain a reasonable cornering speed and conservative line, keeping one’s vehicle and body parts well away from the center line in blind corner.

In the same vein, don’t take the speed recommendations lightly. While the signs are definitely “Oregon Corner Signs” with the speed posted as the lowest for the next half-dozen curves. If you get over-confident about those cornering speeds, that one corner out of the dozen or so will bite you hard.

Just east of Unity Reservoir

But when you get to the south end of Dooley Mountain, you need to be prepared for a little letdown. The road suddenly drops out only a flat plain that’s about as interesting as droning across Nebraska compared to what you spent the last half-hour carving. The sweepers are a little tighter around the Unity Reservoir and a welcome respite, but their not mountain curves for sure. Even US26 from Unity to “Austin Junction” is more interesting than the west leg of Route 245.

And like every other part of Eastern Oregon when I visited in June 2009, please keep an eye out for deer and elk. Everybody in the area was talking about the rider the week before that hit an elk and shattered his hip. I saw well over 20 deer “up close and personal” in just 7 days. Yeah, well and truly infested.

But if you’re looking for a rest, that little reservoir has a nice parking lot right by the lake with a driveway paved all the way in.

There’s also reportedly gas at the Unity Country Store. Verify their hours (and days) of operation first though.

Please Note: Page 55 of the Benchmark Map incorrectly reads as 204, which is the Oregon “Highway number” and note the appropriate Oregon Route number. Maybe somebody can post an explanation of why Oregon uses such a strange mix of designation systems.

• County: Baker
• Length: 38 miles
• Town: Unity

Google Maps for Oregon State Route 245:

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