*Motorcycle Roads NorthWest

Please note: I did this road in June of 2009. Much has changed in Central Oregon since then and some services are no longer available.

During my week in Central Oregon last summer, I’d met and spoken with many riders who’d ridden up US 395 and come up through John Day. They were looking for many of the things that I was. Quiet roads with smooth pavement and light traffic being one of the most frequently expressed desire. A most common and fervent wish that I have to agree with.

Central Oregon provides hundreds of miles of some of the best pavement on earth. Not a lot of people on the roads if you stay off the US highways, and those people that you do encounter generally seem to be very good folks. Perhaps it’s my Midwestern childhood coming to the fore, but I felt a real kinship with these people. Scratching out a living, and a rather hard life at that, in the wide open high country.

And as far as scratching? Well, those Oregon roads sure have the traction to spare. They’re mostly jagged chipseal that hasn’t had enough traffic to wear the surface down. They may chew your tires up faster than expected, but even hard-compound touring tires have above-normal grip when these roads are dry. I’d worn quite a flat spot in the 6 weeks of commuting leading up to my trip to Oregon and 4 days of serious riding through the Oregon countryside has rounding the profile right back to normal.

As far as the Route 410 “Bull Run to Baker Road”? First off, it’s not actually marked as such on the highway. If anything, it’s more likely to be marked as “This way to Forest Service 73″ which lean up into the hills to the ski resorts around the Anthony Lakes Highways.

And while I was there in June 2009, there was even high-octane fuel in Sumpter. I’ve since received reports that the ‘Stage Stop’ gas station and supply store was closed after a very poor tourist turnout in 2009. I’m not sure if it’s being reopened for 2010 though since it’s still listed on Sumpter’s website. I’m hoping it’s still there, the proprietress is good people.

Most of the road has the trees just about this close. Watch out for deer. Photo by Cecil Reniche-Smith (Creative Commons: AT, NC, NoDerivs)

Once you’ve (hopefully) gassed up at Sumpter, you’re heading west up into the mountains. The roads get progressively tighter as you go higher, and the turns get better. The scenic views are decent, but nothing that’s really photogenic. It IS very impressive just how far you can see through the clear air though.

Just watch out for the deer and the elk! I had 24 close encounters with deer and elk in my 7 days down there, including several that nearly intercepted me from the off corner and one that nearly walked right into me while I was standing NEXT to my bike at the gas pump. No joke. Just like any cager with his cell phone, the deer was looking over his shoulder behind him and nearly walked into me.

Routing Note: This route is sometimes listed of Route 220. This is incorrect since Oregon Route Numbers and Oregon Highway Numbers are not necessarily the same thing. The Oregon Route 410 is how maps will show it, but the “internal accounting designation” for this road is “Highway 220″ and may include more of less of this route than the Route 410 designation. If you’re confused, go look Oregon Highways up in Wikipedia. It makes my head hurt just keeping this stuff straight.

I also recall that up at the county line is a Ski Resort. There’s probably more of those around that I didn’t see, and there are definitely some campgrounds, so you do have to keep an eye out for the occasional cagers. It’s really for the best anyway. If you’re not watching out enough to see the cagers, you’re not going to see the deer until too late anyway.

• Counties: Grant, Baker
• Length: 19 miles
• Towns: Granite, Sumpter

The map below gives the impression that this is an “out and back” road. It is not. I simply chose the arbitrary end point at Granite from which this road continues on up to either Ukiah, Route 244 into LaGrande, or off to the Northeast via Anthony Lakes depending on which or whether you turn off at the top of the plateau.

Google Maps for State Route 410 ‘Bull Run to Baker Road’:

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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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Washington State Route 142 is one of those odd little rural highways that were carved out of the native landscape to serve some of the small and medium sized town in the area.

The section from Goldendale to the first set of twisties is about 8 miles long, but once you’ve got the straight section done, you’ll find an enjoyable series of sweepers that run nearly uninterrupted all the way down to the Columbia. This is a great little road to run in conjunction with the Mabton-Bickleton-Goldendale Highway if you’re heading over to the Hanson Project or the Yakima/Ellensburg area and aren’t in a vast hurry.

Photos near and along Route 142:

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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
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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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