*Motorcycle Roads NorthWest

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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This road is part of the Hells Canyon Scenic Byway. It wends its way down from Imnaha Highway near Joseph through the Hells Canyon back-country past a number of peaks in the Blue Mountains range before dropping you out east of Halfway.

Obviously, this road isn’t in one of the more populated parts of the lower 48 states. Food, fuel, and water are all important issues for travelers through this area. You can get food (Safeway!) and fuel in Enterprise and Joseph (a tourist town, watch out) and that you can at least get gas and snacks in Halfway most of the time. If you’re travelling through this area in the extreme ends of the riding season, I would recommend keeping an eye out for road closures. It’s often closed through much of its length in the winter and gets officially closed at least from Salt Creek Summit down to Oregon 86 (east of Halfway).

One item of concern with this road is that it is part of the Hells Canyon Scenic Loop. And during the peak times there’s lots of tourists driving around. I needn’t belabor how poorly the weekends tourists drive when they’re in sight-seeing mode, but if you visit during the middle of the week or early in the day you might just have the road to yourself.

I would recommend visiting Hells Canyon Overlook also, it’s got a wonderful view. Several resources have listed a number of horse camps, so be careful not only of horse trailer but equestrian near the roadway.

The road itself is in extremely poor shape throughout much of the length. There were many spots, often mid-hairpin, where the top surface of the road has literally come undone and there’s poorly-bound chipseal stones strewn across the entire lane. The top half of the roadway is a much more recent chipseal effort than the south end, but the lane lines are still just as faded as they barely perceptible ones to the south.

View up the river on the bottom half of Wallowa-Whitman Forest Service Road 39:

Most of the corner between Oregon Route 86 and the Salt Creek Summit @ 6000′ are in the 25-30mph range with occasional 15mph hairpins. It’s one of the better technical roads that I’ve ever done. I just wish it was a little less technical in the off-road dirt & stones sense of dealing with tires sliding from deteriorating pavement. The worst spot in the whole length during my June 2009 visit was about 18 miles up from the south where there were full-on potholes and gravel plumes right in the middle of the lane at the bottom of a decreasing radius hairpin where you’d cross through the pothole and thus into the ditch if you don’t very carefully assiduously late-apex that corner.

And also while it may not need to be mentioned since it’s one of the most common occurrences in Central & Eastern Oregon, be careful when you approach dirt-road junction that are mid-corner. There’s usually rocks from the side-road all over the pavement.

Signage one the road is rather typically National Park-thin. Most corners are unmarked and this road also follows the Oregon convention of 1 sign for each set of corners with the recommended speed on the sign set for the tightest corner. Of course, that corner is usually at the end.

• Counties: Baker, Wallowa
• Length: 52 miles
• Towns: None. Road has several traveler “rest stations” and runs near both Joseph and Halfway at each end for Services

Google Map:

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This road is somewhat “schizophrenic” in the modern parlance. Every few miles you’ve suddenly got a completely different kind of road in front of you. While I waus staying in Portland with some old and new friends, I decided to take a weekend jaunt out into the Oregon Cascades to see how far I got before I hit snow. Perhaps it’s no surprise to longtime Portland residents, but I didn’t hit any snow on that weekend in May and instead got to ride a nice little highway that takes you well up into the Cascade foothills to Ripplebrook Ranger Station.

Sweeper along the Clackamas River

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This road is an absolute delight. It fully justifies the occasional bragging from my Oregonite friends that the roads down there are far better than Washington’s.

This one is easy to find too. If you’re coming in from the Coast, it’s the main road east out of Waldport. If you’re coming in from West via Corvallis or down from US 20, there’s a little turn-off to the south just west of Philomath.

This road is another that is amazingly empty in the off-season and weekdays. Most of the traffic probably goes up to the US Route to the north and leaves this one of the recreation seekers. On a March Saturday I saw 3-4 cars in an entire hour on the road, not including the guy behind me in the BMW X5 that was hitting the corners even harder than I was and blasting down the straights.

Very typical river view along this road:

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