*Motorcycle Roads NorthWest

Note: This isn’t any particular road, but rather a serious of loosely-connected roads that allow one to thread their way through some surprisingly empty country laying between Interstate 90 and WA SR26.

The Inner Passage holds a marked allure for me. Usually, when I am trying to get an event or a function, I’m in a hurry. I want to meet my friends, have supper, and enjoy myself before turning in for a good night’s rest. On the way home, I’m feeling mellow and reminiscent, and that where roads like this one come in.
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The WRR is one of the best motorcycle roads in Clark County. It has great pavement, twisty sections, tight blind corners, and a beautiful river to travel next to. There is also something here to make the trip a little less fun: lots of traffic. This road can be empty, or packed. Hopefully when you get there, traffic will be light. This is also a dangerous road, with many minor accidents each year, and more than it’s fair share of fatalities.

To get there, you turn North off of WA 14 at 15th street in Washougal. There is an AM/PM gas station after you turn north, and then a 76 station after you go over the bridge over the train tracks. Continue north on 17th, and it will turn in to the WRR. Things start to get fun right after you leave the city limits. Watch for people drifting over the centerline on this road, and in nice weather, watch out for people looking for places to pull off the road for recreation. You can take the WRR to the Washougal River Mercantile store, and turn south to return to WA 14, or head further up the WRR to where the pavement ends, then turn around and have fun coming back the other way. If you’re out in this are exploring, check out Mt Pleasant road off of Canyon Creek Road on the way back to WA 14, or the old section of Salmon Falls Road, just off the intersection of Canyon Creek, Salmon Falls road, and Ryan Tavelli Road.

Have fun, but be careful and watch out for stupid cagers!

Road report courtesy of Dan Jacobs, a resident of the area.

This road was removed from the list of official Washington State Highways effective April 1st, 1992.

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Download the Microsoft Streets & Trips file for Washougal River Road
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Map of Downtown Washougal:

Google Map (Currently Broken for this road)

During my recent (August 2007) trip down the Oregon Coast, I gave this road a try.

At this time, I cannot recommend this road for non-dualsport motorcycles. The road surface is extremely rough and consists primarily of patches, some of which are weathered concrete in the midst of this otherwise asphalt/chip-seal roadway. This roadway has many tight and blind curves with driveways that drop directly down into the road with obscuring foliage, making high speeds on this road very imprudent. Also, one must be careful when riding this road, as it has no shoulder to speak off before dropping from pavement directly into fairly deep and/or rocky drainage ditches.

Once Oregon DOT fixes the road surface and perhaps clears some of the tall foliage in the drainage ditches, this road will once again be worth investigation.

• Counties: Benton(OR), Lincoln(OR)
• Length: 19
• Towns: Blodgett, Devitt, Eddyville, Marval, Nashville, Nortons, Summit

Streets and Trips file for Oregon State Route 180

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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

Streets and Trips file for Nestucca Valley Road

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