*Motorcycle Roads NorthWest

This is a nice little road that’s on the back way home from work. It winds along the Green River in amongst the trees, and provides a nice getaway from the aggressive freeway traffic.

There’s no photos here, as the road doesn’t have much in the way of a view. It follows the river for the most part, but it’s rarely so close that there’s no trees in the way of a good view. Perhaps I might take a photo of this road from the Route 18 freeway on the other side of the river, which is farther up the ridgeline and has a rather nice view of this road.

This road dovetails rather nicely with some other roads in the area, including Hobart-Issaquah Road down into Ravensdale which if you continue south eventually takes you down into Black Diamond and just a few blocks from this road. If you take this road from East to West, it also has the intersection for Green Valley Road near the Route 18 exit.

• Road Name: Auburn-Black Diamond Road
• Counties: King
• Length: 12 miles
• Towns: Auburn, Black Diamond, Morganville, Wynaco

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Green River Road winds from Auburn up to Kent along the Green River. It’s one of those road I take when I’m not in a terrible hurry, in that it does get you from A to B, but it also gets you a bit more relaxed.

This sleepy road has more or less been in cold storage since WWII. East Valley Highway bypassed this route many decades ago when the hamlet of Thomas evaporated into the WWII internment camps. There’s no shops along this road anymore, and today only a few large produce farms keep the soccer fields and golf course company.

Soccer Fields alongside Green River Road, North of Auburn

For those of you who are old road buffs, I have reason to believe that Green River Road is a part of the very long windy road that used to go all the way up the banks of Green River to Tukwila, connecting to what used to be Orillia and extending up to what is now Southcenter Parkway.

It’s not a terribly busy road. It’s certainly not an empty road such as those halfway up into the Cascades, but it’s not exactly I-5 either. If you’re looking for a quick spin around the block on a sunny summer evening, this one fits the bill.

View to the South, down Green River Road

This quintessential river road follows the Green like it was painted on. The entire southern part of the road matches the river sweeper for sweeper. Since it necessarily a twistly little ribbon of ashalt, it’s been saved from the helpful auspices of the WSDOT, and since there’s a public gold course and soccer fields along the road, it’s been allowed to remain open to traffic from both ends, unlike nearby Frager Road.

The north end of GRR turns west and meets up with the modern East Valley where the Kent East Hill takes a jog to the west. The south end starts on the outskirts of Auburn in the northernmost part of town that isn’t nearly as heavily-traveled as the western freeway-enabled section of that suburb, and the parks alongside the road provide a good place to sit and enjoy the weather as the exhaust gently ticks beneath you.

• Towns: Auburn, Kent
• Length: 4
• Counties: King

Microsoft Streets & Trips file for Green River Road

Overview Map of Green River Road (Kent / Auburn, WA):

Google Map:

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High Bridge Road is a short piece of pavement tucked in between the hillsides of Southern Snohomish County and the Snoqualmie River.

Note: This road has become somewhat passe as it’s also a favorite of some of the high-performance enthusiasts living on the east side of King County. Due to the antics and inevitable crashes of some ignorant twats, enforcement on this road has gotten very strict. Ride at your own risk.

I actually swung over to this side of the valley on a whim one weekend. I generally prefer the more agrarian roads over on the east side of the Snoqualmie, but decided that I had waited long enough to go ride High Bridge.

High Bridge in and of itself is a nice little stretch of road comprised mostly of 35-40mph sweepers and a handful of sharp 15-20mph corners. Many of the corners seem to have gravel outside the normal car/truck tire tracks, but is rarely unmanageable unless you’re in over your head.

One drawback to High Bridge is the very highly-patrolled 35mph are in the Snohomish County section. The stunters and racers frequented this area, and the gendarme got tired to MercyFlight’ing people who were overcooking this road’s unforgiving sharp corners.

High Bridge has some other flaws as well. One of these is a unreasonably high amount of traffic. I was well and truly shocked how busy this road was on a chilly and rainy autumn Sunday afternoon, and the cars drive just as erraticaly as the stunters on this road but with far less attention from the cops.

Being seasonally appropriate, watch out for leaving in the corners on this road. If they’re freshly blown out of the trees, you might be riding directly at a “wall-to-wall” carpet of leaves that will pitch out right over the edge of the bluff into the river valley below.

High Bridge is named West Snoqualmie Valley Road in King County. I don’t really bother to use that name much, as the interesting part is in Snohomish County anyway. South of 124 Street you’re better off over on State Route 203, as that section while busier is still more entertaining that what’s left of High Bridge.

• Nice view of Snoqualmie Valley, for your passenger. You’re too busy dodging cars and gravel or wet leaves.
• Access from north of SR522 via Eliot Road or from Echo Lake Road to Lost Lake Road to Welch Road.

High Bridge is very nice. Watch out for leaves and cagers in some of the blind corners.

This road is very heavily patrolled as at one point this road was a common hangout for stunters. It’s not as much nowadays, but enough riders hit the pavement here that the local cops haven’t let up yet. While technically not part of the same road, I also suggest Elliott Road and Lowell-Larimer Road on the north end continuing up into Everett. It’s reputedly a nice little suburban road.

• Road Name: High Bridge Road/Snoqualmie Valley Road
• Counties: King, Snohomish
• Length: 14
• Towns: Duvall, Novelty

Microsoft Streets and Trips file for High Bridge Road/ Snoqualmie Valley Road

Garmin GPX file for High Bridge Road / Snoqualmie Valley Road

Google Map:

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