*Motorcycle Roads NorthWestExploring the Asphalt Ribbons of the Pacific Northwest (Founded 2003) |
Sunrise Park Road, Mount Rainier National ParkSunrise Park Road 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.
Below: A General Map of Mount Rainier National Park
Additional Photos from my August 2008 trip up to the Sunrise Visitor Center: Google Map: Oregon Route 66 (Ashland to Klamath Falls)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. The following in-person report was written by Bandit.PDX during his November 2008 trip.
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.
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.
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!
Streets and Trips file for Oregon Route 66 (Ashland-Klamath Falls) Overview Map: Google Map: Oregon State Route 218 ‘Shaniko-Fossil Highway’Wikipedia has an excellent description of Oregon Route 218.
This indeed does cover the bases. The raw facts if you will. It doesn’t even begin to cover the sheer exhilaration of roaring out of the tight corners with your knees skimming the pavement after having endured what’s most likely 50+ miles of WIDE US 97 sweepers with that obnoxious 50mph speed limit. The views are simply astounding and the highway is just completely freaking empty. View from the edge of the plateau looking down past the hairpins. Now, I’ll freely admit that the road lulls you into a brief sense of complacency with a ho-hum straight SE out of Shaniko to the edge of the Cascade Highlands. It doesn’t last long though before it pretty much chucks you off the side of the ridge right down into a pair of 15mph hairpins and through a slot canyon into Antelope. Running off the east side of that plateau takes you down into Antelope. If you’ve hit the day-of-the-week lottery (Wednesday through Sunday), you’ll be able to get regular fuel in Antelope. If not, you can even get a bottle of Gatorade in that town. Clarno Palisades View of the Valley from the Clarno Palisades Route 218 was also the first place where I encountered the Central Oregon habit of marking and entire set of as many as 8 curves with 1 single sign marked with the speed of the slowest and tightest of the bunch. More than a little harrows when the first five corners are 45 right angles and for #6 you are confronted with a super tight hairpin with gravel in the apex. Might need an clothes iron at the end of the day to get those puckers out of the seat fabric. And while for the most part the corners do open up into regular mid-speed sweepers East of Antelope (just 1 more hairpin set East of Clarno), it’s not like it’s the end of the fun. Those curves stay entertaining all the way until you’re a just a few tenths of a mile outside of Fossil. It beats the everliving daylights out of droning down US97 after all. One interesting oddity about this part of Oregon is the number of old stagecoach stops and farming hamlets that used to have a few homes or houses and have all been abandoned. Some of these have reported as ‘ghost towns’ by various websites, but it seems rather amusing to me to roll by old farmhouses that are specifically listed as part of a ‘ghost town’ and see satellite mini-dishes bolt onto the side of a 100-year-old supposedly abandoned hamlet. A few other pointers:
Barn near Fossil off Route 218 Slot Canyon and Corners
Google Map for Oregon State Route 218: Oregon Route 207 (Ruggs – Mitchell)Another fantastic Central Oregon route, here we have over 80 miles of nearly unbroken sweepers and hairpins in the Ruggs – Mitchell segment of Oregon Route 207. As this route does one of those strange Oregon multi-plexing things where it forms an ‘X’ across North Central oregon with Route 19, I’ll deal with this in parts. Landscape north of Mitchell. The road is tucked in amongst the sagebrush here and there’s some hairpins hidden like a Where’s Waldo puzzle. The northern end of 207 between Spray is an outstanding sport-tourer twisty road. It goes way up into the hills just a half-dozen miles north of the eastern OR19-OR207 split and it’s non-stop twisty bits until you’re almost into Ruggs. When I was up there last, they were doing some roadwork on the choicer twisties, but the road was so quiet that there I waited no more than a minute or two for a pickup-truck “pilot car” to lead me though. This ‘pilot car’ driver knew how to hussle a truck around a road. We were tearing through the hairpins up around 4000′ at the crest and powering out of the wider sweepers. Even with the “reduced speed” due to construction zone, it was a hoot. The middle part is the section that multi-plexes with Route 19 and consists more of intermediate sweepers. While many may poo-poo the high speed sweepers, it does give one a bit of a rest and something more important as well. Sightlines. I know you’re thinking I’m daft now, but it’s quite important because Spray is the home of the stupidest mule deer in the Northwest. I had 4 deer encounters in 2 days in Spray. One riding into town. Twice on the way out of town. And I had one while I was merely standing next to the bike at the gas station! One of the ‘out of town’ ones even had the deer run at me after I’d come to a complete halt. Stupid things would have run right into me if I hadn’t dropped the clutch and scooted out of its way. Yeah. That stupid. Strom on the Side of the Road on the Southern Section of 207: The one reason Spray’s rather important is that it’s the only gas station on this route that is open Monday through Friday during business hours. I don’t think they have Premium fuel though, but it’s called the Lazy Wolf Resort. Nice folks. The third section is the desolate twisty bits between Service Creek and Mitchell. There’s no civilization here and it goes right up a steep grade shortly after you make the turn onto 207. It’s all up & down and side to side on this road. My ‘Come Ride with Us’ maps (courtesy of Bill Hutchinson and the advertisers) said this road had 122 curves in that short 22 miles. I don’t doubt it for a moment though as you’re way too busy watching the road, the awesome scenery, and still keeping an eye out for the stupid deer (since you’re only a few miles away from Spray still). There’s gas in Mitchell on some days of the week, but not on Mondays. Don’t be confused by the gas pump you see across the street from the post office. That’s supposedly been shut down for years. There’s another guy further up the main street from the highway. And there’s no Premium gas at all last I checked. If you’ve got to have Premium or it’s a Monday, I recommend Dayville even that it’s a fair hike. One final note after reviewing my last trip diary: The roads within the National Forest are generally not paved as well, but are more technical in nature and more challenging. I’d use these section of road to hone your cornering and curve-reading abilities and use the wider but smoother corners at lower elevations for the high-speed stuff.
Google Map for Oregon Route 207: Oregon State Route 402 ‘Kimberly-Long Creek Highway’Back in 2007, I wrote the following and I think that it bears some further discussion:
Perhaps I’m a different caliber of rider than I used to be, but Oregon Route 402 isn’t necessarily the walking-talking be-all end-all that I’d been told it was. A nice twisty bit west of Monument. Lot of this on the west end, but a lot of straight stuff on the east end. It’s a good road and better by degrees than Route 26, but it’s not an unbroken string of twisties for 40 miles like Route 207 between Service Creek and Mitchell or Route 74 between Vinson and Heppner. There are some very good twisty sections ascending the grade out of Kimberly and again at Schoolhouse Hill, but most of the rest is sweepers. Irrigated valley just east of Kimberly: Specifically, my notes for Route 402 illustrate that on the end near Long Creek the road is mostly long straights across the high prairie around 4000′. Most of the sweepers in the middle section were intermediates in the 45mph range for a Wee-Strom and the east end were limited only by ones motorcycle and aversion to being arrested. There’s a new bridge under contruction that should be complete late summer 2009. That will greatly improve safety crossing the river at Monument. Interesting geologic formation alonside the road. There’s a small marker near the road explaining that it’s a thousand-plus year old landslide creeping down the hill in chunks. Please note that there’s not much left in the way of services in Long Creek. The gas station has shut down and there’s a small motel just off US 395 as you roll into ‘town’. The nearest gas is down on US26 or up in Dale. The one in Dale is only open certain days of the week and the weekends.
Microsoft S&T file for Oregon State Route 402 ‘Kimberly-Long Creek Highway’ Overview Map: Google Map: |