*Motorcycle Roads NorthWest

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.

• Road Name: Oregon Route 207 (Heppner-Mitchell)
• Counties: Morrow, Wheeler
• Length: 80 miles
• Towns: Hardman, Mitchell, Ruggs, Service Creek, Spray, Spring Valley

Google Map for Oregon Route 207:

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I must say that I’ve kind of fallen in love with the sweeper roads of North Central Idaho. The roads gently weave in between the rolling hills of trees and fields, with an occasional village with a gas station and market, with hardly any other vehicular traffic out on the road.

This particular road is perfect for a relaxing 50-60mph cruise back to your hotel in the afternoon. You just need to watch out for the extremely high concentrations of elk and whitetail deer in this area though.

One good friend got hit by a guided missile of the hooved rat variety. Bambi got her check paid in full, and said friend ended up with a seriously smashed up tourer and some well-used riding gear.

Route 8, West of Elk River

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Pioneer Highway. A nice curvy specimen of roadcraft and an apt name as well, since the road curves here and there all over the Stillaguamish River valley.

The pavement is a little rough and appears to be surprisingly light-duty for what is a state highway, after all. There’s significant bumps along the road and small narrow bridges traverse the many creeks and sloughs that criss-cross these lowlands.

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This is a truly fantastic road.

On one end of the road, you have a fairly well-maintained US Highway (US Route 12), and on the other you have one of the Snake River’s more fascinating civil engineering projects, the Lower Granite Dam.

The Kirby-Mayview Road departs US 12 at an acutely-angled intersection a few miles east of Pomeroy. If you’re coming in from Pomeroy, it’s very easy to see and just takes a quick head-check to the east for oncoming traffic and it’s into Sweeper Heaven.
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I can’t easily recall how many times fellow riders have maligned the US Route highway here in the Pacific Northwest. Too dull, they say. Too slow and no curves, they decry. Try XYZ Road instead of that tired old day. Well, if taken at their word, this (along with the Cascades section of US 20) must be the exception to said ‘rule’. I don’t think it’s really possible to build ANY dull roads right through the heart of the Oregon Coast Range. This one is certainly not it.

I was very pleasantly surprised at the quantity and frequency of 30-40 mph curves on this road. Many rounding the feer of a mountain and diving into and around a riverine horse-shoe bend. Even in truly miserable near-freezing late March weather the curves were technical enough to keep the cagers from crowding me as I tip-toed in to ensure there was no ice mid-corner.

And, yes, there are a number of sections where consturction is rather heavy and the road is being straightened out. Enjoy the twisty parts for they’re only going to be there for a few more years. I find the construction areas were just frequent enough that I enjoyed the curves even more. Even with the ice cold rain.

Interesting scenery:

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