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In the early 2000’s I purchased a bright yellow Ducati sport touring bike, the first in a series of motorcycles I owned that were built for long distance sport riding. I found a Yahoo group (this was before Facebook) of like-minded individuals whose primary reason for belonging to the group was to plan a yearly get together.
When I think of motorcyclists riding together the image I have is that of 40 or 50 Harley Davidson’s blocking traffic for miles and deafoning the surrounding neighborhoods. That wasn’t how we did it though. This particular group really didn’t ride together much at all. What we would do was to decide on a place to meet, mostly small towns in the middle of nowhere, and then we would all ride from wherever we lived, spend a couple of nights in the town swapping stories, with maybe a few guys going on local rides together, and then we would all go our separate ways back home. The meet was just an excuse to burn through some back roads for a few days.
Ducati discontinued the ST line of bikes in 2005 and within a couple of years members of the group started migrating to other brands but we continued to meet on a yearly basis. Over time though there were fewer and fewer people showing up. People got older, died, interests changed, etc… Covid really finished the group though and I don’t think there’s even been a post in the past couple of years.
In the meantime I started looking for something different as well. The Ducati’s were brilliant machines but they had one mission and that was barnstorming miles of twisty backroads. Ridden on the right roads (mountain passes and the like) you could easily do 500 or 600 miles days, mostly at high rates of speed.
This suits me most of the time. I hate riding motorcycles on the freeway. IMHO if you’re just going to ride down I-5 you might as well just drive a car and get there warm and dry. The Ducati was on board with that, it was built for speed and the bike felt like it was bored droning down the freeway.
One thing I wanted to do that wasn’t always possible though was to explore roads that weren’t paved. The Ducatis were definitely pavement-only machines and, although I took them on dirt roads now and again, riding a street bike on gravel is mostly a terrifying example of bad decision making. Aggressive street tires and limited suspension make dirt roads an exercise in simply trying to stay upright and hoping you get from one point to another without needing to visit a body shop afterwards.
With that in mind I sold my last Ducati in ~2017 and bought a BMW adventure bike. What’s an adventure bike? Well, as it applies to a category, adventure bikes normally look like big dirt bikes with luggage. They normally have their roots in more road-oriented bikes, with the engines and horsepower to match, but they also have long-travel suspensions and wheels/tires that can handle at least some gravel roads. They’re not truly off-road dirt bikes (unless you’re really good or really stupid) because they’re too heavy but they usually are capable of at least going down forest service roads, and that’s what I was looking for. I love the ability to see a road on the map and just take it without regard for what type of road it might be.
This does get me in trouble sometimes. Not everything that looks like a road in Google maps is actually a good idea to go down. This trip had a prime example…but it worked out fine in the end.
So, with all that said, let’s go on a trip. Backpacking is done for the year and a window of nice weather opened up so it was time to hit the road!
Day 1 – Home to Republic, WA
My idea is always to stay as far off the beaten path as possible but I do have some favorite roads. For one thing, it’s hard to get out of the Puget Sound region without taking one of three or four routes. By far my favorite on a motorcycle is the North Cascades Highway (Highway 20). I’ve taken this highway many times and it never gets old. It’s the northernmost highway going from Western Washington to Eastern Washington, it’s the least traveled and the most scenic. I love it. This was a good time of year to go because the fall colors were in fully display. Especially beautiful were the Larches, which unfortunately you don’t get to see because I never stopped to take any pictures of them. Trust me though, they’re very cool with their brilliant yellow needles. Follow this link for a couple of examples.
I stopped at the Breadline Cafe in Omak for lunch. The Breadline Cafe where I always stop for lunch whenever I ride through the area. I don’t know why. It’s just good food I guess.
I continued on Highway 20 towards Republic but got sidetracked along the way. There is a county road I’ve taken in the past that is a great ride and although Highway 20 isn’t a heavily trafficked road, the county road is even less (much less) so. I wanted to take that road again and so I took the road I thought was that. It started off well enough but after a couple of miles the pavement ended and it turned into a broad gravel road. At that point I knew I was on the wrong road but Google showed it going all the way through so I decided to keep going (Adventure Bike time!). Google maps kept telling me to turn around but I kept going. I’m stubborn that way sometimes. After another couple of miles the broad gravel road turned into a narrow gravel road and then into a narrow dirt road.
At this point my primary concern was that at some point I might run into a locked gate and be forced to turn around.
Luckily there were no locked gates, but there was a wash out across the road as I neared the end. I just barely managed to get stopped before I rode into what was effectively a ditch. Trucks had carved a bit of a path around it so I was able to keep going but it took me some time to get the bike turned around and navigate the wash.
Day 2, Republic to Sisters, OR
I spent the night in Republic and got up early the next morning because I knew it would be a long day. I was in the North Central part of Washington and had to get to Sisters, Oregon, by late afternoon because my friends who I was staying with, Kirk and Cyndy, had reservations for us at the Three Creeks Brewery for a brewers night dinner.
I wasn’t counting on it freezing so I was surprised to see frost on my bike when I got up. I was on the road by 6:30 and the freezing temps lasted for the first couple of hours.
Riding south on Highway 21 you eventually run into the Columbia and at that point the river is a mile or so wide. There is no bridge. Instead you get to take a ferry. The Keller ferry is considered part of the state highway system and is free. I was fortunate enough to ride up just as they were getting ready to leave for the other side so I rode right on without even stopping. How nice is that!
From there Highway 21 pretty much goes straight south and for the most part through Central Washington you’re just trying to get across the state as quickly as possible, of course without getting on any major roads. I ended up going through the tri-cities (Kennewick, Pasco, etc…) and into Oregon at Umatilla. From there it was back roads to Prineville and on through Bend to Sisters. Central Oregon has some of the best backroads I’ve ever ridden. From Heppner south to Spray is a particularly fantastic example of why you would ever ride a motorcycle. In a car you’re likely to get sick to your stomach from all the curves but on a bike you just want to turn around and keep doing the road over and over again.
I resisted the urge to keep doing the road over and over though and got to Kirk and Cyndy’s in time for a nice dinner and subsequent evening with my friends. The dinner was quite a bit more than I expected. I think of breweries as having burgers and fries but Sisters has turned into quite the fancy-pants community so we got a four course meal with the main course being rack of lamb. It was delicious but it was even better to catch up with old friends who I hadn’t seen in a year or two.
Day 3, Sisters to Newport, OR
Kirk also has a motorcycle and needed to go to Eugene to pick up some parts so we rode together from Sisters to Eugene. We took Highway 242, which of course was the least traveled highway we could take, but it’s also considered one of the most scenic roads in the state. It passes through lava beds for miles with the highlight being the Dee Wright Observatory. When you think of observatories you think of looking at the stars but this is different. This observatory is focused on the surrounding mountains. The rock structure has viewing holes built into it and when you look through the holes you see specific mountains. Another highlight is that the Oregon Trail went through here and you can see the wagon trail that was created through the rock. It’s almost impossible to imagine the effort it took to get through the region. It’s an interesting area and worth taking time to go through although, again, if you’re in a normal vehicle there are so many twists and turns that you’re looking at a leisurely drive at best. Don’t take this highway if you’re interested in anything other than sightseeing (or getting to one of the many hiking trailheads).
From Eugene I continued on by myself and managed to take almost all lonely backroads to Newport. I got to Newport late in the afternoon and stayed with more friends, in this case Jeremy and Doreen. They recently moved from Monroe and bought a house in Newport to live in while they build their permanent home a few miles north in the Otter Rock area. My original intention was just to spend the night and head home the next morning but it felt like too short a visit and so I ended up staying another day.
Saturday was about as nice a day as you can hope for on the Oregon Coast, cloudy but no rain or wind and pleasant temperatures. We drove up the coast and saw Jeremy and Doreen’s property and some of the other sights you would normally see when you’re on the coast. The highlight was seeing a couple of whales just off the shore while we were at the Otter Crest viewpoint (I think that’s where we were). It was a very nice day spending time with good friends.
Day 5 (day 4 of riding), Newport to home
This was the longest day so I was on the road by 8am. That’s not early but it was early enough… Of course you can just head east from Newport to I-5 and jet north up the interstate to Seattle but that wouldn’t do. I took Highway 101 north to Garibaldi, just north of Tillamook, and then abandoned the highway and took back roads the rest of the way to the bridge that crosses the Columbia into Longview, Washington. Once I got to Longview I hopped on I-5 for a few miles south to Woodland and then went East to Cougar.
My intent was to take Forest Service road 25 north to Highway 12 at Randle. It was a good plan but when I got there I found the road was closed for some reason. This left me with a decision, either turn around and go back to I-5 (NEVER!) or find an alternative route. I took the alternative route. To be honest I’m not sure what the route was but it alternated between broken pavement and pure gravel for most of 30 miles or so. It was everything I specifically bought an adventure bike for. It also ate into my daylight hours. You aren’t doing 70 mph on these roads.
I finally made it off the back roads to Randle and took Highway 12 over to Yakima. I’m not sure why but I don’t think I’ve ever taken that particular highway all the way. It was a great road though so I’ll have to do it again at some point.
There’s a fantastic road (821) that follows the Yakima River north from Selah to Ellensburg and allows you to bypass a section of I-82 so I took that. From there I took Highway 97 and Blewett Pass over to Leavenworth and Highway 2 back home.
Total mileage for the trip was just over 1,500 miles with the last day being the longest with ~560 miles and twelve hours riding. It felt good to get out on the bike again!
