*Motorcycle Roads NorthWest

Road by Region:
Eastern Washington
Western Washington
Idaho
Eastern Oregon
Western Oregon

Roads by Type:
Twisty Roads
Sweeper Roads
Adventure Roads

GoogleMap:

Everyone that’s persevered sufficiently to read much of my writing knows that I’ve got a thing for old roads. New roads are fun and they’re fast, but they don’t satisfy me unless they have a bit of history behind them.

This one doesn’t sound spectacular, but it’s a great little road that usually gets you away from the weekender traffic putting along 101 and it’s a twisty little beast of a rural backroad that is the current 101’s great-grandpa.

Between Wheeler/Nehalem and the Seaside/Cannon Beach sections of the coast, this used to be the only way to get there. I can’t imagine how horrible the traffic must have been back then, because this little road is seriously twisty. It flips back and forth and goes right up one river valley and down another, and little more than a handful of places with a couple hundred yards of straight stuff.

All the same, I’d recommend this road for a weekday part of your Coast Trip. There’s still plenty of people that run up US Route 26 and take the Oregon 53 cutoff down to Nehalem, since it’s a half-hour quicker that way than going through Tillamook on Oregon 6.

Another item to be careful of on this road is the hooved fauna. Yep, the infamous hooved rat. They’re just as stupid on this road as they are on any other. I saw 3 of them on a grey wet mid-morning in July a couple years back, and I don’t imagine that the coast weather is sufficient to drive them to their sleeping areas during the mid-day “heat”.

• Counties: Wheeler, Clatsop
• Length: 19.1 Miles (ODOT)
• Towns: Wheeler, Aldervale, Necanicum Junction (@ US 26)

Note: Miami River Road (aka Miami-Foley Road) begins right around where the ‘B’ marker is on the Google map.

Google Map:

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Out on the east end of the Historic Columbia River Highway, is one of the best side-roads in the Columbia River Gorge.

A twisty little bit of narrow two-lane weighing in at just under 15 miles, this highway climbs up and down the side of Rowena Crest with a trio of 3 seperate sets of curves. This incredible piece of roadwork was designed J. H. Scott and completed in 1922 by the Oregon Department of Highways. It closely follows the landforms of the Columbia River Gorge and is in the firm tradition of Oregon DOT’s historic highways.

One of the highlights of Rowena Crest is the wildlife and native flora. It’s not uncommon to see mule deer up in the Tom McCall Nature Preserve browsing on the wonderful assortment of replanted natural wildflowers and grasses. Also popular is the stunning array of birds making the Rowena area an extremely popular location for bird watchers.

Mile Marker 75 just west of Rowena Crest

Rowena Loops, by Corey Cavalier (Creative Commons: Attribution Required)

• County: Wasco
• Length: 15 miles
• Towns: Mosier, Rowena (hamlet), Chenoweth

Google Map:

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Ok, I’ll admit it. The twisty quotient on Washington Route 14 has a bit of a tendency to be less than stunning once you’re east of the Cascades. It definitely drops down to high-speed sweepers east of Stevenson, but this road might provide a wee bit of welcome diversion if you’re not in an all-fired hurry.

And yes, it’s a much shorter road than most of my listings. It’s a sub-road really, but one that I really enjoyed.

It’s also known by a handful of various names it seems. My Gazetteer called it “Old Highway 8″. GoogleMaps calls it “Lyle White Salmon Road” and “Old Highway” and switching to “Canyon Road” on the eastern end.

A lot of names for such a small road. The views from up top are anything but small though, and the corners are tricky and banked. Highway engineers don’t really seem to like banked curves that much anymore, but this old road still has them where it threads in between a stone formation and a bounder perched atop the edge of the ridge.

View from nearby:

(courtesy of Joe Goldberg. Creative Commons: Attribution–Share Alike)

The west entrance for this road is 4.7 miles east of Bingen, sandwiched between a gravely parking and Rowland Lake. Rowland Lake is a rather pretty little lake formed by the new route 14 and Union Pacific railroad routings.

The east end is JUST west of the Route 14 Klickitat River bridge and just a few hundred feet from where Route 142 comes down from Goldendale.

If you’re still bored, several other motorcyclists have recommend the real Canyon Road that runs north from Old Highway 8 and has some great twisties before turning to gravel 2/3 of the way to Appleton.

• Counties:
• Length: 6.2 miles
• Towns: Lyle

  
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If one were forced to describe Idaho roadways with but one word, there’s no better choice than ‘Solitude’.

Having ridden down and around the “interesting” side of Lake Coeur d’Alene, I needed to get back over to the highway to find my way down to the Lewiston and then Rattlesnake Grades. Idaho Route 5 provided that route and a bit more.

Route 5 runs between St. Maries and Plummer along the buttom of Lake Coeur d’Alene and twists up through the canyons and along the fjord-like carved inlets of the lake. Quite literally, when heading west of St. Maries you are faced with 13 straight miles of road that are anything but, well, straight.

And else do you win by riding Idaho 5? You’ll get some fantastic partial views of the lake. You’ll run alongside busy railroad tracks and under narrow gaps in rail trestles. You’ll get those fantastic 44 curves before reaching the farms east of Plummer. If it’s summer, you’ll also get that wonderful resiny pine scent hanging in the air. And best of all, you’ll have this road almost completely to yourself on a weekday or a quiet Sunday.

Old Barn outside St. Maries (by Robert Ashworth. Creative Commons: Attribution)

Banks of the St. Joe River (by Robert Ashworth. Creative Commons: Attribution)

There are some things to keep an eye on though. This is edge of the high country, and the entire area is completely overrun with deer and elk. You most definitely do NOT want to have a close encounter with a 1100 lb. bull Cervus canadensis and its very large antlers. No sirree.

When I went through in August 2008, the road was fairly smooth. The Idaho Highway Dept. might really annoy me with the way they work on their roads with huge backups for one-lane sections, but I can’t really argue with the very nice results they provide.

This route when combined with Idaho 97 or the north leg of Idaho 3 provide a very nice diversion when you’re on your way north to Cd’A and aren’t in a terrible hurry. And while you might expect it to serve as a shortcut to I-90, the steep ascents required to get atop to the plateau east of the lake are quite slow and unpleasant for under-powered RVs and family cars.

There’s no services along this road either, though. And I saw no signs of cellular towers along the route either. As always, if you’re going to journey out into the hills you should make sure that your motorcycle is functioning properly before you head out.

Another little bonus is on the southwest corner of Lake Coeur d’Alene. Breyburn State Park is sited in that little corner, and has numerous trails leading out from it.

• Counties: asfd
• Length: 33 miles
• Towns: St. Maries, Chatcolet, Parkline, Pedee (ghost town?), and Plummer

Google Map:

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