It’s short, it’s curvy, it’s smooth, and it’s most definitely sweet. One might even say, that this is the best road in the Northwest.
To the uninitiated, Spiral Highway is the old Lewiston grade. This old 2-lane of alignment of US Route 95 heads up the breathtaking 2000 foot tall grade in a very short 8 miles.
While Spiral Highway is very technical and definitely not a good road for a motorcyclist to go take in for their first Sunday ride, the curves are very nice and several of them are such lovely sweepers that they seem to go on forever.
View down the Grade to Lewiston
In the summer, there seems to be frequent Saturday bicycle races up the Grade. During my 2006 visit, the local police rather kindly allowed our group to ride up the grade. Obviously, since the road was prepared for the bicycle club, there were no rocks or kibbles in the corner and instead of contending with the possibility of cows in the straights we had to watch out for unattended humans in the road.While the road is terribly short, I cannot give any road that I’ve ever ridden a higher rating. It is absolutely fantastic, and as evidenced by some of the riders I was with, they ride it every chance they get.
View across the crest of the Plateau
The bottom end of the Spiral Highway starts under a mile from the WA-Idaho border on the north side of the Clearwater River on WA193/ID128 also known as Down River Road and Wawawai River Road on the Washington side. The top end links back up with US95, 8 miles and 2000 feet up the hill.
I highly recommend it.
Amatuer Video from Youtube of the Spiral Highway:
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I just got back from aroad trip and this road was awesome. I left Portland, OR and head east to Enterprise the north on Route 3 into Clarkston. I did just under 1000 miles in 34 hours. Will do it again.
Comment by Mike Warming — June 24, 2010 @ 7:55 PM
[...] Grade…2000 feet of elevation change in 8 miles, and corners posted as low as 15 MPH (chuckle). Old Lewiston Grade “The Spiral Highway” | Motorcycle Roads NorthWest __________________ 2007 Murano 1983 280ZX Turbo 1994 BMW 325i 1958 Fiat 1200 [...]
Pingback by New buyers...check your tire pressures!!! - Nissan Murano - Nissan Murano Forums — May 24, 2011 @ 8:19 PM
Best road ever. A group of 8 of us just did a motorbike trip from Canada to the Bonneville Salt Flats for Speed Week. This was one of the best legs of the trip. The pavement was good and the corners were tight and had a nice curve and grade to them. Enjoyed feeling the G’s as you powered through the cornes and it pushed you down into your seat. We had to do the road a few more time just because.
We had a GoPro cam that we strapped to the front wheel and took some video. it is on youtube under Canuckplumbr’s video streams.
Best road ever!!!!
1984 Yamaha XJ750 and a 1977 Honda CB450 Cafe Racer
Comment by James Frank AB Canada — August 22, 2011 @ 9:19 PM
8/2/11
Agreed James, one of the better roads of my childhood. Never was on a bike on that hill until our last trip. What a blast, like a Carny Ride.
….
Comment by Chris — August 28, 2011 @ 11:55 AM
Hi
Loved the sound of this road. Coming up from Walla Walla, how do we pick up this road? Cannot find it on our map.
Thanks
Comment by Carmen — May 5, 2012 @ 12:37 AM
Easiest way to find it is to get onto the north side of the river over on the Washington side. There should be a sign, but there’s not too many roads with a left hand turn to go up that hill.
Comment by admin — May 8, 2012 @ 7:42 AM