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.
The pavement is not exactly track-quality, but it’s not beat-up either. The curves are highly entertaining on this road, and there isn’t all that much traffic to worry about in this sparsely-settled area.
If you’re riding this road, you need to stay updated on the situation with the dam security in the post-9/11 era. Transiting can only be done during certain hours of the day and certain days of the week. I recommend checking with the Army Corps of Engineers to determine when you can get across the dam towards Pullman and Colfax.
If you get up towards the River on Lower Deadman, you’ll come down off the plateau on a windy, swoopy bit of fun. The road is very nice there, but you do need to be careful as you’re more likely to be seen by other motorists there and also by the authorities that manage the Lower Granite Dam.
Even though the pavement isn’t exactly track-smooth, I really enjoyed this road. I was “on tour” with a couple other riders with ample experience on very capable machines, and it a real hoot to carve through these corners with riders who knew the road well.
Regarding services, Pomeroy is listed as having a supermarket, a coffeehouse, a pharmacy, and perhaps a bank. It also has modern gas pumps, which is something that’s always a pleasant surprise when out in the back-country.
- County: Garfield
- Length: 29 miles
- Towns: Illia, Kirby, Mayview
Overview Map:
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