Note: This isn’t any particular road, but rather a serious of loosely-connected roads that allow one to thread their way through some surprisingly empty country laying between Interstate 90 and WA SR26. The Inner Passage holds a marked allure for me. Usually, when I am trying to get an event or a function, I’m in… Continue reading Eastern Washington’s Inner Passage
Tag: dryside
Elk River Road / Wells Bench Road
This road is not the normal kind of road you see posted here at Motorcycle Roads Northwest. For one, it has 23 miles of graded gravel. For another, there’s quarter-mile long two-tower suspension bridge out in the middle of nowhere that goes over the Dworshak Reservoir. For a third, the southern paved section (below the… Continue reading Elk River Road / Wells Bench Road
Rock Island Grade Road
Nestled in a bend of the Columbia River is the Rock Island Dam. This dam and the eponymous nearby community sits in a little spot along the river that looks like the river channel used to flow though there. Just a few miles east of Rock Island Grade and quite near the dam, is an… Continue reading Rock Island Grade Road
US Route 97 (Maryhill, WA to Toppenish, WA)
US97 is a dry side road. It wends its way up from the Columbia along the valley floors, scatterings of abandoned pastureland and hardwood pines punctuating the Eastern Cascade scenery. The views are impressive and the highway is as well-paved as it is desolate on our mid-October weekend excursion. At one fairly flat spot south… Continue reading US Route 97 (Maryhill, WA to Toppenish, WA)
Cascade Lakes Highway (aka Century Drive)
While this road is certainly no Aufderheide, it’s a fantastic road that I highly recommend. It’s scenic, from disturbingly fresh-looking lava flows and fantastic views of Mt. Bachelor to sobering views of recent forest fires and the distinct possibility of up close and personal visit with the extremely large elk in the area. Link to… Continue reading Cascade Lakes Highway (aka Century Drive)