The perfect October day in Oregon.

I've been reading many ride reports for several years now but I never had the courage to write one myself.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
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Feeling guilty I decided it was about time to give it a try. So here we go:
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We live just southwest of Portland Oregon in the Pacific North Wet. At this time of the year it is supposed to rain, however, this year the summer continues well into the fall.
I’m not complaining, instead I decided to take my bike across the Cascade Mountain range to the “high dessert” area of central Oregon. It won’t be long before the snow starts falling on the mountain passes, which makes crossing on a large touring bike rather difficult.<o></o>
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I haven’t been riding much this year since I have been extremely busy assisting customers throughout North and South America. My job (business) requires me to travel for several weeks at a time, and when I’m home in between jobs, the wife, the kids, the dog and yard need my undivided attention.<o></o>
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Anyway, long story short: The wife is working, kids are back in school, the lawn is mowed and I have 2 weeks in between jobs! This gives me time to put some miles on my R1200RT!
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It is 8:30 AM on Monday morning October 8, 2012. It is a chilly 42*F with clear blue skies but it should warm up nicely to a balmy 74*F! <o></o>
This is my trusty steed waiting in the garage for me to finish my coffee.<o></o>
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I decided to take the roads less traveled around Mt. Hood to avoid traffic and squaring off my new Pirelli’s. After a few miles on the I-205 I take the 213 in Oregon City and make my way via the back roads to Estacada. In Estacada I take the 224, which follows the Clackamas River towards Detroit.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
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The road from Estacada to Detroit and back is one of my favorite rides! I usually leave early morning and stop in Detroit for lunch and gas. There is no gas between Estacada and Detroit so make sure you have plenty of fuel before you take this road. There is usually very little traffic and the road is twisty and in pretty good condition. The road is open during the winter months but is not plowed, so once the snow starts falling it will be closed. Most of the snow is gone by late May to early June. <o></o>
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On this trip I am not going all the way to Detroit but take the NF57 towards Timothy Lake just past the ranger station at the midway point.<o></o>
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Here it is time for a short stop at the ranger station:
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After my stop at the ranger station I take a left onto the NF57 and head towards Oregon 26. Before I get to Timothy Lake, the NF57 splits into NF58, which is a paved road and Timothy Lake Rd which is a gravel road. I decide to take the paved road since my RT is not made for gravel. Once I get to the Skyline road I turn back west to take a picture of Timothy Lake and Mt. Hood.<o></o>
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After stopping at Timothy Lake for a picture, I head back east on the Skyline Road towards Oregon 26. Since there won’t be any fuel stops in the dessert east of Mt. Hood I decide to take the 26 towards Mt. Hood to get some fuel. It takes about 30 minutes but I get to see Mt. Hood from up close, which is awesome!<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
Every time I see Mt. Hood or any of the other big volcanos in the northwest I am in awe.<o></o>
I am from The Netherlands (low lands), where everything is flat as a pancake so whenever I see a mountain I am ecstatic!<o></o>
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With enough fuel for the next 250 miles I head southeast on Oregon 26 and take the 216 towards Maupin. Once the 216 meets the 197, I head north for a few miles and make a little detour to see the Deschutes River Falls.<o></o>


After the falls I take a road that follows the Deschutes River back to Maupin. Maupin is a small town with some restaurants and it's known for river rafting tours during the summer months.

Some more pictures of the Deschutes River:

The river has 2 different colors. The reason for the 2 colors is the fact that there is a small side river that meets the Deschutes River. This side river brings lots of sand with it. It is amazing to see that the 2 flows of clear and sandy water stay separate for quite some time.

By the time I leave Maupin it is about 12:30 PM. I decide to get to my favorite motorcycle road and then stop somewhere for lunch (I’m cheap! Remember I am from Holland (Dutch) so I brought my ham and cheese sandwich).<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
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I take the 197 out of Maupin towards the 97. The 197 is a beautiful road with amazing desert views and fast sweepers. Once I reach the 97 I head northeast towards the ghost town of Shaniko. In Shaniko I take the 218 towards the town of Fossil. This 218 is one of my favorite if not the most favorite roads in Oregon. This road has hairpins, twisties, fast sweepers, NO traffic and the asphalt is perfect! I try riding this road at least twice a year and I NEVER see other motorcycle riders. This road must be the best kept secret in Oregon. Below you’ll find some pictures taken from the side of the road.
Notice the difference in landscape between the ealier green Mt. Hood pictures and the desert landscape east of the Cascade mountain range:




Halfway between Shaniko and Fossil I stop at the John Day Fossil Beds for lunch and some pictures. This is the perfect place for some food and if you’re up to it you can hike up some trail to get closer to the fossil beds and beautiful rock formations. I have done this before so I eat my sandwich.

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The temperature has climbed to 77*F and it’s time to remove the liner from my jacket. With my belly filled and bladder emptied I continue on the 218 and head towards the small town of Fossil. If you need fuel at this point there is a pump in town but they sell only regular fuel and an octane booster if needed.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
I don’t need fuel so I take 19 and head southeast. The landscape changes again and there are now some forests in the desert. After about 15 miles (I could be off 5 miles either way) I get to the 207. My plan was to drive to the town of John Day, but this is another 95 miles from this point so I decide to take the 207 south and make my way slowly back west. The picture below is the John Day River at the junction of the 19 and the 207.<o></o>


The 207 is another awesome motorcycle road. The tarmac is perfect, there is NO traffic and the views are spectacular. It is continuous cornering heaven! The following pictures were taken on the 207:
With bike:
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<o>and without:</o>
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<o>At this point the screen of the RT is covered with bugs but it has done a great job keeping my helmet clean!</o>
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<o>I didn't take pictures of the best twisties because I had too much fun to stop!</o>
<o>The picture below shows some of the painted rocks found throughout the John Day area:</o>
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<o>The 207 continues south and meets Oregon 26 near Mitchel.,</o>
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<o>I took the 26 west towards Prineville where I needed to refuel and from there I continued via Madras and Mt. Hood back to the Portland area. I rode about 600 miles and saw mountains, forests, lakes, rivers and the desert all in 1 day! As I mentioned earlier, the Pacific Northwest is one of the best places on earth. Where else can you see all this in a days ride.</o>

The following is a map of the trip described above. It's my first attempt to create a map with Google Maps so I hope this works.

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msi...=44.910359,-121.794434&spn=4.022319,10.821533
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<iframe width="640" height="480" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=212106677185177803104.0004cbac7000e539061e8&amp;msa=0&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;t=m&amp;ll=44.902578,-121.794434&amp;spn=7.470388,14.0625&amp;z=6&amp;output=embed"></iframe><br /><small>View <a href="https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=212106677185177803104.0004cbac7000e539061e8&amp;msa=0&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;t=m&amp;ll=44.902578,-121.794434&amp;spn=7.470388,14.0625&amp;z=6&amp;source=embed" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">October 8, 2012 Motorcycle trip</a> in a larger map</small>

Cool pics. I'm heading up in to southern Oregon in about 10 days. Probably won't get any further north than Roseburg. I hope the weather holds out or I'm going to go to plan B.

They say it's gonna start raining this Friday but they've been wrong before. What's plan B?

Wow, that is a long day! I also live here in PDX and have ridden a lot of those roads. Thanks for the pix
nate

Looks like we've been in the same parking spot!

Great pics. Fun ride!!!

West Coaster,

That is a popular parking spot!

October, 2010

I just returned from a trip down along the Coast from Port Angeles to LA on #1, and back up through the interior. I very much enjoyed my travels through Oregon. The Coast highway, #1, was still a bit busy with tourists, also drizzling and cool, however, my return ride up through the Interior of Oregon was terrific. Cool in the morning but nice afternoon temperatures, the highways were mostly deserted, particularily when 10 miles away from the city's. The Oregon highways were excellant as well, ..great scenery and awesome roads. I travelled through on #97 from California to Biggs, mostly new asphalt, lots of curves.

I enjoyed everything about Oregon and will spend more time exploring there in the future.

Flying Frisian, ..like yourself, I have been lurking too long and will do a ride report of my trip when I get caught up. Thanks for the inspiration.

Cheers

RR

Well... it's Friday on the Oregon Coast and indeed it is raining, buckets worth. Nice ride report and a favorite place for me to ride. Thanks for posting the photos.

Bruce,
Yes it's raining and it looks like the rain will stick around for a while. I guess I picked the perfect week for this trip and the trip I took to Windy Ridge on the east side of Mount St. Helens the week prior. Thanks for reading my first report.

Great report and photos!
You hit some of my favorite roads and couldn't have picked a better time of year to do it. Thanks for sharing!

I live near Portland also and have been looking for some good day trips...this one's now on my short list. Thanks for taking the time to post.

Great pictures and narrative. Thanks for sharing

Thanks for looking, This is my first ride report. Next trip report will be longer. Too much too see and do, too little time.

I went thru there on the 28th of Sept.. we had a bunch of the same ideas!!

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=786738&page=3

I love riding down there, Cheers!