Eastern Oregon Tour V3.0

[V-Duck]

Originally Posted by WERA456

Hey guys. I am making making plans to visit the PNW. I was looking at your tour and thought how great I could get locals to show me around. Unfortunately I am not coming that way till later in the summer. Can someone send me a couple GPX files with some good riding areas.
Any must see locations. We are in the planning phase and are looking anything from Washington to north CA and maybe up to Canada.
Thanks.

Check out this thread: http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=803997 and the GPS Tracks West forum: http://advrider.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=42. And get yourself the Benchmark maps for the states you'll be traveling through.

[WERA456]

Hey I looked through these. The roads all look like good ones. What I was really hoping for is more the destinations. I don't seem to have trouble finding the fun roads, but my wife loves to have good places to stop. So any must sees are what I am hoping the locals could help me out on.
For example I was in Oregan last summer and a friend took me to Crater Lake. To me this is a must see and I will be taking my wife back there this summer. I did the TAT last summer and will be trying to find some of the NF roads that lead into Port Orford. They had some awesome views. There was one small paved road through the Rogue River NF that was just amazing to me. No center paint, slower speeds, but curve after curve with great scenery the whole way.

Originally Posted by V-Duck

Check out this thread: http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=803997 and the GPS Tracks West forum: http://advrider.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=42. And get yourself the Benchmark maps for the states you'll be traveling through.

[acesandeights]

Bear Camp?

[WERA456]

I am sorry, was this for me? Can you give more details on "bear camp" I tried looking it up but found a bunch of stuff on the chicago bears.

Originally Posted by acesandeights

Bear Camp?

[acesandeights]

I was wondering if the road you were on, the one without paint, was Bear Camp Rd?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_Camp_Road

If you're riding between the coast and say, Grants Pass, or Medford, it's a nice (paved) road.

[Easy-Z]

Originally Posted by WERA456

Hey I looked through these. The roads all look like good ones. What I was really hoping for is more the destinations. I don't seem to have trouble finding the fun roads, but my wife loves to have good places to stop. So any must sees are what I am hoping the locals could help me out on.
For example I was in Oregan last summer and a friend took me to Crater Lake. To me this is a must see and I will be taking my wife back there this summer. I did the TAT last summer and will be trying to find some of the NF roads that lead into Port Orford. They had some awesome views. There was one small paved road through the Rogue River NF that was just amazing to me. No center paint, slower speeds, but curve after curve with great scenery the whole way.

I guess we're not all that scientific about it. You can't swing a dead beaver in this state without running into something spectacular. As was suggested, get yourself a Benchmark Map and just ride.

Northeastern corner, Joseph, the Wallowa Mountains, Hell's Canyon. Must see.
Southeastern corner, Frenchglen, Steens Mountain Loop, the Alvord Desert on the other side of the mountain. Amazing.
Central, Bend, Mt. Bachelor, Cascade Lakes Scenic Loop. Mmmmm.
Northern border, Hood River, the Gorge. Beyond comparison
Coastal. All good, but the farther south the better, IMO
Central/Eastern. John Day, a few different John Day Fossil Beds if you're into that kind of thing
South/Central, Lakeview, Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge, Hart Mountain Hot springs: remote, amazingly quiet, excellent stargazing

Throw a dart and just go.

[V-Duck]

Originally Posted by Easy-Z

I guess we're not all that scientific about it. You can't swing a dead beaver in this state without running into something spectacular. As was suggested, get yourself a Benchmark Map and just ride.

Northeastern corner, Joseph, the Wallowa Mountains, Hell's Canyon. Must see.
Southeastern corner, Frenchglen, Steens Mountain Loop, the Alvord Desert on the other side of the mountain. Amazing.
Central, Bend, Mt. Bachelor, Cascade Lakes Scenic Loop. Mmmmm.
Northern border, Hood River, the Gorge. Beyond comparison
Coastal. All good, but the farther south the better, IMO
Central/Eastern. John Day, a few different John Day Fossil Beds if you're into that kind of thing
South/Central, Lakeview, Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge, Hart Mountain Hot springs: remote, amazingly quiet, excellent stargazing

Throw a dart and just go.

Thanks, Z. Couldn't have said it better!

Last summer I guided my brother and nephew on a nice little trip from the southwest corner of the state (Crescent City, Ca, actually) to the northeast corner. Lots of great roads and sights along the way. A rather lame ride report can be viewed here.

[RideAbout]

I'm in! And maybe incorporate some of the destinations of this tour.... http://oregonairporttour.org/about.html

I've seen the map of airports and many are way out east in remote locations.

[V-Duck]

Can you bring a map or list of airports to a meet up?

[oldmonkeybut]

Originally Posted by V-Duck

Can you bring a map or list of airports to a meet up?

That is classified information ! You gotta sign up for the program then you get your very own list and map of Airports. If your too cheap for that you could just hang out by the local airport of your choice. When you see a plane take off just follow it...they are all going to another airport, eventually you will find all the other airports and you won't need no stinking map....

[V-Duck]

Originally Posted by oldmonkeybut

That is classified information ! You gotta sign up for the program then you get your very own list and map of Airports. If your too cheap for that you could just hang out by the local airport of your choice. When you see a plane take off just follow it...they are all going to another airport, eventually you will find all the other airports and you won't need no stinking map....

I'll gladly be classified as too cheap to spend $25 on something I may or may not use...

[V-Duck]

Thinking about something different from the last two years...

See http://ridewithgps.com/routes/2209672 for a possible route for this year's tour.



Starts and ends in Springfield, covers about 1300 miles and hits the following highlights:

• Painted Hils
• Sumpter Gold Dredge
• Succor Creek and Leslie Gulch
• Silver City, Id. (why not?)
• Cliffs/Pillars of Rome
• Pete French Round Barn

The last one depends on availability of fuel in Frenchglen -- any news on that from anyone?

We can also swing by at least three of those airports, Rideabout. And don't forget the hot springs, including one near the bottom of Leslie Gulch. It's about four miles upstream, is usally accessible only by boat, but if the resevoir is low enough to ride along the shore...

I've tried to build in some variety and some stretches of gravel each day.
As usual, all this is not set in stone -- just one set of options. Other ideas?

[tvbh40a]

Reservoir will be full in May. There are other Hot Springs on your route though.

[V-Duck]

Originally Posted by tvbh40a

Reservoir will be full in May.

Yah, I wondered about that. I've only been there in late September...

[RideAbout]

Silver City will more than likely be snowed in that early, but if not.... it's a neat place to visit!