Trippin' in and out of the Rednek Republik

[N-Id-Jim]

I thought it would be considerate of me to share some of the dumb stuff I sometimes take for granted here in the Rednek Republic of North Idaho. Over the past few years, these gallavants sometimes penetrate in the communist state of Washington, as well as into Oregon and Montana. I'm fairly indiscrimanate about where I go so this could lead anywhwere. I figure that this year i will just try to regularly add few blurbs and photos of the ramblings I make here in the PNW.

This year we have had a LOT of cold rainy weather to kick off our Spring so it has been a sloowww start, but a couple weeks ago i was time to roust out the beast and get moving around a bit.

It started with this.


Then a trip to my mom's garage, cuz she has some extra space.


Finally out into the daylight.


After getting a new front tire installed it was time to take a little spin around Lake Coeur d'Alene, Heres a few pics from that nice April Day:










More recently, Last weekend the GF and I jumped on the bike for a day trip down to Palouse Falls State Park in WA, along the way we saw this little grain siding elevator in Lancaster..one of many like this in Eastern Wa.




Some cool views along the way:


We stopped for snacks...


Since we have had a wet spring I have been anxious to get to these falls, and heres why:










Time to head on back home


and yes i did ante up and buy my annual Washington State Park Discover Pass so i can park and not worry about getting a $100 ticket. MInd you you a year ago it was all free, but i guess the governor has gotta eat too. Hopefully they are spreading the money in an equitable manner. Actually i really enjoy the Parks, and in general they are all well cared for, and that is worth the price of admission, in my opinion.

[TheAdmiral]

Wow, pretty nice shots of the waterfalls and river canyon! Nice that mother nature helps out with spring runoff and what not.

Thanks for sharing

[N-Id-Jim]

I took a little trip over the recent holiday weekend.. I rambled through three states over the course of 950 miles..

Heres a teaser pic.



Cool roads:



I will get more of this posted soon.....

[N-Id-Jim]

I prepped the bike and gear for a multi day scoot with only a very general and tenative itinerary. Thats the way i like it. My basic plan is to ride from Coeur d'Alene, ID down to Lewiston by way of the east side of lake coeur d'alene, st maries, and numereousd small towns along the way til i pop out down on hwy 12 just below kendrick, ID.

The moto ready to ride:


I headed along hwy 97 on the east side of lk cda:




A ways on doewn the road i found Santa:


Sants'a launch pad??


One of Santa's?


Another little town thats fun:





Up onto the prairie above Dearuy and Kendrick:


From here it was on down to the river and into Lewiston..

[N-Id-Jim]

We woke up to a nice morning in Lewiston Idaho and went for an early moring spin..me and vern and ben:


rode along the snake river:


After a nice breakfast we got serious and headed out on the big-boy bikes, up stream on the clearwater river:


Orofino was decorated for the Memorial weekend:


This guy was busted for speeding... only in Idaho:


We rode up the south fork of the clearwater river til we got here"




The "cookie ladies" smiled upon us and we were gracious:


Back down the canyon 50 miles, so 100 miles of this today:

[N-Id-Jim]

Once back atop the harpster summit we motored on into Grangeville, ID. At this point ben headed back to Lewiston, and i turned it up toward whitebird summit, then down to the salmon river:


.

Once i had run up salmon and little salmon rivers, i rode hwy 95 to Cambridge where i dropped down to Brownlee reservoir on the snake river.. Idaho Power Co maintains some very nice campgrounds on the snake river reservoirs, that is part of the deal they made for the taking of the land so-to-speak.. to build the dams, flood the valleys, and generate power, they had to replace and create new recreational facilities. About 17 years ago i worked on building this campground, it is woodhead park..


Gratuitous food shot!


Sunset on the hills...


Happy Camper!

[N-Id-Jim]

It was a bit windy in the canyon all evening, but the breeze had pretty much subsided in the am. I enjoyed the camp site on the lake, and the IPCo provided hot showers in the nice accomodations of woodhead park. After plenty of coffee and oatmeal, i got rolled up and rode out. Here is the bike looking back toward the park north to south:


Just to the north is the brownlee dam, 5 million cubic yards of earth fill around an impervious clay core.


The early travelers had their challenges too, now this is a poular dual-sport route..


I headed down the next reservoir, Oxbow, there are three dams in succession along about 40 miles of river. The upper being brownlee, then oxbow dam (no pic), then down to hells canyon dam. The road to Hells canyon:




After 23 miles of fun you end up here:




There is a sweet vistors center with lots of info:


Scenic parking


Then the ride back out of the canyon, 23 more miles of fun!

[N-Id-Jim]

Out of hells canyon, i rode about half way to Halfway, OR, and turned up FS Rd 39 toward Joseph. The 39 rd runs along N Pine Cr for a bit...


Then on up to the Hells Canyon Overlook, I saw it from down in the bottom earlier, so why not from the top now??


Its tough on all forms of life up here


It got a bit slick on the way over the top but not bad enough to bring out the rain jacket.


Back down the other side, which is north, i opted to make the run down into Imnaha OR, which is always a treat. BTW the Imnaha tavern now serves locally brewed Terminal Gravity ESG! Mmmmmmm beer!










Back out of the Imnaha canyon i headed to the south end of Lake Wallowa, where i spent another nice evening camping in the State Park...some of the nearby sights:

[NewHampWoodsRider]

Great scenery!
Nice photos, looks like such an amazing place to ride and camp!!

[NotAllWhoWanderRLost]

Great ride report and amazing scenery, thanks for sharing all the info and photos!

The wife and I made a five day loop through NE Oregon over the Memorial Day as well. We rode from Baker City down to the Hells Canyon Dam and then back up over FS Rd 39 to LaGrande on Friday, 5/25. Wow, what an amazing area to explore on bikes! We can't wait to get back over there and spend a long weekend checking out all the other great motorcycle roads in the region.

[Bob]

Nice route, great pics!

[N-Id-Jim]

Originally Posted by NotAllWhoWanderRLost

Great ride report and amazing scenery, thanks for sharing all the info and photos!

The wife and I made a five day loop through NE Oregon over the Memorial Day as well. We rode from Baker City down to the Hells Canyon Dam and then back up over FS Rd 39 to LaGrande on Friday, 5/25. Wow, what an amazing area to explore on bikes! We can't wait to get back over there and spend a long weekend checking out all the other great motorcycle roads in the region.

Thanks for the looks and the comments, i have Monday's ride yet to post, i will get at that soon. I am also smitten with the central and NE Oregon riding, one of my favorite places for sure..pm me if you want any route numbers for some fun idaho roads... Cheers

[N-Id-Jim]

It was nice to wake up to calm breezes and blue sky above. The park on Wallowa Lk is at 4200' and at the base of some 9000' peaks, so it will take a little time to get the sun to warm me up.. A morning fire and strong coffee and the oatmeal get the day going nicely.. By the time i have finished up my packing details the sun is warming me, and drying off my ground tarp. What a great start for the run home. Its about 210 miles directly to Coeur d'Alene, but who would go directly home??

The morning vistas:


I motored north thru Joseph, which is a cute little tourist trap of a town but i have no reason to stop. Then through Enterprise where i top up the tank, the i burn north on the hwy 3 toward the OR / WA line... the road looks like this:


this road rocks!


Do you know the name of this?


If you guessed this you were right:


I zipped across the high plateu thru Anatone and down into Clarkston Wa.. just across the river is the spiral hwy. I have riden it many times and today i opt to cruise down the snake river to Wawawai landing to a sweet little park.






After my milk and cookie break i romped up the Wawawai grade and broke out onto the Palouse prairie. I live riding out here in the spring! About 100 miles of this to get home:




Thanks for checking this out, i will have more adventures to post soon! Cheers!

[N-Id-Jim]

Just picked up a DRZ400 s ! Ha! I will be doing a bit more in the Idaho outback soon.. stay tuned.

[siyeh]

Originally Posted by N-Id-Jim

Just picked up a DRZ400 s ! Ha! I will be doing a bit more in the Idaho outback soon.. stay tuned.

Will do. I just love those roads out there. I will wager, now that you have a DRZ, you wont turn around at Elk City. You will just keep going I bet. I snapped a pic of the same damn rock a few years ago.





Cool lil berg elk city is