Riona
Well-known member
I can resist anything. Anything that is apart from temptation, peer pressure and chocolate.
Living in the Pacific North West, I have become pressured by the number of ride reports that show a photograph of the snowed in outhouse at the top of the Chinook pass over Mt. Rainier, while myself remaining a Chinook Virgin. When the opportunity presented itself to be over in the East of our fair Sate of Washington, I knew I had to take the long way round and pop my Chinook Cherry.
The start of my ride was a little silly. I was so focused on my target of ascending Chinook, that I just put that as a destination in my GPS and blindly followed its directions. Turns out that Chinook is a small town on the mouth of the Columbia River near what would have been aptly named "Cape Disappointment" had I got that far. Luckily my sense of direction cut in before I had gone too far south and the only penalty I paid was to miss out on the back country ride along 202 and Snoqualmie Falls to get to Auburn via 18 instead of around the 520/405 super-slab.
Passing through Enumclaw on a bright and sunny Fathers Day, I joined the procession of tourists and day trippers heading up the pass. I stopped every now and then to take photographs (after all, it DID happen, so there must be photographs ...). This turned into an amusing game with a car driven by a pair of denim shirt/ khaki pant wearing couples from California. They would pull in, take photographs with huge Nikon SLR's, then drive off. I would overtake them, pull into the next scenic viewpoint and take my photo with my Canon Elph and wait for them to pull in behind me, We managed to encounter each other 4 times going up the pass.
Destination - Chinook or Bust !
"scenic viewpoint"
Starting the climb ...
And climbing ...
At last, I can contribute my own photo of the snowed in restroom !!! Thankfully there was still some snow left !
Faithful FJR, loaded for travel, at the top of the pass
After the beauty of the climb up from Enumclaw, the far side of the pass is a bit of a let down. . A long, straight down hill run for about 65 miles down highway 410 and 12 to akima, followed by a hard slog along I-82 to Kennewick, which was my destination for the night. On top of that, my planned lunch at Whistlin' Jack's turned into a "grab a sub at the mini mart" after the waitress informed me that there was at least an hour's wait at the cafe, which was packed with families celebrating Fathers Day. On the bright side, I did get to change out of my winter gear into my mesh jacket to enjoy the desert heat (91 degrees) and had a bit of company on I-82 when I joined up with a couple on a BMW R1200GS to while away the miles exchanging point position every now and then.
On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night ... and a steak, and a beer..
That was Sunday - Fathers day, when I had no father to celebrate, so I went riding instead. Monday was "ride to work day". I had no work to ride to, so I went riding instead.
Monday I had company from another Forum member, who took me on a tour of the twisties over the border in Oregon. Here is the route:
This is the scenery - a mix of high plains and then twisties down canyons, some lush and green through irrigation, some just bare rock. This photo was taken at the top of FR53 which runs 43 miles from Ukiah to Heppner .. a glorious road of swooping turns and great natural beauty. I was sorry when eventually it came to an end and we stopped for lunch.
After Lunch we switched from forest to canyon, on the 206 to Condon and Wasco. A most marvelous set of hairpin bends ...
A feature of this otherwise featureless landscape is the wind farms. They, like the wind, are everywhere. We had 35 mph cross winds much of the day, which made riding a little tiring. I was glad when we reached our stop for the night at Maryhill, where 97 crosses the Columbia river.
On a bluff above the river is a replica of Stonehenge. I had been to the original just a couple of years ago so it was interesting to see the replica of how it was when it was intact.
So, Although I didn't have any work to go to, I certainly rode my bike -- another 263 miles of twisties and canyons enjoyed.
Tuesday I turned back home. A relatively boring 80 mile run up 97 to Yakima brought be back to 410, but this time I took the southern route and came back over White Pass rather than Chinook (SO two days ago, been there, done that, posted the picture of the restroom in the snow drift, yawn ...)
White Pass is SUCH a beautiful route. Lakes, snow capped peaks, cascading waterfalls, great roads (albeit with road works every 10 miles, but I lucked through and got waved through by every single flagger). These few pictures barely do it justice:
At one point I was tempted to turn left and do Steven's canyon and Paradise, but I had to leave something to come back for, so those twisties are waiting for another day - so I continued North on 123 to rejoin 410 East and back home....
A note on fuel:
My trip home was a single tank of gas. Also my longest ever run with the reserve light flashing (36 miles). I got 260 miles out of the tank (including the 36) and still could only get 5.5 gallons in there. That gives me about 47 mpg, which isn't bad for mountain climbing, and probably I STILL has a gallon left in the tank .... !
Living in the Pacific North West, I have become pressured by the number of ride reports that show a photograph of the snowed in outhouse at the top of the Chinook pass over Mt. Rainier, while myself remaining a Chinook Virgin. When the opportunity presented itself to be over in the East of our fair Sate of Washington, I knew I had to take the long way round and pop my Chinook Cherry.
The start of my ride was a little silly. I was so focused on my target of ascending Chinook, that I just put that as a destination in my GPS and blindly followed its directions. Turns out that Chinook is a small town on the mouth of the Columbia River near what would have been aptly named "Cape Disappointment" had I got that far. Luckily my sense of direction cut in before I had gone too far south and the only penalty I paid was to miss out on the back country ride along 202 and Snoqualmie Falls to get to Auburn via 18 instead of around the 520/405 super-slab.
Passing through Enumclaw on a bright and sunny Fathers Day, I joined the procession of tourists and day trippers heading up the pass. I stopped every now and then to take photographs (after all, it DID happen, so there must be photographs ...). This turned into an amusing game with a car driven by a pair of denim shirt/ khaki pant wearing couples from California. They would pull in, take photographs with huge Nikon SLR's, then drive off. I would overtake them, pull into the next scenic viewpoint and take my photo with my Canon Elph and wait for them to pull in behind me, We managed to encounter each other 4 times going up the pass.
Destination - Chinook or Bust !
"scenic viewpoint"
Starting the climb ...
And climbing ...
At last, I can contribute my own photo of the snowed in restroom !!! Thankfully there was still some snow left !
Faithful FJR, loaded for travel, at the top of the pass
After the beauty of the climb up from Enumclaw, the far side of the pass is a bit of a let down. . A long, straight down hill run for about 65 miles down highway 410 and 12 to akima, followed by a hard slog along I-82 to Kennewick, which was my destination for the night. On top of that, my planned lunch at Whistlin' Jack's turned into a "grab a sub at the mini mart" after the waitress informed me that there was at least an hour's wait at the cafe, which was packed with families celebrating Fathers Day. On the bright side, I did get to change out of my winter gear into my mesh jacket to enjoy the desert heat (91 degrees) and had a bit of company on I-82 when I joined up with a couple on a BMW R1200GS to while away the miles exchanging point position every now and then.
On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night ... and a steak, and a beer..
That was Sunday - Fathers day, when I had no father to celebrate, so I went riding instead. Monday was "ride to work day". I had no work to ride to, so I went riding instead.
Monday I had company from another Forum member, who took me on a tour of the twisties over the border in Oregon. Here is the route:
This is the scenery - a mix of high plains and then twisties down canyons, some lush and green through irrigation, some just bare rock. This photo was taken at the top of FR53 which runs 43 miles from Ukiah to Heppner .. a glorious road of swooping turns and great natural beauty. I was sorry when eventually it came to an end and we stopped for lunch.
After Lunch we switched from forest to canyon, on the 206 to Condon and Wasco. A most marvelous set of hairpin bends ...
A feature of this otherwise featureless landscape is the wind farms. They, like the wind, are everywhere. We had 35 mph cross winds much of the day, which made riding a little tiring. I was glad when we reached our stop for the night at Maryhill, where 97 crosses the Columbia river.
On a bluff above the river is a replica of Stonehenge. I had been to the original just a couple of years ago so it was interesting to see the replica of how it was when it was intact.
So, Although I didn't have any work to go to, I certainly rode my bike -- another 263 miles of twisties and canyons enjoyed.
Tuesday I turned back home. A relatively boring 80 mile run up 97 to Yakima brought be back to 410, but this time I took the southern route and came back over White Pass rather than Chinook (SO two days ago, been there, done that, posted the picture of the restroom in the snow drift, yawn ...)
White Pass is SUCH a beautiful route. Lakes, snow capped peaks, cascading waterfalls, great roads (albeit with road works every 10 miles, but I lucked through and got waved through by every single flagger). These few pictures barely do it justice:
At one point I was tempted to turn left and do Steven's canyon and Paradise, but I had to leave something to come back for, so those twisties are waiting for another day - so I continued North on 123 to rejoin 410 East and back home....
A note on fuel:
My trip home was a single tank of gas. Also my longest ever run with the reserve light flashing (36 miles). I got 260 miles out of the tank (including the 36) and still could only get 5.5 gallons in there. That gives me about 47 mpg, which isn't bad for mountain climbing, and probably I STILL has a gallon left in the tank .... !
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