Taking a trip out to Dry Falls

My mates abandoned me.

There was nothing happening that I was interested in doing.

Bicycle rides were cancelled for that week.

Had no way to get to hiking venues.

It looked like this was the last weekend of really gorgeous, beautiful weather and shouldn't be wasted.

The bike has new tires on it that need scrubbing.

... :yahoo:











The route taken



Best thing I saw all trip: Dry Falls.

Biggest regret: Not being able to take a photo while moving. Now you guys may disagree, but the only REALLY good way to do this (safely) is with a passenger on the back doing it for you. There were so many amazing places along the way that I could not stop at due to massive cliff faces on one side and sheer drops on the other.

One thing I didn't want to see: Deer.

One thing I wish I had brought with me: Warmer pants.

Some notes on the photos:

• The soft toy dog is my good luck charm and a gift from my parents. My Dad said to me once, "all you need is a dog that can ride on the tank". He's one of two traditions I have for every vehicle I have ever owned - he rides in/on the vehicle, and I peg the speedo on that vehicle. I'm not a superstitious person, but don't f*ck with Lady Luck - and he's good luck.
• The boulders are supposedly brought down from the Missoula floods in the last Ice age. The floods that occur in Ice Age 2, the movie, are loosely based on that event.
• The 2nd last photo was just after passing Dry Falls. You come over a hill, and you're greeted with that view.

If you need me to make it abundently clear as to what sort of conditions I rode through, my brief 25 words or less description is: 60 mph turn after turn after turn after turn after switchback after turn after switchback, gorgeous views, constant twisty roads, good surface, riding heaven.

This was on my "new" acquisition and reintroduction to the 2 wheeled road, the V-Strom DL650. Second big run on the bike since I got it. It's got a low top speed (111 mph) but only takes a quarter mile to get there, wide, flat torque band (4000 RPM -> 8000 RPM), not much power (~67 hp) and is good on fuel efficiency (~60+ mpg for this trip and I wasn't being gentle on the throttle a lot). It's more top heavy than the FJR but still an easy bike to ride under all conditions, even low speed. Aftermarket additions are crash cage, center stand, hand guards, heated grips (GOD BLESS HEATED GRIPS...), a "welcome to the 2 wheeled road" set of ex-VFR panniers and an ex-VFR tank bag given to me by my friend.

I had no problems doing the ride I did and I loved every moment of it. Would have been nicer on a FJR but I don't think the FJR would have done as well off road. It was 590 mi of goodness - a bit long for most of my curled-up-in-a-fetal-position sportbike riding mates but you guys are FJR riders. The only things tougher than you are Australians and Iron Butt riders Either way I had a blast and I look forward to seeing more of the Pacific North West.

God bless and keep it shiny side up.

Tenchi

Looks like you had some fun. I have driven some of those roads in a cage and can only imagine the fun it would be on 2 wheels. Take care and great report. B)

I've made that ride or similar quite a few times, it is good stuff.

Have you been up to Mt Baker and Heather Meadows yet? It's a little 200 mile ride out of Stanwood where I live, fun roads and beautiful scenery, once you get up there some nice little hikes.

The next time you head over the Cascades go up to Slade peak it's the highest place in Washington you can drive or ride to and the view is awesome.

I need to learn how to post maps as it would be fun to share rides.

Some of my favorite roads, but then again, I live over here. Another great ride is to continue on Hwy 20 east. From Omak to republic, some of the states greatest scenery.

One of these days I'm gonna take a month off work and go ride in Washington and Oregon. It is friggin beautiful up there. Those are some nice pictures. Cool ride, thanks for sharing!!

Thanks for the Pics!! That's a ride we need to do ourselves.... (Moved from Seattle to Eastern WA)

Truthfully there are so many good roads here on the east side here we just have not made it to Dry Falls yet....It's on the list!

We have both an FJR and DL1000 VStrom

Great Pics. You didn't buy a FZ6? I'm sure you will like the Wee Strom. I was just through Dry Falls Wensday on my FJR as part of a 8 day 4K ride through 11 states including a stop at CFO in the Black Hills.

Sometime you will have to catch the lazer show at the Dam after dark, well worth the stay. There is some real nice back road riding north east of the Grand Coulee Dam including a ferry ride across Roosevelt Lake (Columbia River) at Gifford. Let me know if you need tips on which roads to ride.

Just think after you ride most of Washington you can start to discover Oregon, California, Idaho, Montana etc. The western US has some of the best riding in the the world! When you get time ride down here and we can ride some great roads in Northern Ca. Doug

Awesome ride, we drove most the same in a cage a few weeks ago when the inlaws were here. Kept telling myself I needed to do this in the FJR.

Did you do this in one day? From the pix, it looks like you left at early dawn and made it home near 6-7?

If you need to ride on a great weekend and have no mates, drop a PM as I am close by.

Panman said:

I've made that ride or similar quite a few times, it is good stuff. Have you been up to Mt Baker and Heather Meadows yet? It's a little 200 mile ride out of Stanwood where I live, fun roads and beautiful scenery, once you get up there some nice little hikes.

The next time you head over the Cascades go up to Slade peak it's the highest place in Washington you can drive or ride to and the view is awesome.

I need to learn how to post maps as it would be fun to share rides.

Click to expand...

*adds those to his list of places to go* by all means, PM me other places to ride. I'm an all weather rider so I don't mind the rain all too much. That being said, on Saturday I did a very similar route (this time down Hwy 97A), and riding back through the mountains at speed with a Mr. T GMC Van following me WAAAAAAAY too close in the rain was probably one of the scariest things I've ever experienced.

Including getting hit by a car and highsiding after running wide on a corner.

Bugnatr said:

Great Pics. You didn't buy a FZ6? I'm sure you will like the Wee Strom. I was just through Dry Falls Wensday on my FJR as part of a 8 day 4K ride through 11 states including a stop at CFO in the Black Hills. Sometime you will have to catch the lazer show at the Dam after dark, well worth the stay. There is some real nice back road riding north east of the Grand Coulee Dam including a ferry ride across Roosevelt Lake (Columbia River) at Gifford. Let me know if you need tips on which roads to ride.

Just think after you ride most of Washington you can start to discover Oregon, California, Idaho, Montana etc. The western US has some of the best riding in the the world! When you get time ride down here and we can ride some great roads in Northern Ca. Doug

Click to expand...

*cry* I wanted the FZ6 so bad, really I did - but you know, you look at all the things you want on the FZ6, you see that hey, this guy's got a V-Strom (2nd pick) that's the right price, with all of that stuff already added to it... you can literally get on and ride... it wasn't that hard a choice. Plus, insurance would have been way too high.

Didn't stop me from going to RMC and sitting on the FZ6's and FZ1's a bunch of times though, even after buying the Strom. I still want one. I still think it'd be a great next bike. The FJR, next generation of C14 and FZ6 still look to be excellent choices to me for future bikes. This bike however was something to introduce myself to more - more weight, more power, more torque. I don't/won't feel bad if I drop it. I see it very much as being a temporary machine, and like all of my vehicles it will receive the due care and love that it deserves, but it's definitely not the be all and end all of bikes. For starters, I wanted a shaft drive. I wanted to try out dirt bike riding, long distance touring, general road riding...

... and I couldn't afford a GS.

Hudson said:

Awesome ride, we drove most the same in a cage a few weeks ago when the inlaws were here. Kept telling myself I needed to do this in the FJR.
Did you do this in one day? From the pix, it looks like you left at early dawn and made it home near 6-7?

If you need to ride on a great weekend and have no mates, drop a PM as I am close by.

Click to expand...

I did this all in one day. Left at 5:10am, arrived home around 6:30pm, mostly because I was dicking around and exploring little side roads, or taking photos (that map is one I generated via map tool, not GPS). Those photos aren't the whole lot either, but the others didn't turn out so good either. If I didn't make as many stops I don't think I would have had so much fun but I would have taken less time. I would have done it in two days if I wasn't such a cheapskate that didn't want to spend money on accomodation too.

Dry Falls is very cool but next year you have to take a ride to Palouse Falls.







Great roads and interesting scenery.

Gerry in Spokane