30th June
What a brilliant day!
I was packed and on the road at 0930, heading east along the 26 towards Prairie City and the Wallowa Whitman National Forest. Almost immediately I run into road works, and spend 10 minutes waiting for the pilot car to turn up. The highway follows the path of the John Day River and is fertile and green…
…unlike the hillsides – which are the familiar ‘US Marines’ I saw yesterday. I’m soon through Prairie City and climbing up the Dixie Pass. I pull into a scenic overlook – the local tourist office have made a outsized ‘Prairie Schooner’ to house their information board…
…although I notice that people still see fit to throw their litter on the ground, rather than take it home…
The views are pretty good…
I carry on up the pass (ooh-err) and, seeing a sign to the ‘Dixie Butte Overlook’, turn left up a dirt road. Almost immediately, I come to an unmarked junction. I take the left (less travelled
) path…
…which leads up along a dirt track – a four wheeled vehicle has been up here recently, but I’m leaving the only other set of tracks…
The road is getting quite rough, alternating between pine cones, twigs, bark and gravel, the calibre of which is getting larger…
Eventually, at about 6500ft, I give up. The average size of the ‘gravel’ is now the size of an apple. My off road skills are not up to descending this slope (they always look easy in pics
), so I do a 3 point turn,and start heading back down…
…eventually regaining asphalt after 4 miles or so. I’m soon turning left onto the 245, which takes me past Unity Reservoir, which has several swans swimming about on it. On closer inspection, they turn out to be pelicans…
I continue through Hereford, where two old ladies are rusting gently away in the shade of a large tree…
…and turn left up the Dooley Mountain Highway. Do you remember the 191 between Clifton and Alpine in Arizona? I said it was the best motorcycling road I’d ever ridden? The Dooley Mountain Highway runs it a close second…
It has an excellent road surface and a series of sweeping bends, interspersed with switchbacks as it climbs, descends and then climbs again through a series of mountain passes.
I’m soon pulling into Baker City, where I refuel the bike with 6½ gallons of Supreme and myself with a Chef’s Salad and a Sprite…
I press east after lunch, coming across a Septic with a sense of humour…
…before noticing a particularly fine establishment in Pine Creek…
…and the world’s largest shuttlecock at Halfway. EDIT Apparently, this is an old incinerator, used to burn sawdust and wood chips from lumberyard operations. Nowadays, the wood chips are valuable for masonite and particle board, so they stopped using them in the 1960s.
I’m now following Pine Creek – the valleys are farmed, mostly cattle…
Soon, though, I start climbing through more mountain passes as I head towards Hells Canyon, the deepest canyon (at over 8000ft) in the USA…
…the roads are challenging, with tightening bends and an indiscriminate sprinkling of gravel on the apex of some of the hairpins.
Regrettably, I find evidence that the challenge proved too much for some unfortunate Pan European rider…
The view from Hell’s Canyon Overlook is spectacular…
…and the ride there and back is pretty good too…
I rejoin the main road and, after refuelling again at Joseph, start up US3 heading north towards Clarkston, my target for tonight…
Although not listed as a ‘Scenic Byway’, it’s one of the best roads I ride today…
…with sweeping bends and superb views, as the switchbacks carry the road into the Wallowa Whitman National Forest…
…before it straightens out after Joseph Canyon. As I enter Washington, I notice that the little town of Anatone takes the ‘Population 45’ idea a few steps further…
Eventually, I start the descent into Clarkston, passing some haughty looking residents…
…before checking into the Best Western – I’m knackered, but it’s been an excellent day.
What a brilliant day!
I was packed and on the road at 0930, heading east along the 26 towards Prairie City and the Wallowa Whitman National Forest. Almost immediately I run into road works, and spend 10 minutes waiting for the pilot car to turn up. The highway follows the path of the John Day River and is fertile and green…
…unlike the hillsides – which are the familiar ‘US Marines’ I saw yesterday. I’m soon through Prairie City and climbing up the Dixie Pass. I pull into a scenic overlook – the local tourist office have made a outsized ‘Prairie Schooner’ to house their information board…
…although I notice that people still see fit to throw their litter on the ground, rather than take it home…
The views are pretty good…
I carry on up the pass (ooh-err) and, seeing a sign to the ‘Dixie Butte Overlook’, turn left up a dirt road. Almost immediately, I come to an unmarked junction. I take the left (less travelled
) path…
…which leads up along a dirt track – a four wheeled vehicle has been up here recently, but I’m leaving the only other set of tracks…
The road is getting quite rough, alternating between pine cones, twigs, bark and gravel, the calibre of which is getting larger…
Eventually, at about 6500ft, I give up. The average size of the ‘gravel’ is now the size of an apple. My off road skills are not up to descending this slope (they always look easy in pics
), so I do a 3 point turn,and start heading back down…
…eventually regaining asphalt after 4 miles or so. I’m soon turning left onto the 245, which takes me past Unity Reservoir, which has several swans swimming about on it. On closer inspection, they turn out to be pelicans…
I continue through Hereford, where two old ladies are rusting gently away in the shade of a large tree…
…and turn left up the Dooley Mountain Highway. Do you remember the 191 between Clifton and Alpine in Arizona? I said it was the best motorcycling road I’d ever ridden? The Dooley Mountain Highway runs it a close second…
It has an excellent road surface and a series of sweeping bends, interspersed with switchbacks as it climbs, descends and then climbs again through a series of mountain passes.
I’m soon pulling into Baker City, where I refuel the bike with 6½ gallons of Supreme and myself with a Chef’s Salad and a Sprite…
I press east after lunch, coming across a Septic with a sense of humour…
…before noticing a particularly fine establishment in Pine Creek…
…and the world’s largest shuttlecock at Halfway. EDIT Apparently, this is an old incinerator, used to burn sawdust and wood chips from lumberyard operations. Nowadays, the wood chips are valuable for masonite and particle board, so they stopped using them in the 1960s.
I’m now following Pine Creek – the valleys are farmed, mostly cattle…
Soon, though, I start climbing through more mountain passes as I head towards Hells Canyon, the deepest canyon (at over 8000ft) in the USA…
…the roads are challenging, with tightening bends and an indiscriminate sprinkling of gravel on the apex of some of the hairpins.
Regrettably, I find evidence that the challenge proved too much for some unfortunate Pan European rider…
The view from Hell’s Canyon Overlook is spectacular…
…and the ride there and back is pretty good too
…
I rejoin the main road and, after refuelling again at Joseph, start up US3 heading north towards Clarkston, my target for tonight…
Although not listed as a ‘Scenic Byway’, it’s one of the best roads I ride today…
…with sweeping bends and superb views, as the switchbacks carry the road into the Wallowa Whitman National Forest…
…before it straightens out after Joseph Canyon. As I enter Washington, I notice that the little town of Anatone takes the ‘Population 45’ idea a few steps further…
Eventually, I start the descent into Clarkston, passing some haughty looking residents…
…before checking into the Best Western – I’m knackered, but it’s been an excellent day.
