Day sixty eight, Lewiston,idaho to Baker City, Oregon

Well technically speaking it is Clarkston, Washington, to Baker City, Oregon, since we stayed across the Snake River in Clarkston last night, but let’s not be picky. Now this is all new territory for me, I have not ridden this route before but it comes recommended out of a wee publication I picked up last trip on Motorcycling roads in Idaho and Oregon. Words in the book like riding the rattlesnake and the Oregon Dragon appealed, so off we went this morning in Sunshine and temps in the low 20’s to explore this route. I had also found in my wee book on scenic byways, that the Hells Canyon Scenic byway linked in with this ride so the original route in my trip book was tweaked to include the Hells Canyon ride.

We left Clarkston on the WA129 south………….Things looked up only 10 kms south of Clarkston, we rode thru a wee town called Asotin and immediately we were snaking and twisting our way up a hill onto a big plateau up high which was all cropping land, nice.

Cruising along here, by and By we go over rattlesnake Pass, entering the Fields Spring state park and some more fun begins. The road that curves and snakes it’s way down to rattlesnake creek and the first coffee stop of the day, Boggans Oasis ( Stop taking the piss, that has two g’s in it so pronounce it correctly kiwi’s) was a truly awesome ride. the first pic of Twisties I have posted below is a bit of an example of some of the riding on the rattlesnake. FYI, the rattlesnake, as this ride is referred to by locals, is in Washington State. The scenery out here is amazing too, huge hills, barren as, no green grass, just parched, but so very different to yesterday’s scenery it is like being in another country.

We stopped at Bogans for coffee…………… opps did I spell that wrong?…………but I am right……………… and then headed 4 miles down the road to the Oregon State line. There was a wee spot of roadworks here as we crossed the state line, but immediately after, we were snaking our way up and out of Joseph Canyon to get up onto another plateau and it is this climb that is referred to by Oregon motorcyclists as the Oregon Dragon. It certainly justifies this name, it is an awesome Twisties hill climb. hard to photograph but the welcome to Oregon pic and the couple that follow below, show the scenery in the valley the Oregon Dragon climbs out of.

Righteo, the rattlesnake and the Oregon Dragon are now behind us, we rock on down to the town of Enterprise for a bite of lunch before riding eight miles down the road apiece to the wee town of Joseph ( named after Nez Perce Chief Joseph of course). This wee town of Joseph is very slutty and upmarket, I could have a holiday there, nice, few ski fields nearby and the like.

We veered east at Joseph on the 350 and after 8 miles took US Forest route 39 to ride the next 37 miles to the Hells Canyon Overlook. Now this is one of the few Forest service roads that is sealed, due to its popularity, but this is a great Twisties wee ride…….. there is better to come.

By and By we made it to the overlook for Hells Canyon, great views into the big valley, posted some pics from up there.

Heading out of the overlook, we got to ride the best little Twisties hill descent I have ridden for a long time, as we made our way down to the town of ‘Halfway’ about 40 miles away.

I shit you not, this is the name of the town and a cool wee village it is as well, we had coffee there. I have to repeat that the ride down from the Hells Canyon overlook to Halfway is an outstanding ride, I would have loved to be riding it uphill, What a cool part of the world.

Righteo, re caffeinated at Halfway we rode Route 86 the last 100 kms to our destination for the night, Baker City, pop of just under 9000. Route 86 is a little treasure as well, twists and winds it’s way west, and the only Highway Patrol man on that route had already pulled over a Couple other bikes, it was good to see a couple Triumph riders taking one for the team while we cruised on By.

We arrived at Baker City, pre warned there was a Triumph motorcycle convention on and they were staying at the same hotel as us. No drama,s, a huge Triumph motorcycle convention but the USA folks don,t have the same drinking culture as Kiwi,s so we hardly heard a sound out of them, no drunk and disorderly, no burn outs, it could have been A Sunday School gathering if I hadn’t seen all the bikes everywhere.

Did I say a lot of these Triumphs were trailered here, taken out of their trailers to be parked on the pavement while their owners do the dinner and talk shit routine. I do not gest, only in America and only a Triumph rider would do this? You agree eh? Yeah yeah I know,………………….geez……….Triumphs eh, who would have thought?