drives - NE Oregon April 2015

[bcj]

Monday Apr. 27th, 2015 - NE Oregon mountain roads in an FR-S
Been checking temperatures around the Umatilla Forest. Finally came up a bit and the passes are clear and dry. Going to take a trip down there for a couple days to run some awesome roads that I've always wanted to, but never did.
Yet.

Blasted out of Seattle on 90 over the pass then turned right on 97 south through Yakima, Topenish and Goldendale, over the Columbia on 97 South. I've heard ORP is out that way, but I didn't see any obvious signs along the way. Should have looked it up, but that wasn't the reason for this trip. Out around Moro I saw a street view camera car parked by a mini-mart. It said Bing on the side though. Guess they're going to duplicate everything all over again.

The fun didn't really get started until about 3pm when I turned east at Shaniko. Hwy 218 Shaniko, Antelope, Fossil is a road I've heard about for years on motorcyle foums. They were absolutely right. Straight out of Shaniko the road dives down a wash with a dozen or so nice tight turns, but then straightens out for a few miles.



Then! Dropping down into Antelope for a couple thousand feet is curve heaven. At the top I even met a streetsweeper finishing up a corner tidying operation. Sweet! The road was imaculate all the way across the valley and back up another couple thousand feet on the other side. Wanted some pictures over there too, but there was no shoulder to pull off without a half mile hike to get to a view. Excelent surface all the way to Fossil, then 19 to Spray.

Some pictures going through the Clarno Conservation Unit









At Spray, I turned north on 207. They've been doing some shoulder work north of town and the road had dust and rocks all over. Might be the next sweeper job on the list this week. The road over the summit in the National Forest was ideal though. Up a steep escarpment around lots of tight gulleys it's another road to drool over. At the top, it's long sweepers down a gradual slope with the occasional 25 indicated to keep you awake.





At Heppner I turned east on 74. Another high mountain pass heading toward Pendleton. It compares favorably with the rest of the roads I picked out today. Nice, nice, nice. Stopping over at rodeo town tonight. Rolled in about 7:30pm.

Features: Magpies! Snakes flattened by others. A peasant, no, pheasant that made me stop in the road. Deer legs. Just single legs every once in a while. Several of them on various roads. Keep the radar tuned up. And quail. Buzzards.

[bcj]

Tuesday, Apr. 28, 2015
Pendleton, east on 84 to Baker City to get where I want to go today. 26 east of Pendlton is pretty amazing going up Emigrant Hill with 3 lanes open and clear in front. 65mph is just about right. East and westbound split off and looks like a pretzel on Google Maps. The freeway was constricted to single lanes on both sides of La Grande, but traffic was moving in an orderly fashion and wasn't too bad.

First up, Sumpter Valley Dredge State Heritage Area. The Sumpter valley has been mined side to side, bottom to top with dredge barges, leaving the valley floor lined with mounds of mine tailings. My folks took us there years ago, but at the time I had no idea where I was.

Got there finally, but the State Park was "Closed for Winter". Got some pictures of the tailings and one of the dredge from the road. Garn ...





Dry, warm, not a lick of snow anywhere. Have to prevent thoughtless youfs from jacking up the equipment when the guards aren't there (would need thermite to shift most of the hardware), but I guess most of the housings are very old wood.

Decided to continue south on Hwy 7. It looks straight on the maps between Baker City and Hwy 26, but it's definitely not. Smooth surface, clean of rocks & sand and some of the best corners and passes around.





Found another ridiculously huge landmark on the southern end of hwy 7. Viewpoint and information kiosk looking over the upper drainage of the John Day River system. Strawberry mountain range on the far side.



Hwy 26 is is typical rural state highway. No corners are going to sneak up so it's set the speed and forget it. There are ample passing areas though to get past people going 35 in a 55 zone.



Went past John Day, then Dayville and a few miles past there headed north on 19. Some terrific canyon carving down the John Day river. This section runs through a deep deposit of sediment that left amazing colors behind. Comprable with Capitol Reef in UT, but much taller.









Backtracked through Spray and Fossil, but this time continued north to Condon. Between Fossil and Condon the road plunges to the bottom of the John Day River and back up the other side again. More canyons and corners. Condon is at the very top of a very high rolling plain and on occasions you can see for miles in any direction. There, I picked up 206 to Wasco, then down to 84 on the Columbia River and wound up for the night in The Dalles.



I was very lucky to make this trip early in the season. The roads were clear in front of me nearly all the way around. Once the motorhomes, campers, horse and boat trailers come out, most of these places would be dreary no doubt.

Features: Dissapointment! Passes, corners, elevation changes, colors, geology.

[bcj]

Wednesday, Apr. 29, 2015
The Dalles and back home. Directly west of The Dalles on old 30 are the Rowena Loops. Much winding and elevation past CCC stonework to stop off at Rowena Crest viewpoint then Mosier and back on 84 until Ainsworth Park exit and back on old 30. Past Multnomah Falls. Tried to take pictures of the spring green maple canopy but had set the camera for outdoors instead of through glass. Don't want to fiddle with it while driving.





Also stopped at the viewpoint after more CCC stone curves up the cliffside. Then back down the hillside to 84 and Freeway back up to WA.



Only other interesting bit is off 101 north of Shelton WA. Purdy Cutoff at the fish hatchery and onto 106 along the east shore of the Hood Canal to Belfair. Turns and a lot of scenery.





Features: Misty spitting through Multnomah. Scenery. Slabbing. Lots of it.

[Ddreder]

Oh the humanity! The great bug genocide of 2015!

But on a serious note.. Awesome OP! I have been working on locating cool roads around where im at. Eastern washington and norther idaho have a lot of neat roads with epic scenery. Although I cant go back out there till I buy racing pads for my frs and miata.. I managed to melt both of them within the same week..

[Tectoniic]

I would kill for roads like that, the first picture especially! Ty for great pics.

Awesome scenery for the drive too. Gotta get out of Illinois and find roads like this lol.

[soulreapersteve]

Awesome pictures! Looks like the types of roads that I want to have some fun in.

*Added to list of potential weekend getaways*

[Tcoat]

Ummmm...when exactly did the apocalypses occur that whipped out all other vehicles and people there? Sort of spooky that not one pic shows any other form of life.

I have to get there someday!

[m.box.design]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Ummmm...when exactly did the apocalypses occur that whipped out all other vehicles and people there? Sort of spooky that not one pic shows any other form of life.

I have to get there someday!

NE Oregon is pretty remote, just like SE Washington, Northern Idaho, and all of Montana. lol.

[bcj]

This time of year there's not enough local traffic to back things up. The tourists haven't arrived yet doing dopy tourist things. Midweek is prime auto time.

It was below freezing at night in the mountains just the week before. A front passed over and this week was the first time some warm temps moved in this spring.

Been eyeballing it closely for a while. Though a lot of the pullouts haven't dried out yet and are still deep sticky mud. I managed to avoid those.

edit: Just checked Google - There's street view available of all the routes I wrote up so you can see the whole thing if you want spend the time clicking.

[torqdork]

Thanks @bcj. I've driven those roads at different times of year in everything from sporty cars to expedition 4X4's. In a way, you're fortunate not to have encountered Goober in his jacked F-250 on 35's looking for trouble (experiences in sports cars forced off the roads you pictured).

At least annually I run with an expedition group that explores ghost towns from Wild West days sometimes running in ruts made by wagon trains 150+ years ago along the Oregon Trail. It's so beautiful, remote, quiet and scenic, a complete change of pace from sports car runs on pavement.

Getting there is half the fun since the group takes special pride in recovery techniques deployed about every hour.

Once at the destination we all camp and cook in style often with freshly caught fish. On a clear, desert new moon night the stars are so thick it looks like a campfire overhead but it's the Earth's rotation as the Milky Way streams by.

Anyway, you chose a great circuit that shows most of all four types of major PNW topography within a (long) day drive for the ambitious: ocean, valleys, mountains and high desert, nice.

[humfrz]

Thanks for the road trip review, there, @bcj .....


humfrz