Northern Cascades, 784 miles; two days
Alisa finally decided to leave Seattle to head back to Connecticut, and I conveniently convinced her to wait until my days off (a mere three work days after the GS rally) to leave. With her days planned out and thousands of miles ahead, we decided that I'd accompany her on the first leg of her journey up ad over the Northern Cascade highway. We met up with Ellen from Ride West BMW and Alisa's friend and former co-Edelweiss tour guide, Karen, who would come along for for half of the first day. We were planning to make it to the border of Idaho to camp then I'd head back to Seattle the next day..
Not only did Alisa an I end up with the same bike, but she's now completing the northern portion of the USA loop.. picking up where I left off. She rode with me on the first leg of my journey, so it's only fitting that I do the same in return.. on my ride she was the only girl.. this time, I was the only boy! ... and what can I say, we all have impeccable taste in motorcycles.
(ps.. those girls.. Ellen and Karen.. are FAST. I'd be willing to bet they could out-ride just about anyone I know.. including myself. seriously.)
It wasn't long before we got to Washington Pass.. only about 5500' in elevation, but it was certainly gorgeous.
Down the road a bit is Ross lake and Diablo Lake.. this area made me feel like we were in the Alps or something!
.. see what I mean?
oops, out of order, but this one's actually from WA pass.. check out that HUGE sweeper.. it's 'suggested' at 30mph.. I personally found it much more enjoyable a bit faster ;)
.. like I said.. Alps, or something..
Alisa kicked a couple little girls off of these so we could have our fun.. My form is much better than Alisa's, if I do say so myself.
We said goodbye to the other girls after lunch and continued through some of the hottest, most arid lands I've ridden through so far. Come to find out, once you get over the Cascades, Washington State is high desert. My thermometer (which tops out at 100 degrees) was off the chart. Eventually we climbed back up into some hills and quickly decided that since we liked this climate much better and were exhausted, we'd find a cool camp site and call it quits.
We talked about just turning down one of the forest road and riding into the woods to camp, but came across one that was designated with a camping sign.
We happily turned off and continued winding the gravel switchbacks up a hill for 5 miles or so, and were eventually pleasantly surprised by an oasis of a campground.. Nothing fancy, but a couple of sites that backed up to a little creek (Deadman Creek, we later learned), an outhouse and a little lake. Perfect.. A true score. In fact, it reminded me very much of the first camp Matthew and I set up in WV on our trip last year, except way more secluded...
...And with MOOSE!
So Alisa and I said goodbye this morning and I continued southward to an Indian Reservation and some very sweet, secluded mountain-pass roads. I couldn't believe it, actually, how gorgeous it was and I was all alone! I'm certainly not complaining.
It was a virtually perfect day of riding for me.. gorgeous weather, and scarce traffic.. I only had to pass about a dozen people (as opposed to the 100 people we passed yesterday).. a dozen passes in 400 miles.. not bad! All in all it was 784 miles in two days, and the most beautiful and thrilling roads I've ridden in Washington to date.
It's been great having Alisa around and a total blast riding with her. Have a good ride, Alisa!
Ok, now the bad news... It seems I had a bit of an engineering shortcoming in the design of my tool storage tube.. Guess I shouldn't have made it out of plastic after all as the exhaust gas make short work of the end of the tube that was near the pipe.. Oops.. oh well, just have to make one out of metal, I suppose.
... and for the encore, I'm working on a compilation movie from the Cascades ride.. I'll post it on youtube and just link to it from Motopsychosis so ya'all don't have to wait for it to load all the time.. COMING SOON...
Not only did Alisa an I end up with the same bike, but she's now completing the northern portion of the USA loop.. picking up where I left off. She rode with me on the first leg of my journey, so it's only fitting that I do the same in return.. on my ride she was the only girl.. this time, I was the only boy! ... and what can I say, we all have impeccable taste in motorcycles.
(ps.. those girls.. Ellen and Karen.. are FAST. I'd be willing to bet they could out-ride just about anyone I know.. including myself. seriously.)
It wasn't long before we got to Washington Pass.. only about 5500' in elevation, but it was certainly gorgeous.
Down the road a bit is Ross lake and Diablo Lake.. this area made me feel like we were in the Alps or something!
.. see what I mean?
oops, out of order, but this one's actually from WA pass.. check out that HUGE sweeper.. it's 'suggested' at 30mph.. I personally found it much more enjoyable a bit faster ;)
.. like I said.. Alps, or something..
Alisa kicked a couple little girls off of these so we could have our fun.. My form is much better than Alisa's, if I do say so myself.
We said goodbye to the other girls after lunch and continued through some of the hottest, most arid lands I've ridden through so far. Come to find out, once you get over the Cascades, Washington State is high desert. My thermometer (which tops out at 100 degrees) was off the chart. Eventually we climbed back up into some hills and quickly decided that since we liked this climate much better and were exhausted, we'd find a cool camp site and call it quits.
We talked about just turning down one of the forest road and riding into the woods to camp, but came across one that was designated with a camping sign.
We happily turned off and continued winding the gravel switchbacks up a hill for 5 miles or so, and were eventually pleasantly surprised by an oasis of a campground.. Nothing fancy, but a couple of sites that backed up to a little creek (Deadman Creek, we later learned), an outhouse and a little lake. Perfect.. A true score. In fact, it reminded me very much of the first camp Matthew and I set up in WV on our trip last year, except way more secluded...
...And with MOOSE!
So Alisa and I said goodbye this morning and I continued southward to an Indian Reservation and some very sweet, secluded mountain-pass roads. I couldn't believe it, actually, how gorgeous it was and I was all alone! I'm certainly not complaining.
It was a virtually perfect day of riding for me.. gorgeous weather, and scarce traffic.. I only had to pass about a dozen people (as opposed to the 100 people we passed yesterday).. a dozen passes in 400 miles.. not bad! All in all it was 784 miles in two days, and the most beautiful and thrilling roads I've ridden in Washington to date.
It's been great having Alisa around and a total blast riding with her. Have a good ride, Alisa!
Ok, now the bad news... It seems I had a bit of an engineering shortcoming in the design of my tool storage tube.. Guess I shouldn't have made it out of plastic after all as the exhaust gas make short work of the end of the tube that was near the pipe.. Oops.. oh well, just have to make one out of metal, I suppose.
... and for the encore, I'm working on a compilation movie from the Cascades ride.. I'll post it on youtube and just link to it from Motopsychosis so ya'all don't have to wait for it to load all the time.. COMING SOON...
posted by Dude at 8:46 PM
3 Comments:
People like us are lucky to have people like you in our lives. You're a great friend. I loved this post.
Beautiful Movie, Beautiful Bikes, Beautiful Roads, Beautiful Post, Most of all Beautiful People!
Jealous doesn't being to describe what I'm feeling here! I'm going outside right now and stealing some guy's Harley.
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