PNW-GT Northern WA loop, Thu-Fri Jun 24--25, 2021




Multistrada and Chris read to go


first break at Maryhill Museum of Art parking lot


Looking East up the river at the Sam Hill Memorial Bridge

WA7 Stonehenge


Stonehenge WWI memorial, goals WA7


Waiting for road construction


GPS error "cross this dam then do a U-turn"

WA8 Palouse Falls


the road into Palouse is good quality gravel with a bit of washboard


Bridge over railroad just outside the Falls area


The offical goal pics


I hope my battery makes it through 2 days. I neglected to bring a charger.


Palouse Falls


Pano shot, pretty much the middle of nowhere





Ice Cream Breakfast at Java Bloom in Washtucna WA


Then a whole lot of nothing and a lot more wheat as I head north


A quick break in Wilbur WA, I've been riding for 8 hours so far. 20 miles to Grand Coulee.

Grand Coulee


dropping into Grand Coulee this is the lake behind the dam which you can just see in the distance from this road


I had dinner at The Dam (La Presa) Mexican Restaurant, cool bit of Intarsia


Closeup of behind the very full dam





and the spillway


caption


Lots of light, I guess their electric bill is covered


caption


Visitor's Center


Grand Coulee Bridge just downstream of the dam and the view from the bridge

WA2 Chief Joseph Rest Area


Official visit pics





the sky was amazing


433 miles to this point. I think I can do the 97 more to get to WA4...

WA4 Smoke Jumper Base


Official visit pics


Sailplane landing


can you see it?


how about now?


The Smoke Jumper plane


My camp site for the night


Hiding the Ducati and the campsite


View out from the campsite to the back of the machine shop and hangars


Opeongo A1 aerial hammock tent


Hot in the tent at 9:30pm

This is the first time I've used this tent. I'm glad a practiced setting it up yesterday. Setup was easier the second time. I was worried about sleeping, but I shouldn't have been. I was exhausted from the 522 miles ride in the 90+°F heat. I did wake up a few times to noises, but went right back to sleep getting 9 hours. That really helped with the 390 miles of the 2nd day.

Summary of Thu Jun 24

522 miles
Google said 10 hours
I finished in ~11 hours including stops
low temperature 75°F at 4000ft near the The Loup Loup Ski Bowl on highway 20
high temperatture 97°F for much of the day
4 goals achieved
spent my first night camping in a hammock tent in an unoffical campsite

Northern WA loop return, Fri Jun 25, 2021

Google route for the return trip



Glider coming in for a landing


And this is a Cinnamon Twisp


Potty break at Daroga State Park


Rainir


caption



St Helens from NF-25


Blown left front fork seal is spewing oil on the brakes and undercarriage


With very careful extremem battery management, I made it home.
Google Maps is tricky to use in low power mode as it keeps throwing away your route and won't recalculate without a network connection. This makes navigation in the boonies sketchy.

Summary of Fri Jun 25

Discovered a divine bakery: The Cinnamon Twisp
390 miles
Google said 8.5 hours
I finished in ~9 hours including stops
temperature was 81°F at 7:00am
low temperature 75°F at in the mountains behind Mt. St. Helens on NF-25
snow on the ground in the pass with 89°F air temp
high temperature 97°F for much of the day
The Multistrada blew a fork seal hitting road heaves on NF-25
My new favorite road is NF-25 from Packwood to Cougar
but the whole day was spectacular riding


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