Lots of Turns and Hells Canyon

Got into Ontario Oregon about  700 PM local time (MDT).  The time zones in this area are crazy.  We are a little west of Lewiston Idaho and that was PDT.  Here in Ontario its MDT.

Any, the trip was good.  We started out of Lewiston, Idaho on Route 129.  This road is carved into the side of the high hills leading out of Lewiston to the north west.  There are no guard rails.  There are sheer drops off the road that go down 100s of feet.  Its not for the faith of heart and its a very thrilling ride.  It makes the Tail of the Dragon in North Carolina look tame.  Its not the sharp turns. Its not the 22 miles of sharp turns and hairpins.  Its the combination of all of the above and the sheer drop-offs.

You look down and see the road you climbed up the mountain.  The are no trees to speak of.  Just grass and rocks. 

We had lunch at the Cheyenne Café in Joseph, Oregon.  We eat outside in the shade on the sidewalk.  It was a very good Lunch.  We also found a nice place for breakfast in Lewiston.  The Bait Shop was a little hole in the wall that serves one heck of a breakfast.

After lunch we headed to Hells Canyon.  I must say, it was a bit of a disappointment.  The road was in poor shape (the one that leads to the Hells Canyon Overlook and then back down.  The road, like the one of Lewiston, has no guard rails and drop offs.  However, the area is covered with firs and as such you have no view of the area you are riding through.  Those two things take away from the ride.

The Hells Canyon Overlook is very impressive.  Its like a small version of the Grand Canyon.

We ended up the day following the Snake River out of Oxford Oregon until we got to Ontario.  We left the Snake about 10 or 15 miles before we got to Ontario.

The view form the Hells Canyon Overlook was marred by some smoke that had be blown in from a fire in the area.  The smoke arrived just before we got there.  Otherwise the day was the clearest yet.

Temperatures started out in the low 70s.  After we came down from Hells Canyon and reached the lower elevations, the temperatures got back up into the mid 90's even hitting 98 one time. 

Pictures will be posted later.

The start of the day

I was wrong about the guard rails

Riding to Hells Canyon

Riding in Hells Canyon

The Fire (to the West of us).  This is not a cloud, its smoke.

Clearwater National Forest

Just arrived in Lewiston, Idaho.  Today's trip about 280 miles but it took longer than I expected. We left Polson about 830 and got in to Lewiston about 5:00 (MDT) but its actually PDT here.

We took US 93 south from Polson Montana and then took US 12 west.  this follows the Lewis and Clark trail and the Clearwater River.  Well it turns out that Lewis and Clark did not follow the river because it was unnavigable.  Instead, they follow the ridgeline and old Indian trails.  So the road we took was in the same general area as that traveled by Lewis and Clark.

US 12 travels through the Clearwater National Forest and it is a very sparsely populated.  In the 100 plus miles through the national forest there is only one gas station and a very nice restaurant were we had lunch.

Today's adventures included two deer crossing the road in front of us and four cows on the side of the rode.  As we passed than a man in a pickup truck pulled up who looked like he was going to take charge of them.  When the first deer crossed about 200 feet in front of us we slowed down and the second one crossed about 50 feet in front of us.

Oh, yesterday I failed to mention the six horses that crossed the road in front of us.  they cleared the road just as we got there.

The ride through Clearwater is very scenic.  A sign warns the motorist that there are 99 miles of curves ahead.  Most of the curves are very gentle as the road follows the river from about 2000 feet to 5300 feet and back down to 1500 feet at Lewiston, 

I will post pictures later this evening.

The view this morning from our motel on Flathead Lake.

 

 

 

Views from road

 

 

 

 

Lunch stop the road in Clearwater National Forest

 

 

The Bike

 

 

Going to the Sun Highway

The main reason for going through northern Montana was to get to the eastern entrance to Glacier National Park.  And the eastern entrance to the Going to the Sun Highway.  Going to the Sun Highway is about 50 miles long and starts near ST. Mary Montana.  The road is narrow in spots and there are several construction projects that make short portions of the road one way.  That and the tour buses (small buses but tour buses) make the trip a little tedious. 

Having said, that, its well worth the ride.  Its not quite as spectacular as Bear tooth Highway on Bear tooth mountain, but it is different and special.   Carved by glaciers long years ago, the area abounds with deep canyons and high peaks which are sharp and pointed.

Well pictures are better than words.  In some places I could have easily reached out and touched the rock wall along the roadway.

I also have some videos from the bike mounted camera.  I don't know if I can post them here.  The files are large.  But here are some stills.

 

 

 

And here is a video



Day Six? (We are 99 Miles from Glacier National Park)

Well, I don't remember how many days we have been on the road and that is good.  We are just riding.

Today was one of the best (except for the antelopes and the last 30 minutes).   We traveled about 270 miles getting in about 2:30 local time.

The temperature was moderate until after 1:00 PM (then it quickly got up to 90 degrees.  The roads were two lane (all US 2) and the speed limit was 70 MPH.  We made maybe 3 turns all day. That's not necessarily ideal motorcycle riding but little traffic, no real challenges, and just moving along.

There were a variety of road sights and not much change in scenery. Most of traffic on the road were large harvesters for the wheat fields.  Then there were slow moving harrows which took up almost the whole road way.  The harvesters were all going east (we were going west).  The harrows were going east but we only had to follow them for a few miles before we stopped for a break or they turned off the road.

The size of the wheat fields in western Montana is still amazing.  We traveled for 20 or 30 without seeing a house or structure and then there was a clump silos. 

Yes there were some houses here and there but they were very few and far between.

We did see two antelope.  One, as she crossed the road, and the other about 100 feet off the road waiting to cross.  The female crossed about 200 feet in front of so we slowed down a little waiting for the second one. Which waited for us to pass, just sort of watching us go by.

The last 30 minutes of the trip were spent in some extreme cross winds.  Sort of like the trip across Minnesota.  Tomorrow we head to Glacier National Park and the Highway to the Sun, which is why we are in north western Montana.

Wheat Fields

There was a Wal Mart on the way so we stopped for some stuff.  You always need something you left behind.

 

 

 

Did I say the road was fairly straight?

 

 

 

And one of the many silos loading grain on a train.  The train is on a circular track around silos.  The scale is hard to determine but they can be seen from a long way off.

 

 

The storm that caused cross winds.  It was to the south of us.