Heavenly Ride Up Hells Canyon
June 18, 2024
June in the Pacific Northwest can bring some nice riding weather. I met up with a couple of riding buddies to take full advantage of it over six days and 1500 miles.
- Duration: June 13 - 18, 2024 (6 days riding)
- Total miles: 1,522 (2,450 km)
- Bike: 2023 BMW R1250GS Adventure
- Regions visited: Washington, Oregon, Idaho
- Max altitude: 4,818’
- Min/Max temperature: 39 ºF / 77 ºF
Here’s the route that I followed. Note that riding buddy Greg went to an owners’ group rally on day two, and Walter rode up/back from San Francisco to meet us in Bend, Oregon, so they had different routes at the head and tail of the ride.
Day 1 / Seattle WA to Hood River OR
The first day was some “best of Washington” roads to get from Seattle down to Hood River, Oregon. These included the Yakima Canyon Scenic Byway (SR821) and the Klickitat Highway (SR142). These are two of the best motorcycling roads you’ll find. Riding them is such a joy that I didn’t take many interesting pictures. Just the departure shot from the Seattle garage, and my soft-serve swirl cherry-dipped cone for an afternoon snack. The weather was gorgeous all day, and we arrived in Hood River under sunny skies.
Day 2 / Hood River to Bend OR
Riding solo, I let my motorcycle route planner guide me down to Bend under the “curvy” and “adventurous” roads setting. It didn’t disappoint! We left Hood River with Mount Adams in the background.
The highway took me past beautiful scenes of Mount Hood.
When the route took me off Highway 26 and onto NF-42 (National Forest Service Road), the ride became exceptional. It began as two-lane twisties with almost zero traffic. It wound through beautiful lakes, forest, and creeks. It became 46 miles of perfect motorcycling roads through perfect countryside in perfect weather. In that last photo, you can see an old homesteading cabin that looked like a fine spot to spend the summer.
The two lanes turned into just one paved lane. And then the asphalt ended altogether. Good sense suggested I turn back because I was riding solo, had no cellular signal, was low on gas, had no idea how long or how rough this stretch would be, and there were probably bears in the area. Instead, I activated the bike’s Enduro riding mode (low-end throttle, no ABS, traction control at minimum) and shot ahead.
The road never got too bad; just lightly graveled potholes most of the way. After half an hour, I hit pavement again… twisty pavement.
I took the opportunity to visit two places where our family camped 40+ years ago: Suttle Lake for lunch and Camp Sherman for a quick visit to the general store
From here it was on to Bend, where I met up with Walter. I’ve been riding with Walter for over 30 years. He lives in California now, so I don’t get to ride with him as often as I used to, making this a special occasion. Greg joined and we had a fun dinner at a place called The Crux Fermentation Project.. They had food trucks and a biergarten-like outdoor dining area with lots of families enjoying the good weather.
Day 3 / Bend to Ontario OR
Day 3 began the portion of this adventure that was unplanned. No reservations made; no routes planned. Just wake up and pick a direction. It’s my favorite type of riding. We headed east, which usually means toward warmer weather. We darted across some straight highway stretches and found twisty roads where you’d expect: along a river. This is the Malheur River Canyon, where Walter and I stopped to admire the scene.
Day 4 / Ontario to Baker City OR (Hells Canyon!)
Oregon’s Hells Canyon had been on my mind as a potential riding destination for a while. That morning, we decided to find it and ride as far into it as we felt like. We grabbed a picnic lunch at a mini-mart and took off toward the canyon. The route to Hells Canyon was great by itself. Twisty, passing through rolling farmland, passing into and out of Idaho, and landing at the Snake River.
At the bridge pictured above, we broke north into the canyon itself.
The word “epic” is overused. This unplanned, new to us, 3rd- and 4th-gear twisty, breathtakingly scenic ride all the way up to the canyon road’s end made for an epic day of motorcycling. We arrived at the Hells Canyon Creek Visitor Center and ate our lunch surrounded by sheer cliffs, rapid river waters, and ancient homesites.
We arrived in Baker City tired, had a great Mexican dinner, and rode home with wet butts.
Day 5 / Baker City to Chelan, WA
Walter needed to be back in the Bay Area, so on Monday morning we met up for breakfast and he broke south as Greg and I headed north toward Chelan. The forecast had been grim the previous night, but by morning we had decent weather except for a minute or two of hail.
We stopped in Walla Walla WA for lunch, and the weather was perfect for our journey north. As we ventured further into Washintgon we could see multiple rainstorms on the horizon as we rode through flat farmlands. The one time that Greg and I got rained on was riding through a rain cell that you see below in the second photo. It was brief and we dried off as quicky as we got wet.
On the way toward Chelan, I celebrated my 5,000-mile anniversary on this bike with a few photos:
Day 6 / Chelan to Seattle to Anacortes
The fuel cap on my bike is electronically tied to the key which unlocks the pushbutton start. It’s over-engineered and failed while I was trying to fuel up in Chelan. This caused me to have to re-route my final day through Seattle so that the local dealer could replace it. About an hour later, I was headed north toward Anacortes, where I catch the ferry home.