Looking SE from Washington Pass

Looking NE from Washington Pass.

Ahhhh..the warmth of the East Side.

This is Moses Coulee Rd. SE. I enjoy crossing states on seldom used backroads. It is often necessary to piece together a number of such roads to construct a route of significant length but a routing GPS makes this quick and easy. I had intended to explore McNeil Canyon Rd. an hour previous but met with a road construction crew and was forced to backtrack and find an alternate route around.

After a night's rest in Moses Lake, WA, I checked the weather forecast and it was not good news. I had planned on taking the Weston-Elgin Highway over the Blue Mountains of Eastern Oregon but the forcast was for cold, windy and wet with snowstorms at higher elevations so I thought it would be more prudent to cross the mountains over Immigrant Pass on I-84 which is lower in elevation and has more traffic to keep the roadway clear.

As I left Pendelton on I-84 there was a light but near-freezing rain and cold, gusty winds. Before the road started climbing in elevation, I saw that the northbound traffic was leaving large triangular blocks of ice on the roadway, the kind that form in wheel wells after driving through standing snow. Hmmmmm... I returned to Pendleton and warmed up in a cafe while formulating an alternate plan.

The winter storm was forecast to hang around all day so travel to the south was pretty much out of the question. I decided to head west down the Columbia River Gorge to Hood River where I could attempt to cross Bennett/Barlow Passes the following morning. Plus it was a good excuse to sample some of the locally produced beer. As I entered the Gorge I was blasted by some of the strongest winds I've encountered on a motorcycle. The Columbia River was a churning mass of steep waves and a thick sheet of white mist, the tops of the waves blown clean off, covered the whole mess. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos because I just felt like continuing on but as an ex-Alaskan commercial fisherman I can say I have never seen anything like it. In places where the road snaked around the canyon walls the wind was funneled and accelerated to even greater speeds and I quickly learned to slow down before I rounded each cliff face. The fully loaded ST4s felt stable but it did require concentration to keep it in my lane. Later, I was told a motorcyclist died when the winds in the Gorge blew him off course on that very day but I have not been able to confirm the story.

After spending the evening in Hood River I awoke to improving weather, the storm had passed. Patches of blue sky were visible after I climbed out of the Gorge.

Mt. Hood is such an awesome spectacle, I had to pull off and grab another photo.

The sun was shining and the road was bare and wet when I reached Barlow Pass.

The scene was magical. Although the camera did not capture it, there was a sparkly mist of ice crystals swirling all about. In an hour I would be cruising on US 26 through the 75 degree dry desert air of Eastern Oregon.

Smith Rock State Park is tiny but a real gem of a park and is only 3 miles off US 26 north of Bend, OR. If you have the time, and it's not too hot, it's a great place to stretch the legs and take a hike.

The following morning I spent a few hours exploring Lava Beds National Monument in N. California. This photo was taken at 9am and it's already hotter than I like.

Sharp and jumbled lava beds stretch for miles around the cinder cones.

This is the entrance to the Skull Cave, named for the skulls of antelope, mountain goat, bighorn sheep and two human skeletons found inside. I wonder if the graffiti seen near the cave entrance explains all those animal skeletons? The cave is comprised of the remnants of two large lava tubes, one on top of the other. They are shaped in a configuration that traps cold winter air in the cave's bottom which allows the formation of an ice floor.

The ice floor remains frozen year-round even though the high temperatures above are often over 100F for days at a time. The day I visited it was over 90F at the surface but the temperature at the bottom of the cave was below freezing. I was glad to have my 'stich riding suit on.

This is colorful Sunshine Cave, another lava tube cave.

It was a pleasant temperature inside and the ambiance encouraged a peaceful, meditative mood.

As the mercury continued to rise, I decided to head for higher elevations. I took Lookout-Hackmore Rd. to 299 and found this pleasant and scenic shortcut to Hwy 89 called Cassel Fall River Rd. Afterward, as I travelled along Hwy 89, I was enjoying the sights and cooler mountain air so much I missed the turn into Lassen Volcanic National Park. I was 15 miles down the road before I realized it. At that point I decided to explore a twisty backroad depicted on my map, Wilson Hill Rd. But as I descended the steep switchbacks a sudden blast of very hot air enveloped me. I did not appreciate the super-heated air of the late-afternoon Central Valley, especially in contrast to the fragrant, cool mountain air of just a few minutes previous. I immediately turned around and headed back towards Lassen NP.

Ahhhh! Cool and fresh. Much better! The roads in Lassen Volcanic National Park were excellent and almost deserted so late in the day. The Chico "Phils" are fortunate to have so much excellent riding so close.

Is that smoke from a forest fire in the distance? I headed south out of the park to Hwy 36 and onto Hwy 32 towards Chico.

As I descended Hwy 32 out of the mountains, it was apparent the smoke was coming from the next ridge to the south, above the town of Chico. A family of four in a pick-up truck filled with camping gear pulled off the highway onto the large gravel turnout and started unloading camp chairs, coolers, tents, duffel bags and other gear. I thought they were going to camp right there by the side of the road but it turned out they were forest fire refugees from the ridge to the south and who had the double misfortune of having a flat tire. They needed to access their spare tire which was buried under all their gear. I wished them luck with the fire and hoped their home would be spared from the flames. About every second car going east on Hwy 32 was loaded with camping gear and prized family possessions of those who were ordered to evacuate. Very sad indeed.

The aircraft fighting the fire were buzzing all around, it was like a war. The planes seemed like tiny insects compared to the enormity of the enemy.

A plane loaded with fire-retardant approaches the burning ridge.

Lining up for the drop.

Bombs away! After watching the battle helplessly, I headed towards the Sierra Nevada Brewery in Chico, always a pleasant stop and my hunger had been growing for a number of hours (to say nothing of my thirst). I also needed to make reservations for accomodations (something I normally don't feel the need to do) as it was already late in the day and fire refugees had filled all the local rooms.

After a satisfying meal I was able to find accomodations about 50 miles south in Yuba City. By this time it was dark and I rode south through the thick smoke plume drifting across the highway, carried by the evening breeze flowing out of the mountains. It was very erie riding through the orangish haze and darkness in the warmth of the night. As soon as I had passed through the last of the smoke I ran into a black cloud of insects, almost like a wall, lasting over a mile. They must have been fleeing the burning forests and grasslands. My experience with previous encounters of hoards of insects is that the insects tend to be uniform in size. This time they ran the gamut, from huge to tiny. My bike and faceshield were completely plastered within two minutes.

Madness 2008 - Part 2
Index of Madness 2008

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