Cascade Crew

[Dewey316]

Yeah, not thirdgen content at all, in fact during the summers lately the Red Sled and Layla have been neglected (probably more so my car than Mikes), in favor of the 2 wheeled variety of transport. (those who are friends with the two of us on Faceybook, will probably get bored with this)

Mike reminded me that I hadn't done a trip report, so if you don't like it...well, don't read it.

So, just like we have done for the last couple of summers, Schultzy came up with a plan, a route, stops, and really everything needed to actually do a motorcycle trip, and I said...sure, yeah, that works, lets go!

This is the route that Schultzy came up with, lots of desert, lots of forests, lots of mountains, the largest canyon in North America, a few Fossils and as I would come to find, a few cows.



Schultzy invited a couple of co-workers of his along for the trip. One of them would ride the entire trip with us, one just part of the first day, and two others would meet us in Spray, OR, then ride the final day back to Portland. So, being the hardcore biker types that we, we planned an early start and a 7am meet time at of course...Starbucks.

This is Anthony and Janice. They would be riding with us on day one. This is what starbucks looks like at 7am...(count the number of coffees on the table)


This is what the starbucks parking lot looks like at 7:10am....(The red Harley is Janices, the grey Harley belongs to Anthony, Schultzy rides the black Honda VTX...and well..I think you are getting the picture.)


7:15am....Taaaa Daaaa.... Dewey and Champ "The little Honda that could" finally show up. Champ is dressed like a pack mule, and Dewey needs coffee.


Time to hit the road....and head east. Through the mountains.


We made a quick stop in Madras. Schultzy is apparently getting on in the years now, and is having trouble reading the liscense plate on the Harley. Dewey is still not awake...


Over the mountains, and into the high planes before we would drop into Prineville.


Champ was cruising on reserve as we rolled into Prineville, so we stopped for some gas, and luckily the group descision was made to stop at another starbucks (well it certainly does not help the stereotypes, it was getting to be 10am, and about time for Dewey to actually start waking up)


Dewey rolling through Prineville...


From there, Anthony headed back to Portland, and the three of us were off to actually see some stuff! First stop, one of Schultzy and My favorite spots in Oregon...


The Painted Hills.


We stopped and did the hike at the Painted Cove, we of course posed for a picture first.


Schultzy.....


Dewey....looking like a nerdy tourist.


The painted hills do make you feel a little like you somehow made a wrong turn and ended up on Mars. Example: Mars...errr...I mean painted hills...


One the road to the next stop...


After a quick stop for some food in Mitchell, OR at the Little Pine Cafe, it was off to the Sheep Rock Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds and the visitors center there.


Now, I do use the term lunch loosely, as we arived at the vistors center at exactly 4:55pm, they close at 5pm, so we didn't really get to see it. But we did get to take a few pictures of the scenory around there.

The most bad arse looking sheep I have ever seen...








The road finally broke out of the canyons, and into the John Day valley. The stop here was the appropriately named Picture Gorge.
(road...canyon)


Picture Gorge panoramic


The motorcycle waited patiently while we took in the sight, and Dewey took a ton of photos.


From there it was a ride through the green valley to John Day, then on to Baker City for the night.


We got to Baker City, and don't you know it, they were kind enough to send a welcome commity.

(Ok Ok... that was just a chance photo, no one got pulled over, the car was there and I snapped a picture, I won't like, we are Mature Responsible Adults)

That was it for day one. Stay tuned for day two, as we head to Hell's Canyon and then the Wallowa's.

[Dewey316]

Started out the morning of day two, with a nice breakfast and the needed caffine for the morning. We headed out of Baker City, and blasted pretty much non-stop to Hell's Canyon. I say pretty much. Schultzy didn't have to stop, but Dewey learned a new and interesting trate about cows. Cows hanging out in the middle of the road generally are not bothered by much, until a motorcycle goes by them, then the seem to realize there is stuff around them and start to move around to see what is up. So when you are on motorcycle number two, you get to come to a stop, and try to figure out where the cow is going, and what exactly you are going to do if it descides it likes your motorcycle. After some practice, Dewey figured out the proper technique required to move the cow along, and we were able to keep going to Hells Canyon.

I'll be honest, the road from Oxbow to the Hells Canyon dam is maybe one of the all time greats. We didn't stop, once, the entire trip to the dam, it was that good. But, we did stop for some pictures on the way back, and I'll share them.

Idaho! No you...ohh wait.


Dewey seemed to have a day #1 funk, and really was not his normal wacky self, maybe it was the other people, maybe it was the early wake up call, whatever it was, day number two took care of it, and he was back in motorcycle trip form. So much so, he decided he needed to sit in the road one last time in Oregon before entering the strange land of potatos.


Now, I mentioned that the road was pretty darn good...here is a taste of what awaited us once we crossed the bridge and entered Idaho.


Schultzy at the dam.


The snake river, just below the dam.


Dewey talked with some other bikers in the parking lot, these guys were a crazy bunch. They rode from Colorodo, and just "wanted to see the ocean", so I take it they were still heading west. I am not sure if they ever made it, since they cracked open their 211 at 10:30am in the parking lot.


We hit up the little visitors center for a few minutes, then started heading back.


The road....SO much fun.


Schultzy and Dewey at one of the viewpoints.


Dewey enjoyed the road so much, he figured he would stop on the way back out, and give Idaho it's props.


After a quick stop for fuel, slim jims and red bulls, it was up to the Hells Canyon Viewpoint. The pictures really don't do the scale of this any justice. It is one of those places you have to go see in person before you put the scale into perspective.


Schultzy at the viewpoint.


Really Schultzy, you don't see it...?!?


We could see the Wallowa's poking up in the distance, and from the viewpoint it was off and into the forests to get to Joseph, OR and Wallowa lake.


Coming out of the desert and into the forests is a big change, it goes from dry to well...this.


This is afterall a motorcycle trip, so...the motorcycles.


This is the road that would take us almost the entire way from the the snake river to Joseph, OR. I will say, it was a pretty fun ride. Narrow, twisty, scenic, and for the most part in good shape.


Coming into Jospeh, and the mountains looming.


We made it into were we would be staying the night. Schultzy's Dad was camping with his RV at the lake, and was kind enough to not only put us up for the night, but to pour us a drink, and be our DD to go have a few beers!


Dewey and Papa Schultzy (note the family resemblance...)


Before we headed off to dinner, we grabbed a couple of pictures at the campground. I will say, the views here don't disapoint.




With that out of the way, it was off to Terminal Gravity Brewing for dinner, and beers!


With that, it was off to bed, and the end of a great second day of riding.

Next up: Back into the desert, and the busy town of Spray, OR for day three. There might be some other stuff in between as well....

[Dewey316]

We woke up to start day three with a few visitors to the campground. The deer pretty much just wandered around the place.





After taking plenty of wildlife photos, the plan for the day was to spend the Morning with Schultzy's Dad and ride the Tram to the top of the Mt to do some hiking and take pictures before a shorter ride to Spray, OR for the night.


Schultzy took in the sights on the tram-ride.


We made it to the top, Dewey once again set out to prove that no body out nerds me, and went straight for sporting the fanny pack full of camera gear. Make fun if you must, but I am secure in my dorkness.


I will say, the views from up here are unbe-fing-lievable. This is one of those places everyone should see, it really is one of those hiden jewels in Oregon.


Schultzy, Papa Schultzy, and Dewey taking in the views, and taking pictures.


There are also a few chipmunks around (understatement), they really aren't very shy either. Judging by the size and shape of some of them...not shy at all.


Another Mountain shot.


Schultzy took his time and smelled the flowers...and took pictures of them too...




Panoramic shot from the summit.


With our cameras full of pictures from the summit, it was time to head back down the tram, and get lunch and then hit the open road.


I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting much in the way of great riding today, the map didn't really make it look all that impressive. Enterprise to Le Grande then into Spray. Boy was I wrong! OR244 from Le Grande to Ukiah was a gorgous ride along a winding creek the entire way.


In fact, I enjoyed the road so much, I figured I would get down and dirty and just sit and enjoy the road for a while.


I have mentioned the cows right?!? Well, what I didn't mention earlier in the day two section, was the Super Cow (as I now call it). While riding FS39 out of hells canyon right there in the middle of the road was the biggest cow I have ever seen. This thing might not have actually been a cow, but some prehistoric giant relative of the modern cow. Luckily for Dewey, Super Cow couldn't be bothered by some motorcycles timidly riding by, and just kept on doing whatever it is that cows do in the middle of the road. So, when we stopped on OR244, I found a cow I was perfectly OK with, this cow was not in the road! He was just hanging out eating some grass and moooooo'ing away. I really don't know if he was moooing at Schultzy or not, but I didn't see any other cows, but this gal was certainly trying to say something.


Some of the rocks along the road side.


Central Oregon is very interesting though. Some of the roads will really light your fire, and look like this.


Then, a few miles of later....it is more like this...


All of that is the same road, just as you hit the canyons vs the high plains. The combination does leave you with a lot of different scenes, and lots of rock formation and such to take pictures of.


The sun was starting to work its way further down in the sky, so we hit the road some more to make out way into spray before the sun went down...


The setting sun does make for the best photographs though, and a couple more stops along the way to take advantage of the great lighting on the cliff faces.


Champ was ready to keep going, and waited patiently stalking the next set of twisty road ahead...


With that out of the way, we made it into spray, and met up with Schultzy's co-workers. We had rented a house for the night, and descided that we should eat dinner there after we got the bikes unpacked.


Time to get down to the important stuff! Meet Dana, he went about grilling up food.


You know Dewey....I went about eating up the food.


All filled out, we set about laughing, telling stories and just having a good old time for the evening. I also went out to try to get some night time photography shots. Only to be thwarted by being limited to a 30sec exposure time limit on the camera without the IR remote to activate bulb mode. This was the best I got...


I'll leave you with that for now...Next up...Day 4...the long road home through the Clarno unit of the Fossil beds.

[chevymad]

Great pics. I have alot of similar ones, we've made several trips around the same areas. Love that tram ride, but you just cant show how steep that thing is in a picture.

We had deer problems at Wallowa Lake as well, in fact they tried to climb in the sisnlaws trailer. They took over our camp for awhile.. sleeping by the fire.. laying almost on the picnic table etc.. was actually getting to be a nuisance.

[iansane]

Great pictures. Looks like a lot of fun.

[83Z28BlackBetty]

Looks like a great time! Makes me miss the beauty of the pacific nw.

[Dewey316]

Time to finish this up....Day 4 started for Schultzy anyway.... with the sun coming up, and the moon going down...


We had gotten to the house after dark, but had been told the view was pretty good from the back porch. I'll say it was.


We headed into Spray for some breakfast, coffee, redbulls, and fuel for the bikes.


That out of the way, it was time to hit the road and head for the Clarno Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds. The route to get to the fossil beds takes you through Fossil, OR and onto the famous OR218 Fossil/Shaniko highway. This bit of road is one of those you never get tired of. Schultzy and I were both in the mood to boogie, and quickly left the other 3 quite a ways behind us as we blasted through the twisty switchbacks. We pulled over and waited for the rest of the group to catch up.


Along 218, you get to Clarno. This is the area of the fossil beds were most of the fossils have actually been found.


There are a lot of really cool rock formations in this area.


We realized that we had parked in teh larger parking area, and moved along to the smaller parking area where there were several short hiking trails to see the fossils visable in the rocks. So we got back on the bikes and traveled the entire 200yrds to that area.


We all spent some time wandering around the area and checking out the fossils. Schultzy kept playing the "Where's Dewey game"



There is supposed to be a fossil in here somewhere....


Schultzy at the fossil beds.


One of the arches at Clarno.


With that out of the way, it was back on the road and in Shaniko for a quick stop.


All was going well, until Johnny Law caught up with Dewey again...


Schultzy being the good friend that he is, tried to help me out, and ended up getting his own ride in the paddy wagon.


Stig Dewey kept trying to talk to the locals...but they were not much for conversation.


That was pretty much it...say goodbye to Shaniko.


It was back on the road, with Schultzy leading the way on our way to dufur.


I'm not sure why, but for some reason all the Harleys hung a long ways back from my motorcycle. Either they were embaresed to be seen with the Honder, or I was spraying oil...


We made it to dufur, decided that none of us really were ready for lunch, and also found out there was no fuel for sale. I snapped a quick picture and we were on our way in search of fuel....


We found fuel in the Dalles, and for some reason no one decided to take any more pictures for the rest of the trip home. I did snap this one from the gas station in the Dalles, and figured it was a fitting way to end.

[aaron_sK]

John makes third person references, Mike wears leather, gigantic rocks are photographed... it must be the annual road trip!

Looks like a lot of fun, guys.

[Dewey316]