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A Day Ride thru the Oregon Cascades-lots of pic's

Ridealot

Lifetime Member
This week the weather in Oregon is beautiful riding weather. Sunny and about 70* for a high during the day. With a few unscheduled vacation days burning a hole in my pocket I did what any self respecting motorcyclist would do. I worked Monday and took the rest of the week off. ( No retired hecklers from the peanut gallery please )

So after telling my Wife how sorry I was that she had to go to work and ushering her out the door. I was ready to go for a ride.

The first thing was to figure out a direction to head. I decided that with winter coming I would do one final ride thru the high Cascades. I headed toward Sweethome which would be my starting point for todays Mountain ride. In Sweethome I got the required supplies. A sandwich, soda, and of course a couple of chocolate chip cookies. Rides are always better with chocolate chip cookies

Then is was off to Foster Lake and then Green Peter Lake. Green Peter is a huge lake but the road only skirts around a few of the fingers of the lake.

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As you can see the level is way down and just waiting for the rains to come to start filling it back up.

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The leaves are starting to change color.

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Up above Green Peter lake the creek is still in summer mode. Slow and easy.

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Quartzville Creek area is when you start to leave the Lake and campers behind. This road winds thru the Cascades for about another 40 miles before coming out onto highway 22. It is definately a scenic road that is a short cut to nowhere. I saw only 2 other vehicles over this section of road. Which made todays ride a regular traffic nightmare compared to past rides on this road.

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It was almost noon and since I had eaten a light breakfast I figured it was time for lunch. It sure was convenient for them to put a picnic table right where I decided to eat. There was a wide place in the road and I stopped and parked there. I didn't see the picnic table hidden in the trees until after I had stopped.
With nobody to impress I ended up with mustard on my nose and stuff running down my chin. Yummy!

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You don't suppose they call this Quartzville Creek because of the over abundance of rocks do you. I have no idea if thats how it got its name, but if somebody wanted to be a rock farmer I would say this is the area to do it.

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And what would a ride in Oregon be without the tree tunnel sections. It is pretty now riding under a canopy of leaves. Unfortunately in a month all the leaves will be on the road. Add a little rain to that and you have the makings of some slippery riding. Which I guess is why I am here now and not next month.

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This bridge is a good reminder that the now little creek has a much different personality in the winter. I am standing on the new bridge where the old bridge used to be. It would take a lot of water to make the old bridge think it was a boat and try to float away.

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From upstream the new bridge is seen over the old one.

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On these lightly traveled backroads its a good idea to watch the road as well as the scenery. Lots of rocks to go around. Coming around one corner today that went into the shade I almost hit a rock about the size of a bowling ball. I'm sure that would have left a mark if I had actually hit it. I did stop and roll the big one off the road. But little ones like these are all over the place

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This sign struck me as funny. I had been riding for about 30 miles in tight twisty turns and they are just now getting around to putting up a sign. Uhhh O.K. Thanks for the warning.

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And be now you might have asked what kind of a bike I was riding today. Well you didn't need to worry. I also took some some pictures with my bike in it. I mean really, who doesn't like to take pictures of their bikes.

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Well that pretty much wraps up the Quartzville Creek ride. I hit highway 22 and headed for Detroit. At Detroit I had a decision to make. Either ride 22 back to Salem. Or take the road to Estacada which would add about another 100 miles to my ride. I decided to take the Estacada road. And since I hate being late for dinner it was time to boogie. So I put the camera away and proceeded to blow all the carbon out of the bike that I might have gotten by stopping to take pictures.
Now I just need to decide which direction I am going to ride in tomorrow. Decisions, decisions.
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Thanks for having us along, Tom. Several really neat shots in your report. I don't know which I admire more, your tech shelf or your sandwich!
 
Wow I knew there were lots of bikes out last weekend. I wonder how many crossed my path as I toured a chunk of the Cascades and high dessert near Hood River. I popped 400 miles covering 32 degree areas in the passes and warmer, friendlier places like Sisters.

Great ride report & photos by the way. I don't think you can go wrong anywhere in Oregon. Estacada to Detroit on 224 is a gem.
 
Wow I knew there were lots of bikes out last weekend. I wonder how many crossed my path as I toured a chunk of the Cascades and high dessert near Hood River. I popped 400 miles covering 32 degree areas in the passes and warmer, friendlier places like Sisters.

Great ride report & photos by the way. I don't think you can go wrong anywhere in Oregon. Estacada to Detroit on 224 is a gem.


The Detroit to Estacada road isn't a gem right now. Between Detroit and the Ripplebrook Ranger station they are tearing the crap out of it putting in drainage lines. :banghead On the other hand the tight twisty bumpy section just past the Ranger station is brand new smooth pavement.

Bob have you ridden the road along the Nestucca river yet. From Carlton over to Beaver on the coast. Its right in your neighborhood. When you first moved out here I mentioned it to you. If you want to see the fall colors thats the road for you.
 
OMG Tom, is your bike the fabled 'Apollo 11?' :laugh

GREAT report and pix too. Can't wait to read about the rest of your week!
 
Great ride report, Tom. Thanks for sharing. The color is just hitting southern Michigan now, so about 2 weeks from now it will be spectacular. Sounds like you're on a similar schedule.
 
I'm sorry that I missed your suggestion Tom. I try & ride everyone's favorite to see if they compare to mine. If you like twistys try Timber road between highway 6 & highway 26. It runs right through downtown.................Timber. It has more tight twisties on it than any I've experienced since the Dragon in upper Georgia. I lived near there, SC, for 13 years so Two Wheels Only & The Dragon were favorite rides. I love when folks share their favs with me so I have new adventures to conquer. I'll let you know when I attempt your road.

Can you tell me the route between Carlton & Beaver. I'm not seeing any roads to speak of on Microsoft Streets & Trips?
 
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Late Summer rides in the Northwest

Thanks for the report and the great pictures. Looks like it was a great ride. Have a great one.

Dan
 
Can you tell me the route between Carlton & Beaver. I'm not seeing any roads to speak of on Microsoft Streets & Trips?

Its probably not on Streets & Trips. Its a "backroad" thats a short cut to nowhere. The best book for finding detailed maps of Oregon is
Oregon-Road and Recreation Atlas- You can get them at stores like GI Joes, or REI.

Or there is always the guided tour rides with someone who knows all the backroads :thumb Uhmm, wonder where you can find someone like that.

The cover of the Atlas may look different now. This ones a few years old. Its amazing the roads you can find on it that don't ever show up on a regular map.

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I forgot to add that the route from Carlton to Beaver is the Nestucca River Rd. About 10 miles from Carlton the road joins the Nestucca River and then follows beside it over to Beaver. There are also paved roads that will take you over to Willamina. All very curvy backroads.
 
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Tech stuff

Hey Tom, please tell us about your tech stuff left to right in your cockpit. How do you hear things? Do you have bluetooth? If so, can you hear the radio/phone/radar detector over the wind noise? What about potential hearing damage? Thanks a lot for your input. Nice pics and bike!

Regards,


Randy Kasal
 
Oh, and another question

How do you keep the five finger discount type of people from grabbing your stuff? Do the mounting plates have an anti-theft deterrent or do you grab your stuff or leave it when eating?

Regards,


Randy Kasal
 
Hey Tom, please tell us about your tech stuff left to right in your cockpit. How do you hear things? Do you have bluetooth? If so, can you hear the radio/phone/radar detector over the wind noise? What about potential hearing damage? Thanks a lot for your input. Nice pics and bike!

Regards,


Randy Kasal

My tech stuff is definitely old school. No bluetooth or phone setup. Thru the helmet speakers I have the bike radio, satellite radio, CB, and intercom. (Do people still even use a CB radio? )

Since I am not a Tech head I didn't know how to have the radar detector override the other signals. So if you look under the radar detector you can see the bottom half of an external speaker. No problem hearing it at all. In fact it usually scares the crap out of me when it goes off.

I always wear ear plugs and just have the music at a comfortable listening level so no problems with hearing damage.

As far as theft deterrant I almost always stay away from large Cities. When traveling I put a cover over the bike. If it seems like a rough area I take everything off, otherwise I just leave it on.
 
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