BestScenicRoutes.com

The Pacific Northwest holds a true abundance of scenic routes. There’s a lot to see in the part of the world. One of the most diverse ecosystems in the world can be found in the northern reaches of Washington State. The North Cascade National Park straddles the glaciated peaks between the lush lowland Skagit River Valley and stretches from lush lowland river valleys, to rugged glaciated peaks to deserts in the eastern rain shadows.

The North Cascades Highway is one of the best scenic routes to view this incredibly diverse and scenic landscape. That’s why the North Cascades Highway is among the most popular motorcycle routes in the state.

People travel from around the world to straddle a motorcycle and take in the North Cascade Mountains and surrounding area. These travellers from afar leave quite happy with teh ride while missing out on some for the best parts. State Route 20 is a busy route that required a lot of real estate to build It is the quickest way over the mountain to the other side. Take it, if just getting over the mountain is your goal.

Aerial image of Skagit Highway and Skagit River

If your goal is to take in the true magnificence of the North Cascades region then continue reading. The arterial roads that wind to and from SR 20 offer some incredible riding and little traffic. There are many of these roads that can be sliced together to truly enjoy the most scenic route through the North Cascade Mountains.

Many of the roads are worthy even as individual destination highways. Some are named highways, while others require a good map or GPS to easily ride.

I set out a couple weeks ago on a drippy morning from the town of Mount Vernon to ride such a destination highway. The goal of the day was to skirt the North Cascades Highway by way of the Skagit Highway (follow link for map). The western terminus of the Skagit Highway can be accessed by heading south on State Route 9 from the North Cascades Highway in the town of Sedro Woolley. After leaving town, you’ll cross over the Skagit River and make a right hand turn onto the Skagit Highway.

The excitement of the ride got me to goose it around the initial corners of the road. Take my advice and find a cleaner cornering line by just taking it easy. Hugging the centerline deep into a right-hand corner served as an early reminder that I wasn’t out to race today. This was a ride to just enjoy the scenery and take in the grandeur of the region.

The Skagit Highway links up with the Concrete-Sauk River Road for a leisurely trip just under 50 miles. For most of the ride, the road hugs the Skagit River. This is the lifeblood of this region. Glaciers high up on the mountains provide year round ice melt that feeds the Skagit River and the nearly two million acres of land that adjoins it along its 150 mile route to the Puget Sound.

Trees covered in moss line the Skagit Highway

Foothills rise quickly from the south and west sides of the road while the river and vast views of the North Cascades spread wide to the north and east. The rugged terrain gives way from time to time providing views of the snow-capped peaks in the distance. The temperate maritime climate provides near constant dampness in this area, despite relatively few inches of actual rain per year. Moss clings loosely to the trees lining the road. At times it creates an eerie backdrop that would be perfectly at home in the opening scenes of a horror movie.

The soft rushing of water over rocks encourages me to stop. The growl in my tummy needs to be fed and a smoothed river rock provides the perfect place to eat my ham sandwich. Of course I found a nice muddy road that led right up to the river. Very enjoyable spot for escaping the everyday business of life.

Up on a ridge for a better view. On a clear day the snow capped Cascades would be in the background.

About 25 miles into the ride and the Skagit Highway runs into Concrete-Sauk Valley Road. This road will continue another 16 miles south before connecting with State Route 530. This entire route is just over 40 miles of soft curves with slight elevation gains and losses. The tree-lined roads give way to open fields and wide views of the North Cascade Mountains. All the while, you’re actually able to experience the flora and fauna of this diverse ecosystem because you found the road that only the locals know. Well, the locals and now everyone reading this article. Get out there and enjoy it because you won’t have much traffic to contend with on this road.

This is just one of the arterial routes that I’ll be writing about along the North Cascades Highway in 2010. By year’s end, I hope to patch together a full listing that will help motorcyclists find a truly unique riding experience in this truly unique area.

Side view of the Fandango tank bag on a Suzuki V-Strom 650

Motorcyclists have ridden off-road as long as they have pointed their wheels down paved roads. The term road should be used loosely to describe the rutted and muddy mess that riders took the early Harley Davidson and Indian motorcycles down. Despite this long history of on- and off-road riding, very few motorcycle accessories are equally at home on your bike in the dirt and at speed on the road.

No matter the terrain, carrying capacity is always in demand aboard our two-wheeled machines. Luckily, my Suzuki V-Strom come stock with cargo rack. Tying small items such as wallet, keys and camera to that rack is senseless. These items can stow in a pocket, but sometimes that option isn’t comfortable or pockets are in short order.

That’s where a tank bag comes into play. Tank bags come in many shapes and functionality. Some have so many pockets that you lose items in them simply because you can’t remember which pocket they are in. The shear number of pockets makes it difficult to get those small items quickly when you need them. For example, it should be easy to locate and pull out your wallet to fill the gas tank without getting off the motorcycle.

The accessories that get used day after day on my bike are simple, functional and water tight. A product that does all of these things well is few and far between.

The Giant Loop Fandango tank bag is a rare combination of simplicity and functionality that is equally at home on the road or on the trail. The Fandango has one large compartment that is accessible via a sealed zipper. The bag simple design of the bag makes it down right cavernous with a single Velcro divider for organizing contents. I keep the divider all the way to the back of the pocket. This is just wide enough to hold my cell phone, wallet and a small camera where I can get them quickly.

A clear plastic map pocket tops off the Fandango tank bag package. The pocket holds a folded map. Again a simple waterproof zipper protects the contents against the elements (see critiques below).

Removing the Fandango tank bag is simple. The single zipper makes the fuel cap easily accessible.

A third zipper runs along the bottom perimeter of the bag to attach it to the base. This simple design allows quick removal of the bag when needed. Upon removal of the bag, a cutout allows easy access to the fuel cap to keep the adventure going.

The base attaches to the bike with three straps. A single strap goes around the frame, under the triple clamp. The remaining two straps attach to the frame or other solid point on either side of the bike. I found the perfect attach points around the GIVI crash bars on my Suzuki V-Strom. In all, it takes a couple minutes to solidly attach the Fandango Tank Bag to the bike.

The Fandango was originally designed for use on dirt bikes. This means that when attached, the bag isn’t going anywhere. When I first attached the bag to my V-Strom, the triple clamp strap was a bit short. It worked, but left me nervous with the lack of remaining strap.

I ran into Harold Olaf Cecil from Giant Loop at the Vancouver Motorcycle show. Upon sharing my critique, he walked out to the bike to actually check it out. Apparently, their design evolved to fit larger bikes and I had one of the original (more dirt bike-oriented) straps. He was nice enough to pull the base off of a bike at the show and swap it out. Great customer service goes a long way with me. Giant Loop won me over in this area.

Simple, single compartment keeps everything organized in the Fandango tank bag.

The other critique that I have is that water does find its way inside the bag. The “truckers tarp” material and waterproof zippers are 100 percent watertight. The seams between the zippers and fabric allow the slightest amount of moisture to get through. The map pocket is especially susceptible to moisture and a wet map is a useless map. Therefore, I suggest spending a couple dollars on a tube of seam sealer to ensure the bag is totally sealed.

Giant Loop is a fairly new player in the motorcycle luggage field. This small company, based in Oregon, is definitely worth looking into. Their customer service has been quite impressive and the product is solid. They are passionate about their product and it shows.

The Giant Loop Fandango tank bag is available in three colors: black, orange and yellow. It sells for $149.00 at www.giantloopmoto.com. You can also find it through their dealer network.