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The North Cascades Highway is a very popular route for motorcyclists seeking curves, scenery and small towns to eat in. Relatively few riders from the west side of the mountains venture off the Cascade Loop route. That, my fellow riders is a shame.

This article is part of the BestScenicRoutes.com effort to get people to explore the great areas near and along SR 20. The series is called North Cascades Connections.

Sign says "leaving" however, I was just entering the Okanogan National Forest for moments of motorcycle zen

The ride starts in the town of Winthrop. This is a motorcycle destination for most riders. The North Cascades Highway terminates here, but SR 20 continues on for many miles. We follow it south through Twisp, WA passing many food, lodging and fuel options. In Twisp, the road turns east and meanders through the Okanogan National Forest. As soon as it turns east, it begins climbing to 4,020 feet in elevation at Loup Loup Pass.

On most days this would be superb riding. I was not that lucky. Rain that started back on Rainy and Washington Passes had gotten heavier and turned to marble-sized hail. The every frozen marble that hit me at 60 miles per hour felt as I would imagine being hit by machine guns wearing some sort of bullet-proof vest. The Aerostich Roadcrafter performed well, and allowed me to duck in behind the windshield to keep moving. From time to time the hail would let up. My spirits would rise and I found joy riding through the moderate condition of the paved roads through the Okanogan National Forest.

A soaked leather riding glove with melting hail. Not perfect riding conditions.

There are a few places where the road winds near Loup Loup Pass inviting Zen. Luckily the hail let up to allowing me to enjoy these stretches of road. Highway 20 is wider in this area than you’d expect. It is actually nice because it allows a view into the healthy forests for searching for deer. The four-legged creatures with a vengeance for motorcyclists are thick through this area.

In Omak, Highway 20 continues north while I shoot onto Highway 155 heading east and then south. The road twists, turns and climbs up to Disautel Summit. The hail returns. It dumps on me until I can’t take it anymore. The sign for the summit approaches. A pull out allows me to rest my wet, tired and cold bones. The rain has soaked through my worn out boots and summer leather gloves. I tried to catch the hail in the photo, but it melted rapidly and only a small portion remains sitting on my soaked glove.

The plan was to find a camp spot for the night. With this weather, those plans to rough it turned to a desire for a warm and dry hotel room. That was found at the Coulee Inn and Suites at the base of the Grand Coulee Dam. It is pure happenstance that I find the room. Their no vacancy sign is lit up the same as all the other hotels that I have passed for many miles. I stopped in to the office to see if they would help me locate an open room nearby. It just so happened that someone had cancelled their reservation for a single king room. A bit of negotiation knocked the price from $96 to $70 for the night.

My riding gear was soaked and my camping gear was damp. I was happy to be in a warm dry room.

Grand Coulee Dam

The Grand Coulee Dam is the largest hydroelectric gravity dam on the Columbia River, the largest electric-producing power plant and largest concrete structure in the United States. Also according to Wikipedia.org (the always correct online encyclopedia) it is the fifth largest producer of hydroelectricity in the world.

It is quite the site to take in. The structure is as the name says, grand. The nearly mile-long spillway holds back an enormous amount of water. The giant spillway provides a backdrop for nightly laser light shows. Since there is little else to do in Grand Coulee, it would be worth taking in. I opted for sleep instead.

It is only 100 miles (two hours) to Grand Coulee from Winthrop. It is an easy addition to a ride over the North Cascades Highway.  Be prepared for all types of weather. Riding up the North Cascades drops the temperature 20 degrees. On the east side of the mountains the mercury climbs to 90 or more degrees. As my ride exemplifies, this convergence of air temperatures often cause summer storms.

The next article will cover a loop from Grand Coulee to Kettle Falls and back to Omak. This ride hit dirt roads high above the Columbia River, two ferries and roads as close to Canada as you can get without a passport.

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Group rides on dirt roads are best served wet. Putting a bunch of two-wheeled hooligans on a dry dirt road puts the strong taste of dust in all but the leader’s mouth. Lucky for us, we live in the Pacific Northwest. Rain is not in short supply.

Our route as seen from up above.

Sun and weekends seem to be a particularly rare combination this year. Even though dry dusty roads can put a bad taste in your mouth, it is still more fun to ride on a nice sunny day. Luckily, the skies parted for a single Saturday and allowed 13 motorcyclists to join up for a day of riding wet forest roads in the glorious sunshine through the Cascade Mountains.

I recently had guests in town from out of state. I brought them up to Mt Rainier to take in its grandeur. The heavy cloud cover made it impossible to experience just how amazing the landscape is.

During the  June 5 group ride, experiencing the landscape was not an issue. Heavy insulated gear was stowed away and the light summer gloves covered my hands from the near 70-degree weather up on Snoqualmie Pass.

A group of riders, mostly on Suzuki V-Stroms, met at the Pancake House to consume the human fuel needed to burn through dirt roads for the reminder of the day. Stacks of cakes filled the plates and the wait staff was understanding of our boisterous group of two-wheeled misfits. The cakes ranged from whole grain to buttermilk and the toppings ranged from my diabetic shocker of fruit and syrup to the more traditional maple syrup. The Pancake House at the summit of Snoqualmie Pass is a great place for motorcyclists to start a long day of riding.

There is just something about semi loose surfaces that makes me want to do spin outs.

Wiping the syrup and fruit from my face, I pay my bill and march outside to get prepared for the day. One of our breakfast crew departs us for the day. His Honda ST1300 wasn’t up to the task ahead. The planned route would take us high into the elevations of the Cascade Mountains on national forest roads. The incessant springtime precipitation promised mud and snow along our planned route.

The first loop of the day would take us to about 3,800 feet of elevation along National Forest Road (NF) 110. The group quickly gets its groove as we make our climb to the top (map of intended route). Unfortunately, at about 3,600 feet we meet hikers and skiers who were marching through the snow that covered our planned route. That’s how these things go this time of year. Our single-track vehicles are no match for the heavy and wet snow that covered the road. We head back down the mountain to try another route.

The microclimates of this area get progressively drier to the east. We decide to use that to our advantage. We ride eight miles further east into the mountains in hopes that we can find a loop with less snowpack on the road.

River water sucks the road down to its level.

A theme for the day was that plans are great, but they often change. Our plan was to ride up and over Stampede Pass. We arrive at the “Y” junction for Stampede Pass and NF 54. The group keeps left and skips Stampede Pass. Our new route takes us along NF 54,NF 52 and NF 410 up to 3,800 feet of elevation. The dirt road switchbacks up and down the mountain. The V-Stroms’ suspension gets a full work out dodging and slicing through puddles, and bouncing along the washboard sections of the road.

Perhaps it was the slower nature of the roads we were riding, but the way our group worked together surprised me. Normally, a large group of riders can be cumbersome and a recipe for problems. The guys from the Stromtrooper.com forum just seem to jive. We all take turns at different points within the group. Some ride fast, others take their time to take in the views. The best way to describe it is that the group had a good flow.

Riders paused at a lookout on NF 54 in the Snoqualmie National Forest.

Side stands went down at numerous high-elevation vistas. Each stop had new stories from the day so far and past experiences. The more that I ride with this group of riders the more I enjoy it. It is an eclectic group ranging from PhD candidates to truck drivers, from 20-somethings starting families to empty nesters. Enjoying the group dynamics makes me wonder if there is any other sport where such a random group of people would meet regularly and enjoy the challenges of the day together.

That is perhaps the single common characteristic of the riders. We all just want to find a new challenge and conquer it. Motorcycling is just an extension of this need to experience life. No matter how green or wise we are.

Bruce "Orangesicle" crossing the slippery snow

Each route that we took required us to turn back for snow or washout. Each roadblock was first traversed before deciding to turn back. By the end of the day three bikes took snow or dirt naps. There was one instance where a rider braked too hard in the dirt and low-sided. Another time, traction gave out on the snow and down went the bike. Another bike went softly into the trees after climbing a section of washed out road. Each incident was cleared quickly with the bikes being picked up, riders dusted off and back on the trail we went.

The mountains know no mercy. It is June yet there is still plenty of snow just under 4,000 feet. Each route was planned to make a loop, but ended up being an in and out instead. That’s just how these things go. It is all part of the adventure. At least this time, it was an adventure with 13 riders to share the story. We left the Pancake House around 9:30 a.m.  and road nearly 100 miles of dirt roads until 4:30 p.m. It was a long, memorable day.

Check back soon to watch the video from this ride. A new camera tends to push my technical abilities to mesh video and editor. That’s a story for another time.