washington, oregon & Northern California Riders help needed!

[bakwheeltango]

I'm hoping you guys could help me out...

A few of us are planning a 4 day road trip (early stages)


Vancouver , B.C. down through Washington and down the oregon coast and to the tip of Cailfornia providing all goes well.

The trip would be from the March 21st to the 24( 25th if needed, don't tell the wife!)
I realize it isn't the most opportune time for the weather but the wife and kids are visiting her parents and I have been let loose!


I'm not too worried about the route as I was thinking of shooting down the coast mostly, and then perhaps on the way back; be creative through Washington.
(I own the Destination Highways Washington edition.)

Its the weather that I'm concerned about. can you give me an idea?
I would like to go through some of the higher passes if possible.


and of course, anyone wanting to join in your welcome to.


cheers,

[F4sSprintST]

Visit Crater Lake in Oregon

Red Woods in Northern Kali

[oldndumb]

If you are planning on doing a round trip in four days, I'm impressed.

101 on the Oregon coast is scenic, but you will encounter a lot of low speed limits on sections of it. if you want to experience the higher passes, I-5 through Oregon and Nortern California gets pretty high and steep. But then, after geting over the Cascades and descending into California it gets flat and boring. One option would be to get in the mountains and then turn west on 96 just before Yreka ahd head for the coast. If you do that, make sure you fill up first.

[chisel]

I agree, I-5 is boring down the middle of the CA valley.

If you want to add a lot of miles to your trip, but see some great roads/scenery...

Get off the I-5 at Grant's Pass, OR and take the 199 to Crescent City. Be sure to gas up as there's no stations along the way.

From Crescent City head south to Arcata/Eureka via the 101. This takes you through Redwood National Park and along the coast.

From Arcata, take 299 East all the way to Redding. Very scenic with some nice elevation changes.

From Redding head south to Red Bluff via I-5. This is a pretty short ride and boring.

From Red Bluff take 36 west to Fortuna. The 36 is one of the top riding roads in the country. As someone who's ridden it, i highly recommend it to anyone who gets remotely near it.

This puts you back at the 101 where you can keep heading south down to Santa Rosa and the Golden Gate bridge (many hours later).

I would recommend the 101 over the I-5 if you can spare the time. Again, the I-5 is very, very boring.

Also, when you get down to the Los Angeles area, try to swing by The Rock Store off Mulholland. It's a famous biker joint, albeit a bit overrated IMHO, but you can at least say you're been there.

You can also drive through Hollister off the 101 on the way down to see where the infamous "Biker Riot" happened. Again, not much to look at, but at least you dropped in on the way by.

[SeaTac]

I posted a similar question to the PNW Rider's forum and got a lot of good feedback, particularly for the Oregon portion. I was concerned about any of the passes down through Oregon. If you are sticking to the coast the passes should be fine, but expect a lot of rain and high winds.

I don't know if this link will work, but its the thread I started on the topic.

http://www.pnwriders.com/westside/63...-san-fran.html

Here is a particularly helpful link to the Oregon DOT:

http://www.tripcheck.com/Pages/RCMap...ns&curRegion=7

It has info on all the highways and cameras on a lot of them.

Hope it helps. If you guys are planning a stop anywhere in the Seattle area I'd love to come out and see how you are kitted up. I'm planning a long trip this summer and still need to get a lot of gear.

Are you guys planning on camping or hotels?

[bakwheeltango]

I'm not even sure if its possible. the weather seems to be the difficult question.

O&D as far as the trip goes.... ride for 2 days south see how far we get and ride back.
I like riding hard for my beer at the end of a day. some guys don't so we'll see how far we get.


this freaking winter won't back off....
Vancouver got snow last night in the high hills and I'm not even talking about the mountains. -1 in the morning and +10 by the middle of the day.

Seatac thanks for the info those links work!

[SeaTac]

I know what you mean. I've been trying to get my bike down to the bay area for months. There are a couple of really high passes in southern Oregon and Northern Cali that would cause problems.

[Flylow]

1+ on chisels comments. I have ridden all of those and it was worth the boring stuff to get there. Crater Lake is nice, but not this time of year.

[CLB]

+1
Crater lake is a great ride.

Here's the North entrance road at 12:54am

Next time I'll have to try it on the Sprint.

Originally Posted by F4sSprintST

Visit Crater Lake in Oregon

Red Woods in Northern Kali

[10-Ring]

You should stay away from Ca's Hwy 1. It's full of curves and scenery.