OH, another Western Epic and CFR 2022

[fontanaman]

Wonder if that dirt is helping the metro Seattle rider's garden grow?

Great ride report Ray

[Panman]

You should have seen G's 12 after the Daulton run up to Atigun Pass, he sold it.

[Hppants]

Was postponing this ride report to read the "whole story at once", but could wait no longer. Enjoying it very much, Ray. Me thinks there is going to be a Versys in the 2023 FJR calendar. Which seat are you using - I don't recognize it.

I will not rest until I ride the Pacific northwest and British Columbia. It's borderline obsession now. I think 2023 is the year. Just added Rattlesnake Grade to the repertoire.

[raYzerman]

Saturday - When in the Nakusp region, one must do ride is the east side of Kootenay Lake. It's a big lake, and doesn't matter which direction.... ride plan for the day, down to Castelgar, east to Creston and then up the east side of the lake....... stopped near Castelgar for a shot of the Brilliant Dam, a hydro generating station. There were a couple of turbine parts in a little park area before that....



Hwy 3 (Crowsnest Pass) is a nice route, elevation changes, and you drop considerably on the way in to Creston. Very flat valley, lots of farming... this day it was cool and I related a story to Dean. Last time I rode into Creston some years ago it was 43C (109F) and dripping wet humidity, I commented to the guy at the gas station how this must be a record. He said no, you should have been here two days ago it was 45C (113F). Definitely brutal, I don't think it's been that hot out there since.

We got to Creston and time for lunch.... we rode into town then did a U-turn, not seeing much... then we spied this little place called the Retro Cafe which had all day breakfast, homemade this and that.... lucky us, we got there just when cars were leaving (the small parking lot maybe held 6), and after we got seated, a couple of cars rolled in....



Looked like some kind of family/neighbour gathering, we got our orders in before the rush..... the soup of the day and panini was excellent.



To finish off, Dean had a peach raspberry crepe and I had a fresh creme caramel.



We headed up 3A along the lake, darned nice road, twisties, sweepers and elevation changes... a little slow at first due to traffic, people were polite and let us pass several times. If you're here, it's a must do. We stopped a few times getting shots of Kootenay Lake. Look at a map, you'll see it's quite a large lake.





At the north end is Kootenay Bay, and you take a ferry across to Balfour..... fair number of bikes were in line as we pulled up. Once on the ferry, there was this older gent with a 1948 (I think) single cylinder Ducati. Small displacement (100cc?)... He had obviously spent lotsa time and money on this thing, and we had a nice chat. When we were leaving the ferry, he made it a point to pass every bike in sight, and the Duck did run flawlessly. We tried to keep up but he was bent on getting out in front and going.









A couple of shots crossing the lake.....





We were headed north to Kaslo.... this is on the street behind the main street.... more of Kootenay Lake...



It was a long day, we were late for the CFR group shot...... people were texting, where are you? Oh well....

[raYzerman]

Sunday, time to leave CFR and head for Idaho again..... Plan A was to do Glacier National Park, but it wasn't open to the east and you now need a vehicle reservation which can only be booked the day before..... Plan B was hatched, and DaleI had mentioned to me a few weeks earlier, that we really should do Hwy. 14 to Elk City...

From Nakusp, we head to New Denver and across 31A, another good road.



Ha, fontanaman, I knew about these same two wooden bridges in 2007... always stop here. Got the same shot as you, complete with twig....





What you didn't stop for and rode right by it to get to the bridges........



Onward to Kaslo again.....



We headed down the road and crossed the border, took WA 31 down to Usk.... where Jim had earlier posted he rode across Flowery Trail Road. Well, I must say, it was worth the trip.... after that we headed south to Springdale, and found a country restaurant on the corner, called the Corner Table. Interesting decor, the interior was galvanized steel... well insulated walls and was a re-purposed building.... the place was full of a Christian Bikers gathering when we got there, most of them seniors, but the crowd left... awesome, no lineup for orders.... most had gone by the time I took the pic.





We headed south, skirted the west edge of Spokane (busy!) and made our way down to the Palouse area ended up in Moscow ID for the night.
Interesting asphalt... it looked good but it was rough, as in wavy. I'm betting WA was experimenting with a new formulation. Hit ID and it was way better..... for a while, then seems they were experimenting with a similar formulation.... to me, a bit strange that good looking roads were that rough..... anyway, another long day over....

[wheatonFJR]

You were probably within a beer bottles throwing distance of my brother’s apt in Pullman, Washington.

[bungie4]

I came through Crowsnest Pass a few weeks ago. That road was in shit shape for some longish stretches.

How bad? You can buy rv sized microwaves for $44 in the states to replace the one that broke a buckle on the net that acted as a safety retainer.

[raYzerman]

Interesting day planned...... we leave Moscow and head west to Pullman, too early for beer bottle tossing at relatives. We were headed down WA195 towards Lewiston, saw lots of wheat and canola, and more of that funny pavement. Most (cars) would follow Hwy 95 around and down into Lewiston, but I had a better idea... the Old Spiral Highway.... the turn kinda sneaks up on you, so you have to 'want' to go this way. Hoping Jim will check this out next time he's down this way.




The view is quite good, you're up in elevation overlooking the big city of Lewiston/Clarkston in the distance, the Snake River and upstream (south) an hour or so is the Rattlesnake Grade.... the Clearwater River comes from mountains to the east. So the Old Spiral Highway has very good pavement, some expensive homes and on the southern part are some larger businesses (trucking companies, including a Kenworth dealer). We took a leisurely stroll and the views on the way down. My pics can't capture it all. If you look closely you'll see about 5 sections with hairpin curves.







This morning we will head southeast on 95, having to make time, headed to Grangeville. DaleI had mentioned to fuel up there as there may not be fuel where we're going.... Leaving Grangeville, we took the Mt. Idaho Rd. as I'd known it to be a scenic shortcut to Hwy 14.





Then we were on our way following the curves of the South Fork Clearwater River all the way to Elk City....... the road is good, not perfect pavement in places, but scenic enough, little traffic.





I don't know quite how to describe Elk City, it's rather rustic. The pavement ends and turns to gravel, I suppose some dual sports could explore further.... There is one gas station, looks recent, hope they are open when you get there. We were OK for fuel. So we get to do 14 all over again... the temperatures are warming up now, 80F or so....



We take Hwy. 12 into Kooskia. Need lunch, it's rather hot here, and we found the Farm Table Cafe looked the most interesting....



We opted for dessert, homemade apple pie and peach pie.....





Got back outside, and this is what my temperature gauge read..... that would be 104F converted.... well, truth be told, the bikes were sitting in the sun all the time we were at lunch.... once moving, it was only 36, lol.



At Kooskia, what do you do, make a hard right and pull up to the sign....... temperature down to 33C here....



We head up the Lolo Pass hoping for some elevation and cooler temperatures..... it was a bit cooler along the river but still hanging in around 30C... finally cooled down at the rest stop on the ID/MT border. We pull in for a coffee break.... they had some slightly overpriced huckleberry goodies, I decided to chance finding some later....



We made our way into Lolo and on to Missoula for the night........

[raYzerman]

Here it is June 28th, and I have to get Dean home on July 3..... so this day, we're headed back to the Outpost.... but we're taking the long way. This repeats some we've already done. Missoula down 93 to Sula for a coffee again. Get to the summit and take 43 east to Wisdom, then 278... we're headed for Dillon this time. You might call this the one picture ride report as weather became a factor...... this shot is along 278 of the Beaverhead Mountains......



As we approached Dillon, there was a thunderstorm brewing to our right, and as we got close, it got close and you could see the wall of rain coming. We were getting light sprinkles, I could see the direction of travel and we needed to stay ahead of it since there was some nasty lightning... fortunately in Dillon, we were making a left, turning north on 41. We were headed for Ennis...

It worked, but this was a strange day, we could see more thunderstorms ahead and on the radar... one got close, then we turned east to Ennis... we successfully wound our way through them, pacing ourselves so they either would go by before we got to them or we sped past one or two. At one point I was slowing down since we were riding into a rain cloud, lightning was nasty ahead and you could see the rainfall patterns. A group of sport bikes caught up to us and saw the wisdom in slowing down behind us.... rounded a corner, and rode into the clear. Lady Luck was with us.

Another turn in Ennis, we're heading up 287 and would take it all the way to Helena... fortunately the rain passed before us or was off to the side. When we got to Townsend, things changed a bit for the worse... we were getting mildly wet, but saw nasty lightning in the hills. It wasn't bad enough for rain gear, so we just kept going hoping to outrun it...... then we hit the construction zone that was terrible washboard for several miles... got past the rain, but as we approached Helena, another nasty one off to the right, sky was ugly colour, lightning severe... lucky us, it was drifting northeast....

It obviously had rained in Helena and at the Outpost.... the sun was out and we took Kevin and Annie out for dinner. Many thanks owed to them for their hospitality past and present.

[fontanaman]

Interesting day planned...... we leave Moscow and head west to Pullman, too early for beer bottle tossing at relatives. We were headed down WA195 towards Lewiston, saw lots of wheat and canola, and more of that funny pavement. Most (cars) would follow Hwy 95 around and down into Lewiston, but I had a better idea... the Old Spiral Highway.... the turn kinda sneaks up on you, so you have to 'want' to go this way. Hoping Jim will check this out next time he's down this way.

The view is quite good, you're up in elevation overlooking the big city of Lewiston/Clarkston in the distance, the Snake River and upstream (south) an hour or so is the Rattlesnake Grade.... the Clearwater River comes from mountains to the east. So the Old Spiral Highway has very good pavement, some expensive homes and on the southern part are some larger businesses (trucking companies, including a Kenworth dealer). We took a leisurely stroll and the views on the way down. My pics can't capture it all. If you look closely you'll see about 5 sections with hairpin curves.

I have been on the Old Spiral Hwy a few times. On days when it is warm to hot I skip it as there are lots of unavoidable nasty tar snakes.

You got a good photo there Ray. There are not too many days with clear blue skies. The elevation drop is about 2000' and dropping down there is the summer can be quite warm or if coming back up as I was last week it went from 95 to 87 or so. I was happy to get out of the blast furnace.

[Cav47]

Interesting day planned...... we leave Moscow and head west to Pullman, too early for beer bottle tossing at relatives. We were headed down WA195 towards Lewiston, saw lots of wheat and canola, and more of that funny pavement. Most (cars) would follow Hwy 95 around and down into Lewiston, but I had a better idea... the Old Spiral Highway.... the turn kinda sneaks up on you, so you have to 'want' to go this way. Hoping Jim will check this out next time he's down this way.

The view is quite good, you're up in elevation overlooking the big city of Lewiston/Clarkston in the distance, the Snake River and upstream (south) an hour or so is the Rattlesnake Grade.... the Clearwater River comes from mountains to the east. So the Old Spiral Highway has very good pavement, some expensive homes and on the southern part are some larger businesses (trucking companies, including a Kenworth dealer). We took a leisurely stroll and the views on the way down. My pics can't capture it all. If you look closely you'll see about 5 sections with hairpin curves.

I have been on the Old Spiral Hwy a few times. On days when it is warm to hot I skip it as there are lots of unavoidable nasty tar snakes.

You got a good photo there Ray. There are not too many days with clear blue skies. The elevation drop is about 2000' and dropping down there is the summer can be quite warm or if coming back up as I was last week it went from 95 to 87 or so. I was happy to get out of the blast furnace.

Jim, you took me there and the Tar Snakes were anacondas. Completely awful for sure that day. It messed with the ride, but did not ruin the scenery and experience. I will always be thankful for that guided tour.

[raYzerman]

Memory has failed me...... seems it was fairly new pavement, tar snakes weren't a problem that I recall.... I guess we won't know until somebody rides it again...

[fontanaman]

I will report back next time I am down that way. It sure would be nice if it was fixed. As it was when Josh and I were there just keeping the bike upright was reason to celebrate.

[raYzerman]

Trailer day, and we decided not to do the washboard of 287 for a third time, so down I-15 we go to Butte. As you approach, you see the massive open mine that seems to be half the size of the city..... took a couple of pics at a pulloff where we could enhance our edumacation....







We scooted on I-90 east to Laurel MT... our original plan was to stay in Red Lodge and ride the Beartooth, but since that was out, time for another Plan B..... from Laurel, drove to Powell WY for the night..... bikes unloaded....

Next morning, we're off on 294 northwest of Powell, hooking up with 120. From a distance, one can see a unique formation with red rock and as you get closer, the contrast of colours is quite unique, better in person..... I looked it up later, apparently it's Bald Mountain.





Now turning on to 296, and this is the east end of Chief Joseph Hwy. We took a number of pics, I think I'll just let them tell most of the story....















We reached the Beartooth Highway and proceeded to Cooke City, MT for a snack. At least the bears here are friendly, or at least this one was... Inside the store, I bought two jars of huckleberry jam, as I didn't think I'd find it after this (and we didn't).



We headed back to the Beartooth, and as we rode, you could see some damage from the flooding earlier in the year, but not too bad. I stopped to marvel at this river rushing down this slope. I guessed at 200' high and it was an unbelievable amount of water flowing.....



On we went up the Beartooth, The WY folks were repairing flood damage and replacing a bridge, a big project. Half way up was a lake with many lines of snowmobile tracks on it, still frozen while the lake was thawing out. It was quite cool at the top, ~8C (46F) with plenty of snow on the sides of the road near the top. We reached the ski hill, and the road was barricaded, which we knew in advance. There was still plenty of snow that I hadn't seen before in previous visits.

Did the U-turn and stopped for a couple of obligatory pics. I took some video, we'll see how that turned out later......





So gosh darn it all to heck, had to make our way down and do Chief Joseph all over again! We rode into Cody and stopped for lunch at Granny's, a restaurant I had been to before. Then took a spin down the main drag to the end, a couple of pics and a U-turn.......





We scooted out of town on Hwy 14 and found a couple of back roads back up to Powell. Loaded up the bikes for tomorrow's adventure.

[wheatonFJR]

Awesome report and photos, Ray! I love reliving my trips out there via your report!

[raYzerman]

Leaving Powell, and it's going to be a 13 hour day... but first, take 14A and play in the Bighorn Mountains... there was some brief road construction, nice scenery.... there's a good Bighorn loop if you look at a map. Stopped at an overlook for a couple of pics of the Bighorn Basin.... you can see for miles..





Took 14A all the way to Ranchester where we hooked up with the interslab..... all the way to Sioux City, IA.

Next day up and at 'em for another interslab day to Battle Creek, MI..... as planned, this one a little shorter, only 10 hours. As we approach Kalamazoo, these two were floating along.....





Had a restful night in Battle Creek, and the idea was to have a short day home.... it always goes faster that way. It would be 5.5 hrs. to Dean's house, I dropped him off, unloaded his bike, and headed for home... decided to check the trip odometer.



The Jeep had not been washed the entire trip (except the windshield).



Now just to complain a bit, my left knee had been slowly getting sore, and good thing the ergos on the Versys are good for that. However, one does not realize how many times you get on and off the bike every day, always on your left leg. Always a little twist here and there, and it sucks getting old. When we were in Powell, that was the worst. Good thing we were done riding. I've been going to PT 3 times a week for the past month, and it's helping, but I'm nowhere near ready for bike riding.... if you see me rolling into EOM in 4 wheels, try not to laugh, K?

Anyway, I'll handle it. Hope you enjoyed the trip as much as we did. Thanks again to all who contributed to making our fun possible.

[bungie4]

Amen on the getting old. I gave my knee a twist prepping to go camping this week. It's been interfering ever since.

The closure of Beartooth caused a rapid change in plans for our return trip. I wanted to take Line up that way. Plan B had us going in the west entrance to Yellowstone but we couldn't exit the way side. Poping out the bottom of the park added many miles of not so great, so we decided to skip it.

[escapefjrtist]

Ray...Glad I was able to assist and keep tire drama to a minimum. Enjoyed catching up with you and meeting Dean. You know how to get to my shack in the hills, stop by anytime! Awesome trip my friend!!

~G

[wheatonFJR]

A.W.E.S.O.M.E.

JSNS!

[CollingsBob]

Great ride report Ray!