August 9, 2013 – Today was long, and hot. Distance-wise it wasn’t a contender for mileage, but some of the roads we rode were challenging.
Before we started out, I took the lovely bouquet of fragrant flowers in to the office and thanked the woman for them. She wished me a happy anniversary and asked how many years. I explained that we were married four years ago in February, but that we had been together for 27 years and August 8th was the day we had always celebrated that anniversary. She laughed and said “Wow, took a while to make up your mind, did it?”
We had breakfast, lubed the chains, and got an easy start at 10am. started off on a side road, just off our hotel last night, and we regretted it quickly. Some kind soul had taken a can of orange spray paint and noted every BUMP. The problem was that none of them were actually bumps, they we all DIPS, and pretty much invisible until you were in them, and being pitched out the other side was often moderately interesting. On one occasion it took me two corners before I was properly seated again, on another, I’m reasonably certain I had a tire off the ground. There was a lot of grunting and swearing on that first stretch.
The peace and quiet of the forest roads
Gifford Pinchot National Park
When we entered Ranier National Park, we hoped the road would improve. It didn’t. At one point Kirk took a path between two rough patches, and I followed. Bad move, we were both flung back and forth like a pair of Pachinko balls.
Entering Mt. Rainier National Park
But the forest was stunning. It was so thick that it just wrapped the road in a moist muffled grasp and you could almost feel it breathing. It felt heavy and ancient. The trees were massive and laced with moss. And every so often the road brought us into open expanses before cloaking us in darkness again.
Mount Rainier
Iron sediment in the creek
We pulled into one of the Visitors centres to get rid of the excess coffee and visit the gift shop and bought another little bear Christmas ornament for Mom’s tree.
Old gas station in Mount Rainier National Park
Guest Services Building in Mount Rainier National Park
On the way out of the parking lot a girl in a black car came uncomfortably close to nailing me, and then proceeded to tailgate me up the twisted, rutted, road. She almost rear ended me twice, and I repeatedly flashed my rear brakes at her in the hopes that she would back off. She didn’t. The second time she almost rear ended me I gave her a strong “Back the Hell off” gesture. That one she understood and faded way back. I could finally actually concentrate on the road! I was almost hoping she would stop at the same viewpoint so I could have had a discussion with her on driving safely around motorcycles, but she didn’t so I didn’t get the opportunity.
Mount Rainier
Glacial leftovers
But the viewpoint was breathtaking. Rainier dominating the landscape, and a scar running down through the forest that was a testament to the power of the water that runs off her in the springtime.
Mount Rainier National Park
Alpine Meadow in Mount Rainier National Park
Alpine Meadow in Mount Rainier National Park
It was a wild ride in places, and we stopped a few times both for breathers and to take some photos. The mountain wildflowers were beautiful, and up at the very top – Paradise – they painted the meadows in reds, oranges, yellows, blues, purples, and whites. This spot is well named, it really is Paradise at the foot of Rainier.
Motorcycle parking in Paradise
Alpine Meadow in Mount Rainier National Park
The road down was mostly better, except for a long shitty gravel section. The amount of road work we have encountered on this trip is astounding. I am starting to hate that all to common orange sign that reads “Motorcyclists use extreme caution”
The road back down
We were both doing that old Rainier beer commercial in our helmets as we whizzed down one particularly nice new section of road, with Rainier in our mirrors. We are dating ourselves with that one. Remember this?
When we reached Yakima, it was like we’d just stepped into a furnace. The road kill count was high along this stretch of highway, several gophers/squirrels, a fox/coyote, an opossum, a skunk, and not sure what else. I also didn’t really take any photos past there since it was SO hot that I just didn’t want to stop in the sun and take any.
The entrance to Yakima River Canyon – HOT!!
We didn’t think we could have been any hotter, then we took a secondary highway through Yakima Canyon, and we got hotter. Honestly, if I called a previous day a blast furnace, this felt like the blast from a volcano! We were both overheating and halfway through we found a recreation site on the Yakima River at the bottom of the canyon, and couldn’t get the gear off fast enough. In fact I was so sweaty and sticky I couldn’t even get the gear OFF! Kirk had to pull one pant leg off before I took a nosedive.
We soaked ourselves, doused our heads, I wrapped my wet hair up in a wet headscarf and poured water down my back. Really, we probably should have just walked into the river in full gear! Even though we didn’t, I know we were quite a spectacle to a trio of young guys in their pickup. We rolled in, stripped, and were in the water so fast. . . !
Desert country
After cooling down in the river we stopped a couple of times for a drink of water and to hang out in some shade. It really is insanely hot here. The road through the canyon would be fabulous if it was about 20 degrees cooler. We guestimated that it was well over 40C.
The road up to the final turn for Leavenworth was stellar. Clean, smooth pavement, beautifully banked corners, and minimal road kill to dodge. Then it was the final few miles into town and to our hotel.
And when we walked into the hotel lobby, I saw the most welcome sight imaginable – a pool! We got the bags upstairs, stripped and changed into swimsuits fast, and were in that pool before you could blink. It’s funny, the first part of this trip, we just wanted to warm up, now all we want to do is cool down.
We took a walk into town, where many shops were surprisingly closed by 6pm. We stopped for a couple of much needed beers, and some wings (that nearly dissolved skin they were so spicy). We thought we’d find a dinner place after that, but by 9pm all the restaurants were closed, although we weren’t terribly hungry at that point anyway. So we opted for a gelato and retired to the room, very tired. . .
Here’s today’s trip, about 100 km longer than intended – though I’m not exactly sure where or why, and it ended up at 375 km (for viewing on Google Earth).
When we crawled into bed the room seemed to be flashing, then we realized that there was one heck of a lightning storm that had blown in. When we looked at the weather forecast we found that we may encounter some rain tomorrow. There is a severe weather warning for the area, and there are flash flood warnings through this entire region. Better get the rain gear out and keep it handy.
Tomorrow is a longer ride than today’s was, but it’s also a road we have done before, so we have some familiarity with it. We will ride through Wenatchee, Winthrop, and then a side road on to Mount Vernon. It’s long, mostly hot (normally – but perhaps not so much so today if the rains hit), scenic, and moderately challenging in places. But nothing like what the past two days have been.
And tomorrow we keep our eyes peeled for Noel and Sylvestre, who planned to be traveling the Cascade loop the opposite direction as us, and we may pass somewhere around Winthrop if they decide to do it.
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