August 10, 2013 – We got out of the hotel by 8:30am, fuelled and ready to go by 9am. It had been a major thunderstorm last night, lots of lightning and pounding rain after 11pm. But by this point int he day, other than a bit of water in a few shaded areas, and a bit of dampness on the bikes, you never would have known it had rained. The forecast ahead of us, in Wenatchee, is for 96F and rain. Sounds nasty and humid.
Here there be deer!
As we were finishing up at the gas pump, a doe and two fawns ran across the highway and up an embankment. A good reminder that there are lots of deer and we need to stay alert.
I can leave work, but apparently I can’t leave it behind 😉
We didn’t really get far initially, because I wanted to visit the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery. I’d been told it was a wonderful place by a colleague, and it was just around the corner and a couple of miles down the road. Yes, I know, it makes me a fish nerd. We hardly got onto the site before a man came over to us and began giving us the tour. He was a wonderful gentleman, and incredibly chatty. We weren’t sure if we’d be able to get away from him and we didn’t really want to stay that long. He glommed onto us for a good 45 minutes until we said we really had to get on the road, thanked him for all his great information, and quickly walked around The rest of the facility on our own. The spring Chinook were in holding and waiting for egg takes, which are scheduled to start in a couple of weeks, and that was all they had on site for fish currently. The Wenatchee river runs gently by the hatchery, but as we crossed a bridge we looked up a wide narrow channel cut into the forest – a flood-way by the looks of it. There have been flash flood warnings in the area the past few days. When these pounding rain storms come through, the parched ground can’t soak anything up and it becomes a major hazard. When we had come on site, two different people had said they hoped we hadn’t been camping last night. I took that to mean that it really had been a bit of a deluge.
Aquarium at Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery
Flash flood diversion channel at the Leavenworth National FIsh Hatchery
Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery, built in 1939
On our way out the gates of the hatchery we saw a line of porta-potties and took the opportunity. They were unlike any porta-potty I’ve ever used! The one we used had a flush toilet (foot pumped water) and a foot pumped sink to wash your hands properly in. Damned civilized!
We doubled back through Leavenworth, skirted Wenatchee, and slipped by Chelan, stopping only briefly to enjoy a bit of cool shade by Lake Chelan. As we were about to leave Lake Chelan, Kirk asked if I wanted to switch bikes, he’s yet to ride mine, though I’ve ridden his a couple of times, under less than ideal circumstances (last year he had an accident in Chilliwack and I had to ride his bike to someone’s farm for the night, and then come back a couple of days later to pick it up and ride it home). My back was twinging a bit, and I knew we had to ride through a city, and I didn’t want to deal with the extra weight of his bike through the low speed areas, so I said no, for now.
Lake Chelan
A little father down the road, out on the more open highway, we pulled out off the highway and did a switch. We agreed that the next town was close and we’d swap back. It felt both strange and comforting to be back in a more crouched position on the Triumph, I sometimes really miss my SV, it was so easy to corner when I was crouched over the tank so heavily, it felt more like being part of the machine rather than sitting on it. But it also didn’t take long before my back was complaining. I wanted my Ninja back! Kirk took the corner to Winthrop, and kept on going. I came to the conclusion I wasn’t getting my bike back any time soon!
An old crossing between Winthrop and Chelan
Kirk finally pulled off the road at an old suspension bridge, I don’t know why Kirk didn’t think it was worth crossing. 🙂 He got off my bike and said “That’s fun! It just wants to GO!”
Back on our own bikes, we headed into Winthrop for lunch and ended up at the Old Schoolhouse Brewery. They had an awesome porter, and the food was pretty great too.
The Old Schoolhouse Brewery in Winthrop – great beer, good food
This place is so friggin hot though. We’ve been through here before, last year, and it was equally hot. The town is sort of cute, but really overdone, quite kitschy.
Sheri’s – we stopped here for lunch on the way South last fall. Good sandwiches.
Our steeds outside the Saloon 😉
And then we were on the road we’d been waiting to do again. Winthrop to Concrete is the most fabulous stretch of pavement, with the most amazing scenery. The North Cascades highway is just the perfect ride. The curves are banked beautifully, the asphalt is almost perfect, and the air is cool and fresh. It was interesting to ride it from South to North, the scenery was completely different. We saw things we hadn’t seen before, and things we had seen on our prior ride weren’t visible at all. This is a heavenly ride, and it’s what we like about this region. It’s not the towns that we did this for, it was for roads like these. Just the pure pleasure of the corners, of dance with the bike.
Enjoying the scenery along the North Cascades Highway
Enjoying the scenery along the North Cascades Highway
Enjoying the scenery along the North Cascades Highway
Enjoying the scenery along the North Cascades Highway
We pulled off at the Diablo Lake viewpoint for a break, to enjoy the cool wind, and to take some photos of the amazing blue-green lake below. When we were ready to go, all geared up and starting to get warm again, a friendly elderly couple pulled in beside us. I was just about to get on the bike, Kirk already was, when the woman smiled at me and asked if it was hot with all the gear on. I said yes, but better when we were moving, particularly up here in the mountains. One would have thought that wouldn’t be a conversation starter. But it was. And she started to ask all sorts of questions about where we’d been, where we were from, where we were going, etc. Sweat was starting to trickle down my back, Kirk was ready to start the bike and go. I guess she didn’t really process her initial question and put it into context with the fact that we were standing there in full gear while she was in her shorts and t-shirt. We finally got away from them and back onto the road to cool off again.
Diablo Lake
Diablo Lake
Diablo Lake
Diablo Lake
On a long banked corner a small group of riders passed us going the other way. We aren’t 100% sure, but to both of us the lead rider looked like Noel, and the rider bringing up the rear looked very much like Sylvester. If it was them, they picked up a few friends somewhere.
Enjoying the scenery along the North Cascades Highway
My goofy guy!
Enjoying the scenery along the North Cascades Highway
Coming down to the bottom of the valley we saw a bridge ahead and a sign that said “Severe side winds”. Not strong, SEVERE. The trees were thrashing and there was a steady stream of sand and dust blowing across the road and the bridge. This looked like it could be interesting! We both got low on the bikes and powered through, getting tossed sideways int he process, then it was around a bend and the winds were head on. Easier to deal with, just feels like someone is grabbing your helmet and pushing it around.
As we turned West we could see that the skies to the South that had been behind us were particularly unfriendly looking. Thickening and turning black. We didn’t have far to go, but we weren’t sure if we’d make it to Mount Vernon without getting caught. We had been so lucky up to now, the little rain we had seen was all at night and we’d not needed our rain gear at all for anything other than warmth on the first half of the trip down the Oregon coast.
Where are we? Oh yes, Concrete Washington!
We stopped in Concrete only because we think the Welcome sign is something else. Apparently it was painted for a movie filmed in the area at some point.
Concrete’s humourous claim to fame is as follows (Wikipedia)
Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds Radio Broadcast
On October 30, 1938, Seattle’s CBS affiliate radio stations KIRO and KVI broadcast Orson Welles’ now famous War of the Worlds radio drama. While this broadcast was heard around the country, some of the most terrified listeners were in Concrete.
At the point of the drama where the Martian invaders were invading towns and the countryside with flashes of light and poison gases, a power failure suddenly plunged almost the entire town of 1,000 into darkness. Some listeners fainted while others grabbed their families to head up into the mountains. Other more enterprising locals headed for the surrounding hills to guard their moonshine stills. One man was said to have jumped up out of his chair and, in bare feet, run the two miles (3 km) from his home to the center of town. Some of the men grabbed their guns, and one businessman – a devout Catholic – got his wife into the family car, drove to the nearest service station and demanded gasoline. Without paying the attendant, he rushed off to Bellingham (some forty-miles away) in order to see his priest for a last-minute absolution of sins. The distraught man reportedly told the gas-station attendant that paying for the gas [wouldn’t] make any difference, everyone is going to die!”.
Because the phone lines (as well the electricity) were out, the town’s residents were unable to call neighbors, family, or friends to verify that their fears were legitimate. Of course, the real story was not as fantastic as the fictional radio drama – all that had occurred was that the Superior Portland cement company’s electrical sub-station suffered a short-circuit with a flash of brilliant light, and all the town’s lights went dark. The more conservative radio-listeners in Concrete (who had been listening to Charlie McCarthy on another station), attempted to calm neighbors, reporting that they hadn’t heard a thing about any “disaster”. Reporters heard soon after of the coincidental blackout of Concrete, and sent the story out over the international newswire and soon the town of Concrete was known (if only for a moment) worldwide.
We were aiming to dodge off the main road at Concrete and take the Old Skagit Highway into Mount Vernon, and skip Sedro Woolley. But, surprise surprise, we missed the turn and had to double back. In Kirk’s defence, the road name in the bood did not match the road name on the actual road. The road wasn’t fabulous, but the tick forest was quiet and there was virtually no traffic. The surface was another gravelly chip-tar that left the wheels rolling from side to side underneath you, so it kept you awake. The other problems was that the sun had dipped and was now in our eyes, making navigating the road challenging.
Somewhere along the ride today I realized that we had not encountered a single “Motorcycles use extreme caution” sign. No road work, no gravel, no flag people, nothing. Just unadulterated riding.
We made it into Mt Vernon ahead of the weather, though we weren’t sure exactly where the hotel was, I said I thought it was very close. Kirk was about to take a right hand turn and pull into a gas station when I saw the hotel. I bellowed at him from behind “Straight ahead, straight ahead, straight ahead!!!” He responded, and turned into the left hand turn lane. OK, so that didn’t work well. But we managed.
Rainbow to greet us in Mount Vernon
We had reserved a non-smoking room and the girl at the front desk said we’d been upgraded to a kitchenette room which had more space. When we walked in the room hit us with that horrible old stale smoke smell. Neither of us has ever smoked and we are sensitive to it. Kirk called down to the lobby but was told there were no other rooms available because the hotel was already booked up. My response was, well, just move us to another room that hasn’t been occupied yet. The room may be non-smoking room now, but at some point it wasn’t and it reeked. She called back and put us in another room on the ground floor. Whoever ended up above us wanted a ground floor unit, but we got here first so we ended up in the room someone else requested. And we know why they wanted ground floor, wow, elephants pounding. But they were quiet by 10pm so no biggie.
Sunset on the Skagit River
We walked the mile into town and had dinner at the Skagit River Brewing Company. I’d highly recommend it! The BBQ ribs were fabulous and the beer is great! On the way, we were greeted with rainbow, a few drops of rain, and a spectacular sunset over the river. We thought we’d take a cab back because expected it to be pouring, but it wasn’t, and the cab was going to take a half hour, so we walked back. The walks are great because they take out any stiffness and we have only had one day where we have been sore – the day after Mt. St. Helens.
At 11:30 pm we checked the weather – Leavenworth 35C and thunderstorms. Mount Vernon – 17C and 30% chance of rain. I like Mt Vernon better.
And here was today’s ride, for viewing on Google Earth – 439 km.
But I expect to ride home in the rain tomorrow.
142 comments
They also added this photo to their favourites