After far too many cloudy weekend days this "summer" which generally followed sunny weekdays, I was ecstatic to wake up to a sunny Saturday. I haven't been able to go on any long rides this summer due to work constraints. With that and it being a holiday weekend in mind, I opted out of my (always) first choice, Windy Ridge. Visions of endless tourist motorhomes to pass, plus I didn't feel I was up to doing that many miles of twisties.
I decided to try and figure out which roads to get to the Klickitat River Valley, which lies north of the Columbia River Gorge, and SE of Mt. Adams. So I rode east through the Gorge on WA14 about 65 miles. I could've taken twisty backroads to bypass the 20 miles of straights on 14 between Vancouver and Washougal, but again for expediency and saving my energy I stayed on it. The twisties past Washougal are really nice, but the cops target bikes there, so I behaved myself. Strange I didn't see a single one!
I turned North on WA141 up to BZ Corner, and then took the Glenwood Highway E. The picture below is in an area of really tight curves climbing over the river valley. The view from the edge of the overlook is far more stunning than the pic can depict! The poor quality of my cellphone pic makes it look hazy outside, but it was crystal clear. Glenwood Highway has a fairly long stretch of straight road, but at the beginning @ BZ Corner was perfect pavement and nice twisties. It was a perfect day. Coming back on 142 was really nice, great curvy road with mostly excellent pavement, and 14 wasn't as crowded as I thought either. Total distance was about 240 miles.
Ride above the Klickitat River Valley
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