Oregon ride - Willamette Valley to the Cascades

[ORBrit]

I 'm leaving at 6am Wednesday on a 1 day ride with my father-in-law from Eugene to Bend and back.
The route we're taking is about 350 miles round trip - about 100 miles longer than the most direct route.

Our route includes two famous Oregon motorcycle roads - Aufderheide memorial drive which runs between the two mountain highways (Hwy 126 and Hwy 58 ) and the Cascade Lakes Highway

This is the route we will be taking.

We will start at about 480' elevation and climb to about 2600' for the Aufderheide section, then back down to 1400' at Hwy 58.
From there we climb again to 4800' where we turn off Hwy 58 onto the Cascade Lakes Highway.
The 100 mile section through the Cascade Lakes should take us above 6000' and past the base of Mt Bachelor (over 9000') and behind the Sisters (10000-10400').

We will stop for lunch in Bend, then return via the town of Sisters on Hwy 20.

Should be an epic day.

I will take plenty of photos and maybe even some video. Watch this space!
The biggest concern is heat - it's due to get up in the high 90s tomorrow afternoon.

An addition to this route would be Hwy 242 - the Old McKenzie Highway from Sisters to Hwy 126 but the snow is still too deep up there right now.

[DR-Z125L]

Well bring plenty of water and have fun!

[ORBrit]

What an awesome day!
The best part was the weather forecasters got the forecast wrong and it was overcast most of the day - so almost perfect riding conditions. It got a litle hot and humid in the afternoon, but once we hit elevation it was nice and cool.

We left Eugene at 6:30 am and headed up McKenzie Highway (Hwy 126) about 60 miles. Easy gentle curves with slight elevation gain (about 1500').
We turned onto Hwy 19 and climbed up to Cougar Reservoir.

My S50 and my father-in-law, Walt's V Star 650 classic on the dam at Cougar reservoir



Terwilliger hotsprings

Cougar reservoir

From Cougar Reservoir we headed 55 miles to Oakridge on Hwy 19. It was amazing. Great twisties with lots of elevation change and mostly shaded in the forest.

We stopped at the Ranger station in Oakridge to take a break and ditch some cold weather gear. Hwy 58 heads West to the Cascades with the highest point at Willamette Pass at 5128'.

Nice views, almost 4000' elevation gain, smooth fast bends and a well maintained road. Good times.


View of Diamond Peak (8744')

[ORBrit]

We headed north east on the Crescent cut of road and then North on CR 46 - the Cascade Lakes Highway. This was disappointing for the most part - lots of straight roads with few turns. We were rewarded almost at the end with a great view of the Sisters and Mt. Bachelor. Our highest point on this leg was 6400'. Mt. Bachelor is my favorite ski resort - it typically gets about 200" of snow at mid mountain. Ski season ends early May, typically.


Middle Sister from the South

Mt. Bachelor from the west side

Mt. Bachelor from the East side

We headed down into Bend (3600'), a bustling town with a population around 75000. Very much like Boulder Colorado used to be. We had lunch at the Deschutes Brewery and then headed back home via Hwy 20.
We stopped near the town of Sisters to view the mountains from the North side.


That's me on the left in black, and Walt in Red.


More mountain roads, taking us to Santiam Pass at 4817', then down McKenzie Highway again to Eugene.

A great day of riding - a little over 350 miles and about 11 hours including all our stops.

[DragonRider]

Why are you posting stuff like this? Don't Make me come down there!.....Just kidding,Nice ride report. Looks like you had a great time. I really do have to get out of Washington and head south. So much to see and do and so little time.
~mike

[windawou]

Fantastic pics... Thanx for sharing

[battypup]

I did a run throught the Sisters area last monday and I have to agree it is beautiful country over there.