2025 PNW Trip 1 - The Wrap Up

May 29, 2025

Now that I’m back home it’s time for my usual wrap up about the ride.  Some numbers to start:

Total miles ridden: 2,202

Longest day: Day 1 was 441 miles

Shortest day:  99 miles doing the Hurricane Ridge ride in Sequim

Days traveling: 6, that’s 3 days out and 3 days back

Total days gone: 9

Nights camping out: 4

Number of gas stops: 13

Total gas used: 44.038 gallons

Total cost of gas: $169.01

Most expensive gas: $4.79/gallon in North Bend, Washington

Least expensive gas: $3.08/gallon in Townsend, Montana

Average miles per gallon: 50 mpg

Cost of campsites: 2 for $3.50 and 2 for $7.50 for a total of $22

Total travel costs (gas plus camping plus a bridge toll): $196.51

Those are some basic numbers.  BTW, that most expensive gas in North Bend, WA now makes sense as to why I saw more Teslas there than anywhere else.  No kidding, I was guessing that every third car I saw was a Tesla.  That said, North Bend looked like a REALLY nice place and I want to look into it further.  It had a good feel just like the smaller communities of Dayton and Pomeroy. 

I had no close calls on the trip and considering how much traffic I rode with I consider myself fortunate and a bit lucky.  I tend to ride at the speed limit or even a little bit under so I’m always keeping an eye on my mirrors since cars and trucks are passing me.  When it’s a crowded freeway, I ride with the flow, trying to stay in the gap that forms between packs of cars.  I’m in no hurry and as long as I am not impeding the flow I do my own thing.  It’s not unusual that I will pull over and let someone pass me.  They can have the anxiety of trying to get somewhere as quickly as possible, not to mention the option of picking up a Performance Award (AKA a speeding ticket.)

Since this was not my first outing doing the camping thing by motorcycle, having started doing so in 1979, I’ve pretty much got a routine down in terms of what to bring and what to leave at home.  I’d like to travel a bit lighter in my clothes bag but have to bring options for a variety of weather conditions both on the road and at my destination, plus I have to bring my running stuff since I always grab a good run along the way.  As I do after every trip, I’ll completely unpack and evaluate what I brought and didn’t use, putting all of that in a separate pile.  Then I give good thought to what gets rejected on the next trip.  There are a few things that don’t get used that always make it back onboard such as my first aid and tool kits, although I might purge a few tool items.

So, today it is laundry and wash the bike.  I’ll also unroll the tent as I packed it wet plus there are some bird dropping on the rain fly that I want to wash off.

Another great trip in the record book.

2025 PNW Trip 1 - Day 9

May 28, 2025

It was a chilly morning, and damp, but I woke up at 4:30am, which is my regular time in my home tine zone, so I went ahead and got the day going.  I got everything pretty much ready to go and had my oatmeal and cocoa before putting on my layers.  It was 41°F.  

I headed out about 6:30am.  I was riding into the east, against the rising sun, on that very curvy road.  I had to go slow.  Luckily there wasn’t any traffic so I could take my time.  When I arrived at Lolo Pass I stopped to change my clocks to Mountain Time and take a photo.

I rode through Lolo to Missoula where I stopped at a city park to update my blog with yesterday’s entry.  After getting gas I hopped on the freeway since it is Hwy 12 and roads that to Garrison where it backed a two lane again.  It’s a nice ride and after I a while I caught up to a guy riding a Harley and stuck behind him all the way to Helena.  Following him through the curves I could tell he was a newer rider.  I hope he didn’t feel pressure from me riding behind him.

In Helena I decided to shed some layers as it was heating up so parked in from of the state capitol to do so.

I thought about stopping at Subway for lunch but the one I’d stopped at before looks like it was gone and the app routed me to one in a Walmart.  No thanks.  I got back on the road and headed for Townsend where I topped up the gas tank,

The ride out of Townsend heading east is great as it turns into lots of curves as it climbs some elevation.

Once on top, I thought it was photo time again.

I stopped in Harlowton for a snack and then buzzed on back to Billings, stopping to top of the gas before I pulled into the garage about 4:30pm.

Another great ride and a safe one.  The best.

It was a 409 mile day.

2025 PNW Trip 1 - Day 8

May 27, 2025

The wind that blew so heavily yesterday and last night calmed down to a very light breeze by morning.  I slept pretty well as is usually the case after a motorcycle ride.  I was up about 5:30 and got dressed to go out on a hike. 

I first wanted see the bridge from above so I walked up a rise on the other side of the parking lot. The view was great.

Just up the river in the other direction I spied a pelican looking for breakfast.

From up on top of that rocky outcropping I had a good view of the road, the river, and the whole camping area.

I crossed the bridge and took a few shots on the railroad.

Then I hiked to the sign I’d passed last night.

Instead of following the trail along the creek, I went to left and slowly gained some altitude.  There were lots of flowers in bloom.

I continued on this trail and it got steeper and steeper but I kept going so I could get some photos of the canyons.

On the way back I grabbed a shot of the train trestle as it goes over the creek.

I went through the morning proceedings of packing while I also put some breakfast together.  It was oatmeal and cocoa today.

I was troubled as my phone did not charge overnight.  I’ve known there is something fiddle about its charging port and so I put it on the charger hooked up to the bike’s battery and hoped it would charge.  Without the phone I don’t have a map. This will soon be remedied as I’ve orders a dashcam system that comes with GPS and a few other features.

I rode south out of Yakima Canyon and knew that I would eventually encounter Hwy 12 which would take be all the way to Lolo and, sure enough, there it was.  I got on it and headed eat, mostly, as it shared the road with another highway number and, instead of being just a 2-lane, it was a 4-lane and pretty much a freeway.

I rode this to Richland  and then to Walla Walla where it shrank to the 2-lane road I prefer to ride on.  I did stop for gas in Walla Walla before heading to Lewiston.  The ride through that eastern Washington is quite pleasant with hills and large, sweeping curves past miles and miles of farmland. 

I stopped for lunch in Pomeroy at their city park, the same place I’d stopped on the way west.  I’d fiddled with the charging cable on my phone and discovered that I have to press in the right side of the plug for it to make good contact.  I’ll sort this out at some point but I think I’m going to pick up one of those magnetic, wireless chargers as a backup.  I can rig that up in my tank back and then not worry about charging.

My lunch consisted of the other half of yesterday’s apple and the remains of a blueberry muffin from my mom’s place.  It was just right.  While in Pomeroy I set up a hot spot with my phone and got yesterday’s blog posted.  Now I am all up to date.

I headed back on the highway and did some climbing before reaching the summit.  It was time for a photo.

At the Slaterville rest area I stopped to shed some layers.  I still had the rain and thermal liners in my jacket and at 80° it was time for a change.

I scooted along the Clearwater River and stopped at my usual spot, a Sinclair station, in Kamiah and topped up the gas.  They have a market so I picked up a beer and some snacks to have once I get camp set up and sit down to write this.  The beer is a tall Imperial IPA and was on sale of $1.69.  What’s not to like?  And junk food?  You bet.  I’m on vacation.

I stopped at a couple campgrounds along Hwy 12 just to see the situation compared to when I came through last week.  Agar Campground was empty and I was tempted to stop there as it’s pretty nice, nestled in tall trees right along the Lochsa River but I wanted to get in some more miles today rather than do them tomorrow so I pressed on.

Of course, a photo or two is necessary.

I toured the Wilderness Gateway campground where I stayed last week and it was almost empty, a big difference from what I found there before.  On I went and I pulled into my destination campground, Jerry Johnson.  I stayed here last year in the pouring rain and a zillion years ago with my kids.  I did the loop and saw that there were only about 5 other campers here.  

The problem with this campground is that it’s really best for RV.  All the sites are back-in and most don’t really have a place to pitch a tent.  I did the loop and the stopped at site #2 to check it out.  The picnic table and fire ring are located above the parking area, like most sites, but at least this one has enough space for a tent next to the picnic table.  

I got the bike unloaded, set up the tent, got my riding gear off, and sat down to write this.  I suppose that I’ll be posting it tomorrow from somewhere along the road.

It was a 411 mile day.

2025 PNW Trip 1 - Day 7

May 26, 2025

This may be the shortest entry on this trip as not that much happened.  I got my day going and my mom and I had breakfast at her place.  I had a bowl of mixed fruits, yogurt, and a scone.  I had targeted 10am as my departed time so I slowly started packing, repacking, and loading.  I was pretty much ready to go at 9:30.    My sister stopped by and we visited for a bit and the I got the gear on, said my goodbyes, and got rolling a few minutes past 10.

I am taking the same route that got me here and figure that the road construction that slowed things down last week would be shut down today, a holiday.  The weather was overcast and looked like it might want to rain but it held off for quite a while.  

I rode down 101 and then veered south and eventually took the Tacoma Narrows bridge.  My navigation app, Google, indicated that it was a toll of $5.50 so I had a five ready but when I got there it was $5.50.  So, off with a glove, out with the wallet from my tank bag to dig out a dollar.  When I pulled the glove off, the insulated liner came with it for the little finger so I couldn’t get it back on all the way.  I pulled over to the side and swapped out for my lighter gloves and would deal with that later.

Somewhere up ahead, Kitsap I think, I pulled off the highway to get gas.  Nothing special about that but I did shed my sweatshirt as it seemed to be warming up.

Now it was dodgeball traffic’s through Tacoma.  The navigation app occasionally produces a chime and then a voice announcement, usually that there are police ahead.  But somewhere along the road here it told me that there was an object in the road.  Sure enough, just ahead, there was a pallet in the left lane that other drivers were running over.  Luckily, I was in the right lane and avoided it.

I was routed in I-5 north for quite a while and there was a fair amount of stop and go until I got to the ramp for 18 north.  Traffic lightened up and I enjoyed the ride, even with the occasional drizzle, all the way to I-90.

Notice that I’m not posting the usual photos documenting my travels.  The traffic is so heavy that I just wanted to exit this area and who wants to see photos of the bike pulled over in a shopping center parking lot, which seems to be all I see.  There is scenery, I suppose, but I am concentrating on the traffic so there isn’t the opportunity to sight-see.

I did take one photo at a rest area in Federal Way.

When I got on I-90 heading east, I saw that the traffic going west, back to Seattle was heavy.  It was occasionally stop and go and this went on for 40-50 miles.  This reminded me of when I lived in Southern California.  When I’d get a 3-day weekend, I, like so many others, would take advantage of that and get the heck out of town.  Sometimes I’d head to Death Valley, other times I’d head up to Gold Country, south of Sacramento.  It was always great to get away and the decompression really did work.  However, the drive back….about 40 miles from the Los Angeles basin, traffic would be backed up and from there to where I lived in the southern end of LA County, it would be stop and go, an exercise that might take 2-3 hours.  By the time I’d get home, that decompression would be recompressed.

So, why am I “riding the slab,” that is, the freeway, instead of sticking to 2-lanes roads as I usually do?  Well, a could of the roads, like Hwys 12 and 410 were either closed or had other issues, like rain predicted, and since I sort of have a deadline as to when I need to be back, I just wanted to get clear of the Seattle-Tacoma complex as easily as possible.  When I was at the rest stop, I talked to a guy who was riding a BMW K-1200 with his daughter and he said that Hwy 410 opened yesterday.  That’s the one that goes across Chinook Pass, a route I took last September, a ride worth doing but I thought it was still closed, plus the campground in that area were all booked.

I stopped for gas and beer in Ellensburg and the headed down Yakima Canyon.  I’d scoped out the camping situation and figured that everything would be open since the holiday weekend is ending.  I wanted to stay in a different one that I did on the way up and picked the Umtanum Creek Recreation Site.  I I rode through the canyon along the Yakima River I was hit with some pretty strong gusts of wind but nothing too serious.  I did notice LOTS of cars pulled over with people fishing in the river as well as quite a few drift boats on the water.  

I arrived at the campground which has a small picnic area, 6 camping spots, and a large parking lot with a boat launch.  There were about 20 cars in the lot, many with boat trailers.  A family was in the picnic area.  Since the area was so small, I parked the bike a toured the 6 camping spots sites.  One had a reservation tab on it but when I checked it out, it is for tomorrow.  All the site are free for the night.  I thought about site 5, which ad an area that was very sheltered from the wind, but got a whiff, looked, and saw that it was downwind of the vault toilets.  Nope, I’m picking site 6.

I parked the bike away from the parking spot which makes it closer to hauling my gear and will be easier when it comes time to leave.  With a motorcycle, at least my motorcycle, selecting a place to park is a careful, decision-making process.  I do not want to pull in somewhere on a downhill as I do not have a reverse gear so backing up is a chore.  I selected a nice spot between the picnic table and the spot where I would set up my tent.

It is VERY windy with the occasional gust that demands attention.  I used stakes to keep the tent where I wanted it and it is sheltered from the wind by some greenery.  With my gear inside, it should stay put.

The boaters are slowly returning, getting their boats out of the river and on their trailers, and heading out to where they came from.  I’m guessing that by dark I will be the only one here.

One of the features of this campground is a small suspension bridge across the river.  I haven’t investigated that yet but I will…..

OK, I did some exploring.  The suspension bridge goes across the Yakima RIver to the Umtanum Creek Trailhead.  The sign indicates that the trail is 3-1/2 miles long and ends at an area that is protected for the wildlife.  I hiked out on the trail for about 20 minutes and then turned around and hiked back.  Here are some photos from that excursion.

I was ready to eat when I got back,

BTW, it was a 222 mile day.