NE Oregon back-highway and forest service road conditions

[capnkirk]

Most every year, I plan a riding/camping trip for my Harley buddies. After watching the threads for WeSTOC this year, I thought I'd steal parts of the Nirvana route (attached) while adding in a leg to stop in Joseph, head north to pass-through Lewiston and carry on south again to Cambridge.

I'm hoping someone that is very familar with the various parts of my planned route might take a peek at them and let me know if I've completely or mostly avoided gravel. This is a casual ride and these guys I'm taking with will not be very keen to see it.

Day 2
Day 3
Day 4

 

[ToddC]

Those roads were great last summer. OR seems to spend more money on those back roads than WA does.
ToddC

 

[Al st1100]

check your route on google maps, even if the roads don't turn blue when trying to get a road view you can always zoom in and look for the yellow center line I can only see day 2 & 3 but your on main highways

 

[drrod]

Those roads are all good. HD compatible. As nice as the ride is from Campbell City to North Powder, if you want to avoid the freeway to get to Baker City, here is an alternative. It would involve about 10 miles of backtracking though.

Ukiah to Baker City

www.google.com

or another alternative, is from North Powder, go through Medical Springs.

North Powder School District 8J to Baker City

www.google.com

244 from Ukiah to LeGrande is also a very good ride. Nice little mom and pop cafe in Ukiah for a lunch stop.

Hard to find a bad road. One of my favorite riding areas.

 

[drrod]

check your route on google maps, even if the roads don't turn blue when trying to get a road view you can always zoom in and look for the yellow center line I can only see day 2 & 3 but your on main highways

There are several forestry service roads, in that area, that are paved but do not have yellow center lines.

 

[capnkirk]

check your route on google maps, even if the roads don't turn blue when trying to get a road view you can always zoom in and look for the yellow center line I can only see day 2 & 3 but your on main highways

I did as well as I could and the map/image from WeSTOC apparently identifies any gravel sections. I avoided them as far as I could tell but Google wouldn't allow me to route through some of the areas unless I allowed for trail or even foot travel. That made me concerned enough to ask the question.

Those roads are all good. HD compatible. As nice as the ride is from Campbell City to North Powder, if you want to avoid the freeway to get to Baker City, here is an alternative. It would involve about 10 miles of backtracking though.

or another alternative, is from North Powder, go through Medical Springs.

244 from Ukiah to LeGrande is also a very good ride. Nice little mom and pop cafe in Ukiah for a lunch stop.

Hard to find a bad road. One of my favorite riding areas.

Thanks! I will check these out!

There are several forestry service roads, in that area, that are paved but do not have yellow center lines.

Exactly what I noticed and I think I've even found that sometimes Google will overlay an imaginary divider line so its hard to trust the appearance of them.

 

[Al st1100]

There are several forestry service roads, in that area, that are paved but do not have yellow center lines.

zoom in and look carefully I can see the difference where black top ends and dirt/gravel begins... I can not make out your "Nirvanna" route

 

[drrod]

zoom in and look carefully I can see the difference where black top ends and dirt/gravel begins... I can not make out your "Nirvanna" route

Can you be a little more specific on the location? I have ridden all those roads at least once in the last 2 years and they were paved all the way.

 

[capnkirk]

Those roads were great last summer. OR seems to spend more money on those back roads than WA does.
ToddC

Yes, we won't waste the time discussing the priorities of WA's budget.