Travel Log Archive

July 11 - 14, 2008 Rye Patch, Gerlach and Jungo Road - Pt 1

Immediately following the release of the list of bonus dams for the 2008 version of the Northwest Dam Tour, (www.damtour.com), last October a few of us started plotting this ride. Rye Patch Dam in Nevada was on the list and it’s close proximity to one of the long distance riding community’s truly iconic places, Gerlach, NV, could only mean that a trip to gather a photo of the dam simply had to include a visit to Gerlach. None of us had ever been there before but I have wanted to go for several years. Gerlach is home to Bruno’s Restaurant and Casino, where they serve what many consider to be the best ravioli anywhere. Bruno’s has also been used as the start, end or a check point in more endurance motorcycle rallies than I can name. Even if none of that interested us there was another compelling reason to go to Gerlach after bagging Rye Patch Dam. The most direct route to Gerlach from Winnemucca, NV entails riding on Nevada State Highway 49, also known as Jungo Road. Jungo is about 100 miles of sand, rock, gravel and silt. This road has put an early end to more than one rider’s rally and has attained near legendary status among motorcyclists. Who wouldn’t want to ride that?! So a loop route was put together that, along with Rye Patch, would have us visiting Cascade Dam in western Idaho, Antelope Dam in south eastern Oregon, and Round Butte Dam in central Oregon. The general plan was to avoid Interstate Highways wherever possible, ride some new roads, see some new scenery, survive Jungo Road and, of course, sample Bruno’s ravioli. This was our chosen route After a short prayer for God’s hand of safety, Mark, Jeff, Rod and I headed out from Enumclaw, WA on Hwy. 410 towards Yakima. This is the Chinook Pass Highway and it’s always been a Spoke N Word favorite. Plenty of good scenery and twisty roadway help offset the generally poor condition of the pavement in places that are ravaged by sub-freezing temperatures every winter. We gassed up in Yakima and found our way through town to WA-24, completely bypassing I-82 in the process. Hwy. 24 took us east to the Hanford Nuclear site and then southeast toward Pasco, WA. In Pasco, we did have to suffer 4 or 5 miles of I-182 until we came to WA-124 which took us through Prescott and into Waitsburg. Enumclaw, WA McDonald's, our rendezvous point. Mt. Rainier from Chinook Summit Waitsburg is where US-12 intersects WA-124 and we continued our easterly march towards our destination for the evening, Lewiston, Idaho. We had hoped to stop in Dayton, WA for dinner at an old favorite of ours, Ray’s Drive-In. Sadly, we got there just after 7 o’clock and they were closed. After the others consoled me for a bit I calmed down and we decided to push on to Lewiston and find something to eat after we checked in to our motel. That something to eat turned out to be Flying J truck stop convenience store fare as there was nothing else within walking distance from the Super 8 in Lewiston. This did not seem to be setting a good tone for the dining portions of this little adventure but I knew that everything would be fine once we got to Grangeville, ID the next morning. Grangeville is a little over an hour south of Lewiston and it’s home to another favorite restaurant, Oscar’s. Several of us have eaten at Oscar’s before and have always enjoyed their food. Breakfast on this beautiful summer morning was nearly as enjoyable as the twisty ride in on US-95. Things were definitely looking up from a culinary perspective. Oscar's Restaurant in Grangeville, ID With our bellies full, we continued our progress south on US-95 and ID-55 towards Cascade Dam. This part of Idaho is truly motorcycle heaven as the wonderfully curvy roads combine with some of the most beautiful scenery in God’s creation to form a genuinely euphoric experience. Mark and Jeff had already been to Cascade Dam the weekend prior so when we encountered a couple of other Dam Tour riders there, they stopped to visit while Rod and I rode on up to the dam to get our tour photos taken. It’s always fun to run into other Dam Tour folks when we’re out gathering our pics. These two, brothers from the Portland area, were heading to Antelope Dam next just like us. I believe they were trying to agree on whether they were going to go all the way to Rye Patch on this trip as it seemed that one of them wanted to and the other did not. I don't know what they finally decided but they looked like they were having fun either way. After snapping our photos, it was off to the Boise area for a quick lunch. Then we would navigate our way through western Idaho and into southeastern Oregon, arriving at Antelope. The dam and reservoir at Antelope is off the highway a bit down a gravel road. Mark and I, with our more adventure oriented bikes could have done this road but, since Rod and Jeff were on more touring oriented bikes and we were on a bit of a tight schedule to get to Rye Patch before nightfall, we elected to take our pictures at the turn off. This, of course, is perfectly acceptable to the Dam Tour organizers. The road to Antelope Dam We took our photos here If you have read about our trip to McDermitt, Nevada last year then you may remember that I simply love sage brush. I can’t really explain it, I just do. It’s a good thing, too, because southeastern Oregon is chock full of the stuff. So, I very happily led us through this section of US-95 towards the Nevada State Line, enjoying thousands of acres of the beautiful and aromatic plants. We arrived in McDermitt to fill our tanks and restock our water supplies. It always amuses me that out here in the most remote parts of Oregon, the speed limit is set at 55 mph but just across the line in Nevada it’s 70 mph. It’s the same road and the same “out in the middle of nowhere” conditions yet it’s suddenly safe to increase one’s speed by 15 miles per hour. As a result, the 74 mile jaunt into Winnemucca only took us an hour. Soon we were checking into our digs for the night with plenty of daylight left for the 95 mile round trip to Rye Patch. We arrived at the dam in time to get our photos taken while there was still sufficient light and got back to Winnemucca for a late dinner. As luck would have it, there was a barbeque place in the same parking lot as our motel so we decided to give it a try. I had just recently returned from a trip to Texas where I had dined on some remarkable local barbeque. I have to admit that I wasn’t holding much hope for enjoying barbeque in Nevada, of all places. Rod at Rye Patch, NOT praying to his motorcycle The Flying Pig Bar-B-Q turned out to be exceptionally good. We all enjoyed our meals thoroughly as their meats were lean and tender and their fine selection of house-made sauces was very tasty. This will not be our last visit to the Flying Pig. Who would’ve thought that you could get good BBQ in Nevada? The Flying Pig Bar-B-Q in Winnemucca, NV The next morning was a little out of the ordinary as our rides usually go. The plan was to split into pairs, one, (Jeff and Rod), going south on I-80 to Fernley, NV and north on NV-447 to Gerlach while the other, (Mark and Tim), headed due west on Jungo Rd. I was a bit apprehensive about this as there would be no cell service out across the Black Rock desert and no way for us to keep tabs on one another. We generally thought that it should take Mark and me as long or longer to go the 100 miles or so, on Jungo as it would take Rod and Jeff to go the 210 miles via the paved roads. But nobody really knew for certain and we weren’t sure what we’d do in the event of an extended arrival time differential. How long is long enough to wait for the other pair before becoming concerned? We really hadn’t discussed this. Instead, as we do before each day’s ride, we prayed. We just prayed especially for God’s hand on us all and for Him to orchestrate the timing, give us His wisdom and keep us all safe. I can honestly say that all of the prior apprehension was gone afterwards. In its place was peace and a confidence that He had it all in His hands. So, we said our goodbyes with many hugs and slaps on the back and Mark and I set out to find Jungo Rd. We had passed the turn off to Jungo on our way into town the night before so it didn’t take long to get back to it. After stopping for the requisite photos of the bikes, we quickly dispatched with the 5.5 mile paved first section. Of course we wanted to stop again for more pics, this time of the “Pavement Ends” sign, and to drop the air pressures in our tires. From here on I asked Mark to lead as he has tons more experience and skill riding unpaved roads than I do. Continued...