Travel Log Archive

July 17th - 20th, 2009 Jungo? Fandango? We Gotta' Go! - Or, The Big Basin Loop Adventure

Day 1 - Covington, WA to McDermitt, NV This is a ride that I had been looking forward to for quite a long time. The four of us that eventually completed it have also been talking about rides to Inuvik, in Canada’s Northwest Territory, as well as a ride down the full length of the Baja Peninsula. Due to scheduling issues and more than a few economic considerations, both of those rides have so far eluded us. This little adventure, being shorter than either of the other two, was much easier to put together and finance so it would have to replace those longer trips – for now. All of us were on Suzuki V-Stroms for this trip, one 1000, (Liter-Strom), and three 650’s, (Wee-Strom). All four bikes have very similar tank ranges with three nights worth of luggage on board and at the speeds we would be riding, making fuel stops easy to plan. The first day was basically spent putting miles behind us to get to McDermitt, NV. This is around 650 miles from our usual rendezvous point in Covington, WA, which should take this group around 12 hours, or so. Due to a few routing problems, (I couldn’t find my way through Pendleton to US-395), and the extra time required to rest and re-hydrate, (temps were above 100 every day of the trip), our actual time was closer to 15 hours. Due to an early start time on Friday we still arrived at our motel in Nevada around 7 PM. This left just enough time for a shower and a walk across the highway to the Say When Casino for dinner before turning in by 9. In retrospect, maybe we should have taken a more direct route than the one I prefer which avoids Interstate highways at the expense of some time. As it was, we rode over Chinook Pass, through Mt. Rainier National Park to Yakima, WA. Once in Yakima, we endured less than 2 miles of I-82 before exiting onto WA-24 and riding east towards the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. At Hanford, we turned south on WA-240 into Richland. From Richland, we rode US-12 to US-730, following the Columbia River, into Oregon to Hwy. 37, which sneaks into Pendleton from the north. This route, while much more entertaining, likely added an hour or more to our travel time. Most days it’s absolutely worth the extra time. Before leaving Pendleton behind we had some very good cheeseburgers at a drive-in called Hal’s Hamburgers, (you can order your burger with “Hal-apenos” if you want). Then it was south on US-395 towards John Day, OR. This stretch of 395 is a real motorcycling treat. It has lots of twisties that took us up and over four 4000+ foot summits and the scenery is spectacular. The next stretch into Burns, OR is not quite as fun but still beats any super-slab hands down. From Burns to McDermitt is nearly 200 miles of straight two-lane with one notable turn in the middle. It’s not a lot of fun but it’s necessary and at least the scenery is nice. Mark and Dave, yukking it up in McDermitt, NV Day 2 - McDermitt, NV to Lakeview, OR Day 2 saw us continue down US-95 into Winnemucca, NV. We went right past Jungo Road, one of the key points of this ride, and into town for breakfast. Dale and I had eaten at The Griddle in Winnemucca in October of 2008, on our way back from New Mexico, and had really enjoyed their breakfast. On this day, I ordered the French toast and was not disappointed. They make their own bread at The Griddle and their French toast was honestly the best I’ve ever had – and I’ve had some truly great French toast. Breakfast stop in Winnemucca, NV With our bellies full, we headed back out of town and found Jungo again, heading west to Gerlach, NV. Mark and I had ridden Jungo last summer, (you can read about that trip in two parts beginning HERE). Although I had been led to believe that it was a very challenging ride, we were surprised at the ease with which our more gravel oriented bikes handled the terrain. Even though this 96 mile stretch of gravel, rocks and sand had not been too tough a year earlier, (I did manage to ding the rim of my front wheel on a pothole on that ride, however), we wanted to take David and Dale on it to share the experience. Besides, it beats I-80 and NV-447 to Gerlach any day. Dale takes in the Black Rock Desert scenery Disappointment is the best word I can come up with to describe the ride into Gerlach this time. Not that I was hoping for any nasty, impassable conditions but I was expecting more of a challenge. The western half, so strewn with holes, rocks and soft sand a year before, was now just hard packed dirt and gravel. I know that the conditions there can change often but on this day Jungo Road was no more menacing than the average forest service road in western Washington. Jungo Road The views of the desert were just as awe inspiring as before, however, and I think everyone still enjoyed their trek across the Black Rock. Besides, whether or not the road was as satisfying as we had hoped, there was still Bruno’s at the end of it. Having sampled the world famous ravioli at Bruno’s Hotel Casino and Restaurant twice before, I opted for a cheeseburger this time. The Ravioli is the best anywhere but it does take a little time to make such perfection and we were anxious to head west towards Cedarville, CA and the next unpaved road on our itinerary. The highway out of Gerlach is a great V-Strom road. It’s got enough twistiness to keep you on your toes and the paved surface is rough enough to make you glad you have roughly double the rear suspension travel of most other street bikes. It was another triple digit temperature day so we stopped in Cedarville for little rest and some water before heading north on a little county road. I had been through Cedarville 4 or 5 times before but had always entered or exited town on CA-299, which winds up and over Cedar Pass and connects with US-395 about 6 miles north of Alturas, CA. On this ride, we were looking for the gravel road over Fandango Pass which also connects with US-395 but a little further north. I had read about this in a magazine article and had planned to ride over Fandango on our way to Lakeside, OR, our stop for night two, and then ride it again going east the next morning. The information I was able to locate for Fandango was sketchy, at best. Some sources said the road was County Rd. #8 while others had it as #9. Ultimately, we ended up not finding it as fast as we would have liked and decided to skip it for this evening and find it on the west side in the morning. Instead, we kept north on County Rd. #1 through Fort Bidwell, CA to unpaved County Rd. #3-14 and on into Adel, OR. This unpaved section #3-14 was really entertaining. Once in Adel we gassed up and turned west onto OR-140 to US-395 and a 4 mile ride south into Lakeview. This cool old farm truck had been retired in Fort Bidwell, CA When the road is all gravel, this "Welcome To Oregon" sign is about all one can expect in the way of hospitality. Upon checking in at the Best Western in Lakeview, we met three nice guys who were on more dirt oriented machines, a Honda XR650L and a couple of Suzuki DR650’s. They were from South Carolina and had spent the last several weeks crossing the US on the Trans America Trail. All three were retired and seemed to be having the time of their lives. The dual sport bikes belonged to three guys riding across the USA on the Trans-America Trail system After a shower and some dinner I fired up my little netbook and began searching for more information on Fandango Pass. I did not want to miss it again in the morning as it was another key point of this trip. I finally stumbled onto the USFS website and found out that the road over Fandango is actually a Forest Service road – FS #9. We had ridden past that one and even stopped for a bit but I was convinced that it couldn’t be a USFS road but had to be a county road. Day 3 - Lakeview, OR to John Day, OR At least now we knew what we were looking for and I was confident I would not miss it this time. The next morning, after a light breakfast at the motel, we were riding south and I was paying close attention to my odometer so I would know when to start looking in earnest for the correct turn-off. I needn’t have worried as the turn is much better labeled off of US-395 than County Road #1. There’s a nice, big sign proclaiming USFS #9 and Fandango Pass. USFS #9 is only about 16 miles long, 5 or 6 of which is nicely paved. Once the gravel starts on the western end it’s very good gravel, packed down and well groomed. I kept thinking that I would even ride my ST1300 through here if I was on a rally and the points were high enough. We stopped for lots of pictures at the little monument at the summit. There are some amazing views of the valley towards Cedarville from just west of the summit. I only wish we’d have found this the night before as the sun was shining right into my camera lens this morning. Dave checks out the monument at the summit of Fandango Pass The road descending eastward from Fandango Pass summit Dale and Dave stop to check out the view of Surprise Valley Surprise Valley - part of the Big Basin Mark points out his favorite type of road - USF #9 between Lake City, CA and Fort Bidwell, CA After getting our fill of breath taking scenery we headed on down to good ol’ County Road #1, carefully navigating the three or four hairpin curves toward the bottom, and were delighted to re-ride #3-14 into Adel. We decided we should gas up again here as it was the only known gas on our route for some 200 plus miles. We had a bit of a wait, however as it was 9:15 AM when we arrived and the station did not open until 10. This is one of those out-in-the-country stations run by a rather crusty old guy who only takes cash and keeps his own schedule. This being Sunday, we weren’t sure he’d even show up at 10 to open the place. Happily, a nice lady arrived a little before and opened up so we could be on our way. Mark and Dale, waiting for the only gas station in Adel, OR to open on a Sunday morning From Adel we rode to Plush, OR where we were looking for the route to French Glen, OR through the Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge. The route to Plush is all paved as is the first few miles of Hart Mountain Road. Shortly before entering the Antelope refuge, however, the pavement disappears and we were treated to some very nicely groomed gravel roads. These roads took us through the Refuge and up towards Warner Mountain where we stopped for more beautiful views. From our vantage point, we could see across the Warner Valley. The road up from Warner Valley - Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge, near Plush, OR The gravel road we rode through the Warner Valley - Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge, near Plush, OR Tim, Dale and David - Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge, near Plush, OR It was another 100 plus degree day so we didn’t see many antelope, one to be exact. It was a youngster who apparently lacked the sense to seek a cool spot to wait out the hottest part of the day. The one and only antelope we saw. On a 100+ degree day all the others had found cooler surroundings. Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge, near Plush, OR Hart Mountain Road turned into French Glen Road once we exited the Antelope Refuge but the gravel remained. I believe we rode more than a hundred miles of gravel from Plush to French Glen. Most of this was nicely packed so that we could maintain a respectable speed. The gravel ended at County Rd. 205 in French Glen, OR where we turned south for 3 or 4 miles to the entrance to the Steens Mountain Loop. Steens Mountain Protection Area - a.k.a. The Steens This is another place that Dale and I had ridden through last October and it had intrigued me on the way by. This 60 mile loop is all unpaved and takes you up onto Steens Mountain, as the name implies. In past years a car with good tires could easily make the entire 60 mile route but this past winter was not kind to the roadway. There was an uphill section of approximately 8 to 10 miles where the gravel had been washed away by torrential rains and rapid snow melt. This meant that all that was left was dirt with some fairly large rocks embedded within. This was first gear territory for me and my little V-Strom but it was not overly difficult. Part of the Steens Mountain Loop Road David is on the pegs Dale takes a break I was not prepared for how scenic this little loop would be. It peaks at somewhere above 9500 feet in elevation and there are beautiful photo opportunities at every turn. Once on top, the topography reminded all of us of riding along the Haul Road to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. Other than the absence of an oil pipeline, it looked very similar. We took nearly two and a half hours to make the loop but I’d love to return and allow at least twice that much time. I am thankful for the photo stops that we made but I decided against many more in the interest of getting to our motel in John Day at a decent hour. I think everyone agreed that this was the highlight of the ride. There were views like this everywhere we turned Dale climbs ever higher On the plateau near Steens summit - ~9500 feet Once back onto 205, we stopped long enough to put some air back into our tires then rode north towards Burns. There is a little RV Park, Café and General Store at the south end of Malheur Lake that would be our lunch stop for the day. It was nearly 4 PM by the time we got there but there really weren’t any other options along this route. In keeping with my theme for this long weekend, I ordered a cheeseburger. Maybe it was just hunger from not eating all day but I thought this burger was rather good. It was at least a third pound patty on a toasted bun with the cheese melted on. Oh, and nicely crisped bacon for good measure. With our hunger finally sated we pointed the bikes toward John Day, with a gas stop in Burns along the way. The pool at the John Day Best Western felt great after the heat of this day. It was a great way to end a great day of riding through some of God’s most magnificent creation. I fell asleep that evening feeling a little sad that all that was left of this trip was to retrace our route back to our homes. Day 4 - John Day, OR to Kent, WA Day 4 was indeed just the reverse of the first two thirds of day 1. It was just as hot and the roads from Richland to Yakima were just as straight. The only noteworthy thing about this last day was a stop at the Pepp’rmint Stick Drive-In, in Union Gap, WA. The Stick is just a few miles south of that other Yakima burger lovers’ Mecca, Miner’s Drive-In. I love a good Miner burger but I actually prefer the Dave’s Big Deluxe at the Pepp’rmint Stick. It’s juicy and tasty and the produce is always fresh. It was a nice ride back over Chinook Pass but it was over with all too soon. For more photos from the Big basin Loop visit the Photo Gallery.