jared p
Wizard
http://goo.gl/maps/VxlrY map of route
Well, day starts out not so awesome, i leave late at 630, fog so thick its like rain, wet roads, and then boom, highway 7 detour through the best part of the road. oh well, hook over through eatonville down to alder lake, fog lifts, lotsa clouds still, oh well, not stopping now. top off gas in ashford, they're expensive by the way.
get to rainier national park, pay the 5 bucks to get in and after the first turn, boom, bright blue skies, sun everywhere. road isn't in the best condition but not bad, just went the speed limit and enjoyed the amazing views, literally you couldn't not look around and just be in awe.
up to paradise, right before you do, boom, mountain hits you in the face, awesome. paradise is packed as usual, meh, i'm not staying there anyway, a few quick pics and roll through. down the backside of paradise they repaved about a 5 mile section of it, the road is perfect, absolutely perfect, i didn't go the speed limit here. by the way, no traffic the whole way so far, on the way up, stopping for pics even, never had to wait, same thing on the way out, clear roads the whole way to Randle where i gassed up
off to windy ridge. now...once again, this is a very beautiful ride, however, the road itself, is absolute garbage. now, maybe if you're going the speed limit it's not so terrible. but going at a normal twisty pace, the road wants to kill you. there's dips, trips, cracks, bumps, holes, trees, branches, deterioration, and shadows everywhere so you can't see em, bushes growing out over the road, rocks, sand etc. i had to focus very hard to not die. yeah, i shoulda just slowed down but...well that doesn't compute for me. had to pass a few slow cars, but only 4 or 5, no real traffic issues here either.
windy ridge is a great, the 460ish stairs to the top is worth the climb, great views, you can see mt rainier, adams, and hood, the lake is awesome. views on the ride down are cool too. seeing the trees still all thrown around like toothpicks is humbling, knowing a mountain used to be in that crater.
stopped in randle again on the way back for gas and lunch. ate at the burger joint by the chevron station, they have beer too, it was about perfect, chatted with some random harley riders. side note, saw over 100 cruisers, one R1 and one white panigale, other than that, slim pickins for sport bikes.
i uh, decided to go to naches after i realized i missed the turn for 123. oh well, off to naches. highway 12 is a nice ride, pavements good, no debris
gassed in naches, headed back through 410. first few miles outside of naches are kinda crappy not cuz of the road or views, its still very pretty. its bad because it's lined with camps, rv parks, and tons and tons of campers. so, really it's just go slow and enjoy the scenery.
up to chinook pass, still great road conditions. you crest the pass and boom, rainier in your face again. the road down is pretty fun, you drop a lotta elevation quick. about halfway back to enumclaw, traffic sets in with sets of 5-10 long strings of cars, meh, passed em. a few bumps here and there in the road, gotta pay a little attention but it's pretty smooth sailing.
overall, i'd say that this is absolutely a necessary trip, doesn't have to be all at once, i just ride that way, only took 12 hours anyway. the ride up to paradise, enjoy the views. ride down from paradise, have "fun". road up to the windy ridge turn off, have moderate fun, up to and back from windy ridge, go slow, it's retarded how bad that road condition is in. 12 to naches, had a lotta fun, back up 410, take it easy past the campers then enjoy all the way back to enumclaw.
took a lotta pics, for me anyway, i usually don't.
Well, day starts out not so awesome, i leave late at 630, fog so thick its like rain, wet roads, and then boom, highway 7 detour through the best part of the road. oh well, hook over through eatonville down to alder lake, fog lifts, lotsa clouds still, oh well, not stopping now. top off gas in ashford, they're expensive by the way.
get to rainier national park, pay the 5 bucks to get in and after the first turn, boom, bright blue skies, sun everywhere. road isn't in the best condition but not bad, just went the speed limit and enjoyed the amazing views, literally you couldn't not look around and just be in awe.
up to paradise, right before you do, boom, mountain hits you in the face, awesome. paradise is packed as usual, meh, i'm not staying there anyway, a few quick pics and roll through. down the backside of paradise they repaved about a 5 mile section of it, the road is perfect, absolutely perfect, i didn't go the speed limit here. by the way, no traffic the whole way so far, on the way up, stopping for pics even, never had to wait, same thing on the way out, clear roads the whole way to Randle where i gassed up
off to windy ridge. now...once again, this is a very beautiful ride, however, the road itself, is absolute garbage. now, maybe if you're going the speed limit it's not so terrible. but going at a normal twisty pace, the road wants to kill you. there's dips, trips, cracks, bumps, holes, trees, branches, deterioration, and shadows everywhere so you can't see em, bushes growing out over the road, rocks, sand etc. i had to focus very hard to not die. yeah, i shoulda just slowed down but...well that doesn't compute for me. had to pass a few slow cars, but only 4 or 5, no real traffic issues here either.
windy ridge is a great, the 460ish stairs to the top is worth the climb, great views, you can see mt rainier, adams, and hood, the lake is awesome. views on the ride down are cool too. seeing the trees still all thrown around like toothpicks is humbling, knowing a mountain used to be in that crater.
stopped in randle again on the way back for gas and lunch. ate at the burger joint by the chevron station, they have beer too, it was about perfect, chatted with some random harley riders. side note, saw over 100 cruisers, one R1 and one white panigale, other than that, slim pickins for sport bikes.
i uh, decided to go to naches after i realized i missed the turn for 123. oh well, off to naches. highway 12 is a nice ride, pavements good, no debris
gassed in naches, headed back through 410. first few miles outside of naches are kinda crappy not cuz of the road or views, its still very pretty. its bad because it's lined with camps, rv parks, and tons and tons of campers. so, really it's just go slow and enjoy the scenery.
up to chinook pass, still great road conditions. you crest the pass and boom, rainier in your face again. the road down is pretty fun, you drop a lotta elevation quick. about halfway back to enumclaw, traffic sets in with sets of 5-10 long strings of cars, meh, passed em. a few bumps here and there in the road, gotta pay a little attention but it's pretty smooth sailing.
overall, i'd say that this is absolutely a necessary trip, doesn't have to be all at once, i just ride that way, only took 12 hours anyway. the ride up to paradise, enjoy the views. ride down from paradise, have "fun". road up to the windy ridge turn off, have moderate fun, up to and back from windy ridge, go slow, it's retarded how bad that road condition is in. 12 to naches, had a lotta fun, back up 410, take it easy past the campers then enjoy all the way back to enumclaw.
took a lotta pics, for me anyway, i usually don't.
