Snow at Artist Point, Mt. Baker in August

My wife has never been to Artist Point at Mt. Baker Washington and it was on my list of places to take her for a while now.  It is not often she rides with me.  She says we have been here before.  Yes dear we have.  So I try and change it up for her once in a while.

Last year WDOT did not bother to try snow plow Artist Point - there was too much snow and it would have cost a small fortune to plow out.  So the trip sat on the side lines for a while.

This year there was less snow and the WDOT opened the road during the 3rd week of July.  Here is a photo from late July courtesy of WDOT.  Mt. Baker is in the background.  The amount of snow is deceptive for just behind the snow blower is a solid ground so maybe the snow is 3 to 6 feet deep.

The wife and I had a rough couple of weeks with her daughters visiting and bickering with her and each other.  Good grief.  We need a break so what better way to take a ride?  She readily agreed to my suggestion, especially after offering a wife friendly start time of between 9:00 and 10:00am.  Damn late in my book but I had a motive.

The route:

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We were off by 9:30 or so and headed up I-5 to Arlington.  Boring riding.  Along the way I notice one young lady texting with her arms between the steering wheel using her wrist to steer leaving her finger free to tap away.  Grr...... Take a deep breath and ride away.

At Arlington we join Highway 9, familiar pavement, one of those roads rode to often.  Still it is a nice road in a scenic pastoral setting dotted by Lake McMurray and Big Lake with twisty asphalt pavement.  In other words no matter how many time I ride it it beats the heck out of I-5.

Highway 9 - Does this photo need a caption?

Highway 9

Highway 9 near Lake McMurray

We near the town of Van Zandt a dot on the map, featuring Everybody's grocery which is known for exotic cheeses, sausages and local wines.

Everybody's store cheese and meat case.

We are 1.5 hours into the ride, have yet to stop, and to my surprise the wife is wants to continue.  This is good PR for my Russell Day Long saddle.  Happy wife, happy life.  Thanks Russell.

In the early 1980's I skied at Mt. Baker.  It is was a 2:47 minute drive for us, each way.  Back then Mt. Baker was closed Monday through Thursday so on Saturday or Sunday the snow was rarely packed out and often there was lots of fresh powder and loose snow everywhere.  As a result I learned to ski in powder long before I made a nice carved turn.  I was worth the 2:47 hour drive.  We skied it a lot, can you tell?

On the way back from the ski day we would stop at Everbody's for Landjaeger sausage and a fresh gourmet deli sandwich.  Everybody's has picnic tables and is a destination in it own right.  This could be a Ride to Eat destination.

Today we go to Glacier the last town before Mt. Baker ski area.  On a ski day in the 1980's the goal was to arrive at Glacier at 7:15am.  Any later and you got to follow school bus' to the top.  We rarely followed a bus and today with a late start I expected to follow some cars to the top.  That didn't happen either as I passed a few cars or waited in a turn out for the cars ahead to move on up the road so I could enjoy the twisty road unimpaired.

The reason I didn't mind the late start is I wanted to take a photo of Mt. Shuksan at Picture Lake and it is in the shadows until the afternoon.

The Goal - take a photo like this!

The reality - my photo on this day.   It is too early in the season and it was not a clear blue sky day.  

The FJR and Wife and at Picture Lake.

Now I have an excuse to return in late September or early October.

On we go for the very twisty, and steep ride up the the Artist Point parking lot.

Mt. Shuksan with people playing in the snow at Artist Point

Mt. Baker at Artist Point

Mt. Baker gullies filled with snow at Artist Point

After the photos ops we head back down and I take a few more photos of this stunning landscape. Mostly while I am on the go with my Canon S95 pocket camera.

Did I mention the road is scenic, twisty and steep?

Along Hwy 542, as with roads in the Alps, you can see the road wind down the hill, but here you don't have to wait in a que at the switchbacks and it is not nearly as crowded.

Road in the Alps waiting in the que.

Hwy 542 near Artist Point

A fellow on a Triumph Speed Triple with Mt. Shuksan in the background.  Taken while on the go with my Canon S95.

Mt. Baker ski area White Salmon lodge with Mt. Shuksan in the background.

Just west of Nooksack Falls there is about 1 or 2 miles of fresh asphalt along a section of Hwy 542 that was previously very bumpy and awful.  No more! Yee Haw!  It quickly comes and it goes, leaving me with a silly grin from ear to ear.  We go on the Glacier where we have a fine lunch at Graham's restaurant.

Wifey is in a hurry to get home so we take the fastest route home.  Warning.  Going along I-5 from Tulalip Casino to Marysville on a Sunday afternoon is brutal in the summer time and there is really no alternatives to head south quickly.

The End

Duffy Lake to Merritt BC

I have been riding many of the good motorcycle roads in BC and was happy to share my experience with fellow riders at NAFO.  One of my favorite roads Hwy 8 aka the Nicola Hwy from Merritt to Spences Bridge.  It is a roller coaster road with poor sight lines and is reasonably twisty - in a word or three it is a perfect road for motorcycles.

So as I was sharing this idea with riders I hit upon the idea to make a loop ride from Seattle to Merritt in one weekend.  On the weekend of August 4th I did and here is the ride report.

Here is the route for day one.


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I was on the freeway at 5:00am and buzzed up to I-5 to the border crossing at Blaine where I shot the quickie of the Peace Arch.  With no place to park this was truly a quickie over the shoulder shot with my pocket camera, a Canon S95.

The inscription in the Arch is Brethren Dwelling Together Unity

At 7:00am there was no line to cross the border to get into Canada, not a single car.  If you look closely at the photo above there was a long line of cars from Canada to the US.  Perhaps something to do with the Civic Holiday in Canada.

As it was early I decided to ride though downtown Vancouver to ride a across the Lion's Gate Suspension Bridge built in the mid 1930's.

Once beyond Horseshoe Bay the road gets very scenic.  The Sea to Sky Highway along Howe Sound from Horseshoe Bay to Squamish is carved into the base of mountains that soar as high as 4000 feet above the sea.    Back in the early 1980's I used to ski at Whistler and I will never forget the large well lit signs with advisory warnings to not travel this road during periods of extreme rainfall.  Some of the bridges across the many creek were temporary military type bridges with yellow incandescent 40 watt bulbs strung along the bridge.  If the yellow lights were missing it meant the bridge was washed out.

The Sea to Sky Highway is carved into the base of the mountains.
It is well know for it high rate of accidents.

Along the way I saw four Porches caught speeding on the highway.  As I was working on some research for this post I found this news article in the Vancouver Sun.  In summary they were doing a 130 kph in a 80 kph zone and were issued a $368 tickets and had their cars impound for a week.  Ouch!

Cliff along the Sea to Sky Highway.

Back the 1980's this was a two lane road and the two lanes were not built today's more demanding super highway standards like as in the photo above.

I pulled over for a scenic stop to take some photos.

Scenic pull over along the Sea to Sky Highway

Scenic pull over along the Sea to Sky Highway

Scenic pull over along the Sea to Sky Highway

 At this scenic stop - photos above -  I was surprised to find the access road was a remnant of the Sea to Sky Highway circa 1980. 

Continuing north I see a photo op and pulled over again to make a u-turn.  While waiting along side the road a pickup truck goes by and as I was looking in my mirror I heard a siren.  A cop!  I quickly reflect and thought hey I wasn't speeding as he drove on by to pull over the fellow driving the pickup.

The u-turn was in vein for the scenic photo op was well marked No Parking due to rock fall hazards.  I heeded the warnings, not wanted a ticket along this well patrolled road.

My next stop was at Shannon Falls Provincial Park where I shot this photo from along side the road.  This a hard falls to shoot because you can get close, too close.  So to get a sense of scale and depth I shot this from the road side.

At 1099 feet Shannon Falls is the third highest waterfall in British Columbia.

After gassing up in Squamish, I drive right on by Whistler, then stop for breakfast at the Mt. Currie Coffee Company in Pemberton where I enjoyed a non-heart happy treat, coffee, of course, and a Panini.  Yummie!

The Sea to Sky Highway ends in Pemberton and shortly afterward The Duffy Lake road begins.  I have been along this road once before years ago and as I ride it today the memories of the previous ride slowly return.

Along the Duffy Lake Road

Along the Duffy Lake Road

Along the Duffy Lake Road

Along the Duffy Lake Road

Along the Duffy Lake Road

Along the Duffy Lake Road

Along the Duffy Lake Road

Along the Duffy Lake Road

At the east end of Duffy Lake there is a scenic turn out and boat launch ramp.

Along the Duffy Lake Road

Along the Duffy Lake Road

After the photo op extravaganza it was time to make time heading north to Lillooet.  I was just cruising along about 40 mph and next thing I know deer runs in front of me. Often you hear jokes about shorts getting dirty after a near miss.  Not this time. The near miss scared the deer so bad he was pissin' like a garden hose all the way across the road. Yep that is right. I watched him pee, a heavy stream, as he ran across my path. My shorts remained clean.  It was so close I could see him running and trying to get traction on the pavement and the express of oh shit on his face. I managed to hit the rear brake pedal and barely got my hand on the front brake then the incident was over, a slow reaction time for sure. I may have scrubbed off 5 to 15 mph and, and I also remember thinking at the time I am going slow enough to survive.  This was a good size deer. I was lucky to have missed him and did not have time to get scared or the pissing and lack of traction thing was a huge distraction.  Frickin' frackin' Forest Rats. 

After the deer incident I head south along Highway 12 following the Fraser River to Lytton.  It was getting warm out with temps in the upper 80's and low 90's.

Along the way I saw a sign and decided I had to stop and take a photo the twisty road sign for 50 km, not a great distance but what the heck.

Twisty road next 50 km

The next sign along not long after was really surprising.  Gee I know it is steep and rough out here but mountain goats?  Perhaps the FJR is the wrong bike for this task?

Mountain Goats and FJRs don't mix.

At Lytton I pickup Hwy 1 and resume north taking a few photos along the way.

Big Mountains along Hwy 1

Fraser River along Hwy 1

Finally after plowing heavy traffic I reach Spences Bridge where I find Hwy 8 the main reason for this ride.  My recollection is this is a roller coaster and now I am here to enjoy it.  Yahoo!

Poor site lines make Hwy 8 a great motorcycle road.  What is over the hill?

 Twists and turns to keep most happy and blue skies.

Hwy 8

Pretty good pavement in most place grace Hwy 8

A twist fest along Hwy 8.

A twist fest along Hwy 8.

This bridge is a side road along Hwy 8.

I arrive at Merritt and quickly find my room for the night at the Econo Lodge.  It wasn't much but a three day weekend in Canada left me with little choice of rooms.

Sunday morning dawns and I on the road by 7:00am.  I decide to re-trace Hwy 8 and 1 back to Lytton then follow Hwy 1 along the Fraser River Canyon into Hope.  Here is my route for Sunday.

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Early morning shadow spoiled photography all the way to hope.  Hwy 1 along Fraser River Canyon is very scenic and features 7 tunnels as the topography is so steep it was the only way to get a road through.  Along the way I stop at a restaurant for breakfast.  In the men's room I find this sign......


  

By the time I got to Abbotsford about 11:00am the temps started to rise into the mid 80's.  I head south to Sumas to cross the board to find a 45 minute wait.  Nuts.  I was in full gear. I finally took my helmet off and just pushed the bike in the que. When I did reach the checkpoint I was asked two questions.

1) What where you doing in Canada, response, riding.
2) Where are you going now, response, home.

I passed the test.

All four lines at the boarder crossing where open. Only four? We need 8 or 16. With all the $$$ being spend by Home Land Insecurity you would think the crossing could be improved by now.

Of course it is takes much less time to get in to Canada than back to the US. Grrrrr...... Seems to me Canada is just as secure at the US, no?

Near Sumas I decide to pickup Hwy 547 to Kendall and enjoy some twisty pavement then head south on Hwy 542 to Hwy 9 south to Arlington.  The roads were crowded so I hop on I-5 and head home.

The End.

Around Mt. Rainier

On a typical summer weekend is it very crowded at Mt. Rainier National Park.  So instead of joining the crowd or getting up early to beat the crowd I decided to ride around The Mountain after work.  I arrived at work at 5:00am and was on the road by 1:45.    It is about a 200 mile ride so it is easy to do.


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A friend and his son met me at the gas dump in Covington and we road to Enumclaw along Hwy 410 to Chinook Pass for the classic photo op.  The prior weekend there was snow on Tipsoo Lake

This was shot with my Canon XSi 28-135 lens with a graduated neutral density filter, thus preventing blowout.  The forground is a bit over exposed and the wind was blowing so there is no chance to get a reflection in Tipsoo Lake.  Nice shot and I took it on this trip!

For a different perspective here is a photo from a previous trip.  This photo is zoom in and taken earlier in the day as there are no shadows on the jagged cliffs in the foreground.

During each season you can always see something different at Mt. Rainier.

We go back down to Cayuse Pass on on to the park entrance at Ohanapecosh where you pay your fee to get in for the ride.  Just inside the entrance is a parking lot and trail head for an easy hike to visit the Grove of the Patriarchs - aka big old trees.  Some of the trees are a thousand years old.

With limited time we skip the hike to the grove and ride on to to Stevens Canyon overlook.  Aong the way is this waterfall.

The road is quiet twisty for a while and there are no views of Mt Rainier as you climb to Stevens Canyon.  Then as you round a turn is this stunning view. 

We stop here for break and enjoy the view. From here the road head toward The Mountain and winds it way to the south side on the left of the photo above.

Along the way you can stop at the Box Canyon a 100 foot deep canyon only 10 to 15 feet wide.  Photos can't capture the depth of this geological oddity.

A photo from a few years ago when I had a Vstrom.

We head to Reflection Lake and along the way I snap a photo but this one from an earlier trip at the same spot is nicer.  If you look carefully the road snakes towards you in the foreground.

We arrive at Reflection Lakes where The Mountain is obscured by clouds as it was at Inspiration Point.

With running out we ride on home passing through the towns of Elbe, Eatonville and Orting.

The End.