Favorite Routes/Drives/Roads in the NW

Oddly enough, the best driving road I have ever seen was one I drove on for work many days last summer. I can't even remember what it is called but it connects Heppner, Oregon to whatever runs west.

It is freshly paved....lots of twisties, and even 180-degree curves with elevation.

My Honda Civic was screaming for some better suspension!

On a side note...it must be good because I saw a group of 6 cars with Washington plates....1 360, 2 911s, 1 M3, etc...who were driving it.

 

Close to PDX? All the roads that lead to my house, and I live here for that reason.

IMO, #1; Rocky Point Road, #2; Skyline, #3; Logie Trail... Germantown used to be fun, but man has the traffic ever picked up there... the other three are fun almost any hour of the day, and there isn't much traffic, even during 'rush hour'. I live near the junction of Rocky Point and Skyline.

The road I live off, Dixie Mountain Road (I'm less than 100' from the top of the mountain, at 1400 ft) will be amazing when they pave it, it's slated for 5-6 years out (#32 on the County's priority list, with 4-8 positions historically paved per year). It will be ten plus miles of newfound joy and added to existing road, will connect Hwy 30 and Hwy 26 from Scappoose to North Plains. I used to enjoy it in my WRX but probably won't have my new Boxster S roostertailing down there with nearly as much regularity until the improvements happen.

Folks in Portland who haven't driven the entire Skyline ridge west of Cornelius Pass are missing out. When you get to the county line/end of the pavement, turn around and go back about a mile, then take Rocky Point Road down the mountain to HWY 30 to get back to PDX in record time, or to continue the fun, turn around, run back up Rocky Point, and back down Skyline which crosses Logie Trail, Cornelius Pass, Germantown, goes through Forest Heights, past Barnes, and eventually drops right back into downtown (18-20 miles of curves later).

There are some serious, serious corners up here. There's a completely unmarked, off-camber hairpin on Rocky Point that claims regular understeer victims. Rocky Point itself is a high risk road relative to how little traffic it gets, and is an annual killer, with the last fatality launching a Durango 80 feet off a cliff onto its roof earlier this summer.

Words of warning: On all the roads I have mentioned, I strongly suggest that you stay in your lane (There are log trucks and horse trailers up here that mostly do, but you will have *zero* chance if you're in their lane...) watch out for cyclists, and time any passes well... there are no shoulders to speak of and you don't want to have to make the decision to ditch either yourself or them. There are only two legal passing zones between Cornelius Pass and the end of the pavement, and none at all on Rocky Point, so if you find yourself behind someone, best to let the brakes cool and let them get ahead a bit to open it back up. Often, slower folks in farm trucks, etc. are nice enough to pull off at a driveway or pullout and let you pass. Please give them a nice wave. They're my neighbors.

Anyway, check 'em out on a map... these are amazingly fun roads. If any of the locals want to plan a group drive, I've already got maps, and would be happy to meet, coordinate and show the way.

-Tad

PS- As an aside, I only learned about this area of town thanks to donv's brother Larry, who took me out in his Tommi Makkinen Evo 6.5 about ten years ago, and showed me what I was missing.

 

I saw three tickets getting handed out in the Yakima River Canyon yesterday. The guy on the touring bike with the WSP unmarked pickup pulled over behind him had a very sick look on his face. What ever he was over the posted 45 mph speed limit will cost him a tad. The canyon is fun though and years ago we used to time ourselves between the twin bridges that cross the River going out of Yakima to the little (closed for a long time but still there) gas station at the North end as you get out on the flat.

Some of the fun roads around Central Wa are too heavily traveled at this time of the year by unskilled drivers and trucks for a person to want to do any real interesting driving on them.

 

To have sustained fun you've got to get out of town. Eastern Washington spreads out and offers your best bets for low traffic fun rides.

For curves:
Early Sunday morning, eastbound on highway 20 from Marblemount to Mazama. I've driven across the state on highway 20, and it's got great curves from Idaho to Marblemount.

For straights:
Anytime with good weather. Hardly any traffic, very smooth road with visibility from end to end and no obstructions. i.e., safe as it will get: Westbound on highway 28 up on the plateau between Harrington and Odessa. While not as long, I feel it is far better/safer than highway 221 north of Columbia Crest Winery.

For Hill Climb:
South from Keller Ferry to plateau on highway 21.