We are on the Aufderheide Scenic Byway, a.k.a. Willamette Forest Road 19, 60 miles of bliss?albeit a bit damp on this day. Photos by the author.
I was headed for the Cascade Range of mountains because of a vague memory of something I had read 30 years ago, about 60 miles of great riding road in the Willamette National Forest. These things get filed away in my confused cranial storage system, and sometimes pop up when I am planning a trip. I looked on a map and saw Forest Service Road 19, now listed as one of Oregon?s scenic byways, and it was part of a whole series of roads that wander through the middle of the Cascades.
The owners of this ?antique? store in Gold Hill have an interesting, and inexpensive, approach to their outside décor. I had to be at a conference in Portland, Oregon, where more than 200 motorcycle safety administrators from around the country were gathering to learn about improving the instruction of rider skills. Essential work, but the lectures in these meetings are not high in entertainment. I think the only reason I had been invited to speak was for my amusement value, having the dubious distinction of crashing on six continents.
Map of the route taken, by Bill Tipton/compartmaps.com.
From Atascadero, California, I rode 500 miles north on U.S. Route 101 to Crescent City, where I left the sunny California coast and rode inland on U.S. Route 199 toward a possibly unsettled weather situation. At Grants Pass, Oregon, I saw dark clouds ahead, interspersed...