So Karen and I took this week off with the intent of riding down the Wa, Or coast then heading east to Crater Lake then back north...anyway...things changed.
Yesterday we decided to take a day trip to Mt St Helens. Weather was awesome with the forecast calling for showers later in the eve.
**disclaimer**
Here in the Pacific NW showers are not rain and rain is not a downpour.
The ride down was awesome. I absolutely love riding with Karen. We started out with a caffeine boost at the local Starbucks then took a favorite road out of town. We headed south on Issaquah Hobart Road. A great twisty little road with little traffic that I love to take as a “warm up†to a ride. From there we headed south on some slab to make up some time so we could do more riding on roads we haven’t been on. 18 south to 167 to 512 off at Meridian and onto some more nice back roads. Also so we could make it to Copper Creek Inn for lunch. Im telling you right now…if you ever have a chance you have to stop here. Their Wild Blueberry pie alamode is worth the ride here.
Copper Creek Inn (this was taken on a previous ride). Notice the sun shining on the Triumph and that lonely Harley hiding in the shadows.
Along SR706 on teh way to Copper Creek Inn theres a yard with a bunch of really cool metal art work. This is only one of many many sculptures.
From there we followed the Google Maps directions I loaded into my GPS down by Riffe Lake and onto a dead end logging road. Nice spot but we were stopped dead in our tracks…well….not dead but by a nice locked gate a very stern warning on a sign.
Karen did suffer a minor injury when she grabbed hold of the old wooden railing at the bridge…LOL. The mouse lion story came to mind.
Riffe Lake at NFD 27Rd
Signs of denial
Karens injury. Im happy to report she is doing fine and is whining a lot less today. `
No big deal…were not on a schedule and the roads (except for this logging road) are nice and very enjoyable. Back to the paved roads we went and around Riffe Lake onto 12 then Jackson Hwy to Spirit Lake Hwy on to Johnston Ridge. We made a few stops for picture opportunities and how amazing it was to see the difference in the dome that the mountain has been growing.
Hoffstadt Creek Bridge
The info:
Elk Creek viewpoint where we took gratuitous Triumph shots and answered many questions about the bikes to folks who were awe struck at the sheer beauty and style of our rides
Please disregard the glare off the back of my head.
This is one of my favorite things. You can see the logs that are now jutting out of the lahar flow that has been worn down by the river flow.
St Helens 2009
St Helens 2006
So…we finally got there about 5:00 and started heading back about 5:30. We saw some clouds but nothing too bad. Showers…no big deal. HA! Showers my @ss! It rained, hard and consistently from about 6 to 10 when we finally got home.
We made a few stops to warm up and gas up on the way not to mention the numerous stops we were forced to make cause of that fun little issue with these bikes not really liking heavy rain.
Needless to say we didn’t expect that but as any good NW resident will tell you “you should always be prepared†and I have to say…we really were not. Enough of my whining!
All in all it was a great trip and a story to share with all of you about a day spent riding with my #1.
Total round trip mileage was 397 miles
Heres a link to our route:
Our route
