First "trip" on Skookum

[Olythom]

Well, after 2 years of commuting and riding in the nearby hills and woods, I finally loaded up all the bags and headed out for four days on the road. Had trouble deciding what to take and started out with way too much stuff to fit into the OEM top box and OEM panniers. Logical thoughts like - "It's a Honda. Who needs tools" - allowed me to winnow out a bunch of unneeded items. I ended up with minimum clothing, extra gloves, small tent, sleeping pad, sleeping bag, shoes, shaving kit, camera, cell phone (used it for calling/researching/AND navigation), a soft cooler with food and drink (cooler choice stolen from one of our fellow inmates), chain lube, tiny tool kit, flashlights, 1-gallon gas can, and a few little things like flashlights/ziplocks/etc.



Kickstand up at 0730 and hit the road... Only to pull over 4 miles down the road to remove a dog hair that found its way into my helmet and just happened to be tickling my nose! Our 5 year-old Golden retriever has really long hair and it ends up everywhere - even inside my helmet. What an inauspicious start!

While in the fast-food parking lot, I also added and additional strap to better secure the soft cooler on the pillion seat.



OK... NOW it's time to head out! Next stop - The smoky mountains of Oregon. Please note the use of lower case 's' in smoky. It's a description of the mountains - not the name of the mountains.

 

[Olythom]

First stop, after the dog hair incident, was planned to be Boring, Oregon. This time it's a capital 'B' - meaning the name of the town is Boring, not that the town is boring. Boring is on Hwy 26 a little east of Portland. This stop was much earlier than necessary (only about 100 miles from launch) but I thought I would check my straps, chain, and tweak things like my throttle lock - which was not nearly tight enough. The way it was adjusted at this point, it was no help whatsoever and I knew that I would be needing it over the next few days. Oregon is interesting in that every gas station in the state has an attendant or two who do all the pumping of fuel for cars or bikes who pull in. At this, my first stop, I automatically started to insert my credit card to start the fueling process and got a stern rebuke from the head attendant.



Very shortly after departing Boring with a full tank and an empty bladder, the majesty of Mt Hood plays peek-a-boo through the clouds.



During this trip, there were several reminders that we are in "Oregon Trail Country". Lots of folks came west on the Oregon Trail through this part of the country. This sign was at the same spot where I shot Mt Hood through the clouds.



Enough foolin' around... Let's get over these mountains.

 

[Olythom]

After putting Mt Hood in my rearview .....



( I know, pretty corny. But what the heck, it's my trip.) I'll be heading into 'Eclipse country' around Warm Springs and Madras, Oregon, where my wife and I watched the Total eclipse a few weeks ago. But that's a different thread.

This area, as has much of Oregon, has been severely impacted by smoke from wildfires burning in the Columbia Gorge near Portland and in several parts of central Oregon. Some of the fires have been burning for months and air quality has been really bad for some communities. The large, devastating fire in the Columbia Gorge between Troutdale and Hood River was apparently started by a teenager who tossed a smoke bomb-type fireworks into the extremely dry forest near a trail while his idiotic little friends laughed and giggled and recording him doing it. If I was King, I would make an example of this little jerk. That fire has destroyed untold numbers of absolutely magnificent, ancient trees around some of the most beautiful waterfalls in the world. It was a wonderful place to visit and it will never be the same.

The smoke was bad enough for the next 130 miles that I could not get a single decent picture of the beautiful mountains around Madras, Oregon or Bend, Oregon. That kinda sucked cuz I was really looking forward to visiting Bend. That area has a wonderful reputation for it's beautiful scenery and I could not see 5 miles in any direction. Hammer down and head south to get away from the worst of the smoke...... Next stop La Pine, Oregon for the tank of gas that will get me to my next 'destination'.

 

[Olythom]

After fueling in La Pine, I start heading for the north entrance to Crater Lake but, lo and behold, there is a wildfire burning near the road that runs between the north entrance and the lake so... they closed the north entrance. So Plan B goes into effect.... I will head towards Klamath Falls and head for the south entrance to Crater Lake National Park. This adds about 50 miles to my day but I am not going to miss this stop.

As I headed towards Crater Lake, I ride through beautiful, high-country ranches that are surrounded by stunning scenery that includes volcanic peaks of all shapes and sizes, snow-capped peaks, beautiful blue skies, and, thankfully, a lot less smoky haze.



This roadside exhibit tells of a volcano that, at one time, would have filled in almost half of the skyline in the background of my picture. I can't even imagine the powers at work that would result in an explosion so big that this mountain is literally - Gone! All that remains of this huge mountain are smaller peaks that are the remnants of its original side walls. This storyline was on display at several points during the day's travels.... Good sized mountains standing today that are only pieces of what used to be huge volcanoes! Pretty cool and very impressive.

One of the "must-see" things for this trip was Crater Lake. And see it, I did. Skookum and I made our way up some wonderful, twisty roads to the Rim Road and got some decent pics, even though it was a bit smoky as the result of the nearby wildfire.

Skookum posing in front of Wizard Island.




Another view of Wizard Island, this from Watchman Overlook. Interesting to note that the 'small' flat top of the island, which is an actual volcanic caldera, is big enough for a soccer field. Once again, I was mightily impressed by the forces involved in the creation of this natural beauty. I had a great time visiting the park and walking around several of the viewpoints. Chatted with people from Germany, Turkey, Nashville, Atlanta, and one guy on a bike from California. I think I took about 20 pictures for other groups and couples. I met one couple from the Bay Area who had a really sweet chocolate lab who desperately wanted some of my Peanut M&M's! One nice little lady actually came over and asked where I was snowmobiling on such a warm day. It seems she thought my aerostich was a snowmobile suit.

This was also the first time that I have actually been completely INTIMIDATED by a roadway. My new tires are 100% street tires as I don't get offroad much. One small section of the park road was old, loose asphalt covered with marbley gravel with a 40 foot drop into a boulder field on one side of the road and a 1500 foot drop into DEATH on the other side of the road. That will cause some clinching!!!

Anyway, after fulfilling my wish to scratch Crater Lake off my bucket list, I got to really enjoy the twisty little road going back down off the mountain. Time to head into Klamath Falls for the night. Later.
>T

 

[Deleted member 5383]

I love Crater Lake and the area around it, Olythom! The last two times I was there, wildfires were burning in the area. But I did manage to snag some decent pictures here and there. You can cycle through some of them in my OREGON INLAND flickr album starting with this one:


PHANTOM SHIP by greenboy, on Flickr

 

[mumbauer]

I have family in Washington and Oregon, although I'm not sure I've ever been down to that area...looks stunningly beautiful! Wish I could ride around there.

 

[GlennC]

Nice write-up so far. Sadly the smoke can get to be overbearing. A striking blue sky and a clear view of scenery are among the more beautiful, sometimes inspirational things to experience when riding. We've had a lot of smoke this summer too... and most summers in recent memory. It's a drag.

 

[drdubb]

Keep it coming?

 

[NW Comet]

It is interesting to hear how bad the smoke was in Bend, we usually go there once or twice a year (so far by car) but not going to make it there this year. It is very pretty country, too bad you missed out on seeing it this time but a good excuse to go back. Sounds like you are covering a lot of miles on the first day. I am anxious to read about the rest of the days of your trip.

 

[Olythom]

GB - the smoke was a bit of a downer but that whole area (volcano land) is still quite impressive and it was worth the trip. I can only imagine the beauty of this area when there's no haze in the air. But now that I've seen the place, I will get back down there, hopefully with my wife in pillion.

Dubb - things got crazy here when I got back. We own a small retail business and it needed attention after my being gone for four days. Then I spent two days for a quick trip (in the car) up to Vancouver BC to take my wife to a Claude Monet exhibit. I will get back on this thread tomorrow - including my very first nc700x riding video!!!
>Thom

 

[drdubb]

Patiently waiting.

 

[Short Time]

Darn nice ride report Olythom!! Can't wait for the next installment!

 

[Olythom]

SO... After the fire-related detour in and out of the south entrance at Crater Lake, I ended up pulling into Klamath Falls with a red bar flashing and the gauge showing that I was 0.3 into reserve. No real concerns, though. I was watching the numbers pretty close and my phone (in Google navigation mode) showed me I had it made (damn - I love the mileage that the NC delivers).

As I entered town from the north, I pulled over at the very first motel on the highway and surveyed the (pretty scary) scene. I had to look several times to make sure it was actually still in business even though it had a "vacancy" sign in the front window. If it was the last room in town, I might have stayed there but I could see another "Vacancy" sign just down the road so I just kept rolling another 150 yards and pulled into the Oregon 8 motel. It's just an old school, single level building with about 30 rooms and a grassy central area with a couple of picnic tables but it looked clean and well-kempt.

As I was climbing off Skookum, I noticed a few guys wheeling all of the furniture out of the rooms in the south half of the motel??? There were about a dozen cars in the lot and one big ole Harley - full dress and bright orange. The bike actually had a California plate AND a German plate on the rear fender. I chatted with the rider a little, although the language barrier was severe, and found they are from Germany and they come over to the US every couple of years for "holiday". I guess they rent a bike here in the US and I'm sorry to say I never did find out why the bike was carrying both plates.

The front desk was manned by a really nice, very knowledgeable teenage boy who checked me in very professionally. Clearly, this is a family business. I asked about the furniture being removed from half the hotel and he explained that it's time to plant strawberries in the area farms. They pull the typical (queen bed/end tables/sitting area) furniture out of half the rooms so migrant workers coming into town to plant the strawberry fields can get a more economical arrangement by increasing the headcount in each room. It is an arrangement that works out for both the hotel and the workers.

One short tale that I left out of my earlier postings is animal related. In the mountains of Oregon on Hwy 26, I hit a delay where cars were backed up about 1/4 mile and moving through an impromptu roadblock of sorts that was created by a state trooper car, and animal control truck, and some construction vehicles that all happened to be parked in the middle of and just off of the same little stretch of road. Just as I rolled slowly through the scene of the bottleneck, the trooper and the animal control guy came stomping out of the roadside brush carrying a black bear cub by the scruff of the neck and deposited him into a kennel/cage in the animal control truck. I didn't stop to get chapter and verse but logic would say that the cub's momma was probably hit by a car. Really sad... but I can say that little guy has spunk. He was giving that guy all he could handle and I could hear the cub yelling even with earplugs and helmet.

So after emptying out both panniers and unloading the cooler, I settled in for a good night's sleep followed by a hot shower in the morning.

 

[Olythom]

Next morning.... The sleep WAS good and the shower was HOT so I was chomping at the bit to get sidestand up. Filled the tank (only managed to get 3.1 gallons into the tank) and had a quick breakfast out of the cooler - hard-boiled eggs, grapes, a carrot from our garden, and a couple mini-muffins and then hit the road.

Speaking of gas and gauges... I did not take accurate notes but on this trip, it seemed like the gauge would stay at full bars until almost 1/3 of the tank was burned. Maybe some of you have actually made notes on this, but that is how I roughly measured things for the rest of this ride.

Klamath Falls is mostly farm country and I can certainly swear that there are lots of bugs in the valley as the sun is starting to warm things up. This is beautiful country with Klamath Lake on one side of the highway, lush green farm land, and mountains surrounding the whole scene.

Heading out of town on hwy 39 to 139 to a little spot called Hackamore was mostly just 2-lane through farm country although the hills were now covered with more pine trees than fir trees. It looks like great deer hunting territory. I cut off on the smaller Hackamore/Lookout road over the river and through the woods down to hwy 299 and passed through tiny places with names like Bieber, Nubieber, Macarthur, and Fall River Mills until I worked over to hwy 89. The miserly fuel sipping NC was certainly a comfort as I was riding through all of these small towns thinking "where do these folks buy their gas?". I swear there was a stretch of 75 miles where I never saw a gas station. Riding along the road near Hackamore was where I got a close-up look at a fox that almost ran out in front of me.

Now I'm getting into the second "destination" of the trip. This little jaunt from Klamath Falls has gotten me into "lava land". There are multiple state and national parks in the area and most are volcano-related. Hwy 89 is actually named "Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway". There are huge lava fields, the Subway Cave Lava Tubes, places like Cinder Pit Rd, Cinder Cove Drive, and Lassen Peak - my next stop.

 

[Olythom]

Gassed up in Old Station after more cool scenery and headed towards the entrance to Lassen Volcanic National Park. The north entrance to the park is at Manzanita Lake which has a beautiful campground and more of that magnificent scenery. Hwy 89 leaves Manzanita Lake and wraps nearly all the way around the volcano, passing through some very interesting and educational waypoints. The road has some great twisties and, like Crater Lake, some impressive drop-offs. Since the speed limit in the park is generally 35 or 45mph, you won't spend much time wearing off the 'chicken strips' of your tires but the ride is definitely a good time. I was there at the tail end of the summer season so I saw very few RVs and not much traffic in general. The top of the mountain is at 10,457 feet and the road makes it up to 8,512.

This is the east side of the mountain. This is the side that saw the most destruction during the big eruptions of 1915. Lassen is called a 'plug dome' volcano. The lava is too thick to flow long distances so it tends to build up for ages and then "plug" itself. This lead to increasing pressures and steam is actually what blew the plug out of it, creating the last big eruption. Scientists say they do not know when it will blow again - only that it will.



One of my first views of the west side of the mountain...




Stopped and walked for a few minutes at Summit Lake - reading the info posted alongside the trails.




The history of this volcano is much about a fellow named Benjamin Loomis who, anticipating an eruption, hauled camera equipment up to a spot near the mountain and was lucky enough to capture pictures of a major eruption. This was no simple feat in 1915. After the eruption, he and a companion went back up (I think it was the following day, IIRC) to shoot pictures of the destruction on the mountain so he could capture all of the damage on film. They shot pictures of places where mountainsides moved, rivers shifted, creekbeds were gouged deeply, huge boulders were tossed, trees were blown down or destroyed. They then went back down the mountain. Only a few hours later, the mountain blew again - a larger eruption than the first. Several of the places they had just been standing and filming hours earlier were totally devastated. Lucky guys.

The visitor center is housed in the heavy stone building that Mr Loomis built as a home for he and his wife. There is a small fortress-like stone building out front of the visitor center that houses an old-fashioned seismograph. I just love this kind of history / science... !

 

[Olythom]

After riding from the north entrance to the south entrance, hitting a great many of the touristy highlight kiosks, I turned around and rode all the way back in one fell swoop - what a terrific ride!

This is just one of the high mountain lakes in the park. Note how many of the peaks in the area also look "volcano-y".

View attachment 34812





In an earlier post, I mentioned that I thought the photographer was back up on the day following the first eruption... I found a picture in my camera that corrects me. He actually went up three days later to document the destruction of the first eruption. It was on this, the third day, that he and his companion were nearly caught by the second, larger eruption.

 

[Olythom]

Here is some more of the surrounding scenery. This was another place, as in the Crater Lake area, where scientists have determined that there were several HUGE volcanoes that existed at one time, blew themselves to smithereens, and left behind 10,000 foot peaks that are only the 'remnants' of the original peak. Amazing! At one site, they pointed out three peaks that are between 7,000 and 10,000 feet and separated by approximately 7 miles. All three of these peaks were part of a single volcano!






Most of the way down the Park hwy on the west side of the mountain, you come to The Sulfur Works, where one entrepreneurial fellow set up a business mining sulfur, setting up hot-water spa pools, etc. There are still many vents releasing steam and one large "mud pot" where a steam vent creates a cauldron of boiling mud right next to the road. His business was shut down many years ago and there have been injuries to hikers and tourists who venture beyond the safety boundaries onto the crusty ground.

 

[Olythom]

I finished up the ride at the north entrance of the park and headed west on hwy44. I stopped at one little rest area/viewpoint on the road and hit an overlook of the Pit River. For me, it was just a stop for a little snack, a drink, and to stretch my legs but the view from the overlook was awesome. This waterfall is in the bottom of a deep gorge and I never did figure out a way to get down there to see the falls. The picture does not do it justice.




It was at this rest stop where I experienced a motorcycling first - at least for me. While riding during the day, I had run into a fair number of insects, some of them rather substantial. well, while I was eating drinking and taking pics of the Pit River gorge, the resident yellow jackets decided that my tall OEM windscreen offered up quite a feast!. I bet there were 100 of them feeding on the remains of their insect brethren. Luckily, they were not overaggressive and they let me mount the bike and head out without a fight. I stopped a few miles down the road and cleaned the windscreen - as I should have earlier in the day.


Riding down the mountain after all that fun, I had a bit of a rude awakening. The temperature up near Lassen was in the 70's and I was quite comfortable in my Aerostich suit. On the other hand, down into Redding, CA, it was 103 degrees, according to an info sign in front of a business in the valley. By the time I got into town and pulled into my first stop to strip off the Aerostich, I was literally dripping in sweat. 103 and high humidity is way too hot for a Roadcrafter suit - even at 70mph. BTW... I've said it before... I will NEVER buy another black helmet!! My brain was cooking..

I settled into a nice little place just north of Shasta Lake, CA called Fawn Dale and spent the night sleeping soundly in my own cabin-style room after my second day on the road.


After all the fun on the road and the great sightseeing, it's time to go to work. The underlying reason for this whole trip was a stop at............



My visit to Russell was a joy. The guys there really know their business. I showed up at 0800. I filled out some paperwork. They took pictures of me sitting on Skookum. My builder, Chris, asked some questions and chatted for a bit. Then he told me to come back at 1130. I was more fortunate than some who do this on-site visit to Russell because I had already sent them my original seats and was riding on my Shad. Since I had the Shad on the bike, I was able to go for a ride around town, including a jaunt up to Shasta Lake Dam.. Another fascinating historical site.



Yes, that is the Shasta Lake and the dam in the background behind Skookum.

The story of the construction of this dam is another remarkable example of what people can do if they are focused on a common goal. These guys did not have the amazing technology that we have today and they did not have the massive equipment that we have today but their creation rivals anything ever built. 9 mile long conveyor belts to move rocks down the valley... Whole towns built just to house the workers... Millions and millions of huge buckets of concrete being delivered to specific locations in the dam by cable and pulley systems that spanned the canyon 600 feet above the lake bottom... men climbing on those cables to grease the wheels and the cables in freezing cold and broiling heat.... engineering done without high speed computers or even pocket calculators... It's all amazing to think back to what those men accomplished.

Anyway, I got back to Russell at 1130 and Chris had the first version of my seat done. He fitted it onto the bike and I took a seat. After talking it over, scooting around a little, sitting this way and then that way, we decided he had pretty much nailed it and the mock-up was good to go. He told me to come back around 1500. When I got back, the seat was upholstered and ready to go. These seats are amazing! The ride home was considerably more comfortable than the ride down. I have always like my Shad seat - and still do - but the new seat is a completely different level of comfort. It comes with a cost - both in terms of money and in terms of ground seat height but I am totally happy with it. And, more importantly, my wife likes it!

 

[Olythom]

So, the adventure is winding down. I took the long way down to Shasta lake to have my seat built and now I have to hustle a little bit to get home and back to work. I departed Shasta Lake around 1630 and rode up to Sunny Valley, Oregon to a little campground where I experienced another first for me - my first real live motorcycle campsite....



It was here that I was caught a little off-guard by a Google review that said the campground was close to the highway but had no highway noise..... Now that I type that, I can see the conflict in the message clearly. I did not see it that way when I first read it. The campground is very convenient to the highway - probably only 75 yards from I-5 but the problem was that it is near a grade on I-5 where the semis are either jake-braking to control their speed or really pushing hard to build some speed to get up the hill. The only other issue was that the campground has security lights that are on all night???? That's probably helpful if you're in an RV and worry about people stealing your stuff at night but, for a guy who is camping in a thin, lightweight tent and who is only 6 feet away from everything he owns, the lights are not helpful. Every time I rolled over, my brain thought those lights were a sunrise and that I had slept in too long. Still, fatigue from the previous couple of days allowed me to get a decent sleep and by 0700, I was packed and ready to roll.

I rode a few miles down the highway to an exit at Wolf Creek, Oregon where breakfast, coffee, and gas satisfied my needs and Skookum's needs. I jumped on I-5 and made it straight through to Olympia by mid-afternoon.

Overall thoughts on the trip....

This bike is awesome. I averaged over 72 mpg for the trip. That includes 50 mph two-lanes, up and down mountains, 70mph freeways and everything in between.

The smoke and haze from the wildfires in WA, OR, and CA were ever-present although not bad enough to spoil the trip.

My old bones (65 this year) do not much care for sleeping on a thin pad in a mummy bag.

I have far too many pictures to include in a thread like this. I will be posting more to a personal gallery here in the forum.

I was tickled that my valve adjustment, chain replacement, sprocket replacement, aerostich suit, Shoei helmet, new RoadSmart II's, and cheap Walmart soft cooler all WORKED!!

I had enough fun that my wife and I are already thinking about a trip together.

The stories about Russell Day-Long seats are true.

If I was going to do any really long rides, I need to find a better form of throttle lock. My right hand was still exhausted and weak 4 days after I got home.

I wish I had purchased different panniers. The OEM versions are oddly shaped and don't have enough useful space. But my wife likes the way they snug into her legs so ??..??..?? maybe I will stick with them.

This country is jammed full of really cool places to go and sites to see!

I'm sure I will think of more details that I would like to share but, for now, this trip and its ride report is done.... Thanks to all who expressed interest. Personally, I had a great time.
>Thom

P.S. Oh yeah... I mentioned a riding video but do not have that capability set up yet. I thought I could just upload them like the photos. Once I sort that out, I have a couple of videos that I will post here.

 

[sumo]

I really want one of those seats. Looks awesome! Does it act as a backrest too? Heated?