Into the Blast Zone - 740 Km St. Helens style

It all started out Wednesday with a post to the local Ducati forum about a mid-week ride to St. Helens. Having just picked up the new bike and wanting to really get a feel for long distance riding I signed on and played wingman for (most of) the day.

Traffic was horrible on both sides of the sound but by some weird cosmic alignment both of us arrived at the meeting point in Tacoma literally at the same time. It was just going to be that sort of day.

After powering down some questionable food at a place that I won't talk about (<cough>Mc Donalds</cough>) we fired up the machines and headed to Randal for our first fuel stop of the day.

Bong on the very cool Ducati Multistread 1000 and myself on my 904 Cagiva we took the 'back roads' bypassing Spanaway (and who would not want to bypass Spanaway?) and hooking up with Hwy 7 just south of the major congestion.

After dispatching a few cars at the start of the Le Grand curves I quickly found myself with a clear road and the need for some speed. It was time to put the GC through it's paces. Being used to a Ducati SBK I was not expecting much. What a sad underestimation of this machines (and I suppose my own to a small extent) capabilities. I soon found myself at impressive lean angles, Dual sport tires digging into the pavement with NO complaints (a big thumbs-up for the street maners of the Metzler Tourance tire, it massively exceeded my expectations - more on that later).

The Curves once again paid out there glorious bounty, leaving smils on our faces as we rolled though Elbe on our way to Morton. But not before taking a little detoure a pal of mine had shown me earlier this spring. Sorry, not spilling the beans on that, gonna have to go riding with me!

Taking Hwy 12 east out of Morton and into Randal for our first fuel stop of the day. There we met up with a few other bikes, a pair of which that had just come down from the mountain. One of them with tires so worn out there were cords showing and quite a few miles before they would be back home! Just glad it wasn't me with the tire! Just a quick note for anyone stopping in Randal, the bathrooms are currently out of order so don't plan on wetting down a shirt or even washing your hands. A porta-potty is all there is for the time being. Ick.

The afternoon was growning long. It was nearing 3:00pm and there was still the matter of a volcano to deal with. Assembling our gear and reloading onto the bikes we made haste up FR-25 towards the FR-26 cut-off. This is the road into the back secions of the blast zone. Not far off FR-25 we are confronted with this sign. Certainly the indicator of great things to come.

The road paid great dividens as we made our way up to Norwary Pass and back down to FR-99 (AKA Windy Ridge) what many consider to be the Holy Grail of motorcycling (at least in the Pacific Norhtwest). Personally I think there better road surrounding the mountain, FR-26 being one of them.

On second thought. Maybe not better but certainly different and quite excellent. I did have one of my best days on FR-99 yesterday (again, more on that later). For now here are some pics from our ride up FR-26:

Bong took the lead up FR-26 (you can just barely make him out in the picture, if you look close and use just a tiny bit of imagination. This is near the start before the first section of gravel and well before reaching the Blast Zone.

Driving into desolation.
The weather was perfect. Here was are heading down one of maybe a hand full of straight sections of this road. 1.5 lanes of nearly private paradise. Had to imagine anything more peaceful and soul refreshing than this.

Bong heading into a nice gentle right-hand turn as we near a clearing. Along the way were are treated to great open vistas of valleys below us as well as tight little single-lane pavement winding through the forest. It has a lot of everything.

For the most part the road is paved (and exceptionaly smooth in some places) but it also includes some of thes surprise gravel patches are sections where the pavment is completly missing. Don't let this road suck you in the first time out because there a few sections where nice sweeping corner heads into a decreasing radius turn.. with no pavement! Keep your wits about you and you won't find yourself dirt-surfing.

I included this shot just to show that it's not always easy to shoot action shots while riding a 500 lb. bike on a seldom maintained road. It's hard to tell for sure but I'm going about 45 MPH here and it's just about 3:30pm. I'd liking the old-school dash on the bike.

Finally we reached the blast zone. Bong is stopped up ahead taking in the view. You should be able to see the road trailing off along the side of the valley walls and up around the next hillside on it's way to Norway Pass. We are almost there!

Stopped along the side of the valley and taking it all in. Two trusty Italian bikes having proven thier worth (and versitility). They are both quite amazing yet farily simple air/oil colled 2-valve machines. The silver (Multistrada) an evolution of it's older Cousin parked just behind.

Finally at the top of Windy Ridge. Just about 4 short miles from Mt. St. Helens crate and deep within the blast zone. What was unique to these photos compared to many I'd taken before was the lack of ice (always present on the mountain in the past) and a thick white smoke emitting from the newly formed lava dome. It's facinating to watch a mountin rebuild itself within your lifetime much less with a matter of a few months! Every visit sice it's re-awakening last year has show noticable changes.

After a short break to the top (the bathrooms are closed here as well) we saddled up to make the full decent of FR-99. Dragging boot sliders and foot pegs I hammered the Gran Canyon down the mountain with a grin so wide I think the two ends met at the rear of my head!

This is where the tires really proved thier worth. It's not an aggressive street compound or design, nor a great dirt tire but so far I have been very impressed with it's road handling abilities, allowing me to attain maximum lean angle (draging some parts of the bike) and giving no hint of reaching thier limits. The little hubs on the edges of the tires are now gone (I just smile thinking about how I managed to do that)!!

After a very spirited (but responsible) jaunt down the moutain, Bong (who was originally going to head north back to Randal) decide to head down FR-25 with me until we at least reached the FR-90 turn-off towards Carson.

Carson you might ask? Carson is at the end of another set of incredible curves but also nothworthy is that it's right at the edge of the Columbia River Gorge. I truely wonderful sight to see!! Just a west of Carson in Stevenson, the 3rd Annual Sportbike Northwest rally (which I'd won a free ticket too - $90 value) is being held. Thursday was early registration day and since I was only 70 miles or so away (with great highway in between) it was a no-brainer. Off to the rally to register, get my t-shirt and goodies.

The crowd was very small considering it was Thrusday and the early registration day. But there were a lot of bikes orbiting the general area almost all packed with gear and tents. Sure looked like they were taking the scenic route to the event (sort of like myself).

Once I completed registration I headed out west towards home. It was getting dark and I still have my day-time only tinted shield mounted up. I made haste towards Portland but not before stopping to snap a picture at The Bridge of the Gods crossing the Columbia River (one side in Washington, the other in Oregon).

Then it was back on the SR-14 west, to 205 and eventually I-5 north. After suffering a 90 min. delay on SR-16 at the Tacoma Narrows Bridge (construction.. always construction) I managed to roll into our hilltop compound just about 1/2 past midnight. Tired yes, but mentally alert and quite happy. I slept very well that night!

Here is the full route map. 740 Km (about 460 miles), many counties many hills, 1 river and 1 volcano. All in a day's ride. Ready to do it all again!

So basically, I did!