BigJohnSD, "Dr Thompson" (Scott), and Fontanaman Pacific North West 2025

[raYzerman]

You can think outside the box, but should always ride the box in OR.

[fontanaman]

Here are a few photos from the last couple of days.

Liberty Bell at the North Cascades Overlook about 30 miles west of Winthrop Washington.

Along Crescent Lake, Hwy 101 west of Port Angeles.



The Astoria Bridge crossing the Columbia River. This one is for Mark.







The Oregon Coast is great for tourists. I can't recommend it on a motorcycle, unless one crisscrosses the Coast Mountains back and forth picking the good roads using your favorite method. It is just too crowded until south of the Oregon Dunes.

It is scenic, no denying that.



The Painted Hills.





Along Hwy 402 near Monument Oregon.

[bigjohnsd]

Day 9 - 18 September 2025, John Day, OR to John Day, OR via Paulina, OR, Prineville Reservoir Dam, Ochoco Ranger Station, 50 miles of gravel back up to US 26, - 316 miles, 7.5 hours riding .5 hours off the bikes. No sniffing today, "The Road is the Ride, and the Ride is the Road!



We left John Day about 0800 and headed South on US 39r before turning West on the Paulina/Izee Highway. We enjoyed our ride to Paulina which is just a bar, a school, and a post office now. From Paulina we continued West towards Prineville, OR then South to the Prineville Reservoir Dam where we stopped for about 101South minutes for bio's and water. We then headed back to Prineville and East on US 26. we rode a section of Butler Map Gold (not all it is cracked up to be) before reversing course and heading East on the Ochoco Ranger Station Road/NF-42, a beautiful two-lane freshly paved and smooth for the first 20 miles. We continued East on NF-42 until we hit a Tee and then headed North on generally good but washboardy gravel NF-22 for about 50 miles back to US-26 at Mitchel, OR. We rode East on 26 as far as OR-19, then North to OR 402, East to US-395, and South to John Day. The WEAX was perfect, cool when we left John Day, warming gently and generally in the low 80F range and only hit 90F once.

A few pictures from today.

East end of the Izee/Paulina Highway


Flats on the Izee/Paulina Highway


Between Paulina and Prineville there are some nice bluffs


Prineville Reservoir


On NF-42 headed East past the Ochoco Ranger Station where the great road got a bit less great.




Gravel North - very washboardy


It got better as we got closer to US-26


Heading up OR-19 into more John Day National Monument lands

[Toter]

Got some serious bug guts going on there!

[bigjohnsd]

Day 10 - 19 September 2025, John Day, OR to Hearthstone Elegant Lodge, Kamiah, ID via US 26, OR-7N, OR-86, FS-39/North Pines Rd (Three Thumbs Up!), Imnaha Hwy to Joseph, OR, OR-82 to Enterprise, OR then OR-3/WA-129 (Rattlesnake) to Acotin, WA, and on to Lewiston, then the Tamany Creek Rd to US-95, South to Craigmont, ID, then East to Nez Perce, from Nez Perce we took ID-64 to Kamiah. The last 8 miles into Kamiah was very nasty pea gravel, NOT FUN! - 371 miles, 7.0 hours riding 1 hour off the bikes. We stopped and looked down into Hell's Canyon around noon at an overlook along FS 39, and stopped for a drink and snack in Acotin.




Pictures from today:

Leaving John Day at 0810, 53F and sunny. We saw 49F on OR-7.

Approaching Hells Canyon on OR-86


On FS-39 paralleling the Snake River/Hells Canyon


Scott surveying the Hells Canyon Vista from the top. In 2023 we rode the bottom down to the dam. You can't see the bottom from this overlook.









North of Enterprise, OR, the mountains were beautiful


The Snake River at Acotin


Between Craigmont and Nez Perce we thought we were going into a wildfire, but when we got close it appeared to be controlled burning of wheat stubble.



Tomorrow we plan of heading to Elk City, ID then over the Nez Perce Pass (The McGruder Corridor - ~70+ miles of Two Track/dirt/gravel) and will end up in Salmon, ID for the evening.

Stay tuned!

[Hppants]

Has it been 10 days already? Time sure flies.

[bigjohnsd]

Day 11 - 20 September 2025, Hearthstone Elegant Lodge, Kamiah, ID to Salmon, ID via Elk City, ID, the Magruder Corridor, MT 473, US 93.
265 miles, 8.0 hours riding 1 hour off the bikes, 76 miles of rough gravel/two-track/rocks avg speed 20 mph on the Magruder corridor. All I want to do on a "big bike"!





Todays Pictures:

Scott adjusting prior to the Magruder


The first few miles of the corridor are really nice smooth pea gravel, 30-40 mph is easy.



Time to shed a layer


Scott's '25 GSA was flawless over the rough road. My '23 DL800 was the same, the suspension mods I've done (springs)worked well.


The vistas were spectacular, the camera doesn't do them justice.


BigJohnSD shedding layers and drinking water.





I couldn't stop and take pictures in the knarly parts of the passage.





The actual Nez Perce Pass was a letdown after noting 8,900 feet at one spot in Idaho


US-93 South to Salmon was a treet after four hours of rocks and washboard!


Kool rock along 93


A little "Food Porn" from Magruders in Salmon, ID - a great brewery/restaurant !

My Salmon and Vegetables was excellent!

Scott's Orange Glazed Pork Chop was excellent as well.

Tomorrow is a transit day, we will make time towards home, stopping in Thermopolis, WY tomorrow evening. Just a few interesting streches of road around Jackson Hole and heading over to Dubois, WY. Lots of straight roads.
"Suzy" will roll over 19k Miles tomorrow and her chain is about at end-of-life but should see me home.

Stay tuned!

[Bugnatr]

Magruder sure looks different then in June (instead of September) when Robert and I rode it with Fontannaman. The wild flowers were off the chart, fun road!

[Bugnatr]

Magruder sure looks different then in June (instead of September) when Robert and I rode it with Fontannaman. The wild flowers were off the chart, fun road!

Probably helped being on 650 singles.

[fontanaman]

Magruder sure looks different then in June (instead of September) when Robert and I rode it with Fontannaman. The wild flowers were off the chart, fun road!

Probably helped being on 650 singles.

That was a great ride. We rode the best Idaho backroads including the Chinese Wall, the highest road in Idaho at 10450 feet, the Seven Devils west of Riggins, along with a couple of excellent route deviations suggested by Doug just because it seemed like a good idea, and it was.

[bigjohnsd]

Day 12 - 21 September 2025, Salmon, ID to Thermopolis, WY via ID-28, ID-33, US 191, and US 26. Rexburg, ID, Jackson, Grand Teton NP, Dubois, WY, Wind River Canyon.
 446 miles, 7.5 hours riding 1 hour off the bikes Gas and Bio at Rexburg, ID and Dubois, WY.



We left Salmon, ID at 0815 in cool temps, 47F. Good road and little traffic on ID-28 to ID-33 and onward across the NRL to Rexburg where we stopped for gas.

The WEAX was threatening to our South and West and we hoped to cross in front of the storm. We mostly did experiencing just a few sprinkles here and there.

The mountains were magnificent!
Off ID-28





The WEAX was moving in

But, we were generally able to stay in front of it.

Our view of the Grand Tetons was slightly obscured.




We hadn't really seen much fall color, but there was color in the park and up the highway towards Duboius, WY







These were the best colors of the whole trip!

The WEAX continued to threaten as we neared the Togotwee summit West of Dubois

But once we reached Dubois the temperature rose to 75F and we were ahead of the front.

The Wind River Painted Cliffs




Blue Skies and a Big Red Rock!


A spirited run through the Wind River Canyon


And we end our day in Thermopolis, WY.

Tomorrow we will head to Ten Sleep, WY, ride up through the Ten Sleep Canyon, then over the Cloud Peak Skyway (US 16) to Buffalo, WY where, Rob, an old Navy friend is stuck waiting for his insurance company to total his vehicle after hitting a Mule deer. We plan on an early lunch. I introduced Rob to Pheasant hunting on Aquidneck Island, RI in 1980. He had a Irish Red Setter and I was able to help him find a pheasant and shoot it for him, likely the only bird ever shot over that dog.

Should make it home tomorrow afternoon and I'll wrap this up.
Stay tuned.

[bigjohnsd]

Day 13 - 22 September 2025, Thermopolis, WY to Spearfish, SD
316 miles, 5.0 hours riding, 1.5 hours off the bikes for Gas, coffee, and a snack after a short visit with an old friend in Buffalo, WY.

We left Thermopolis at 0800 in advance of an impending storm. Winds 20-40 out of the North pushed us around all day, but we saw only a few intermittent sprinkles. The real rain was behind us. Temps from 47F atop the Cloud Peak Skyway at 9,000 feet to 74F near Gillette, WY.

Today's Track -


Leaving Thermopolis under gloomy skies


Colors were past their peak atop the Bighorns







It looked like the winds had stripped many of the leaves.

Blue skies East of Gillette


Good to be home!




4,500 miles total, more smiles than I can count, Suzy needs an oil change and a chain before we ride again.
Thanks for following along. Your "Likes" and comments are appreciated.

[escapefjrtist]

Nice wrap up to the trip BigJohn! Great loop you two rode, glad I was able to join the gang for the ride over North Cascades.

~G

[raYzerman]

Excellent report. I've been on most of those roads, I did not do the north end of the Oly Pen. Mr. Fontana supplied me with many suggestions over the years, can't go wrong with his routing whatsoever! Congrats on the great journey!

[Bugnatr]

Nice ride John, those Wyoming shots were way cool.

Good stuff.

[fontanaman]

Glad I got to ride along on this trip for a while. Nice riding with John and Scott, thanks for inviting me along.

[Hppants]

The northwest still eludes me, but I enjoyed riding along vicariously through you guys. Hold those routes in escrow - one day I'll get there.

[fontanaman]

The northwest still eludes me, but I enjoyed riding along vicariously through you guys. Hold those routes in escrow - one day I'll get there.

The routes will be here when you arrive but the pavement is going to pot faster than County/State can maintain it.

[wheatonFJR]

The northwest still eludes me, but I enjoyed riding along vicariously through you guys. Hold those routes in escrow - one day I'll get there.

The routes will be here when you arrive but the pavement is going to pot faster than County/State can maintain it.

They'll likely put down freshly paved asphalt the summer before PPANTS goes on that trip.

[fontanaman]

The northwest still eludes me, but I enjoyed riding along vicariously through you guys. Hold those routes in escrow - one day I'll get there.

The routes will be here when you arrive but the pavement is going to pot faster than County/State can maintain it.

They'll likely put down freshly paved asphalt the summer before PPANTS goes on that trip.

If Pants can pull that off I will bow down an eat chip seal. Snowballs have a better chance of not melting at Pants house in July.