mich. to seatle trip???

[John Biccum]

You are welcome to pitch a tent at my place in Bellevue, WA (I-90 milepost 13, just 13 miles east of downtown Seattle). I also have a decently equipped shop if you want to do any wrenching. Contact me off list to arrange. US-12 between Lolo, MT and Orofino, ID is worth a detour. The road follows the Clearwater River down from the Continental Divide. This section of US-12 is all curves, including a few huge radius sweepers big enough to have marked passing zones mid-curve. You might also want to check out the (roughly parallel) Lolo Motorway (see http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/clearwater/LewisClark/Assets/driving_lolom.pdf ). This forest road travels over part of the route that Lewis and Clark took during their 1804-1806 expedition to find an overland route to the Pacific Ocean. Considering that your trip has roughly the same goal J as the earlier L-C Expedition, you might enjoy the Lolo Motorway. Also worth a detour is the Magruder Corridor : http://www.jeffhead.com/magruder/index.htm . Magruder Corridor is a forest road that splits two Wilderness Areas, the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness is to the south and the Selway-Bitteroot Wilderness is to the north. Since there is Wilderness to the north and the south there is no way off of the road except for its eastern end (near Shoup, ID) and its western end (near Elk City, ID). This means that the Magruder is frequently closed by wildfires. I'd suggest you check current fire conditions when you get closer and in particular keep an eye on the Saddle Complex Fire: http://www.inciweb.org/incident/2496/ as is in the area. The section of US-12 mentioned, the Magruder Corridor and the Lolo Motorway are all roughly parallel so maybe you can ride the Lolo Motorway west, US-12 back east and then take the Magruder Corridor back west. Washington State Highway 20, the North Cascades Highway, is a must. If you are riding west on US 2 you can pick up WA-20 at the ID-WA border near the town of Newport, WA. I'd skip the westernmost 50 or so miles of WA-20 though unless you were headed for the San Juan islands. Best to leave WA-20 at Rockport and take WA-530 south and then southwest. The westernmost 50 or so miles of WA-20 is flatter, straighter, slower and much less scenic that the easternmost 350 or so miles. The westernmost 50 miles of WA-20 will also offer you plenty of opportunities to contribute to balancing the budgets of the towns you pass though. watch your speed since the local constabulary certainly is. PS much of US-2 is less than scenic. You might want to consider an alternate road west. From: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com [mailto:DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of mark ward Sent: Sunday, September 04, 2011 3:40 PM To: List KLR Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Mich. to Seatle trip??? Hey all Leaving tue's morning taking the ferry to Milwakee, over to 35 to ride the sweeps along the river north, across the top of the U.S.A. (highway 2?) then start heading to Road to the sun, in Glazier nat. park, then seatle. Besides that I am winging it. Anyone know, of any Unique places that are must see or must eat at, clean cheap motels, campgrounds, places to pitch the tent a night, etc. Thanks Mark (W. Mich.) [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]