To Hell and Back
Friday, April 17
Again with no particular destination in mind, I decided to continue heading east on Hwy 19. It was a bit of a hazy morning, but this area of Oregon is still very beautiful.
At Kimberly, Hwy 19 turns south, but I veered onto Hwy 402 to continue heading east. Just pass Kimberly, I passed a farm where the trees were starting to bloom.
A little further down Hwy 402, I noticed a dirt road heading south and decided to take that to see where it headed. The road went through some foothills, and passed a few farms and then dead-ended at a ranch, where once again I would need to turn around.
Back on Hwy 402, I passed through Monument and came across another dirt road heading south.
Eventually I ran into a No Trespassing sign, and turned around again back to the highway. In Long Creek, I turned north on Hwy 395. I stopped at a cafe along the way and had a pretty good breakfast of biscuits and gravy. Apparently it was turkey hunting season, as there were a few locals in the place in their camo suits talking turkey.
While stopped, I took a look at my map book and decided to take Forest Road 55 into the Umatilla National Forest. The road follows the north fork of the John Day River for a ways.
At some point, the road left the river behind, veered north, and started gaining in elevation.
I'm now passing snowy patches at the sides of the road, and had this eerie feeling that the road may be blocked again up ahead. Sure enough, eventually I ran into this.
As with the day before, the road passed onto the northern slopes and blocked by snow. I would have to turn around again, and backtrack to Hwy 395. Not really a problem though, I really didn't have any particular place to be and the riding was fantastic nonetheless.
Back on Hwy 395, I pass the 45th parallel.
I ended up veering east again on Hwy 244 to La Grande; then onto Hwy 82 and passed through Elgin, Wallowa, and Enterprise before ending up in Joseph. I rode through the town and decided to stay the night at the Indian Lodge Motel.
Another great day of riding, despite having to turn around and backtrack a few times. Surprisingly, I again saw no more than a few motorcycles on the road.