Ride the Northern Route

[Gary C]

Hello All

Looking for some guidance/information. This will be my first major road trip and the fulfillment of a young mans trip that never happened. Looking at riding west to the pacific coast around the Seattle area (may/June). I'll be using Highway 2 through the northern states I have been told a nice route.

Heading up from southern Ontario and eventually making it to Duluth. Here is where I ask for guidance etc.. I know it is about the journey, but I don't want to run out of time and have it become a race. Time/distance/road conditions and anything else that I can be told will be greatly accepted. Perhaps I'm overplanning and after all this will throw some caution to the 4 winds, but it is winter and the planning is half the fun.

Thanks

Gary

[NoRRmad]

I did Route 2 from Sault St. Marie to Glacier National Park a couple o' years ago. It's a little...isolated, in places. Once you leave the Great Lakes it's nearly a straight shot (and I do mean straight,) until you reach the foothills of the Rockies. Every few miles, there's a crossroads and a sign pointing to the right saying "Canada, five miles," or "Canada twenty miles." It's either flat, or gently rolling grassland but there are a few river gorges.

It is sort of a spiritual journey, rather than a geographical one; the mind wanders and you think about things you haven't considered in years. There isn't much traffic, and you want to keep a close eye on the gas. I found myself calculating mileage in my head a lot, and filling up a bit more than necessary -- it's a scary proposition running out of gas out there, though I'm sure that somebody would come along to help eventually, and only harried tourists would pass you by in that landscape if you looked like you needed help.

I have pictures, but haven't found a photo host to park them on so I can't post them here, but there is a subtle beauty out there, and I do browse through them sometimes, with satisfaction. Do a thorough tuneup before you start and you should enjoy it.

Past Glacier, is probably the more scenic part of the Route, but I haven't done it...yet.

[Airman]

I made the trip from Seattle to Minneapolis then back last year. It is seriously uninteresting if you use I-90 for long. You might consider just using I-94 from Duluth to western Montana. Put the hammer down and get through it. You're right, Gary, it could be cold. I took 410 east through the Mt.Ranier natl forest in July and nearly froze up at the top of the pass.
It was nearly 100 degrees (F) down in Yakima. You can also do a circle route up around Mt Ranier. The only problem with that route is that the pass could still be blocked with snow that early.

[NoRRmad]

A view of Route 2:

I'm still figuring out Photobucket. (Can you tell?)
Pulling up on The Rockies:

[Airman]

Gary,

I was just refreahing my memory about those northern roads. The best loop in Washington is to take 97 north out of Ellensburg and hit hwy 20, the North Cascades highway. Ride it west to I-5 then south to hwy 2, tne back east to Ellensburg. The do it again if you haven't had enough. 20 and 2 are premier riding roads throught the Cascade range.

[Boxer Briefs]

Hi there Gary,

I took a trip from Seattle to NYC and back last summer. Much of the westward leg, basically from Michigan's "U.P." to the Idaho panhandle, was spent on US2. As NoRRmad mentioned, it can be rather remote and straight. It was also very beautiful in places (early July for me) and hot. North central Montana was setting record high temps (107F).





And the "Going To The Sun Highway" through Glacier Park is not to be missed, if it's open when you're there. It's been a heavy snowfall winter in the west.



And as Airman mentioned, there are many nice roads through the Cascades which can be combined for a nice loop or even a figure eight. SR20 through the North Cascades (Washington Pass) and US2 over Stevens Pass on the northern end. US12 over White Pass, SR123 over Cayuse Pass and SR410 over Chinook Pass, all near Mt. Rainier. US97 over Blewett Pass runs north-south and can be used to connect the "northern" passes with the ones near Rainier on the east side of the Cascades. And of course there is I-90, the superslab over Snoqualimie Pass which is far less interesting than the others mentioned. (naturally I don't have any pics of my "local" roads!) And as I stated earlier, there has been a lot of snow in the Cascades this winter. SR20, SR123 and SR410 are all closed in the winter and should be reopened by June, but...????

Oh, and if you can work it in, I would highly recommend US12 over Lolo Pass between Missoula, MT and Lewiston, ID.

Hope that helps with the wintertime planning. Drop me a line if you manage to get out here to Seattle!

Cheers