CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A one-way ride of 323 km, La Grande to Baker City - roughly 5 h 37 in the saddle. It goes by way of Joseph Oregon and Hells Canyon Overlook. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,000 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
La Grande lies flat as a table in the middle of the Grande Ronde Valley, a wide bowl of farmland in north-eastern Oregon ringed by the Blue Mountains to the west and the Wallowas to the east. It is a railroad town of about thirteen thousand people, with a college, a brick downtown and a long, wide main street, and it feels more like Idaho or Montana than the rainy Oregon of the coast. Wheat, hay and cattle fill the valley, and the air is dry and clear.
Read the complete La Grande Oregon write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
La Grande Oregon is where the day begins. Next is Joseph Oregon.
Joseph is a small town at the foot of a very large mountain range. The Wallowa Mountains, sometimes called the Alps of Oregon, rise sharply behind it, with snow on the high summits for much of the year and a long glacial lake, Wallowa Lake, tucked into the valley mouth just south of town. It is a place that feels a long way from anywhere, in the far northeastern corner of the state, at the end of a long road that runs up through Enterprise and has no real continuation.
Read the complete Joseph Oregon write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Joseph Oregon comes up about 114 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hells Canyon Overlook.
Hells Canyon is the deepest river gorge in North America, cut by the Snake River between Oregon and Idaho, and it is deeper than the Grand Canyon, though far less visited and far less famous. Across the gulf, the Seven Devils range in Idaho tilts up to more than 2,400 metres, nearly eight thousand feet above the river. What strikes you is the lack of a crowd. A couple of other vehicles in the car park and a lot of silence is normal.
Read the complete Hells Canyon Overlook write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 186 km into the recorded legs you reach Hells Canyon Overlook. Next is Baker City.
Baker City looks across a wide, dry valley at the Elkhorn Mountains, a jagged line of peaks that stay snowy well into the summer, and the contrast between sage-covered flats and white summits is the first thing you notice. It is a town of about ten thousand people in the far east of Oregon, on the old Oregon Trail, and its brick downtown is better preserved than most in the West. The Geiser Grand Hotel, a grand 1889 building with a stained-glass ceiling in the dining room, recalls the gold boom that made the town rich.
Read the complete Baker City write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Baker City closes the day.
La Grande Oregon → Joseph Oregon is 114 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Joseph Oregon → Hells Canyon Overlook is 72 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hells Canyon Overlook → Baker City is 137 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.