High_Sides Trips and Pics

[High_Side]

Although it would first appear that the falls are right by the road I ended up walking about 3/4 of a km down a trail in bear country with nobody else around before I felt the overwhelming urge to give up on this quest before I became bear food. All that would have been found by the search team were pieces of 90's vintage rain gear and a well-worn Shark Helmet in a steaming pile of bear poo. Time to move along....

Heh. I've had the same feeling in 2008 hiking around solo on Cape Breton. (Mrs. Stark stayed back at the B&B to rest up that afternoon.) As I went further and further down a trail, I saw more and more piles of bear scat. And my enthusiasm to find out what lay ahead got less and less! It woulda been weeks before anyone would have found whatever parts the bear didn't eat....

I did feel like a bit of a chickenchit posting about the bear thing in hindsite, but my spidey senses were tingling and when you get that feeling you start weighing the risk / benefit ratio....

[High_Side]

There isn't much for changing landscape on my ride to work east of Calgary, however in August there are some amazing colours to make up for it.

I needed some shots of the new Monster as we really didn't have anything outside of the driveway yet. I left a little early one morning to see what I could pull together. The light on the ride to work helps but these shots were just quickies without any real thought, but some of them turned out ok

There are a lot of old barns from the first half of the last century in Alberta that have been left to decay. The new stuff will not be so photogenic 70 years from now

The new Duck definately has a different vibe than the old Monster from the very first page of this blog that I'll know that we will regret selling sooner or later. The 696 changes direction much quicker (due to the 160 rear tire vs. the 180), but really doesn't feel like it is as substantial of a motorcycle (my thoughts, not hers). There are cool things about it however....

Overall we are gong to need some time and a longer ride to bond with the new Monster, just like the old one on the first page of this blog. Over the next few weeks after these pictures were taken we had the opportunity to find out as we rode through BC, Washington, Idaho and Montana. Stay tuned....

[sapaul]

Hey man, thanks for sharing. i love the Viffers and to see one giving so much pleasure is awsome, along with the scenery. One day, I will get to the states and canada.

We don't have Bears here !!!!!!

[High_Side]

Hey man, thanks for sharing. i love the Viffers and to see one giving so much pleasure is awsome, along with the scenery. One day, I will get to the states and canada.

We don't have Bears here !!!!!!

Thanks Sapaul. Any time that you want to come over I would be more than willing to show you the best places to ride.

Cheers,

Bruce

[wrecks]

Beautiful Scenery!

[High_Side]

Finally getting around to writing this one!

This summer Mrs_High_Side and I took another run at Lake Roosevelt, as last years trip was a soaker and we missed being able to enjoy a lot of it. The roads are great on this ride, and there are awesome sites to see if you travel off of the beaten path whenever you can. So that's what we did, and the weather gods were smiling down on us......for the most part.

We had a plan to hit coast if possible so the first day we took a more direct route than usual and blasted down Hwy #3 from Cow-town to Castlegar. This was the inaugural run for the 696 and we were hopeful that the shorter seat to bar distance would help Mrs. High_Side take on longer days than she could handle with the old S2R. But the first day revealed that both the seat foam and the slope of the seat make for a very uncomfortable ride. After day one it was obvious that a run for the coast would be too optimistic.

After leaving Castlegar in the morning we blasted down along the lake. The sky was looking a little ugly as we left the Super-8 but it opened up to give us perfect weather for riding. Life is good.


As we headed for the "northern" Cascades, we pass though the little town of Republic. It is one of those towns that is based in great riding country and I always get a smile when I've finally reached it.

We set course for Winthrop, as Jen hasn't seen it before and it's a great place to stop on your way through northern Washington. If you haven't been there before, it's a magnet for bikes. There are lots of great patios, as well as many shops to entertain the girls....

To sum it up the town of Winthrop has be done up in an old western theme and it runs right along the river. We had booked our room the night before from Castlegar and we ended up with this view:
The view from our hotel room in Winthrop. One floor below was the hot-tub - a great place to relax in the evening...

In keeping with our shortened ride plans we head south east out of Winthrop towards the Grand Coulee dam. The temperature is scorching but we stay cool by keeping moving.

The required shot of the dam.....in the heat.....

At various times throughout the day we run along the edge of Lake Roosevelt and there is a beauty here that is really different than anywhere else. The level of prosperity goes up and down in the various towns we pass through along the way, but overall this area seems to have been hit by fairly difficult economic times. However, the really impressive thing about many parts of Washington is that even when times are tough their front yards are immaculate, and the people who live there have a lot of pride in their property. This really adds to the appeal of riding here.

Close to where the arms of the lake converge


A few shots from our run along the lake that day....

Glass top water like this makes me yearn for a boat and a water-ski. I'm already doing one of the things that I love the most so today the VFR will have to do....

Back country roads is what we set out to find and this is what we got. Again with the old barn theme in this blog....they make a great back-drop for bike pictures

As we stand off in the shade taking a drink of water the Monster waits by the lake

At this point the killer seat on the new Ducati is really starting to become a problem. We decide to stop in Spokane for the evening but get caught in rush-hour traffic that would put Calgary to shame as we head across town to Hotel alley. Heat + bad Ducati seat means that there will be a pool in our near future.

To be cont....

[High_Side]

cont....

In the morning we got a later start after a long chat with an older gentlemen on a Gold wing. We were discussing how terrible the seat was on the new Duck (especially compared to the old one) and he knew exactly what we needed. A SHEEP SKIN! Even though her butt was voting otherwise Jen couldn't let herself put a sheepskin on the seat of her new Ducati. It would definitely make her bike a one of a kind though....

We skirt around Coeur D' Alene before shooting north to Sandpoint. Both are nicer places to stay than Spokane but the timing just didn't work this time. If you are ever in this area Coeur D'Alene is nice but expen$$ive, and Sandpoint is smaller with a lot of cool little pubs to explore.

We decide to venture down the east side of Lake Pend Oreille on hwy 200 for something a little different. As it turns out it has been years since I have been here and it is a nice road, if not a little too straight. We head several km up Hwy #28 towards Hotsprings but are turned back when the locals warn us that the construction further north is virtually impossible to navigate on a road bike. As it turns out though Hwy #28 is a great ride and this gives us a chance to do it again....with a little more gusto
From here we head through Paradise (pretty enough, but perhaps a little enthusiastically named), and around to Polson for the evening. We decide to splurge on the Best Western right on the lake, complete with a pool with a view. To top it off there was a great pub right in the hotel so it was easily the nicest place we stayed during this trip....highly recommended if you find yourself near the Flathead Lake (and much better than Kalispel which seems to be over-run with overpriced yet dumpy hotels)

On the last day we decided to take a run at the Going to the Sun Road in Glacier National Park. Typically traffic is a bit of a gamble and it can often take you longer to go over the pass than pass around it (as we did a couple of pages back in this blog). We decide to go for it, but unfortunately got caught up in a couple hours of construction delays.
Jen and the 696 waiting patiently....

The temperature gauge on the Viffer is beginning to rise and I notice that the cooling fan is not coming on. I try to manage through the heat by shutting it off any time that I could, but it still overheated right as we were passing down the single lane of traffic around the construction...with a 1500' drop right beside me. A construction worker let me know that " you can't park here".....so what the hell do you want me to do then?

One of the advantages of the construction was getting to watch these guys taunt each other for 15 minutes while stopped about 60' away. They never did square off and the one on the right backed down before we moved along but it was interesting to watch just the same...

It was with much angst that we watched these clouds role in from the east (very unusual for around here) about 1 1/2 hrs from home. The pictures don't really do the could justice as they were as ugly as they come. The temperature dropped significantly and all the signs were there that we were in for a big hail storm. We stopped here to discuss our strategy and ended up waiting for a half an hour. It turns out to be the right decision though and although we got wet, we never got pummeled by the hail that we passed a little later on that was piled up in the ditch like snow drifts.


The rain along with steeply dropping temperatures made for a chilly ride home. One last stop in Black-Diamond at the saloon to warm up and we were on our way. Overall it was a great trip but the Duck will be getting a new seat before we take it on tour again.

Cheers,

High_Side

[noodlenoggin]

If I haven't said it before, I'll say it now: you take awesome photos, really a treat to look at.

[High_Side]

If I haven't said it before, I'll say it now: you take awesome photos, really a treat to look at.

Thanks Noodlenoggin - it's cool to get that kind of feedback 'cause I really know nothing about how to use a camera! It's good fun though....even if I have to take a lot to find a few keepers......

[tonyric]

Totalmotorcycle needs to set up the images folder on the forum software so pics don't have to be stored on photobucket, people like me (in Afghanistan) can't view the pics as photobucket is blocked.