Sharkweek XI And The Loneliest Road In America

U.S. Route 50 — NV Hwy 50 — “The Loneliest Road in America”

I’m referring to U.S. Route 50, a black ribbon that stretches more than 3,000 miles across the country, from Ocean City, Maryland, to West Sacramento, California.

It’s called “The Loneliest Road in America” for a reason and when you enter Nevada at the Utah state line it travels across 500 miles of Great Basin Desert.

This was our early summer road trip along the historic Pony Express Trail en route to the Road Glide National Rally (aka: “Sharkweek“).

Pony Express Trail

The RoadGlide.org is a community dedicated to all Harley-Davidson Road Glide owners and enthusiasts.  It’s an awesome group of people that like to discuss performance, builds, accessories, mods, specs, troubleshooting, maintenance, and much more.

The like minded gather every year in a different location to experience the roads of the local area and celebrate the ‘Glider’ camaraderie. I was granted grandfather rights to the club having previously owned a Road Glide (aka: Brownshark), but they are a most welcoming group to any rider. Besides, that tradition of featuring a bonfire of anything other than Road Glides stacked, burned and melted together amid cheering crowds is long gone!

It had been eight years since I last attended a Sharkweek event. My first was in 2013 at St. George, Utah for number III, but this was number XI and on the west coast near beautiful Lake Tahoe in Minden, Nev.  The host hotel was the Carson Valley Inn & Casino.

Hotel Nevada – Ely, NV

But, I’ve gotten ahead of myself.

We departed a day prior of the now infamous June 26th heat dome that enveloped the Pacific Northwest, driving temperatures to extreme levels — in Salem, Ore., about half-hour southwest of Portland, it reached 117 degrees.  We’re unaccustomed to that type of oppressive summer heat, but the group headed east for Boise, Idaho anyway where temperatures were a bit cooler and only slightly above 100 degrees.  We headed to The Reef for dinner where the patio is great, the food is tasty, dual bars so the lines are short and there is always a good band playing. Stop in there if you ever have an opportunity.

The next day we rode out early en route to Twin Falls and were passed by just about everyone scooting along I-84 well in excess of the posted 80 MPH speed limit except for an occasional semi. We continued south on US-93 into Nevada where the temperatures continued their relentless rise, but when we finally stopped at Hotel Nevada in Ely, Nev., we were met with cooler weather.  Go figure!

Established in 1929, the Hotel Nevada became Ely’s premiere dining and lodging destination. It is an historic property with a lot of charm down to stars in the sidewalk to celebrate those who had stayed there from Jimmy Stewart to President Lyndon Johnson. We were worn down a bit from the heat so the fact that the room was small and the bathroom even smaller didn’t matter when ready to sleep.  The lobby is a casino which other than the clouds of cigarette smoke was not a big deal and we enjoyed the free breakfast in the lobby at the Denny’s restaurant before departing on the Gold Rush–era highway that is part of the West’s last frontier.

Nevada Highway 50 — America’s Loneliest Road

America’s Loneliest Highway — crosses by or through several communities, a handful of mountain ranges, a national park, and one reservoir, where wild horses roam free. There’s life, yes, but not something familiar for many. It’s a place where the lines between an ‘ol John Wayne Western movie and everyday life blur, and where ghost towns bleed into semi-living ones.

We had our official “survival guide” passport book and proceeded to collect stamps from the various businesses and which the governor of Nevada will supposedly sign if at least five businesses stamped our passports. The 287 mile-stretch of U.S. 50, running from Ely to Fernley, Nev., passes nine towns, two abandoned mining camps, a gas pump and the occasional coyote.

Sage Brush Ocean — Nevada Hwy 50

We passed a number of “Loneliest Road” signs along this black ribbon where the occasional business on the Route displayed a “I Survived Route 50” sign in a window covered with layers of dirt and grime. We rode through more than a dozen mountain ranges as we traversed the state, climbing up into the red rock heights, then dipping down into the patchy desert of the hot valley floor.

So this was it. I wondered, when first reading about Route 50, why a AAA official was so concerned about anyone traveling it and why Time Magazine wouldn’t recommend it. The journey does require a specific skill set: sitting for a very long time on a hot motorcycle saddle, knowing where the next gas station is amid the desert’s FM fuzz and more importantly, knowing how to be alone inside your head. Way inside being the operative word there in a vast “sagebrush ocean”.

The posse was adventurous, had too many Gatorade drinks and survived the Route 50 experience.  Not just tourists, but rugged participants that rode away with stamps and bragging rights of our achievement along with the real-deal memories.

We finally came to rest at base-camp in Minden, Nev., at the Carson Valley Inn & Casino and picked up our registration packet and incredibly nice bag of swag for the multi-day Road Glide National Rally (“Sharkweek XI”).

Next up is our rides in the area at Yosemite National Park via Tioga Road (Highway 120) and around Lake Tahoe before returning home through Lassen National Park.

Photos taken by the author.

All Rights Reserved © Northwest Harley Blog

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McKenzie Pass Highway

McKenzie Pass Highway (OR242)

Oregon is home to a large network of highways and backroads, from rugged coastal headlands to deep old-growth forests, lush vineyard-lined valleys to lofty alpine passes, high-desert vistas to deep river canyons. The epic landscapes offer up motorcyclists everything from beginner to expert road diversity.

One such spectacular highway is the old McKenzie Pass Highway (OR242), which opened this week from it’s winter hibernation.

Assuming you start in Sisters, Oregon you’ll have about 8 miles of warmup of gently rising, mostly straight road as you head west past hay meadows and into the forest. Then you’ll take a 90-degree turn at McGregor’s Curve, and the elevation climb is on. The main ascent is over 5 miles, and you can settle into a rhythm as you take in the pine-scented air.  Unfortunately, you’ll also note the large wildfire destruction from the summer of 2017 that disrupted the forest and surrounding landscape.

Until the 1860s, the pass was an Indian trail that later became a wagon route (known as Craig’s McKenzie Salt Springs/Deschutes Wagon Road) for driving cattle over the Cascades.  As you emerge from the forest at Windy Point, you’ll get a nice view of Mt. Washington and can scan across a 65 square mile, 2,000-year-old black lava flow. You may want to stop to process it all and then continue on as the ascent travels serpentine asphalt between lava-rock walls just before reaching the summit.

The summit provides a unique view of the lava-rock-constructed Dee Wright Observatory (at 5,187 feet), which provides panorama views of the mountain landscape and Three Sisters Wilderness areas.

The 25-mile, 4,000-foot descent to Highway 126 is no “puff and fluff” ride as it snakes down tight corners and exhilarating switchbacks to the dense Cascadian forests over the McKenzie River. It’s a dramatic transition from the east side of the Cascades and is a billboard of the natural environment and defines the uniqueness of the region.

The highway speed limit is slow at 35mph to 45 mph in most places. The scenic views are well worth the extra time and should be on everyone’s ride list.

Additional Information:
The John Craig Story
McKenzie Pass
Previous Blog Post

OR 242 map/photo courtesy of Oregon By-ways.

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Riding McKenzie Pass Highway

Old McKenzie Pass Highway (OR 242)

The Old McKenzie Pass Highway (OR 242) will officially open to all traffic on Monday, June 19, 2017.

The narrow, twisting roadway and high elevation (5,325 feet) make the highway too difficult to maintain and keep clear during the winter months.

Many of us look forward to the annual opening and to traverse lava fields, snowcapped peaks and cruise along rushing rivers which highlight this scenic highway to central Oregon’s Cascade Mountain passes.

Heading east-bound, OR 242 travels through Lane, Linn, and Deschutes counties, beginning at the junction with OR 126 near McKenzie Bridge and ending at the junction with US Highway 20 and OR 126 at the City of Sisters.  From Sisters, Oregon heading west, the route travels past hay meadows and ascends 2,000 feet through ponderosa pine forests.  The road follows an old wagon route, emerging from the forest at Windy Point and provides a dramatic view of Mt. Washington and a 2,000-year-old lava flow.  The 25 mile, 4,000 foot descent snakes down switchbacks to the dense Cascadian forests and ends near the McKenzie River.

Few realize that the McKenzie Pass is also known as the Craig’s McKenzie Salt Springs/Deschutes Wagon Road.

The backstory — in 1862, John Craig was was one of 50 men hired by Captain Felix Scott to build a trail from Eugene over the Cascades. By then the rush of westward-bound Oregon Trail pioneers had slowed, but the discovery of gold in Eastern Oregon prompted a flood of people heading eastward. Scott’s plan was to sell Willamette cattle to the hungry miners east of the Cascades.

As Scott’s road-building crew neared the lowest route across the mountains they encountered miles of snow and jagged lava fields at McKenzie Pass. Craig favored chipping out a road through the lava fields, but Scott decided to skirt the lava fields in favor of a notch at Scott’s Pass on the shoulder of North Sister that was 1000 foot higher, steeper and crossed more snow. Scott’s route was later abandoned and is known today as the Scott Trail in the Three Sisters Wilderness.

After working for Scott, Craig spent the next 15 years working for himself while championing his vision of a lower crossing through McKenzie Pass. In 1871 he formed the McKenzie, Salt Springs and Deschutes Wagon Road Company and began to build his toll road. He cut trees, chipped and chiseled a roadbed out of the jagged lava fields just north of North Sister to form a McKenzie Pass crossing lower than what was available at the time.  By the Fall of 1872 his road open and began collecting tolls of $2 for a wagon, $1 for a horseback rider, 10¢ for cattle and 5¢ for sheep. After its completion he won a federal contract to deliver mail from the Willamette Valley to Camp Polk in Central Oregon over the road. In summer, the mail was carried on horseback. In winter it was carried on John Craig’s back. To accommodate the mail carrier, a small cabin was built about half way across, in which he could spend the night.

For many years John Craig carried mail from the Willamette Valley to Eastern Oregon, by horseback in the summer and on his own back in the winter.  After attempting to ski Christmas mail over McKenzie Pass in the winter of 1877, he was found frozen beside his mail pouch in his shack atop McKenzie Pass.  Mystery still shrouds the details of his death.

The U.S. Forest Service decided in 1920 to make the highway a tourist-friendly route over the mountains, so engineers took care to align it for sightseeing, with spectacular views of volcanic peaks, including the Three Sisters, Three Fingered Jack, Mount Washington, Broken Top and even the more distant Mount Jefferson to the north.  The road became a seasonal scenic highway in 1962 with the completion of the Clear Lake-Belknap Springs section of OR 126.

The highway is a local favorite and should be on everyone’s Oregon highway bucket list.

References:

The John Craig Story
McKenzie Pass
John Craig – A Pioneer Mail Carrier, by Ruth E. Richardson – 1963

OR 242 map/photo courtesy of Google.

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