tour reports » Scablands and Coulees in Washington State

Have you ever heard of Washington’s Scab-lands??
If you have never seen or heard of this region, then you should get busy and get acquainted soon! We took a fun little 670 mile two day ride, a weekend moto blast through Palouse hills, scab-land coulees, epic Missoula flood washes, and northern mountain woodlands, all of it in right smack dab in the middle of the evergreen state of Washington. Except for the parts we rode in Idaho, which were just sort of incidental comings and goings. The idea to take this ride came up kind of spontaneously, and the planning was just a sketch of an idea.. The usual getting ready scramble ensued…
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I will try to be brief and not to windy in giving you an overview of the activities. On Saturday morning I left my house in Hauser Idaho, and my buddy, Ben, scooted out of Lewiston. We agreed to meet in Steptoe, WA which is about halfway between us. It was a glorious day out on the Palouse Prairie of Washington. If you don’t know what that is, well then.. you can just google it. We had a soft plan of making our way over to the big flood gate coulees, and then up to the big dam, and after that maybe Omak for the night, then figure out Sunday from there..

My start on the Palouse, it was a nice day.
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This is the Tekoa Trestle, where choo choos have given way to pedal bikes. I have pedaled over that bridge myself a couple times, and it is pretty impressive.. Go do it, you will like it.
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Of course, there was some road construction where I impatiently waited 15 minutes in the shadow of a horse trailer for a robotic traffic light.
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I met Ben in Steptoe, which is really just an intersection, but you can see Steptoe Butte from there, but you will have to google that too, or just shut your eyes and imagine it.  We were not going to the butte today.. instead, we got on the Hwy 23 up to St Johns, and then we turned southwest on the Lancaster road and bombed all the small lumpy bendy back roads clear across to Benge, Ralston, and Warden. We took a snack break in Lind along the way. It is rural agricultural land out here.. so much so they actually wear out big combines and then finish them off in the famous Lind Combine Demolition Derby. I have not witnessed it yet, but it is on my List.
Believe it with your own eyes here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP-MlpvAa30

Then after we ate a proper lunch in Moses Lake, we bee lined north up to Soap Lake, and continued up through the big coulees, lower first, then the upper.. it was glorious in the afternoon sun

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Then we saw the Big Dam.. Grand Coulee.
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This is the Columbia River just north of the Dam, the water has just escaped lake Roosevelt (which you can also google)
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After taking a few pics of the dam big dam and the river, we cruised up the superlative Hwy 155 to Omak, and took refuge here, and then we went to a bar to eat and drink. I like Omak, it seems like a nice place to live.

Todays Ride:
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Sunday morning I peeked outside just to be sure we still had the bikes, as our motel was not exactly first class...
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We then hatched our plan, ride north from Omak upstream along the Okanogan River to Tonasket (yea, funny names huh?), then take the loop road then goes out and circles many lakes, then Lake Palmer, and then descends the Similkameen river back down to the Okanogan River at Oroville. This turned out to be a really nice ride that exceeded all expectations.. It was amazing in the brilliant morning sun, we had no idea it would be this grand….
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After a high octane and cholesterol boosting breakfast at Oroville’s own America’s Family Grill (highly recommended) we set off up the long curvey grades away from the river valley on an easterly tack along Torada Creek Rd toward Molson and Chesaw. Then we motored down to this little gem in a string of small emerald green lakes, Beth Lake.
Of course, after drifting down along the Kettle River we stopped in Curlew.
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Then we throttled up and over the big hill on Boulder Creek Rd, and down along the Columbia again to Kettle Falls. Kettle Falls is at the opposite end of Lake Roosevelt from Grand Coulee dam, you can check it out on google. We were getting a little hot and rummy by now so I was not taking many pictures, and I had been here a few times before.. but that familiarity leads to knowing which fun roads to ride..

We cruised Hwy 25 south along the east shore of Lake Roosevelt to Gifford, and then rode like crazed hooligans over the Gifford – Addy Rd, if you have ever been here you would know what I mean. Then it was south to Chewelah and the Flowery Trail Rd.

Before sacrificing sidewall rubber to the tire gods on the storied flowery trail road, we spent some time reflecting on life in the Pioneer cemetery. Then it was game-on over the hill to Usk.20220717_141921.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)20220717_143750.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

Took a short break at the Camden Grange.20220717_161637.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

Then rode home over Blanchard pass. The end.
Cheers!

Ooops forgot the Sunday map...

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