Written Directions
Start in the town of Tiger, WA and just head west on WA Route 20 till you get to Colville, WA.
Scenery
This ride travels through the pristine Kaniksu National Forest. I went through it in May and the fields I saw looked so green I felt like I was traveling through a forest that Walt Disney created - almost too good to be true. The forest looked healthy and lush and when it opened up the fields I saw were green and fertile. Along the way there are a couple of small beautiful lakes and very pretty waterfall area called Crystal Falls (about halfway through the ride). Towards the west side of the route it opens up a little more and you get some good views of mountains and some nice homes along the way. The best thing about this route however is the road's fun factor (read below)!!
Drive Enjoyment
Wow! I'm a sport bike rider and have always loved twisties and have never cared much for what folks call sweeping turns or sweepers. I had just moved from California to Washington and was telling my uncle (a Goldwinger who lives in Spokane) about my favorite ride in California (the Palomar Mtn Highway) and asking him where I could find some good twisty roads. He talked me into trying his favorite ride in Wash but warned me that it was heavy on sweepers and light on the twisties. I tried it and was floored! I never cared for sweepers but wow, this was awesome ... I've been on many rides that feature sweepers before but this was miles above anything I've tried before. For one it was basically non-stop sweepers only interrupted by short straights that were actually welcomed because it gave you a moment to take in the scenery better. And, I just loved how the elevation change was consistent the whole path. Put all this together and it made for an almost hypnotic rhythm of sweepers, small straights, over a bed of continual elevation changes. It had me literally grinning from the start to the finish! I'll be coming back to this one for sure!
Tourism Opportunities
Really nothing to do at the start of this route or midway through ... only options you have for off-bike entertainment is when you get to the end in a town called Colville. I have to admit that I was really surprised how cool this town was as I have been pretty disappointed how dilapidated many of the mountain towns I've seen in Washington are (like I said, I'm relatively new here so I don't have a lot to compare too). Colville was a lot larger than I thought it would be when I saw the name on the map. It had all the restaurants you could ever need and a lot of shops to check out like some boutiques, antique stores and furniture shops. And the town looked very clean and well taken care of.
Motorcycle Road Additional info
- View the weather forecast for this area from Yahoo weather .