Good (paved) driving roads near Seattle?

I know there are a lot of pale-skinned moss monsters on this forum, so I'm asking this semi-random question here. I'm scouting for vaguely Seattle-area roads that are high in twists, low in traffic, and, sadly, paved. I grew up in Seattle and knew a few at the time, but the city is barely recognizable since I've been away so long, and I've got a bigger radius to work with now anyway (when I lived there my 510 never stopped warming up, so after about 20 miles it would overheat).

So, where are the good twisties within an hour or so of Seattle?

-Dave

Go run the hillclimbs street cars are allowed. They actually close the road down for you for a weekend and usually around $100

Link to the site, 2nd link is the courses and maps of em. 7 hillclimbs every summer in the pacific northwest closest to you is in oregon but a couple hours aint much.


www.nhahillclimb.org

http://www.nhahillclimb.org/Maps.html

For just open roads where you want twisties but plan on not being a streetracing twerp, there are many many. East Mercer way on M.I is entertaining as all getout, in friggin 2nd gear. Go out farther and High Bridge rd south of Snohomish is kinda famous. So is Sultan Basin road east of Monroe though I hear the cops do emphasis revenue enhancement out there occasionally. It has the advantage of being all by itself with no intersections so a feller could go slow in and then maybe slow out and then maybe you know right around the speedlimit going in again if he saw nothing untoward, hypothetically speaking.

---

Jay Woodward
Snohomish, WA
'90 Mazdog Frankenprotege
Chronologically, 46...

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aj_johnson
Go run the hillclimbs street cars are allowed. They actually close the road down for you for a weekend and usually around $100

Link to the site, 2nd link is the courses and maps of em. 7 hillclimbs every summer in the pacific northwest closest to you is in oregon but a couple hours aint much.


www.nhahillclimb.org

http://www.nhahillclimb.org/Maps.html

hillclimbs ftw

however, sometimes some of us just want to go enjoy a twisty road, and the hillcimbs are only a couple of miles long, no one says we gotta be in full on race mode to enjoy a paved twisty road

if you were asking about roads outside of Portland, I could give you some ideas, but Seattle I've got no clue, sowwie

Chuckanut Drive just south of Bellingham. Everything you asked for pus great photo ops.

Google maps.

Pavement? (sniff-sniff) Like asphalt? (harumph).. Smooth?

Why? Pavement is for... ya know I have no idea what pavement is for...

Mountain Loop Highway is smooth and mostly pavement-like or really pavement...Don't know what the snow conditions are.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Loop_Highway
The Mountain Loop Highway is a highway in the U.S. state of Washington. It traverses the western section of the Cascade Range within Snohomish County. The name suggests it forms a full loop, but it only is a small portion of a loop, which is completed using State Routes 92, 9, and 530. Part of the highway is also a designated and signed Forest Highway, and is known as Forest Route 20.[1]

The highway connects the towns of Granite Falls and Darrington. It is paved for 34 miles (55 km) from Granite Falls to Barlow Pass (2349') where the highway becomes unpaved for 13 miles (21 km), and then paved again for the remaining 9 miles (14 km) to Darrington. The unpaved section is U.S. Forest Service Road #20 and passes several USFS campgrounds. Portions of the unpaved section are often closed for periods of several years due to flood damage.

Between Granite Falls and Barlow Pass, the highway passes Big Four Mountain and the trailhead leading to the Big Four Ice Caves at its base. At Barlow Pass, a private road (closed to motor vehicles) branches from the highway and leads to the former silver mining town of Monte Cristo. The portion from Granite Falls to Barlow Pass follows the Stillaguamish River. The portion from Barlow Pass to Darrington follows the Sauk River. The "inside" of the highway's namesake loop is a large area containing significant Cascade peaks, including Three Fingers (6850 ft, 2088 m), Whitehorse Mountain (6850 ft, 2088 m), Mount Pugh (7201 ft, 2195 m), Mount Dickerman (5723 ft, 1744 m), Vesper Peak (6,214 feet 1,894 m), and Mount Forgotten (6005 ft, 1830 m).

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/02/2013 04:50PM by john vanlandingham.

Chumstick rd out of Leavenworth is my favorite. Chuckanut drive is really good. Go over to the peninsula, the road on the north or east side of crescent lake is super good, as is the run up hurricane ridge.

Mountain loop highway is really fun, as the name states it is a loop, but 12 or so miles is gravel. Really smooth gravel though.

Go further out from Seattle and the road on the backside of Mt St Helens is epic.

Hit up soundrider and all your questions will be answered.

Oh hell yes that back st.helens road is a thing of wonder. Chuckanut is a must-drive as well. Can't believe I forgot about Chuckanut.

---

Jay Woodward
Snohomish, WA
'90 Mazdog Frankenprotege
Chronologically, 46...

St.Helens is super epic! All of the roads up there are a joy to drive/ride! How can we do a rally/rally sprint up there? Is it even possible in a National Forest?

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12xalt
if you were asking about roads outside of Portland, I could give you some ideas, but Seattle I've got no clue, sowwie

I just found out that Portland is a possibility too, so bring it on!

I'm scouting a location for a bunch of magazine nerds to drive cars and take pictures and such...

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Jay
For just open roads where you want twisties but plan on not being a streetracing twerp, there are many many. East Mercer way on M.I is entertaining as all getout, in friggin 2nd gear. Go out farther and High Bridge rd south of Snohomish is kinda famous. So is Sultan Basin road east of Monroe though I hear the cops do emphasis revenue enhancement out there occasionally. It has the advantage of being all by itself with no intersections so a feller could go slow in and then maybe slow out and then maybe you know right around the speedlimit going in again if he saw nothing untoward, hypothetically speaking.

East Mercer used to be within my 510's overheating range, so I did it all the time when I lived there ~1990. Kinda heavily populated for my tastes now, though.

-Dave

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eyesoreracing

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12xalt
if you were asking about roads outside of Portland, I could give you some ideas, but Seattle I've got no clue, sowwie

I just found out that Portland is a possibility too, so bring it on!

I'm scouting a location for a bunch of magazine nerds to drive cars and take pictures and such...

does "within an hour" mean that they start within an hour of, or that the whole thing needs to be within an hour of

and of course time of year meant that one of my favorite drives the weekend before last meant the potholes hadn't been filled yet

Hwy 2, 410 (after enumclaw), then 112 (out from port angeles, has some bitchin curvey roads towards Neah Bay, but more then an hour away from here), same with 101 to 110 towards La Push.

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phlat65
Chumstick rd out of Leavenworth is my favorite. Chuckanut drive is really good. Go over to the peninsula, the road on the north or east side of crescent lake is super good, as is the run up hurricane ridge.

Mountain loop highway is really fun, as the name states it is a loop, but 12 or so miles is gravel. Really smooth gravel though.

Go further out from Seattle and the road on the backside of Mt St Helens is epic.

Hit up soundrider and all your questions will be answered.

Anybody know the name of that backside of St. Helens road? Trying to find it on google maps... Also, is it one of those damn national forest roads with a speed limit of 14 mph? I hate those...

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12xalt

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eyesoreracing

Quote
12xalt
if you were asking about roads outside of Portland, I could give you some ideas, but Seattle I've got no clue, sowwie

I just found out that Portland is a possibility too, so bring it on!

I'm scouting a location for a bunch of magazine nerds to drive cars and take pictures and such...

does "within an hour" mean that they start within an hour of, or that the whole thing needs to be within an hour of

and of course time of year meant that one of my favorite drives the weekend before last meant the potholes hadn't been filled yet

Looking at late summer, so roads should be in the best shape they can be. Disregard the one-hour window. Looks like the net is being cast pretty wide right now. If I get my way, we can always set up camp near a really good road.

I'm looking forward to a scouting trip...