Spirit Lake

An inventory of yesterday:

• 1 group ride
• 5 bikes
• 6 people
• 11 hours
• 350 miles
• 0 rain

The ride was to Spirit Lake (the West side of Mt St. Helens).  Here's roughly the route we took:


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I'd never been to the West side of the mountain and WA-504 is supposed to be one of the best motorcycle roads in Washington. So I'd been looking forward to this ride for awhile.

Things did not get off to an auspicious start, the forecast called for rain, the sky was threatening, and the first hour was spent on freeways or in light-to-light traffic.  Things didn't really improve until we stopped for lunch in Elbe.  The roads were better, the traffic was light, even the sky had cleared.  We made our last gas stop near Toledo and from there it was a non-stop run to the visitors center at Spirit Lake.

Whoever built (and maintains) WA-504 needs a raise.  The lanes are wide and smooth and clean.  Even at decent speeds there aren't many blind corners.  The scenery isn't bad either.  I didn't get it all on video but this will give you a good idea of what it's like (no mom, I wasn't going this fast, the video is at 4x speed).

The visitors center has some pretty good views of Mt St Helens.  Even MiniMe enjoyed it.

After Spirit Lake the group separated.  Three bikes were headed to a camping event near Mt Rainier while my cousin and I headed back home.  The ride back was less pleasant.  We returned to Toledo then simply took the freeways home.