Bear

 Eagle Christian Church hosted a pavement ride on 9/11 aftter Church. There were 11 bikes total. We left Eagle around 12:15 and went north towards McCall, stopping for lunch in Cacade at the Lakefront Bar and Grill, which I highly recommend. From there we gassed up and continued to McCall, and then West to New Meadows. From there the group rode South down 95 where we gassed up in Council. From there I split off the group to find some dirt.

I took the Council Cuprum Road and kept going North. When you hit gravel Council Cuprum road is actually a left hand turn and going straight puts you on Landore Road. 5 miles up Landor gets you to the Bear checkpoint.

Once I snapped a pic and ate a snack I headed back down to where the pavement begins, only to turn West on Council Cuprum Road again which immediately goes back to gravel.

7 miles of gravel gets you to a T in the road. I turned left (South) on Windy Ridge Road. This road was a mix of dirt and gravel, and was a bit more tricky but still completely doable on the GS. I would consider myself intermediate on large adventure bikes and it didn't give me any trouble.

From here I followed it another 7 or so miles to Hells Canyon Road. This section was quite a bit more tricky, with some steep parts and small washouts, but again, I didn't have any problem with it. This section was probably the most scenic for the whole ride.

Once I hit Hells Canyon Road I was back on pavement. I went South where there was a crossing at Copperfield Park, and then North again right alongside the river on Homestead Road where it turned into gravel again. Then I took a left on Hess Road.

Hess Road was tricky on the bigger bike, but do-able. I took it slow and kept moving. I'm glad I was going up in instead of down but I managed to make it to the top without issue. There were plently of rocks poking thorugh the road, pently of loose stuff, and the switchbacks were very tight. I just stood on the pegs and hot-rodded the big bike around the corners and then would slow down again. This was actually a very fun section to ride for me.

I could have made it back down, but I stopped at the top of the hill to take a picture and then continued on Hess Road to Wollowa Mountain Loop, which was again pavement. I continued North with the intention of hitting up Inmaha and Hat Point, but the road was closed for the fire crews. So I headed South where the road turned into North Pine Road.

Since it was dark by then I skipped Hess Road going down the hill and just followed North Pine Road, and then took 86 back up to Copperfield Park. From there I went south on Brownlee Oxbox Highway / 71 to Cambridge which then connected me to 95 where I eventually got back to I84.