Northwest by Norton: A Short Ride the Long Way

By Robert Smith
Published on February 13, 2018
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Clear skies and open highway: Washington’s Yakima Canyon Road, SR 821.
Clear skies and open highway: Washington’s Yakima Canyon Road, SR 821.
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The best motorcycle road in Washington: North Cascades Highway 20 (SR 20) below Washington Pass.
The best motorcycle road in Washington: North Cascades Highway 20 (SR 20) below Washington Pass.
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The short but spectacular 8-mile Shaniko-Antelope road, Oregon SR 218.
The short but spectacular 8-mile Shaniko-Antelope road, Oregon SR 218.
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Daniel Vincent of Dan’s Ukiah Service in Ukiah, Oregon. Dan’s homemade signs at his gas station denounced government overspending and bureaucracy.
Daniel Vincent of Dan’s Ukiah Service in Ukiah, Oregon. Dan’s homemade signs at his gas station denounced government overspending and bureaucracy.
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Camping, Norton style: All set up for the night next to Big Canyon Creek in Minam, Oregon.
Camping, Norton style: All set up for the night next to Big Canyon Creek in Minam, Oregon.
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The Wallowa Mountains, as seen from the Wallowa Valley near Joseph, Oregon.
The Wallowa Mountains, as seen from the Wallowa Valley near Joseph, Oregon.
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The author’s 1974 Norton Commando Roadster, loaded with gear along US 12, which follows the Lochsa River to Lolo Pass on the border of Idaho and Montana.
The author’s 1974 Norton Commando Roadster, loaded with gear along US 12, which follows the Lochsa River to Lolo Pass on the border of Idaho and Montana.
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A quick stop on the side of the road to work on Maggie’s Commando.
A quick stop on the side of the road to work on Maggie’s Commando.
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Rolling along BC 3A, British Columbia’s best motorcycle road.
Rolling along BC 3A, British Columbia’s best motorcycle road.
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The group pauses for a photo while crossing Kootenay Lake in British Columbia aboard the MV Osprey 2000.
The group pauses for a photo while crossing Kootenay Lake in British Columbia aboard the MV Osprey 2000.
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At the journey’s end: A field display at the 2003 INOA Rally in Lumby, B.C.
At the journey’s end: A field display at the 2003 INOA Rally in Lumby, B.C.

The International Norton Owners Association offers an enamel pin for those riding a Norton 1,000 miles or more to its annual rally. But the 2003 rally in Lumby, British Columbia, was only 250 miles from my home base in Vancouver. What to do?

A group of us from the West Coast British Motorcycle Club decided we could qualify by going the long way round — via Washington state, Oregon, Idaho… and Polson, Montana, to collect fellow Nortoneer Carmine “Maggie” Mowbray.

We were all riding 850 Commandos: Steve and I were on our 1974 Mark IIs, while Ian, Geoff and Maggie rode electric-start Mark IIIs.

Washington

The North Cascades Highway (SR 20) is rated the No. 1 motorcycling road in the state by Destination Highways. Heading east from Burlington, Washington, before crossing Diablo Dam into the Cascades, SR 20 swept us along the mountainsides, throwing a succession of delicious turns as we spun toward Washington Pass. Dense cedar and fir gave way to scrubby pines as we skimmed the snow line at the 5,500-foot summit and started our steady descent of the gentler eastern slopes.

Lunch was in the faux-western town of Winthrop — all boardwalks and livery stables — at the Duck Brand Hotel for their signature smoked duck quesadilla: delicious! We cruised across open farmland, turning south on US 97 down to the Columbia River at Pateros. Leaving Washington’s narrow coastal strip behind (the only year-round green part of the “Evergreen State”), we followed the Columbia south into the Okanogan Valley. Hot, dry winds blowing up from the Sonoran Desert toast the parched ground here and sear the nostrils, while the broad, slow-moving Columbia River irrigates the region’s vast fruit orchards.

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