Ride up Mt Rainier on the RX-3
 

If you have never seen Mt Rainier before...you are missing out. It has to be
the most impressive looking mountain in person that you'll see in the 50 states. Im biased but I challenge anyone to prove me wrong with a picture because at a height of 14,400, and the surrounding area all at 0-500 elevation, its pretty incredible to see an almost 3 mile wall of ice and rock looming over an entire region. Anyway...so my buddy was visiting from Dallas and wanted to experience some mountain roads and real Washington riding, since he basically lives on a giant pancake. So I took him up to the highest road in the state at elevation 6500 ft to a place called Sunrise. Basically takes you to the top of the treeline. Pretty incredible ride. I rode my triumph triple most of the time and he rode my RX3 and we both had an amazing time. The RX3 did awesome up steep grade and it excelled in the corners. Tires are great engine is great gas mileage was great power was more than enough. Just an overall fun day and a great ride. Miles and miles of twisties and switchbacks through old growth forests. Heres some of the highlights


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Thanks for posting the beautiful photographs from the Evergreen State. :tup:

Mount Rainier is beautiful, but it can be deadly to climbers. I fell 18 vertical feet, with an intermediate bounce, off Disappointment Cleaver. :cry: Miraculously, I escaped with only bruises. :tup: After that incident, I decided to hang up my crampons. ;)

Wow you were climbing it! Thats awesome. Yes definitely can be deadly even for the most experienced climbers. I am inexperienced but climbed Mt Adams (way easier) a few years ago and hope to attempt Mt Rainier this upcoming spring. Until then I'll just ride my RX-3 up there and enjoy the mountains that way.

I bet that is a great ride.


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The important question, Superdude, is when is your friend ordering HIS RX3?

Yes, I have reached the summits of Mount Hood, Mount Adams, and Mount Saint Helens. I belonged to the Mazamas, a Portland mountaineering group. :) Good luck in your climb next spring. :tup:

http://mazamas.org/

Here is a photograph I took from above The Hogsback, just below the summit of Mount Hood, Oregon.

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Ha hes got the bug for sure. He sold his honda shadow a couple years ago
but now wants to get an RX-3 but probably not until he moves away from Dallas next summer since he said there is nothing to ride to or see in Texas. He just posted today online how he loved the bike.

Wow...what a pic! Thats really cool you've climbed all those peaks. Adams was relatively easy for as big as it is..and best part was glissading down at what felt like mach 1 speeds. I definitely hope to be little more experienced and lucky as well when I attempt Rainier next spring.

Yes, it's a nice, long glissade down to the Picnic Table on Mount Adams. :)

Even Mount Hood kills a few people, every few years. :ohno: In the photograph above, you are looking down on the site where the rescue helicopter crashed a few years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZPTFgXQEu4

Here is a link to another, short video which shows the rescue helicopter crash.

https://youtu.be/IEbMJuyRnHc

Wow unbelievable videos. Didnt know that many people climb Hood every year. I was wanting to warm up for Rainier by doing Adams again, then Hood and Helens and finishing with Rainier. Might be ambitious but will get me extra prepared. Might check out the Mazamas and see if I can connect with them and some of the events they offer. Seems like a great organization.

I'm not going to challenge Rainier's supremacy. I think that Mount Baker is a close second. We drive to the top a couple times per year, and hike the trails. It's a stunning view. The peak is at 10780 feet.

This is the view I see every day on the way home.

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Mt Baker is beautiful and I'm envious you get to see that every day on way home. Rainier would be same way if it wasnt cloudy 330 days of the year. :) I should take a ride up there sometime and mess around. I just did a 1000 mile ride through B.C. a couple months ago starting near Kelowna and Merritt up towards Kamloops. One of the days we were there was the nicest riding on the nicest roads I have ever experienced in my life. Beautiful scenery.

That area around Kelowna and Kamloops was my territory with work for a lot of years. I no longer have to travel regularly, which is good, but I miss the Okanagan.

If you plan another BC ride, let me know. We can at least meet for a coffee.

That would be awesome Weldangrind I definitely will let ya know next time I'm up there hopefully it'll be on my RX-3 too. There was this HWY 3 in particular that cut off of 97 near Lake Osoyoos, it cut to the west and it was the best 100 miles of riding imaginable. It was paradise and I definitely am going to try and get over there again for that soon.

Did you come up highway 97 through WA, or the WABDR?

When you rode west on Highway 3 (called the Crowsnest), did you ride to exit 92 and cross the border into Sumas?

Nice photos in this thread! I was born in Seattle, and lived in the Seattle/Tacoma area for 58 years. Then we moved to the big island of Hawaii near hilo, just over 4 years ago. I'll be 62 on Sunday. Been to Sunrise (and Paradise too) many times. Have ridden up there quite a few times too. Did some hiking up there, leaving from Sunrise. hiked i to Lake Elenor, and camper there for several days. Before any over nighter, I would go up to Sunrise, and, due to the thin air, go on a few short hikes too get better acclimated before going on the multi day hikes.

We used to camp near Mount Hood too. We took our kids to Ski Bowl in the summer. They have two side by side bob sled tracks there, and you ride up on the ski lift. In summer, they run carts on these tracks, and it's quite a blast.

My parents (both since have passed) were drive home from Portland to Seattle right when Mount Saint Helens blew her top. It was quite a mess. We were living on Lake Tapps in Bonney Lake when it blew, and got quite a dusting of ash. When I swept off our deck, it left the wood as if I had just sanded the whole thing. Very abbrasive stuff.

I think the RX-3 would be a good ride.

Sounds like you've enjoyed Washington as much as I have!! I'm from Puyallup but actually grew up on Lake Tapps. Small world. That was a fun place to grow up as a kid. Hiking is definitely amazing from Sunrise and I imagine I'll use the RX-3 to do a few park and hikes at various spots around here especially at trailheads accessed by FS or dirt roads. Hawaii sounds like a pretty amazing place for an RX-3 too though. I'm going next month with my wife to Kauai it'll be my first time to Hawaii and I'm really looking forward to it.

Had to check Google Maps to see which route we took exactly. From Seattle we went across the North Cascades HWY (my favorite road in Washington) and stayed in Winthrop for the night, and then from there we messed around on some roads heading up to Nighthawk, WA (where apparently the WABDR ends I had no idea though at the time). One of my buddies and I started out riding Nighthawks so it was only fitting to stop and get a picture. We encountered a lot of dirt roads which on my triumph was not as fun as it could of been had I been on an RX-3, but was actually one of the reasons I started looking for a dual sport and bought the RX-3. Then we cut back down to 97 and crossed at the Osoyoos/Oroville crossing and then like mentioned cut over on highway 3 (is that a well known road for motorcycles/scenic drive?) Headed up 5A and stayed near Kamloops for the night. Unfortunately the last day we were in B.C. it decided to rain cats and dogs so instead of taking the scenic routes we blasted down the 5 through Merritt connected with the Trans Canada Hwy and took that to Sumas which was a really easy border crossing, at least compared to all the others I've seen for getting back in to the U.S. This summer I want to do a similar trip, except explore more dirt roads and scenic roads, and make sure the weather will be good for the whole week.

I gotta say I left very impressed with Canadians and how nice and genuine they were. Definitely true what everyone says. All the Hortons we stopped in we ended up talking and making friends, including with one guy on a Kawasaki Ninja from Toronto who rode with us for a bit. Also, the drivers in B.C. were awesome too, almost every single one of them would move right to let us pass and then waved at us as WE rode by. ha on other side of the border in the U.S. we'd get a wave but sometimes it'd be with one single finger located in the middle of ones left hand. :)


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Those drivers were just telling you motorcyclists are number 1. ;)

:hehe:

I was actually born in Seattle, but grew up in Burien. We moved to the Church Lake area in 1978 and lived there for 24 years. Then, we bought an old house in Puyallup on 16th just off Pioneer and about a mile from the fairgrounds. Really liked it there a lot, and lived there for 5-6 years. Worked at Destination Harle-Davidson for the last 5 years of my working (full time) life. Then sold that old house and moved to the big island.

North Cascades Highway is a great ride!! I also rode down Highway 101 all the way down the beautiful Oregon coast many times over the years. One trip we rode all the way to Santa Cruz, Ca., camping all the way. The wife and I on a 1975 Honda CB750K model. Spent a lot of time at a lot my parents used to own in Norfh Cove, just south of Westport also. Very near the infamous washaway area on the coast.

:lmao: ha THAT is a great way to look at it.

Wow very small world indeed. Love those old cb750's. I've got one on my bucket list for a build hopefully will start on it this winter. 101 is a great ride I've only made it down into Oregon havent done it through California yet but hope to this summer for sure.

I should have stated that we moved to the Church Lake area on Lake Tapps.

We did our trip down the Wa., Or, Ca. coasts in October, as I had a block of time off. Sounds scary, but, actually it was a good time to go. Left on Oct. 21st. All the leaves were already turning red/gold. There were no Winnabago's, hardly on the coast highways. I admit, that first morning getting up in our tent in Lincoln City, Oregon, it was a might foggy and cool, but, the rest of the trip was great!

Right? I love that area! Mrs. Weldangrind and I camped at Rasar State Park in August, which is not far from Concrete, WA. It's right on the Skagit river.

It is an awesome highway for bikes, but one should try to ride it in June, before it's littered with RV's. It's brutal to try and pass on that road sometimes.

That border crossing is 35 blocks from my house; I cross it nearly every week, to pick up some trinket I bought online. Shipping within continental US is often free, so I have stuff shipped to Sumas. I've built almost entire bikes that way.

There is an awesome ride (so I've read) that is a forestry service road which runs up the west side of Harrison Lake. It will take you all the way to Duffy Lake Road, at which point you have two options. You can either head east and then ride down the fabulous Fraser Canyon, or head west and ride through Whistler and Vancouver. Both are amazing options.

I'm very glad to hear that! :D[/QUOTE]

Rainier is amazing. Truely breathtaking.

The Sierras are a tiny bit higher (Mt. Whitney) but not as dramatic as all the surrounding mountains are similar.

The Cascade volcanoes are more visually striking in the way they tower over and dominate the environment.

Tammy and I go to Mt. Rainier National Park quite a bit, either as a day trip/hike or part of a longer multiday loop.

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Last picture is not mine.

I bet the RX3 was a great way to handle the bumpy roads. How does it pull at altitude?

Doc, I've missed your pics. That last one is just stunning.

Great pics indeed. Never get sick of seeing those. RX3 at altitude did really well didnt notice much of a difference really. Went from 0-6500+ so wasnt as extreme as some guys on here are doing. Plus mine is still breaking in only 400 on the odo so far and still getting better with every mile and then I'll be able to more accurately judge how it does in all conditions. :tup:

RX3 getting high
 

I know members 3Banger and Detours both live & ride in the Colorado Rocky mountains and are pleased with the bike. Maybe you can check their posts.

Having visited here several times, you are well familiar with the elevations in East Idaho. ;) The U.S. Delphi EFI does an excellent job at all altitudes. This bike makes good power for a 250cc engine. :)

Another displaced washingtonian checking in. Grew up in Kent, Everett, Lynnwood area. Went to the great UW as well. Have property up in Concrete, where the North Cascade HWY goes right through. Sadly, never rode that area as I started motrocycling much later in life.

Can't complain though, it's high 70's here in So Cal.

Concrete is a beautiful location, one of the all time bad names though... I've been to the airport there a couple times.

SoCal is wonderful. Best weather on Earth.

Only mid 60s here today but no state income tax LOL

It only reached a high of 52 degrees here, and this was the warmest day in over a week. :wtf: After this weekend the high temperatures will drop even lower. :ohno:

That's where the amazing Rasar State Park is. Mrs. Weldangrind and I love that area.

If you ever get up here with your RX-3 kumatae definitely let us know. I suspect a ride/meet up with Weldangrind wouldnt be out of the realm of possibility, and between the RX-3 owners I've talked to locally I think an 8 man RX-3 ride sometime this spring or summer wouldnt be impossible either.

As long as you fine people would accept me on a non-RX3. :D