Prologue

This time I will be talking about the first time I ventured deep into Gifford Pinchot National Forest, one of my favorite places to get lost in as I have stated in an earlier post. This was a trip which happened the week after the Trip to Mt Hood Scenic Byway and one which would have me cover close to 450 miles (~720 kms) in a day. The longest one day trip on a motorcycle after the one to the North Cascades.

This story is from September 2019. By this time, I had been to Windy Ridge Viewpoint and Johnston Ridge Observatory with the nineT, both which are inside Gifford Pinchot National Forest and both the times I was really happy with the view and the ride. The place just feels so wild and unexplored and I truly love these kinds of places that make me feel like exploring the unknown. This was what motivated me to explore Gifford Pinchot National Forest.

There were two places I wanted to check here on this trip. Lower Lewis Falls which has a very beautiful short but wide waterfall and Takhlakh Lake from where one can see Mt Adams – another Volcano – reflected on the lake. I managed to plot a nice figure 8 kind of round trip which covers both these places and planned to do this trip by NineT. The route would have me cover around 350 miles (~560 kms) as per plan and will be a good 9 hours ride.

Now that I think of it, around this time I was going crazy exploring one volcano after the other. Mt Rainier, Mt Baker, Crater Lake, Mt St Helens, Mt Hood and now Mt Adams.