Forest Grove to Willamina and/or
Tillamook
along & around the Nestucca River
168 miles of foresty, twisty fun.
a motorcycle day trip in the greater PDX metro area.
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An overlooked,
terrific motorcycle riding day trip in the greater PDX metro area is this
route to and from Tillamook (168 miles / 270 kilometers) - or a shorter
round trip just through Willamina (110 miles / 177 kilometers). You could
even combine it with a trip elsewhere, or explore the various National
Forest roads and camp at one of the 3 or 4 campsites along the Nestucca
River in Siuslaw National Forest (if a campsite is available - otherwise,
you'll have to rough camp - free and legal to do throughout the forest
along gravel roads).
These routes are mostly forest-covered and have great twists and turns.
It's one of my very favorite day trips from the Portland metro area.
At left is what the entire big trip looks like (168 miles / 270
kilometers). When we skip the Tillamook leg, we LOVE stopping at Willamina
for lunch at the Wildwood Hotel (outdoor seating is usually available).
Carlton is a delightful place to stop for a late lunch or ice cream or
coffee (wish they had a camp site, so we could take in dinner and wine
tasting too!).
Below is a narrative description of the 168 mile-route, counter-clockwise
from Forest Grove (if you are coming from Portland, come out on US 26 to
Banks and then get on 47):
From Forest Grove, take 47 / Tualitan Valley Highway South
through the small towns of Gaston and Yamhill to Carlton (Carlton is
charming, BTW and worth a stop if you have some time). Make a right in
Carlton on North Meadowlake Road, which will take you out of town and,
after an intersection, become wonderfully hilly and twisty and turn into
Nestucca River Road. Once you pass the reservoir on the left, you are
away from the residential areas and will be in Siuslaw National Forest,
and as mentioned earlier, there are a few places along the road where
you can camp - or just take a pee break. Note that the campgrounds
on Nestucca River Road, like Adler Creek Recreation site and campground
and Rocky Bend Campground, have vaulted (pit) toilets and no potable
water. Most have day use areas, but we just park near the driveways into
the campground when we want a rest stop.
Nestucca River Road is now entirely paved.
If you want to turn Nestucca River Road into a loop, or head over
to Willamina for lunch, there is a terrific paved detour: 15.5 miles
from the intersection of Meadowlark and NW Westside Road just outside of
Carlton and less than a mile after the sign for Nestucca
River Recreation Area, you will see a paved road on the left going
up. This is Bald
Mountain Access Road, which you can take to Bible Creek Road, and from
there, right will get you back to Nestucca, left will get you to the
town of Willamina. The
road is usually marked on Nestucca River Road with a small metal brown
sign for Willamina - but, unfortunately, assholes with guns sometimes
take out the sign, shooting it into oblivion, so you cannot absolutely
count on it. If you are looking for it as you go along Nestucca River
Road and get to a campground, you have passed the road, so you need to
turnaround - in which case it will be the first paved road on your
right.
Bald
Mountain Access Road is paved all the way, but it is mostly one lane -
there are some small turnouts for people going North, and there is a
viewpoint with a vaulted toilet. It is a lovely forested road, twisty
and paved all the way. It's busiest with recreational vehicles on the
weekend and logging trucks during the week.
Anyway, if you continue on Nestucca River Road going west, it
becomes Blaine Road, and this takes you to 101. You can head all the way
to Tillamook, or you can stop anywhere before then for lunch if you see
an open restaurant (but restaurants come and go - therefore I can't
recommend any because where I ate last may not be there anymore).
If you have to
get back East quickly, you can take 6 from Tillamook - on Sunday
afternoon, there is a crazy amount of traffic, and it's even worse on a
holiday weekend, so be careful. But if you still have plenty of
daylight, head back down 101 and return up Nestucca River Road and,
before you get to the gravel, make a right onto Bible Creek Access Road
- the access to the road is on your right, across from a big dirt
parking lot on your left. At left of this paragraph is a satellite view
of the turnoff that shows the big gravel area next to the road.
Bible Creek Access Road will become Gilbert Creek Road, and this gets
you to the small town of Willamina. If you pass Blackwell County Park,
you are well on your way. This is a beautiful route, paved the entire
way but may have some sunken grades, it's steep at times, and it's very
winding. Again - if you are looking for a terrific lunch, I highly
recommend the restaurant at the Wildwood Hotel.
From Willamina, you head to Sheridan, which will get you back onto 18
going East, which gets you to 47 and that takes you back through
McMinneville and so on. Boring, but very quick. Or, from Willamina, you
can go back up Gilbert Creek Road and make a right on Bald
Mountain Access Road, which will take you back to Nestucca River Road
and then back through Carlton and Yamhill.
There are also numerous national forests roads all throughout this area,
but they rarely have road signs. As mentioned earlier, the campgrounds
along the Nestucca River are great places to base yourself overnight to
explore the area, but frankly, I wouldn't leave anything in these
campgrounds during the day unattended. As this is mostly national
forest, you can legally camp rough along most any gravel road.
Parts of this trip are easily combined with Siuslaw
National Forest Service Road 14 or via a 14 mile or so gravel road
to Trask River Road, which is paved starting at Trask River Campground,
and from there you can head on to Tillamook or head back on 6 to the
Portland metro area.
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