NE Washington State: the Gravel Tier

[davidbonn]

I've done variations of this route a couple of times.  If you get off of the main ACA route (mostly to the N) you can get onto interesting country roads and through some odd little villages.  There is interesting and undiscovered country that most cyclists never see...



Above Barstow, WA before dropping to the Kettle River.



Between Chesaw, WA and Oroville, WA



W of Oroville, WA along the Similkameen River



Snake in the road S of Loomis, WA



On the long climb out of Conconully, WA


You can check out one variation of the route at:

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/45602710

Note that while most of the country you are traveling through is fairly built up, there are very limited supplies in a lot of sections and until the very end even the towns with most services often have very limited options.  The off-pavement sections are easily manageable on 47mm tires.

Parallel to the Northern Tier in Idaho and Western Montana there are similar interesting and challenging options.  Some of them appear in ACA guides and some do not.

[BikeliciousBabe]

Nice.

I spent a night in Ione two different times while riding the NT, including one at Campbell Park.

[davidbonn]

I would very much like to hear from anyone who has ridden from Lower Priest Lake, ID to Ione via Nordman and FS roads 311 and 302.  Which looks like a cool ride.  I have ridden from Sandpoint to Priest Lake on mostly unpaved and lightly traveled gravel and it was pretty decent, and a big relief from the busy and shoulderless hell that Idaho Highway 200 was from Clark Fork to Ponderay (which as far as I can tell is part of the official Northern Tier).

Also, I am curious about finding a decent route over the Whitefish Divide between the Flathead Valley and Eureka, MT.

I've also ridden on excellent back roads from Eureka to Libby where you leave the Northern Tier at Lake Koocanusa and go up Big Creek valley and down Pipe Creek valley to the Yaak River.  Again superb country and great biking on quiet gravel roads. 

[BikeliciousBabe]

Doesn't the GDMBR take you over Whitefish Divide to Roosville, just north of Libby?

While I have only ridden on paved roads up there, I love the Yaak River Valley.  Last time I was up there, I met a guy at Pete Creek Campground out for short trip.  IIRC, he had come up from Libby via Pipe Creek Road to 17 Mile Creek Road to get to NF-92.

[davidbonn]

I was hoping for a crossing on the US side of the border, ideally approximately between Polebridge and Fortine.  I do see a possible route using the heatmaps on ridewithgps but would like to know a bit more...