Bald Mountain...and a mishap!

[pdedse]

Had the full day to take a ride. After completing a 2 week trip on a loaned BMW1200, it was great to get back on the CB1100 for a good outing.

I live on the east side of the Portland area. I explore east, south and north of me into WA, but I don't explore enough the southwest region beyond Portland...mainly due to traffic returning home if it gets late in the day.

Got going a bit before 10am, and my only real goal was to explore the Nestucca River Road that begins west of Carlton, OR:


I could take this road all the way to the coast, or I could take Bald Mt. Road and meander south and back east to do a shorter loop. It was soooo nice out that I ended up doing the longer coastal route.


The Nestucca River Road was closed about 15 miles in, but the detour road introduced me to Bald Mt. Road, which was another road I've wanted to ride for a long time.





The area is ripe for Off Hiway Vehicles (OHV) and now I'll have to return on my DR650 to explore...


Wonderful one lane, paved road


Got to the point where I had to decide between beach and shorter route home


The mishap...as I'm texting a friend from the spot where I took the above photo, 3 riders ride towards me. The lead rider motions with a "thumbs-up" to see if I'm ok, and I give him a nod and a return the gesture indicating I'm fine. I look back to my text and I hear a KA-THUNK!!! The guy wiped out! He was riding a KLR650 and I think he lost control as he was giving me the thumb-up. His two riding buddies and I quickly checked on him...his left leg was kinda pinned under the bike, but the crash bars did their thing and he was ok. A sore wrist and a broken turn signal.

I felt bad for him..."no good deed goes unpunished" type of thing. I offered a $20 to pay half of the turn signal, or to buy himself dinner to lessen the pain a bit, but he wouldn't have it, saying it wasn't my fault. True, but dang, hate to see a hishap for a guy checking on a another rider. His bike started fine and they took off.
...

And I slowed down as I headed for the coast. Nothing says "Oregon" like mossy trees (at least the wet side of OR)...




Had it been warmer, I would have jumped in



I think the decision to go coastal was a good one...




At Oceanside, kicked the boots off and went for 1/2 hour walk


Cape Meares




It was nearing 5:30pm and time to return home...by the time I would get to Portland, traffic wouldn't be terrible (it turned out to be slow, but moved ok).

I feel bad for the good Samaritan, but it was a beautiful ride, about 250 miles.