My fiancee and I took advantage of the long weekend to spend a few hours cruising around the
Mountain Loop Highway here in Washington State.
Here is a google maps link to the route we took.
We chose to go clockwise around the look so we were on the more heavily traveled state highways earlier in the morning. Leaving from Snohomish we cruised some very pleasant back roads through the sticks up to Granite Falls, seeing maybe two cars total. We had gotten a late start so we plowed on through up to Arlington Heights and onto State Route 530. I had been a little worried about holding up traffic on 530 (speed limit 55), but we never had more than single car behind us. My speedometer tops out at 45 mph indicated, so I'm beginning to suspect that it is not correctly calibrated.
We passed by the Oso landslide, and it is amazing how much earth was moved during the slide. There was a touching memorial we stopped at alongside the road. At this point we had our only "A"dventure of the day when the car wouldn't give any hint of starting. Before I completely killed the battery I realized that the fuse had blown. This has happened to me before, so I always carry a few spares and we were off on our way.
Next stop is the very small town of Darrington, where we stopped for coffee and fuel. Shortly after Darrington you enter the Mountain Loop proper, and the pavement is replaced by gravel and there are various trailheads and campsites along the side of the road. In general, the road was pretty good shape. The first few miles we cruised in 3rd gear, but then the number and size of potholes picked up and we spent the rest of the dirt segment in 2nd gear. The Model A gearing really makes a lot more sense on these old dirt roads... 1st is for when it's real bad, 2nd is the typical gear, and 3rd is for when you get a nice stretch of good road.
We passed many groups camped on the side of the road, and got lots of thumbs up, waves, and incredulous looks. We passed a couple minivans going the opposite way, I think we were better equipped than they were! The narrow wheel base really lets you thread the needle through some potholey areas.
Earlier this week the road had been closed due to a slide. The Forest Service had it cleaned up the next day, but the aftermath was still impressive.
Eventually we climbed up over Barlow Pass (only 1500 ft) and the pavement returned. Cruising back towards civilization at 45 mph just seemed so... boring after all the gravel. It was interesting to see the number of campers , day hikers increase dramatically as we got closer to civilization. There are many popular day hikes along this section of the road. The rest of the trip was straightforward, but boy did it feel good to get and enjoy a stationary chair at the BBQ place in Granite Falls!
All in all, an excellent trip. All of the roads had the right level of traffic (very little), reasonable speed limits, and scenic views. Now I think I need to find some more forest service roads...
More pictures below:
