Mary's Peak Loop by Dual Sport: Circumnavigating The Tallest Peak in the Oregon Coast Range, Part 1

Wow, this is cool. I hope this comes through on the camera. It looks like Twilight Zone ---- up here. Welcome back at long last to the dork side. God, I hope the sound isn't as ******* crackly in the recording as it is in my speakers right now. It is I, your friendly neighborhood dork in the road, and behind me, the one and only Duck Fan. Say hi, Duck Fan. Hello. And we are headed out for a mixed road surface adventure. We're going to do some highway miles out to Mary's Peak, and then we're going to ride up partway and then do a loop back around on some gravel and on our dual sports. So, should be good times, a little bit of an adventure. And the weather is not warm, but it isn't raining, knock on wood. So, we're wearing our waterproof gear, but hoping we don't need it. Look at all these buddies. Hey, buddy. Are they going to be cool and wave to us, or are they going to be dicks because we're riding dual sports? Most of them are cool. They're all going in for the parade, huh? I would assume, yeah. Yeah, today is Veterans Day, and our hometown of Albany has what they call the largest Veterans Day parade west of the Mississippi, so it's a big deal. And so, we're not headed in that direction because the traffic will be a little ridiculous. We're going to honor our veterans by going out and exercising our freedom to ride motorcycles in the woods. There he is. See? Lookit. Duff Van's rocking his brand new ARC Battle Born gear head to toe. Well, with his fabulous cycle gear, gloves. You know, he went and looked at the same ones that I got, but knew he had to get the ones that were just slightly better. They are cooler looking. They were on sale. That's cool. Don't wave back, douchebag. No big deal. I definitely get fewer waves on my dual sport. I don't know what that's about. I guess maybe people aren't down with the dual sports. Which is just silly, because it's a dual sport. It does it all. That's right. The community is too small to, like, fracture it even smaller. You got two wheels, it's two wheels. I'm, like, reaching through my pants to nothing, as if my pocket is gone. I'm telling you, some day that thing's going to move when you're trying to climb on it. Well, that'll be the day that you get to laugh your ass off, and I'll just pick it up, get on, and keep going. Alright, well, here we go. We'll see how well these tires do on wet pavement. And how well I do climbing up hills. I don't want to find out where the limit is. No. I'm just wondering if it'll feel squirrely at all. It's a little colder up here. Yeah, it's cooling off for sure. That ******* sign for this turn is way too far ahead of it. Like, if you didn't know this was it, the one coming the other way is right on it. Why is that one ******* two miles away? I don't know. This is already the furthest I've ever ridden on wet pavement. I forget you haven't done that before. Yeah, that plus these tires, I'm pretty nervous. I, uh, hate to say. Well, don't lean. Too much. Wow, this is cool. I hope this comes through on the camera. It looks like Twilight Zone ---- up here. Like that side road off to the left. I think it just loops around over to here. You want to stop at the waterfall and take a picture? Up to you. Oh, wow, this hurts. Oh, this is just the first one. There's two. The other one's cooler. But whatever. Look at that. That's awesome looking. Here, pose cooler. I don't know how to pose cool. Okay, well, don't bend over. Every time I think this bike is going to suck at something, it surprises me and is awesome. It has not been that bad coming up this hill. Well, here's the thing. They're fair. It's not like they're kind of okay at everything. They're actually really good at most things. Yeah, they're like 80% good. Yeah. All the time. Angle is fucked sometimes. Whoa. Thought it was going down. When you caught your ankle on the tank, on the tail bag, I thought, oh, there it goes. Nah, dude. Watch out for that rock. It is actually a fairly big rock. Yeah, it was. I wouldn't want to hit it. That does not rock. That's the other side of the lane, asshole. Not you. I gave him. I can't even see you. The GMC. I gave him a nod like a, yeah. Yeah, bitch. He said stay in your lane. Yo, damn it. It's getting pretty damn foggy here. I don't turn my bright on. Make myself easier to see. This is cool. Good things waterproof here. Yeah, like there's a huge ******* cliff over there, but you can't tell. It's actually a pretty gorgeous view when it's not a ******* cloud. It is foggy. Yeah, dude. Like I can see you, but only I mean your taillight disappears once in a while. And I'm not getting further away. If it wasn't for your headlight, I don't know if I'd be able to spot you in my rear view every time. Obviously right now, but oh ----. This is our road. So we're going up to the top or do you want to just turn? Well, how much further is it? Oh, damn. Awesome. Well, this looks more fun than that. If we're not going to get any. Yeah, I vote this way. Whatever. It's a fun ride up here. Yeah. Okay. We could always find, you know, side roads to explore if we wanted to. Wow. Once we get this is a little paved, but it's gravel up here for sure. Four ******* cars up here. What the hell are people doing? See anybody? Let's ask them. You're like, hey, just curious. What the **** are you doing? Yeah. Other shooting. These guys are shooting. I see the target. Well, this is the best spot, but it's not illegal, right? No big-ass rock in the road. I would not want to hit this with my truck. So I think I'm I'm going to lower more because I have my visibility than anything. Do not be super. Well, don't take the left. Take the right. All right. Our spot is right here as you come around the corner. No one here. Turning around up here is going to be a bitch. I do it before I get off. No, I'm not. This is a cool camping spot. Yeah, it is. Except there's nowhere to put a tent. You pretty much have to sleep in the back of a truck. This is pretty bad ass. I know. Let's go anywhere right here. I only went up a little ways left when I was here. Anyway, sweet spot right here. Kick ass. All of 10 over 10 miles of gravel left. Yeah.