Scenic Klickitat County, Washington

During a spring ride in April, I discovered some new beauty in Klickitat County, in south-central Washington State.

While visiting family outside of Goldendale, Washington, I often take Highway 142 from Lyle on the Columbia River north, then east, to Goldendale. That route is wonderful on a motorcycle, with good pavement quality, a wide variety of curves, and some excellent scrub oak, pine, and grassland scenery along the Klickitat River. This time I decided to take a different route to explore new roads.

The route began in Lyle as usual, but this time I took the Centerville Highway instead of 142. The road climbs steeply above the town of Lyle, with several tight switchbacks, and soon I was in pine forest with lots of green spring grass underneath. It looked like a well-groomed park.

Once on top at 1,700 feet above sea level, the road has wonderful curves and several small up-and-down hills that are a lot of fun to ride. This is deer country, however, so the rider must stay alert.

The road emerges out of the trees and heads mostly east toward Centerville across a prairie dotted with farms and giant wind turbines that generate a lot of renewable energy for the region. The town of Centerville itself is small and has no services (gas, food, or lodging) that I could find, but that's no matter. The road meets up with Highway 97 in short order, with the town of Goldendale just a few miles to the north.

Once I gassed up in Goldendale, I caught Hoctor Road heading due east from Highway 97, until I came to gravel Oak Flat Road under the rotating blades of several massive wind turbines. Oak Flat Road descends steeply through a narrow gulch lined with scrub oak. The gravel is in good shape, but if you take this route when it's raining, expect some slippery, muddy conditions. Oak Flat Road connects with Bickleton Highway, a paved rural two-lane road that joins Goldendale in the west with the tiny town of Bickleton to the east.

Hilleberg Namatj 3GT with 2007 Suzuki V-Strom 650

I stayed at my relative's house and slept in my Hilleberg Namatj 3GT tent. As I have mentioned in a previous post, this is an outstanding tent with well thought-out features and long-lasting quality. I recommend spending some time practicing set up and tear down prior to use. It's a really nice tent, but it's big and takes a bit more time to set up than an el-cheapo dome tent from Walmart.

For the trip home, I wanted to continue the theme of exploration, so I headed east on Bickleton Highway through the tiny community of Cleveland and into Bickleton itself. I saw a card-lock fueling station in Bickleton and a tavern, but there didn't seem to be any other services available. Be sure you have plenty of fuel before taking this route.

My next leg of the journey home took me zigzagging south along East Road under rows and rows of wind turbines. The road has many straight stretches that are a few hundred yards to a quarter of a mile long, with a 45 degree or 90 degree angled turn to the next straight stretch. Although it sounds rudimentary and boring, it is actually a fun route. Eventually the Columbia River comes into view and the road descends down the hill to the small town of Roosevelt. There is a cafe there, but no gas.

In Roosevelt, I joined SR14 for the scenic ride west to Dallesport and the junction with Highway 197, where I crossed south over the Columbia River and back into Oregon. The Dalles has full services.

Review: Hilleberg Nammatj 3 GT tent

My previous tent, a 3-person dome from Cabela's, was getting long in the tooth and lacked some features I wanted in a motorcycling tent. After doing a lot of research, and realizing that I'd wasted a lot of money buying cheap tents in the past, I decided to get the best tent I could and stop this repeat purchasing madness.

I chose the Nammatj 3 GT tunnel tent by Hilleberg.

The Nammatj is somewhat expensive, costing me $795 for the tent and $96 for the matching footprint. I purchased both online from BackcountryGear.com, a retailer based in Eugene, Oregon, and received the gear the very next day after ordering -- with free shipping! As my review will show, it's not about the cost, it's about getting more than you paid for. That's how I define value, and the Hilleberg delivers value in spades.

Unlike a free-standing dome tent, the Nammatj is a tunnel design that requires staking down. The downside to this is you can't pick up the tent and relocate it to fine-tune your spot. This is a minor issue, however, as you merely need to pick your spot a bit more carefully -- which is something I do anyway.

As you can see in the picture, the tent has two chambers, the sleeping quarters behind the yellow door and the storage 'mud room' just inside the door. There are vents fore and aft that provide a surprising amount of ventilation. Because they are sloped down, you can open them even in bad weather.

The matching footprint has dongles that let you tie it down at key points around its perimeter. This prevents the footprint from moving around once it is in place under the tent. The footprint packs up to the size of a hardback novel when folded, or a can of Fosters when rolled.

The tent itself can be set up in the rain without worrying about getting the inside wet. My previous dome tent had a mesh no-see-um material for the roof, so setting it up in the rain got the inside wet. It didn't become weatherproof until I attached the external rain fly. The Nammatj doesn't have a separate fly; the tent material itself forms the weather barrier. The inner tent (in yellow) is actually attached to the outer tent using a series of dongles and can be removed, making the outer tent just a shell. This is great versatility.

When using this tent, it becomes clear the designers at Hilleberg thought of everything. The attention to detail is impressive and the craftsmanship is superb. I expect this tent to last many years.

It took me 15 minutes to set up the tent for the first time, aided by watching a video on Hilleberg's web site ahead of time. Now that I have practiced, I could probably get the tent erected in under 10 minutes. Break-down takes even less time.

Everything goes into a stuff sack that easily fits on top of my waterproof duffel on the passenger seat of my Suzuki V-Strom. It's too large to fit into a side case or top case, however. The tent is too heavy for backpacking, but that's not why I bought it. If that was a requirement, I would have purchased the Nammatj 3, which is a single chamber tent minus the front 'mud room' chamber.

After spending a night in the Nammatj, I can say the purchase price is easily forgotten and the tent quickly becomes a joy to use. For motorcyclists looking to save money on motels, or those simply wishing to enjoy the outdoors, I heartily recommend Hilleberg tents in general, and the Nammatj 3 GT specifically.