We just got home from the 1st annual SLINGSHOTS IN HELL rally and it was truly epic! It's going to be billed as the northwests largest Slinshot rally of 2020! 100% of the preregistered riders battled their Covid pandemic fears and made the trek to show their support and to tackle the Devil's Tail! Twenty two miles twisted road with rock walls on one side, and steep dropoffs on the other.
Caryn and I headed out Friday morning to meet up with SlingLow and his lovely bride Sarah. We then started our 300 mile journey east along the north side of the Columbia river taking in all the most beautiful scenery our country has to offer. About 180 miles in we crossed the river heading southeast ending up in the historic mining town of Baker City, OR.. After checking in to our hotel went out to enjoy all the bustling nightlife Baker City has to offer. We rolled into the downtown area, and after a couple trips up and down the main street, decided to grab a couple parking spaces and search out one of the finer dining establishments. Sadly..every damned one of them were closed! The entire town has had to close due to lack of business from the Covid virus. Fortunately we found a brewery open with limited seating and a friendly local was willing to give up his table so we could enjoy a beer and some pub food. After dinner we headed back to the hotel for good likker and comradery.
Saturday morning the four of us loaded up and made the 60 mile trip to Copperfield, the head of Hells Canyon and the start of Devil's Tail. Surprisingly the was almost no traffic. Even with this pandemic I expected to see hundreds of motorcycles. The weather was perfect and the Hells Canyon is usually a huge draw. We rode that tail like we owned it! Actually we almost did own it. We only met 2 or 3 motorcycles an a couple of cars the entire 22 mile stretch. It was like pure magic.
After a few hours of riding and picture taking we rode off. Headed back to Baker City and went sight seeing over to Sumpter, Oregon where they had a well restored gold dredge that's huge! There's miles and miles of tailing piles between Sumpter and Baker City that can be easily seen on google satellite.
This morning we made the trip home. All in all it was a great rally. Next year Baker City will hopefully be open again. I expect the rally to be at least double in size and we'll have plenty more to see and do.
For being the first year, this rally was a total success!!