Rainier and the Passes — Ashford, Paradise, Chinook and White Pass Loop

Out of Ashford the Longmire gate road follows the Nisqually to the park entrance, then the Paradise line climbs past the Narada falls to the 5,400-foot meadow heart of the park — arrive before ten or queue behind RVs. South through the Tatoosh shadows to Packwood, then SR-123 and SR-410 climb Chinook Pass through old burns to the famous arch at the top — one of the great motorcycle photos in the state. East of the pass the road falls to the pine flats and the dry heat of Ellensburg, the loop’s halfway fuel point. South on I-82 for ten miles (the only interstate stretch) to Yakima, then west on US-12: hop fields give way to the Rimrock lake climb and the twisting White Pass descent through fir forest to Packwood. Two national parks’ worth of scenery, one fuel loop.