Hwy 20 and Hwy 97 in Oregon - anybody familiar?

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SkinnyJoe

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Going from Bend, OR east on Hwy 20 toward Interstate 84, what's the highest safest speed by car, on dry pavement?

Same question from Bend, OR south on 97 toward Crater Lake.

The reason I ask is Google gives some long times, and I was wondering if those are narrow, curvy, dangerous roads.

Thanks.
 
Hwy 20 to I84? They don't hook up. Take 97 north to Biggs and you'll hit I84 at the border. Highway 20 runs east all the way to the Idaho border. You can get some pretty good speeds on that. Flat, pretty straight and I've only seen a state trooper or two a few times. West towards the coast it's more densely populated and a slower drive.

From Bend south (Hwy 97) to 138 to Crater lake is also a pretty flat, straight road with a few towns (La Pine, Gilchrist/Crescent, Chemult) Again, 60-65 is okay. State troopers are out, but that don't seem to interested in writing tickets down south.

Hope this helps.

-Tye
 
Perrty much what Tye said. Make sure when you come to any of the small towns that you slow down, thats where the troopers and sheriffs seem to sit.
ALSO, keep an eye out for deer on 97. They are thick and they come out at night to feed along the road. Hwy 20 is considered open range, so if you hit a cow, you just bought it. And there are a lot of deer, elk and antelope east of Bend.
They are both good roads with a lot of traffic
 
Thanks for the tips. I was looking up a drive from Boise, ID to Medford, OR


Google gives 489 mi 10 hours 52 mins.

I'm guessng it's a very scenic route. :)
 
It is a nice drive. If you are coming from Boise, definitely take hwy 20 through Burns to Bend, and then head south on 97.
Then you can cut over on Lake of the woods hwy to Medford.
 
338375 said:
It is a nice drive. If you are coming from Boise, definitely take hwy 20 through Burns to Bend, and then head south on 97.
Then you can cut over on Lake of the woods hwy to Medford.
Click to expand...

do you think that the google time estimate is a liberal one?
 
It's probably pretty close. You could do it in 8 I'd guess if you don't stop and sightsee.
You will want to do some sightseeing though.
 
I've done Boise to Medford and the time is about right. Watch your gas gauge, stations can be far apart. It is supposed to rain for the next several days. Today was rainy in the afternoon. Not bad, though. The pass at Lake of the Woods, between K Falls and Medford, is where you will find any bad conditions. I had to drive to Wyoming Feb 1 and that pass was the worst weather all the way. I live 37 miles SW of Medford.

Gene
 
If you come through on hwy 20 in the day time, keep a close look out for critters. Once you get to Hampton, which is about halfway between Burns and Bend, there is a large herd of Elk that are usually out in the fields close to the road.They are usually on the north side of the road. I went to Burns on Friday and didn't see the elk but saw a lot of deer and Antelope. As mentioned, before you leave Burns make sure you have plenty of gas because its 130 miles and there are no stations after you leave Riley, until you get to Bend
 
It's been a few years since I went from here to Cottonwood, Ca (taking 97 to I-5 at Weed, Ca) but from the Wa/Or border you could do 85 to about 20 miles north of Bend and then you'd better slow down. I used to see OSP from Bend to Klamath Falls all the time and sometimes they nailed everything that moved and other times they just picked off the hammerhead in the lead.

Ditto and exclamation points on watching out for the animals.
 
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