I often forget how beautiful Ca and the nearby can be. I made a trip over the weekend (Thursday thru Sunday) up 395 to Gold Country around Jackson Ca.
Mike and I were heading to a Honda V4 get-together that we do annually, but haven't done for the last 5 years. We get about 30 riders participating. It's no big deal, but the ride up and back to Oceanside is what it's all about.
Mike Daugherty and I hit the trail last Thursday. I would ride to LA for the meetup at his downtown location. I got there at about 10:30am.
Mike does some moto work on his motorcycles there and was currently having trouble getting his brake disk off his Harley rim so that he could polish it. Mike is Bi-polar. He rides a nice ST1100, but has a Harley for his poser side. :evil
Anyway we had enough time to weld a nut to the seized offending bolt that was buggered up. The bolt came right out after that.
Riding and wrenching....that's the best. So about 11:30 we started the riding part. We had decided to take 2 days to get there, and see a little extra on the way.
We went north on I-5 to Hwy 14 then 395. It was close to a hundred out thru Mojave, but even so we were high in our helmet. Starting a ride will do that to you as I'm sure you know.
I try to capture the scenery as I ride. It all looks spectacular to me. I grew up in Ohio where everything is green, and the trees are in the way most of the time. It took me 20 year to be switched over to brown is beautiful and you can see forever.
HERE'S A COUPLE EXAMPLES
APPROACHING RED ROCK PARK Mike leads on his ST1100
I was getting short of gas so we decided to stop at the Shell station/Subway out in Pearsonville. We went inside for a drink. I chose a quart of Gatorade. I needed the hydration as well as a 'Night time' bottle.
I hate getting out of a sleeping bag in the middle of the night. :freaky
While we were at the Subway, 7 guysngals in camo fatigues came in. They looked kind of 'out of sorts'. I asked one of them where they were based.
Turns out the were Airforce out of Edwards AFB. They had just come from Kennedy Meadows where they'd been doing survival training for the past 3 days. They said that the 7 of them 6 trainees and an instructor had only eaten one MRE each and three rabbits. S that's why they were a little urgent to get something to eat.
I imagined them running around chasing rabbit, or perhaps they pulled a Survivor Man episode out of their hats and snared them. Survivor Man never catches anything so I was impressed.
I said, "how did you catch the rabbits?" They said, "We didn't catch them. We brought them with us". :huh:huh
What a let down...isn't that like cheating? :rofl:rofl:rofl
Soon we rode on northward......
So we left the flyboys to gain some strength thru sustenance. Did I say we were gaining altitude so the temps were in the low 90s now.
We rode thru the Pines...Lone Pine and Big Pine.
Scenes from the Sierras on the left and Owens valley on the right.
LITTLE LAKE AREA, LAVA FIELD
SOUTH OF LONE PINE
SOUTHEAST OF OWENS LAKE
I just can't keep my finger off of the camera. Even though these scenes are nothing special...there I go again.
Mt Whitney is a few miles north of here.
Mike's ST is new to him a few thousand miles ago. It looks like a brand new one, but has a hundred thousand miles on it. Mike adjusted the valves and put a new timing belt on it along with reworking the hydraulics and water systems. It runs like a top.
IT'S NICE HAVING A MODEL ALONG
We are intending to camp out at a free campsite off Obsidian Dome Rd or the one east of Big Pine on 168. According to the ADV camp site thread they are both above 8000 ft. Sounds cold.
Pictures of snow on the Mountains kinda work on our resolve to camp.
Doesn't look so bad here...
I just love these Mtns
We gassed up in Bishop, and we've both been up 395 a few times So we decided to detour out thru Mina and Hawthorne on 6 and 95 then come back to 395 just north of Topaz Lake. We'll have to go over a 7500 ft pass some 30 miles out of bishop
White Mtns East of Bishop.
As we slide down the east side of that pass....an American supplier come grinding up the grade bringing with it a nice contrast in color
The shadows begin to swallow us as evening approaches.
We pass thru Mina Nv as the town struggles to survive. Mina's been thru tough times before. It will survive no doubt, and when the recession is over the Playboy and Wild Kat ranches Will remove the board from their doors, and good times will abound once more.
It's big and bigger out there in northwest Nv, but it's all spectacular.
Hawthorne Nv is only 40 miles away. That should be a better place to spend the night than at 8500 ft. We arrive at 6pm and quickly got a 29$ room with Wifi that costs 40 plus tax for 2 of us.
Then we ride down to the Casino in town for dinner. I had the steak special and Mike went for a club sandwich. Mike made the better choice.
We played the penny slots for a while. Do you know that you can lose a chunk of money playing for just pennies? Then went back to the room, and checked on the internet happening, watched some TV, and I was soon asleep.
Hawthorne to Ping Grove
We got up in the morning to briskness. MickyDs for coffee would allow the sun to work the temps up a bit.
Mike is intent on winning this bike....
Then we stopped for gas.....Mike discovers that his gas cap is gone. STs have them covered by a locking little door on the false tank cover. His door doesn't lock so he suspects foul play. No one want to admit to leaving the cap sitting on the last gas pump they used. :norton
Mike wadded up a piece of paper and stuffed it in the tank neck....that'll have to do. We head out for Yerrington and Wellington.
There's not a lot going on, but I still find things to photograph.
Walker Lake isn't far away. Hawthorne has a Millitary base there for submarines. I don't get the connection as I'm sure the lake is to shallow for a Submarine. :rofl
Walker Lake
The desert does it's thing again once away from the water....more brown Mtns off to the side of the road. Wellington in Ca and back on 395 is about 60 miles away.
The TAT probably comes thru here somewhere...maybe more north of here, I suppose.
Nothing but a couple tele poles out there....
We stop for a map check. Mike says we aren't lost...on to Ca.
We have to go thru that split in the hills over there. We find a nice stream going our way.
We started to head west thru that little canyon just west of Yerington.
....and found nice twisties along a kick as stream. Who would have thunk it?
The Canyon walls suggest that there's gold in there...but they're not saying where.
The canyon was only about 5 miles long. It was nice to see curves again.
I like Nevada. You can always find a place to rest your head.
We break out of the canyon. Wellington and the intersection to 395 is over near those Mtns. It's only a short jog to the south to get to the Monitor Pass road.
We traveled south to Topaz Lake, and take on some gas there. There was a 10 minute traffic stop for road work along there. Mike and I spotted another rider up at the front of the stack. We snuck up the road's edge to a place next to him for a chat.
Turns out that it was an old guy (that's supposed to be funny coming from me), anyway he'd ridden down from Wa. He was on his way to see grand kids in San Diego. Nice enough guy...then the traffic broke loose, and we were at the head of the pack. I liked that. :clap:clap
Hwy 89, Monitors Pass, has brand new pavement to delight us along with these views as well.
Snowfall was light this year so all the Ca passes were open, but we were promised snow covered peaks up ahead.
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| From SMW, north |
There's those peaks I was talking about. We start down the west side of Monitors Pass.
Mike and I dive into these corners with delight.
There's no explaining these guy, but more power to 'em.
Monitor's about 8500 ft so it took a while to get down to the river at the bottom at 6000. Fun all the way...wheeeeee....
Mike tries to get away once we get to 88, and head for Carson Pass, but It's just not going to happen. :evil
The snow is still a good bit above us as we ride along at 7000 ft.
We are on the last leg of our trip to the meetup in Pine Grove 65 miles of curvey goodness away.
Up near the top it's time for a break to smell the clean, thin air and take it all in.
This is what we can see up there. Note that little stream on the right.
Here it is a little closer.
Someone recognized the grandeur of this location and made a throne to appreciate it from. Pretty good with a saw, I'd say.
Soon we were back on the road. We ate up the last 30 miles lick ity split. We rolled into the meetup campground at noon......
The Get-Together at Pine Grove
Mike and I arrived at the designated campground. Mark Muehlhausen from Chicago on his ST1100 was the only one that had already arrived. He had a room at the camp ground.
Mike and I set up our camp and after a burger at the Sierra House in Pine grove others began to arrive.
The Campground has 8 cabins for those without camp gear.
Ron and Doe Erhardt put this ride together. It's loosely associated with the internet list of [url]www.sabmag.org[/url] . 80% of the riders no longer ride the original Honda V4s, but you'll see a few as I show the pictures of our ride in the Gold Country hills of California's Gold Rush days.
Ron always provides pizzas and drinks for the Friday evening meal as riders usually show up in the afternoon.
Ron has just shown up with the Pizza.
Lies are being told as we reacquaint ourselves from 5 years of absence.
The Harley above is a rental from San Francisco rented by Fred and Irene Jakubowski who've flown in from The north coast of Germany. We are honored to have them along for a short stay.
This is Fred....he rides a custom model of Honda's original V4 Magna back in Germany.
Eduardo Frehre is our Peruvian connection. He and his son, Doug both riding very nice old V65 Sabres
More riders show up for food and hellos after a 'long time no see'.
Most riders have had a long ride getting there so after a short stint at the campfire we decide to all meet up at 10am for a 'foothill Country ride of 150 miles Saturday morning.
There's not much to say about the ride except it was a beautiful day in beautiful country....here are a few pictures.....
There are lots of small towns in the area...Railroad Flats
All the riders gathered to regroup in town.
We meet bikes on the road.
I look back at my group of misfits. :freaky
I can't seem to shake them off my tail.
Remarkable country out there...
Pardee Lake
We took an afternoon break....The Feryre boys Sabres on the right.
There's Jeff's Blackbird from Or, and Ron's nice old VFR
Last stop at the end of the ride...
We headed back to Camp where Ron and Doe would stoke up the BBQ and cook up a batch of Chicken and various tube steaks. We consumed it all and drank beer around the camp fire into the night.
It was a short visit with old friends. We'd all be heading out early in the morning sunday. Most everyone had jobs awaiting their returns.
......it had been a good reunion.....we talked of the next one.....
The Last Leg Home
The inevitable came with the morning light. We had 450 miles to go and a 'short time to get there'. Not really, but we packed up and hit the road by 7:30am.
We decide to take the Sonora Pass route (Hwy 108) back to the inland route back to L A. We didn't want to get caught in Hwy 48s Sunday traffic so we took some little roads south that routed us thru Murphy and then Columbia before we hit 108.
There's a 10 mile stretch of Sheep Ranch Rd just before getting to Murphy that has a horrible surface which must be endured when going that way, but the country side is very rewarding.
Here's what we saw from Pine Grove to Columbia.
I led the way on the little roads south from Pine grove.
We scampered over the Roads through Railroad Flats and Sheep Ranch on the way to Columbia.
The roads were good till we got to the little town of Sheep Ranch.
We carved for 30 miles on good roads.....then came Sheep Ranch road. Hummmm...not bad.
Mike's looks good in front of the sheep Ranch store of old.
Sheep Ranch is only a block long.
A classy old homestead terminates that block.
Other residences....not much going on at Sheep Ranch, but it was only 8:30 am on a Sunday. A hunch says folks here are apt to sleep till noon.
The road went to crap between Sheep Ranch and Murphy. I'd been on this 10 mile piece of road when it was all pot holes 6 or 7 years ago. It's been patched up since then, but it's not much better.
It was a small price to pay for the scenery, though.
The road is worse than it looks. They always are. Ha.
An overview of the Sierra foothill country.
Finally we go to Murfhy and back to the good roads. E18 down to Columbia was nice with very little traffic.
Columbia has Gold Country History and there is a large section of restored old town.
Lots of old buildings to vie for the tourist dollar.
We gassed up in Sonora, the beginning of 108 for us, and ate a burger for the road ahead.
We had 80 miles of curves with scenery before we'd reach 395 for the ride south.
At 60mph you can understand why the pictures are a little blurred, I imagine.
We climb toward the snow on the really pristine pavement of 108.
There wasn't much snow this year so the Passes opened early. All of them were open.
I caught myself falling back from time to time with the photo duties....talk about distracted driving.
I'm guessing that's 11000 foot on top.
Sonora Pass is no Yosemite, but its combination of scenery, small roads, and 25% grades make it one of my favorites.
There's lots of relatively unused camp grounds through here, (before summer break), and mega cliffs often border the road.
We're probably at 8000 ft here. Temps are 65 degrees.....Just perfect.
Mike tells me he's never been here before.
I always stop and read the summit sign, and try to imagine just how rough it was back in 1850 to come through here.
A couple of summit pictures were a must.
Standing there on top, I'm a happy man. It was good to be there with Mike.
I tried to catch the moment with a panoramic photo...useless of course.
We have 15 miles of downhill ahead of us. Some of it touted to be at 26%.
That Valley is near the bottom at 7000 ft.
On the way down to the Valley floor. Some of this is that 26% that they were talking about.
No, that isn't a winter resort. That a winter training military post.
Hwy 395 is just a few miles ahead. We get there at 11:30am. That leaves us 400 miles to LA, or before we can rest.
A last look at where we'd been.
Back on 395, we head south....
We get our groove on as Mike's leans into a corner as we drop down to Lee Vining, the eastern Gateway to Yosemite park.
Note the Hang glider. I almost missed him....
Mono Lake shows off with a nice refection as we ride by.
Soon we approach Bridgeport
and more views of the eastern Sierras....
I think this picture says it all.
Soon we back at the lower altitudes of the high desert running at near a 100 degrees. We were in a hurry to get back into the coastal climate which we achieved at 6pm.
I know these pictures are old hat to many of you long time riders/tourers. I just thought I'd jog your memories again in hopes of rekindling in you all one more ride thru California's passes.
I'd appreciate some remarks as to what you liked or disliked in my Bullshit story about a long weekend in and about our west.
