| Author | Message | ||
     Dino  |
Even in here in the Golden State, all that glitters is not always gold. Dec. 24, 2004 - I've a new digicam standing by idle, a moto in the garage, the sun looking down from a bright blue sky and an entrance to Yosemite National Park in either direction I turn down Hwy 49. What would you do? Yep, me too! So, after a half hour search for straps to tie the tripod onto the rack, I get out onto the road shortly after noon. The temp is climbing into the high 40's. Not bad - this is the mountains after all. After passing thru the historic gold rush town of Mariposa I head up Hwy 140 toward the west gate to Yosemite National Park. My destination is Yosemite Valley. Although the Valley is the Yosemite everyone knows, it's only a very small piece of the entire Park. You can head up a dirt road near my house and cross into the Park in a couple of miles. But to reach the Valley is ride of more than an hour and a half thru either the west or south entrance gates. Today I head for the West Gate. The road to the West Gate, Hwy 140 will take me from Mariposa thru Midpines and El Portal. Timbo will remember Midpines as home of the Bug Hostel, home base to a recent Sportster get-together. Others may remember the Midpines and El Portal area as the location of the murderous exploits of Cary Stayner. Today Hwy 140 is nearly devoid of traffic. Normally a good thing. I certainly wasn't complaining...at first. A little past Midpines I crest a rise and lean it over into a fast lefthander. Whoops. The next couple of hundred yards of road are in constant shade this time of year. That means that the roadway almost never dries. Which means, given the elevation, the road turns to ice every evening. Which, in turn, means that CalTrans regularly and liberally covers the road with sand. So now I find myself heeled over and heading into a stretch of wet sand at something in excess of 60 mph. Of course I do what any seasoned motorcyclist would do...I look for a nice clear track thru the sand left by the auto traffic. Well, remember what I said about the traffic being really light? Uhuh. So when the left hand track peters out and I go from wet asphalt to wet sand both ends let go and I slide thru the sand in the center of the lane and into the right hand track where I most fortunately regain traction. Properly chastised I forge on as the road drops down to meet the Merced River. Once off of the downhill, road conditions improve... for a while. As I ride along the Merced the canyon becomes deeper and the granite cliff to the south keep the road in constant shade...more sand. Long stretches of wet sand. Still, the West Gate is not too far now. Soon I notice a layer of white on the turnouts along the road. Similarly, the boulders jutting from the waters of the Merced are draped in a coat of white. Not snow exactly. After some considerable amount of thoughtful consideration, and in light of the the growing numbness evident in my well gloved fingers, I determine that said white stuff must be a very heavy frost. Next it occurs to me that frost is generally thought to consist primarily of ice. And ice is generally considered to be rather slippery. Even more slippery than wet sand. At about this point in time it further occurs to me that, should I manage to reach Yosemite Valley this day, I will have to travel this road once again about two hours hence - at which time temperatures will be about two hours colder. Additional, it doesn't take a genius to realize that since the road follows the river all the way into the Valley, and since the river is flowing out of the Valley, it's higher elevation the farther I go. Right about that time I determined that this ride was an incredibly stupid idea and that the time has come to bail. At the first turnout I came to that was not covered with ice I reversed direction. (I really do wish I'd been brave,or foolish, enough to pull off and get some pix of the dark waters flowing around the white mantled rocks...maybe tomorrow...out of a 4WD.) Ah, now I'm heading back down the mountain, so everything is fine...right? Well, now I discover a new problem. Seems that I'm heading west into the sun as it drops in the direction of the Pacific. Remember all that wet sand? Each time I come to a shady stretch I find that with the sun in my eyes I can't see a damn thing in the shade ahead. Gee, I know that there is a wheel track that is relatively devoid of sand stretching off into the shade there somewhere. So, I steer for what i consider to be the most likely location of said wheel track and wait for the shade to reach my faceshield so I can determine just how good a guess I made. Happy to say that between caution and luck I made it back to Midpines without mishap. Now, however, I feel disappointed. After all, part of the purpose of this trip was to play with a new digicam. Thus far not one exposure has been made. Since all that glittered at higher elevation was ice, I decide to head down to the foothill streams of California's gold country. New destination: Mt. Bullion. At Mt Bullion I turned west toward the San Joaquin Valley on a road that's new to me. As befits the day, the road soon turned to one lane and then to sh*t. I stopped at a bridge over a creek to analyze my options and toss down a granola bar. I strolled idly about looking for and not finding any interesting photographic fodder. Just about to give up and go home, I strolled a bit farther down the road and around the next curve. Well, it sure wasn't Yosemite Valley, but around that curve was a rather attractive, bucolic little scene. Oak covered pasture land sloping down to a small stream... better than nothing. So I went back for the camera and fired off a few shots before heading back to hearth and home, hours ahead of schedule. Without further ado, here are a couple of shots that are definitely not of Yosemite Valley.   (Message edited by dino on December 24, 2004) | ||
| Jerry_haughton  |
two words, my friend: nigh-ice.  Merry Christmas to you and Char. the day we met and became friends was an unexpected blessing, much as this piece was when i logged on tonight. thank you for both events. FB&D | ||
| Dino |
FB - Glad you enjoyed my travels and travails. Funny you should mention our meeting...I was just thinking about that occasion this very day. As I mentioned in Court's Bob Villa thread, the fickle finger of fate followed a strange path: (in reverse chronological order) -at this very moment I sit writing a post for BadWeb... - introduced to BadWeb by Ferris... - met Ferris at Pierpoint Springs as he was scouting for the Cal BRAG ride and I was playing with the Suzuki... - which Suzuki was acquired after re-entered the world of motorcycling in 1998 with the purchase of a used BMW... - which BMW was purchased when, having bought the Mariposa house, I realized that said house is 17 miles, one way, from the nearest hardware store... - which hardware store I would have to visit a minimum of three times before I would have all the tools and parts necessary to accomplish the simplest home improvement/repair chore... - said repair job that was on my mind at that time being the replacement of a leaky toilet tank valve... Therefore, this entire cosmic series of events was set in motion by a toilet. Enough to get you all misty, eh? Merry Christmas to very special friends, Ferris and D. (and to all you Badwebbers out there) Dino and Char | ||
| Court |
Awesome.....I love the pictues and the one Feris posted on the other thread, the one with the car on the winding road, memorates me as to why I enjoy the area, and riding it vicarioulsy through you guys and gals. Merry Clausomatic! Court | ||
| Firemanjim  |
Another Canfieldism---memorates-- jeez,Court ,that's the second one I came across tonight.Please unhand the language. | ||
| Denisea  |
Dino, My preference would be "destiny". Belated merry merry to you and Char. Happy Happy treasures around the bend in the coming year. D |
