| Author | Message | ||
     Catalan42 |
Hi all - I'm in the 5'th day of a 17 day trip from San Diego to Vancouver & return. I've been riding along the Sierra Nevada mountains as much as possible, and this morning finds me leaving Redding, CA. I've been camping mostly (3 nights), with one motel night so far. If anybody has suggestions on must-see places, please post them below. My basic plan is to zig-zag north along the Sierra & Cascade ranges (Klamath looks good, too), then return south along the coast. The first day, I made it from SD to Big Pine, CA (south of Bishop). I found a nice little campground in the fork of 2 creeks.  After getting some recommendation from local residents I met, I went the next day into the White Mountains to the east to see some ancient (6000 year old) Bristlecone pines, and to take in the view of the snow-capped Sierras across the valley.  That green splotch is Bishop. I also stopped briefly at the lovely Lake Sabrina, before heading up north to the must-see June Lake, where I set up camp again.   More to come......  | ||
| Buellerxt |
Very cool trip, Catalan42, and GREAT pictures! Thanks for sharing. Be safe and enjoy. | ||
| David_e |
Looks like it would be pretty cold right now but it sure is pretty country. I rode from Washington to Santa Cruz CA. last July. It was cool and rainy along the coast fro Wa. to Eureka CA. We got tired of the cold and headed inland for a while to soak up some sun. I'm wondering if you are going to run into lousy weather if you take the coast. Just curiouse....how many miles on your bike right now? (Message edited by david_e on May 23, 2010) | ||
| Paralegalpete |
Very nice shots, and looks like a great trip, can you show some close ups of your camping gear loaded up on the bike? | ||
| Xb12xmike |
Yea and can you post a list of the items you brought when you get back? (what are you using to post while on the road?) | ||
| Natek |
+10 to Paralegalpete and Xb12xmike's suggestions! Might I suggest Crater Lake if you're near it. Beautiful place! | ||
| Catalan42 |
Heading to Crater Lake today (currently in Klamath Falls, OR). I brought my laptop (wrapped in clothes in the saddlebag) so that I could find cheap motels, when not camping in the tent. I have had great luck with kayak.com....  | ||
| Catalan42 |
In my opinion, the June Lake loop (off of 395) is a must-see stop. They have several gorgeous lakes, and quite dramatic mountains right across the road. The weather there was the coolest of the trip so far, getting down to 20 deg Friday night. I stayed warm enough by bringing enough gear for 3 people (and using all of it!) Once I got up and was preparing to leave, I put on all my M/C gear and didn't realize quite how cold it was until I tried to clean the dead bugs off of my faceshield. As I sprayed cleaner onto the shield, it froze right away, and only added to the frozen bug guts from the previous days ride! I tried to rinse the whole thing under a faucet at the camp restroom, but that was frozen solid, too! (I guess the galvanized pipes are strong enough to take that abuse). Just north of June Lake is Mono Lake and the entrance to Yosemite via the Tioga Pass.  Absolute gorgeous. Definitely the most dramatic mountain scenery I've ever encountered. Although the roads were plowed and cleared, at the top of the pass (9900 feet), there was a locked gate and one could not enter the park itself yet (not sure why). Two nearby passes (Sonora and Monitor) were also closed | ||
| Catalan42 |
After having breakfast in Lee Vining (Mono Lake), I headed north. Quite chilly at 7 am and 20-30 deg (I finally got all of the bugs cleaned off in the sink of an INDOOR restroom). One nice part of the cold temps was that no new bugs accumulated on the shield. For this portion of the ride, I was definitely glad that I had ponied up the $$ to buy the Gerbings heated jacket liner & gloves. Definitely worth the money in this weather....it would have been tough to fit enough layers to stay warm under my riding suit otherwise...... As it was, I was fine (as long as I kept the shield closed!). My gear for this portion of the trip is t-shirt, sweatshirt, heated jacket liner (long sleeved) on top, and sweat pants on the bottom. All this goes under a 2-piece zip-together Aqua Force riding suit by Frank Thomas (Cycle Gear brand). Gerbings heated gloves plug into wires at the end of each sleeve. Everything kept me nice & toasty, and I haven't even broken out the Patagonia long-johns yet! | ||
| Xb12xmike |
wow...that pic looks stunning. | ||
| Catalan42 |
I had planned to stop in the historic mining ghost town of Bodie, but when I got to the turn off at 8 am the sign said it didn't open until 10! Didn't feel like waiting, so that'll have to be another trip. I continued on up to Lake Tahoe, where one could be forgiven for thinking it was December instead of late May.    Doesn't quite look like boating weather yet (or riding weather, either!). | ||
| Dr_greg |
Stunning pictures!  Thanks VERY much for taking us along. --Doc | ||
| Scooter808484 |
If you're heading for Klamath, you've got to hit Crater Lake, fairly spectacular. If you haven't seen it, you need to get through the Columbia River Gorge, The road is better on the Washington side, but the big waterfalls etc. are on the Oregon side. If I was doing it, I think I'd come through Bend, then go towards Mt. Hood on US 26 through the Warm Springs Res. Then maybe see Timberline lodge at Mt. Hood. backtrack some down Or 35 to Hood River. You could make a circle route through the Gorge hitting both sides. I'd do that because I hate ride between Portland and Seattle, and Seattle traffic is completely hideous. So I would stay on the dry side of the Cascades. Take WA 142 up to Goldendale, that is a cool road. Head up through Yakima, then turn off into the Yakima river canyon on WA 821. Blue Ribbon trout waters with lots of lodges and camping... Up 97 across a small pass. Don't take US 2 across, it sux and dumps you into Everett. Work your way up 97 along the Columbia to WA 153 towards Twisp and Winthrop, another beautiful river valley. Then you can come across the mountains on the North Cascades highway 20. I'm in Bellingham, but unfortunately will be in Indiana for the next couple of weeks. Once you get to Vancouver, you have to go to Whistler. The road along the Howe sound is spectacular, and in much better shape since the Olympics. If you have time, and the road is open, head north out of Whistler to Pemberton and eventually Lillooet. Alpine lakes with Glaciers you can see from the road. then you can drop back down the Fraser River Valley back towards Vancouver. I'm sure some others can fill in some details.... | ||
| Scooter808484 |
Nice looking bike, BTW!!! | ||
| Orangeulius |
Man I love living vicariously through other people! This is what I needed to enjoy after a hard day at work. Awesome pics Alan! I used to live in Carlsbad, I grew up in Bonita CA. I love the country here but miss Cali. Enjoy and post more pics! | ||
| Sekalilgai |
Great pics! thanks for letting us ride along....not sure if you're going to be in the area but: Stewart Skaggs Road between the coast and Lake Sonoma  and Avenue of the Giants  are both pretty sweet. if you happen to be tooling up the Redwood Highway, then a stop by Wilderville Pizza Cafe for lunch is a must....great stuffed burgers  Farmer's Market in Eugene is not to be missed either!  Have fun! Looking forward to more reports! | ||
| Catalan42 |
OK...... Did you saw 3" off of your kickstand by that tree??? Or, should I be on the lookout for quicksand.....? | ||
| Catalan42 |
OK - After Lake Tahoe, I continued on north through Truckee where I met a pair of riders finishing up the exact opposite of my trip! They were both on ADV bikes, one a beemer GS and the other a KTM 990. They were completing the last stretch of a Vancouver-SD-Vancouver trip.....! We happened to get a big snow flurry while we were in the gas station, and I proudly showed off my Gerbings duds while they claimed that 10 layers crammed under a riding suit was "just as good" (give me technology any day.....). I continued north from Truckee on the fun 89, which takes you through the very nice Sierra Valley. At this point, I veered off onto the scenic Hwy 49, where I promptly encountered this scene....   Never seen a sign like this one, but I can see the point..... Most of the NorCal roads seem to have corner limits with posted speeds around half of what I'm used to seeing in SoCal (e.g. 30 instead of 50, etc). So, I'm getting kinda used to almost ignoring them, now. Well, now this road mixes up these absurdly low warning speeds, then hits you with a "true" 25 mph, 180 deg turn without any warning at all!!!!! Not nice. On top of that, one has to remember that we are in snow country, and this road seems to have an overabundance of sand/DG spread out over the road (the gray blends in perfectly with the pavement color). This is stuff with grains about 1/2 the size of a BB....too big to ignore, big enough to act like ball bearings, too small to see! So, that the rear tire starts sliding around (even at LOW speed) with no warning at all! Thank God for the sign, or I probably would have lost it on a curve, since the past many dozen of miles had been perfect traction.......  Later on, the weather starts to precipitate for the first time of the trip, resulting in some significant snow/sleet.  After being chilly the last 2 nights at 8000', I decided to splurge for the 1st time and got a cheap motel in Redding, CA....... | ||
| Sekalilgai |
Did you saw 3" off of your kickstand by that tree??? haha...kinda..it's an XT sidestand on an X, I regularly park on a heavily crowned road and it gives me a little peace of mind...plus I parked bass-ackwards in the pic too.... be fun! | ||
| Catalan42 |
Ok..... The next day, after being quite rested at the motel, we jammed up on east towards Mt Lassen. I'd never heard of it before, but it is an old volcano about 40 miles east of Redding. Well, it too has way too much snow, so the road through the park is closed and I racked up my 4th closed road so far on the trip. I continued north from the park on the very picturesque highway 89, then encountered the following scene upon crossing the bridge over Lake Britton:  ....wish you could have been there.... perhaps the most blissfull scene I've ever encountered. Kids fishing, temps 85ish, sun, birds,..... ahhhhhhh. I sat on that hill for at least 2 hours just soaking up the sun and the peacefullness..... I'm beginning to wonder..... Where has Northern CA been all my life....? | ||
| Catalan42 |
After a coupla hours of bliss, I finally tore myself away and got back on the road. I saw two groups of very small deer (around 4pm), but they all ran away from the road quickly and weren't an issue. About this time, I saw Mt Shasta for the first time.  Sadly, a lot of storms were entering the Pacific NW at this time, and cutting off the views of the mountains. | ||
| Desert_uly |
Nice! Makes me want to pull out the camping gear and plan a trip. Bodie would have been well worth a 2 hour delay, fantastic photo opportunities in a non-commercialized authentic ghost town. We normally camp in the June Lake Loop and do the day trip to Bodie. | ||
| Okc99 |
This may be a stupid question....but what is all that white stuff doing on the ground? Litter? | ||
| Natek |
Only white stuff I see on the ground is snow and a few rocks look a bit white in the pics w/o snow... |
