Going north on this trip, we followed the "Sierra Cascades" route from adventurecycling.org. We bought their route maps and used their GPS data. In the end, we followed almost all of it through California.
Heading back south, we followed the costal highways 101 and 1 to Ventura, NW of LA, then made a bee-line back home.
Places Visited
- Campo
- Laguna Mountain
- Barrel Springs
- Idyllwild
- Big Bear Lake
- Isabella Lake
- Sequoia National Park
- Trail of 100 Giants (Sequoias)
- Kings Canyon National Park
- Yosemite National Park
- Tuolumne Meadows
- Mt. Shasta
- Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox (Trees of Mystery)
- Redwoods National Park
- Lassen Volcanic National Park
- Lake Tahoe
- Old Station
- McArthur Burney Falls Memorial State Park
- Seiad Valley
- Ave of the Giants (Redwoods)
- Chandelier Tree
- Pacific Coast Highway (CA State Route 1)
- Golden Gate Bridge
- San Francisco
- Fort Funston (Hang gliding)
- Big Sur
Waypoints: Campo, Mount Laguna, Warner Springs, Idyllwild, Yucaipa, Big Bear City, Wrightwood, Palmdale, Tehachapi, Lake Isabella, Springville, Three Rivers, Pinehurst, Squaw Valley, Auberry, Wawona, Tioga Pass, Hwy 395 Lee Vining, Bridgeport, Walker, Coleville, Woodfords. Hwy 89 South Lake Tahoe, Tahoe City (yuck), Truckee, Greagle, Quincy, Greenville, Chester, Lassen NP, Old Station, McCloud, Mount Shasta to Montague via Old Stage Road, old hwy 99, Montague-Grenada Rd., Fort Jones, Scott River Road to Seiad, Happy Camp, O'Brien, Crescent City. Then back down the 101 and 1, etc.
Day 1: to Idyllwild
August 13, 2012: Home to Idyllwild
Working on the bike
Homemade electrical plug for powering the GPS.
Pre-dawn departure to take advantage of the cool morning.
Converted Gold Wing with a 100,000 miles on it. This guy was quite a character; a retired navy diver and as nice as they come. He also had a great sense of humor. "People ask me: Aren't you afraid of the devil? Heck no, I lived with his sister for 20 years."
Campo
Raining hard on Mt. Laguna. Think we will stall for an hour or so before going up there.
Tooling around, waiting for a break in the weather.
On the Sunrise Highway climbing Mt. Laguna.
Nostalgic place
Barrel Spring. I've lost count of the number of times I've been through here on various journeys. Maybe eight? Let's see: 4 times PCT hiking, Hello-America, Moto-America, Moto-Prudhoe, and now this CA-Mountains-&-Coast.
Nearly dark and no tripod. We camped the first night in Mount San Jacinto State Park, Idyllwild
Day's mileage: 448 mi
Day 2: to Tehachapi
August 14, 2012: Idyllwild to Tehachapi
Descending Mt. San Jacinto
Big Bear Lake
Bay leaves and seed pod. At the very outset of my Yosemite climbing career, I was taught that taking a whiff of a fresh Bay leaf would calm ones nerves. So I carried a few in my pocket on every single route. I don't know if the principal actually worked, but in those eleven years I grew immensely fond of the fragrance and it's association with climbing. The California bay tree (Umbellularia californica) is also known as California laurel and Oregon myrtle.
Mt. Baden Powell (North Baldy) in the San Gabriel Mountains.
Taking a cool respite at the Monte Cristo Campground
Time for showers and a restaurant meal. Sometimes if a motel's location seems a bit suspect, I will pull the bikes inside.
Then during the night a truck parked right outside our door. Come morning it took us half an hour to get the bikes out. :)
Day's mileage: 291 mi
Day 3: to Springvill
August 15, 2012: Tehachapi to Springvill
The road from Tehachapi to Lake Isabella is something I never would have thought to ride. It is steep in places and super twisty, and so isolated that the oncoming traffic is fond of being partly in your lane - so we had be very careful on this stretch.
I had never seen a train from quite this angle.
This is typical scenery in the Sierra foothills, where the landscape has shed its chaparral of southern California and given away to Oak and pine Woodlands
Lunch stop at the former mining town of Havilah.
The dog appeared well fed, but was so friendly that she got a portion of our lunch.
The beautiful Kern river as it flows through the town of Kernville, before feeding into Lake Isabella.
At the "Trail of 100 Giants," at the Giant Sequoia National Monument. (Parking lot)
A scrappy tree squirrel hoping for a handout. It doesn't look heathy; probably eating too much junk food.
Day's mileage: 133 mi
Day 4: to Oakhurst
August 16, 2012: Springvill to Oakhurst
After a night in Springville we stopped in Lemon Cove for breakfast.
Sequoia
The Sherman Tree
With a tagged ear and a tracking collar, this bear is in trouble.
Unfortunately out of focus.
At a traffic stop for road repair
Day's mileage: 198 mi
Day 5: to Lake Tahoe
August 17, 2012: Oakhurst to campground near Lake Tahoe
Yosemite
It was good to revisit this place, and I was pleasantly surprised how little had changed since the eleven years when I called the valley home.
I showed Jenny one my secret work-out places. This one was good rain or shine. Wearing a weight belt, lie-back five times up and down without touching the ground. Then repeat on the right-facing dihedral on the other side of the column.
Wild Asters
Tuolumne high country en route to Tioga Pass.
Tenaya Lake
Lake Tahoe
Goose Meadows campground.
Day's mileage: 276 mi
Day 6: Burney Falls
August 18, 2012: Lake Tahoe to stealth camp near Burney Falls
At a car wash in Truckee
Between Truckee and Lake Almanor, the the ride was beautiful. The road had been recently paved, and the traffic was light.
A small part of Lake Almanor. It seemed the entire state was on fire. We drove through a lot of smoke, and saw huge fire crew camps alongside the road.
Our visit to Lassen Volcanic National Park was cut short by a big fire that had closed the road through the park. The fire had been burning for two weeks, and required an 80 mile detour that took us all afternoon. Along the way we saw this other fire. It has started yesterday by lightening, and was traveling fast, driven by high winds.
On the back side of this other fire, we saw a lot of locals and the mood was approaching pandemonium, as the people feared for their properties. Many of them were diving crazy, without regard to the driving rules. We had to stay out of their way. Sometimes far out of their way.
The locals had no idea of the size and location of this fire - they could get no info, so sometimes we were their best source. This guy was loading his belongings into his truck as ash was falling from the sky. Contrary to appearances, we thought his place would be ok. I explained that the surface winds were still likely blowing NE, even though the upper winds were blowing the smoke and ash towards here, to the NW.
A fearful thing, but the fire is a lot further away that it looks.
Farther north we stopped at Old Station, and found that their power had been cut off, so we couldn't get gas. We recognized the box of baby rattlers at Uncle Runts, so stopped to take a look.
It appeared to be the same box that we had seen during our PCT hike of 1991.
It was good to see that they have been given a better living environment, with more comfortable sand and rocks.
Stealth camp north of Burney Falls, with Jenny's motorcycle boots at the head of the Net-Tent.
Day's mileage: 283 mi
Day 7: to Crescent City
August 19, 2012: Burney Falls to Crescent City
Mt. Shasta
Seiad
Wall of green
Day's mileage: 246 mi
Day 8: to Fort Bragg
August 20, 2012: Crescent City to Fort Bragg
"I have a $100 bill, I think I'll get some gas" thought the previous customer.
Redwoods
Photographer Photographing Photographer.
We made dozens of stops today to admire the beautiful Redwoods.
Common Wood Sorrel, tastes great.
Nature will find a way.
"Big Tree" 68 feet in circumference, 1,500 years old.
Interesting shop, and excellent sandwiches next door.
Another beach stop.
Watch out for this. There is an awful lot of it along the coast.
A good stop along the Ave of the Giants. The pull-out isn't signed.
Chandelier Tree
Now on Highway 1.
Day's mileage: 220 mi
Day 9: to Santa Cruz
August 21, 2012: Fort Bragg to Santa Cruz
Big Sur
Hang gliders at Fort Funston
Day's mileage: 252 mi
Day 10: to Ventura
August 22, 2012: Santa Cruz to Ventura
Day's mileage: 318 mi
Day 11: to home
August 23, 2012: Ventura to home
We drove through LA in wee hours to beat the traffic.
Mt. San Jacinto
Day's mileage: 525 mi