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Wed
May 14 & Thu May15/03 Brian
After arriving mid-afternoon at the airport in
San Francisco, I caught the shuttle bus to the Colma BART station.
They sure don't do much to promote use of this rapid transit
system. The laughable
announcements made over the PA system appear to be in Outer Galactican
and the ticket machines are almost as difficult to understand. The
stations, which have the ambience of Eastern Europe prior to the
collapse of communism, are poorly lit, gloomy, soulless places with
absolutely no services. Hell, even the restrooms are closed. Somehow
this is supposed to thwart terrorist bombers.
Now I ask you, if you were an al-Qaida
operative looking toward your heavenly reward of 23 virgins, would
you shrug and say to yourself "Oh darn, its locked. I guess I
can't blow up today, praise God" and just leave, grumbling
about the perfidious infidels? Or would you wreak havoc on something
other than the plumbing? Hey, if the evil doers are that
unimaginative, they don't stand a chance. Seems to me if you can’t
take a piss in a train station rest room, the terrorists have
already won.
The trains themselves though, work
quite well and are fast and smooth. After about one and a quarter
hours, I was deposited at the end of the line in Pleasanton.
(If you were to guess this isn't a town of much pleasantness,
you'd be right.) My
sister-in-law, Cat, was hung up in California freeway gridlock (what
else) but arrived to pick me up after about 15 minutes for the
minivan trip back to Turlock.
The next morning, I rode my VFR the
short distance up Hwy 99 to Honda Kawasaki of Modesto to get the
balance of the 600 mi (1000 km) service check stuff done (minus the
oil change Mike and I had done, of course).
On the way back to Turlock I was loafing along somewhere
about 85 mph (135 km) when I noticed an older sedan a little ways
back, pacing me. No
problem I thought, it's way too old to be a ghost car.
I pulled off at the exit into Turlock and continued down
Monte Vista Av, throttling back to my usual Mike-mandated urban
speed of a titch over whatever the limit is.
At the first traffic light, I noticed
the older sedan that had been shadowing me right behind with its
tell-tale, cherry light on top of the dash. Well, at least he
hadn’t (so far) collected any speed tax from me for a new cruiser.
I continued at my sedate pace and a few streets later, he bailed.
When I arrived at my brother's I Cat informed me that the
local STCs rake in a lot of revenue on that stretch of Monte Vista
because of the school zone. Hey, but thanks officer for the slack
you cut me on 99.
That afternoon I spent with my brother
in his Cessna flying air recon of nearby potential TEs just into the
first, low, Sierra Nevada foothills. At the end of our last trip Don
flew Mike and I to San Francisco for our flight home.
All three of us were looking down at the roads we flew over
and, although none of us said anything at the time, we all had
pretty much the same thought: maybe surveying roads from the air
first and just riding the appropriate ones could save us a lot of
punishing, pointless miles and speed up our research process.
Mike and I felt this would be more
helpful at separating the wheat from the chaff for Twisted Edges
rather than Destination Highways.
That's because potential DHs are often more obvious than
potential TEs are. And
although most people think we spend most of our time on DHs, much of
our riding time is, in fact, actually spent scoping out the myriad
smaller side roads for TEness. So, we log a lot of time on roads
which turn out to be neither DHs nor TEs. We can ride all day
checking out these duds and end up only a few miles away from where
we started. (Feel sorry for us yet?)
Anyway to check out our theory, on
this solo trip I was tasked primarily to combine air reconnaissance
of potential TEs with subsequent on the ground inspection.
Mike could then swan in on a later trip and gather TIRES data
from just whatever potential DHs I found, rather than wasting a lot
of time patrolling nothing roads.
The inaugural flight seemed to go well
and, partly because there were no air pylons to slow us down, we
covered an amazing amount of ground in only a few hours. This was
looking good.
Because of the threat of terrorism, we
were under FAA restrictions not to “loiter”
around infrastructure such as dams and reservoirs. You might
be surprised at just how many dams and reservoirs there are
scattered about California. And how many roads are nearby them (and
even go over the dams). Still, constantly flying around the same
area when you’re engaged in valuable research can hardly be
considered loitering, can it?
No Air Force interceptors showed up to
argue otherwise, so the only problem I had was my mild case of air
sickness from the ex-RCAF test pilot major having to occasionally
throw the Cessna around like it was a frickin’ F-18 in order not
to lose track of some roads. Side to side I was used to, it was the
up and down added in that got me. Still, if you don’t blow chunks
how bad can it be, right? Tomorrow, I’d verify the air research
with my Interceptor.
Fri
May 16/03 Brian
North from Turlock on county road J9 brought me to Hickman, just
south of Waterford. From
there I headed east on Lake Road which runs along the south side of
the Tuolumne River valley, opposite Hwy 132) on the north side (DH
Waterford – Coulterville). Appropriately enough, Lake Rd winds
around the north shore of Turlock Lake (which looks like it has a
nice beach) before winding into some foothills and connecting with
Hwy 132, a couple miles west of La Grange.
This TE is very complementary to the DH and was as good as it
looked from the air.
Backtracked along Lake Road and down
Los Cerritos/J16 to Snelling and then took Hwy 59 down to Merced to
see if it was anything. Back
up through Snelling and then up J59 to LaGrange.
Neither will probably be anything, although you'd probably
ride ‘em in preference to the alternatives if you were going this
way. North of La Grange, I had to check out a couple of possible TEs
that Mike and I had passed by when we did Waterford - Coulterville.
Both Bonds Flat Rd and Granite Springs Rd - Penon Blanco Rd were a
complete waste of time. Tellingly, I had not checked these out from
the air yesterday.
From La Grange, I headed east on Hwy
132 to the junction of Merced Falls Rd and then headed south.
Merced is a nice road, again confirming what I was expecting
from yesterday. Some decent curves and pavement should make this a
good TE, I thought. Once
I got to the no-town of Merced Falls I was looking forward to the
sweet little dead-end Lake McClure Rd past Lake McSwain and out to
the McClure Pt CG on the (surprise, surprise) Lake McClure.
It had looked great from the air and indeed that proved to be
the case.
The Lake McClure - Lake McSwain
Recreation Area is operated by the Merced Irrigation District Parks
Department. There is a
booth at the beginning of the road levying a day use charge. Just don't expect to get any information for your money.
Among the other things the person in the booth didn't know was the
existence of a campground less than half a mile away on Lake McSwain.
On the other hand, I was able to obtain a free in and back
out pass. It's a great
little seven mile ride with some good scenery and pavement and even
better twisties.
After I'd come back, I took the bridge
across the Merced River and got on well-paved and engineered (except
for the roller coaster stretch) county road J16. It has a nice,
remote feel to it, starting out in quite wide-open country which
starts to get hilly and tree covered as you get close to Hornitos
(population once 15,000 and founded by Mexican '49ers). Mostly
forgotten by time, Hornitos still feels a bit like an old, authentic
Mexican town. Well, except for the unnerving banjo-guitar
Deliverance scene on the verandah of an old house.
After cruising through town, I checked
out the Bear Valley Rd up to DH Moccasin - Bear Valley (Hwy 49).
North of Hornitos, the country gets more rugged and forested
and puts in some nice kinks in Bear Valley Rd. It'll definitely be a
TE.
I re-did Bear Valley back to Hornitos
but before continuing east on Hornitos Rd, I stopped at a bar, the
only service left in the old gold mining town since Roy's Cafe
(check out that old sign) closed 20 years ago. I was intrigued by
the Plaza Bar sign which suggested that you could get cocktails to
go. Not the case, of
course. This ancient,
old-fashioned bar has been run for the last 55 years by 76 year old
Manuela Ortiz who came here from Spain in 1948 when she was 21.
If you pop in, say hi for me.
Hornitos Rd the rest of the way was
also as good as it looked from the sky.
Its excellent pavement winds through pretty, rolling and
almost completely undeveloped countryside (although there are some
ominous signs) dotted by large, attractive trees turning south to
the mapdot of Cathey's Valley on Hwy 140.
This was a much nicer ride than the last time we were on this
road between crappy Old Toll Rd and crappier Indian Gultch Rd
running out of gas at dusk and having no idea where the nearest gas
was. Today I discovered
that, a mere couple of miles away from where we needed gas that
earlier evening, Cathey's Valley has not one but two gas stations
(sadly, it also looks like it's going to get a subdivision).
As I headed east up Hwy 140 (one nice
twisty bit) to a motel in Mariposa, I reflected on the fact that the
only crap roads I had done today were the ones not surveyed with
AirBoz. It looked like this was going to be the beginning of a
beautiful relationship.
Sat May 17/03 Brian
Next
morning,
I headed back from Mariposa to Catheys Valley in order to do the
Hornitos Rd - Merced Falls Rd DH (back to Hwy 132) in one piece.
Instead of just retracing my steps back along Hwy 140, I rode
a few miles north on Hwy 49 towards Bear Valley to check out the Mt
Bullion Cutoff Rd over to Hwy 140.
It's better than the initial straight stretch of Hwy 140
south of Mariposa and reconnects with the highway just before its
best curves on 140. Less
STCs this way too.
As
a matter of fact, I did Hornitos Rd - Merced Falls Rd twice, because
coming back on it was the fastest way to get back to Mariposa and to
my main assignment for the day.
Which was to check out a bunch of side roads for TEness
between Hwy 49 and Hwy 99 (east of Hwy 41).
I
headed south from Mormon Bar on Ben Hur Rd, which has a little
B&B on it hidden just off Hwy 49. The top half of Ben Hur is a brawny piece of pavement and not
very enjoyable. I was
beginning to conclude that the VFR clip-ons were too low for me; on
a slow road like this one, my palms were going numb from too much
abuse. The road does smooth out on the lower half, where it's also
nice and remote but the whole trip is not really worth the
punishment you have to endure on the first bit.
I ended up in the little town of Raymond, which has a general
store/restaurant/bar as well as another bar that only serves beer
and wine. That's good,
I needed a break. If
you order a sandwich, be aware: local tradition seems to call for
the butter to be on the outside of the bread.
After
washing my hands, I went south from Raymond on Rd 600/603 around the
western side of Hensley Lake and then did the lower half of Rd 400
(romantic road names around here, aren't they?) down to Hwy 145 just
outside Madera. This
takes you out of the low foothills of the Sierra Nevada and down
into the central valley. Not
a bad scoot, but it does get straighter, less interesting and hotter
the further south you go. I arrived at the junction with Hwy 145
with 15 seconds of videotape left. Perfect timing or what?
I
didn't tarry long in the heat of the big valley. After popping in a
new tape, it was back up into the foothills to check out the top
half of Rd 400, which runs along the east side of Hensley Lake.
Unfortunately, the pavement here is pretty crappy and will
not receive a Destination Highways recommendation.
Raymond
Rd (Rd 415) between Coarsegold (on Hwy 41) and Raymond is a little
busy at the Coarsegold end but falls well within TE parameters.
It connects with Grub Gulch Rd just north of Raymond (or you
can split off on Knowles Rd (Rd 606) past Knowles (which also has a
bar) to connect south of Raymond with Rd 600).
Grub Gulch is certainly the best named and best road around
here. It's quite twisty
and challenging in spots. And the approximately 15 mi (24 km) of
pavement is decent enough as it runs through mostly undeveloped
countryside to Ahwahnee on Hwy 49.
My day ended by
motoring along the boring Fresno Flats stretch of Hwy 49 into
Oakhurst where I stayed, just outside town, at the Sierra Sky Ranch
(converted from working
to guest ranch in 1946). This
old place is very peaceful, full of charm and sure beats the chain
accommodation in Oakhurst (which often fills up early because of
Oakhurst's proximity of Yosemite). You'll also get a warm welcome
from Kim. Another place
I spotted was the Pines Rose Inn B&B, a couple of miles up the
Bass Lk Rd (Rd 222). Big
on Jacuzzis, it also seems quite appealing.
The nearby Mountain
House Restaurant, on Hwy 41 right at the Bass Lake Rd turnoff
provided me with an incredibly good blue cheese burger (very common
throughout California for some reason) followed by warm blackberry
pie while I watched the third period of the Stanley Cup semifinal
sixth game between Ottawa and New Jersey.
Ahhh….
Sun
May 18/03 Brian
I wasn’t expecting to find myself at the conclusion of the day in
an eerily empty downtown Fresno feeling lucky to find a Denny's for
“dinner”. But since
much of the day was kind of Denny's-like, maybe its end was fitting.
That morning, after a particularly peaceful sleep at
the Sierra Sky Ranch, I checked my air pressure and decided to go
into Oakhurst to pick up a few pounds (kilobars).
Then it was back up the Bass Lake Rd (Rd 222) to check out
stuff around Bass Lake. I jaspered the town of Bass Lake for
services (the restaurant in the main lodge there is supposed to be
very good) and then decided to check out a couple of miles of
Beasore Rd (FSR 7) which runs north out of town.
If it quickly turned to shit, I wouldn't have to worry about
checking the north end of it later on.
Beasore looked fine, so I decided to turn around and
focus my attention on the TE possibilities south and west of the
lake. Beasore was too
narrow to turn around on the pavement, so I had to wait until there
was enough of a shoulder on which to pull over.
Impatient to get on with my day, I turned the bike off the
shoulder and back onto the pavement at 90° rather than remain on
the shoulder until it was nice and wide a little farther along,
where I could more cautiously choose a less aggressive angle at
which to remount the paved surface.
More importantly, I also failed to appreciate that, at the
point I’d chosen, the asphalt was about 7 inches higher than the
shoulder. I got my front wheel up on the pavement no problem, but then
grounded out the undercarriage on the raised lip and came to a stop.
I had also not clued into the fact that the road’s surface here
was banked at right angles directly away from my (badly) chosen
path. Before I could
get my foot down in the correct place to support the bike, gravity
spied an opportunity and slammed the VFR down on its right side past
my too late and too feeble attempts to keep it upright.
The good thing about hard luggage?
It's a great crash bar for the back of a bike.
The bad thing about it?
It tips the front of your fairing into the asphalt. Great.
I find few things sadder than a motorcycle that's not rubber
side down. Unless, of course, it's my motorcycle in that position.
I apologized to the VFR and then, feeling a little
depressed by my idiocy, took off the top pannier and the side one
that wasn't supporting the back of the bike while grinding the front
right fairing into the asphalt.
With gravity working directly against the direction I'd have
to lift the bike, there was nothing to do except wait for help and
ponder my ineptitude. Some
of these forest roads don't get much traffic so I was afraid I might
be here for awhile but it was only a couple of minutes until the
first helpful motorist came along.
We righted the bike in short order.
Hell, unless you looked, you couldn't even see the gouges in
the fairing.
Now, I don't want to go on a rant here, but I'm
wondering why Honda doesn't have those sacrificial, protective
knobby things I've noticed on other faired bikes?
Not to make excuses, but no-speed tip overs are not exactly
unheard of in motorcycling, are they?
And they shouldn't cost you US$650 (CDN$3.7 million) in
bodywork (as I later found out) at this point in motorcycle
evolution, should they? Or maybe it’s just me who doesn't think this is right? And
do all these questions capture my snarky, indignant tone?
Trying to salvage something from the situation, I
asked the helpful pyloneer if he knew what this road was like up
ahead. “Oh, farther along it's not very good.
And in any case in about 8 mi (12.9 km), it's completely
blocked by snow.” Perfect.
I tip over on a road that's no good and one I can't ride in
any case.
For some reason, things like tip overs always seem to
heighten my awareness of mortality, so I took a moment out to pray:
“Please Lord, if You decide to shut out my lights while I’m
riding, can it be on one of your Destination Highways rather than
some nothing piece of crap road like this one I just dumped my VFR
on? Oh, and if it's not too much trouble, can it be one of your best
DHs, say number 5 or better? I, uh, don't mean to beseech but your
number 1 in any jurisdiction would be the ideal way to go, of
course. Amen.”
What was it
Mike keeps saying? Oh yes, “these bikes are just tools.” Right. Since the tool was functioning just fine, back to work.
I spent the next tedious hour or so writing off possible TEs
close to Oakhurst, largely because of sprawl.
One which will be a TE is made up of Roads 426/223/221
running south from Oakhurst to the North Fork Rd (Rd 200).
I'm hopeful that North Fork/200 will turn out to be a DH when
combined with the Bass Lake Rd (Rd 222).
While on Rd
223, I passed some Harley's and an ambulance.
I assume one of the riders had sacrificed some skin for the
cause since I could see a rider in his protective T-shirt sitting in
the back of the ambulance with his arm all bandaged up.
I wondered if he knew how long it takes road rash to heal.
Or that if there's gravel or dirt in the wound, they often
have to scrub it out with a wire brush.
Ouch, I hoped not.
Sweating
profusely in the 90° Fahrenheit (35° Celsius) heat, I reminded
myself that until we got our hot weather gear, I mustn't remove my
leathers no matter how hot it got and turned my attention to Crane
Valley Rd. It
eventually winds along the western shore of Bass Lake but it gets
awfully tight and slow, not to mention congested.
Another bad sign was that I got behind an STC on it.
At one point I had to stop and change tapes, while he went
ahead and, I soon found out, craftily set up a trap for me.
But I'm no fool, I just cruised along at my
Mike-approved-10mph-over-around-STCs-and-in-urban-areas and sailed
through unscathed.
After fiddle-farting around for so long and only finding one
TE, it felt good to head back to the Bass Lake Rd (Rd 222) junction
with Hwy 41 and start Bass Lake as a potential DH.
Fairly nondescript until you get to the lake, there are a few
curves before the town of Bass Lake. But the best stuff starts past
it along the east side of the lake.
Tight curves, great pavement plus because you're in the
Sierra National Forest, it’s more remote.
Once past the lake, the road straightens out considerably on
its way to North Fork. After
this town, the road’s name changes to North Fork Rd (Rd 200).
It continues southwest with mellow curves and sweepers into
increasingly dry terrain until its end at the junction with Hwy 41.
I’m guessing this will be a DH, although not a terribly
high-scoring one. And
there's a lot less traffic than on Hwy 41 if you are heading between
Oakhurst and the central valley.
I doubled back
along North Fork for a couple miles in order to head south on
O’Neal Rd (Rd 211) to Friant.
This was a lot different from North Fork/200.
Not particularly well paved but it's twisty, quite remote,
has little traffic and runs through some pleasant, rolling
countryside. A nice TE
that will end at the junction with Rd 145.
From Friant,
the Friant Rd south to Fresno is straight and full of pylons driving
between Fresno and Millerton Lake as well as to the casino on the
western section of Millerton Lake Rd.
But Friant did lead me, via Willow and Copper Aves, to Aubery
Rd north of the Fresno suburb of Clovis.
Aubery is an excellently paved and engineered TE (having a
well patronized roadhouse at the junction of the west arm of
Millerton Rd) running through some pretty foothill countryside to
the little town of Prather on Hwy 168. And it is sweet (Aubery Rd
that is, not Prather).
From Prather, I
headed south on 168 (and this little stretch of 168 had me eager to
ride more of it, as I planned to do tomorrow) to pick up the eastern
part of Millerton Rd which joins Hwy 168 to the Aubery Rd TE.
More remote than Aubery, it’s bordered by more pretty,
rural countryside. Average pavement but it is consistent and has
enough curves to make it interesting. Interestingly, Millerton seems
to be the home of a fair-sized band of extreme sport gophers
specializing in “Dart Across the Road Right in Front of the
Motorcycle. And Live!”.
. Hey, I'm certainly
happier to play this game with rodents rather than the deer who
sometimes also play it.
The last thing
I had to do for the day was check the western piece of Millerton Rd.
It's a waste of time, unless you're in a gambling mood or heading to
the Millerton Lake. My plan now was to head to Clovis and find a
place to stay on the outskirts of Fresno.
But first, I stopped in at the Lake Millerton Inn in Friant
for a well-deserved beer while getting the vocal and guitar stylings
of the proprietors, Cordell Liard and Sharon Joy as a free bonus.
Minus the singin' an’ playin', Cordell reminded me very
much of the Penrith publican in one of the finest films available to
humanity, Withnail & I.
I ended up
heading towards Clovis on Willow Ave, passing massive subdivision
after massive subdivision being built on the prime farmland north of
Fresno. Never mind, should be easy to find a place to stay in Clovis
then. Yeah, right. I
couldn't even find an exit from the freeway for this burb.
And I saw no accommodation signs at all until I was right at
the exit for downtown Fresno. I
took it and quickly grabbed a room at the Motel 8.
At least being
downtown I should be able to find somewhere decent to eat, right?
Wrong. Downtown Fresno seems to consist almost entirely
of casinos, bail bond joints, panhandlers and closed movie palaces.
Fresno even makes Redding look like it has a lot of services.
One thing it doesn't appear to have is restaurants.
I spent 20 minutes riding around and quickly lowered my
expectations concerning a restaurant from good to any.
I swear to God, the only place I could find was Denny’s.
Naturally, being the only “restaurant” in Fresno, it was
quite busy. Let's just
say the situation was a little more than the one loopy waiter could
cope with. And you could forget about such niceties as a napkin or a
second cup of coffee. I was surrounded by people who were not
eating, which after the frightening glimpse I got of the kitchen
staffer who briefly escaped into the serving area, was arguably
preferable to eating.
I resolved to
fall back on Mike's tried-and-true Denny’s survival technique;
order the chef’s salad with the dressing on the side and
neutralize it with a beer or two. But this particular outlet had
mutated into something called a Denny's Diner, whose chief
difference from a regular Denny’s seems to be a much more limited
but grease-laden, late night menu.
Which, unfortunately, also did not include my safety choice. Resigned to my fate, I ordered the inedible swill and a beer.
Turns out this is also one of those Denny's with no license,
or the license is being changed or the bar’s being rebuilt or the
bar’s temporarily closed etc, etc, etc.
Okay, okay, whatever, I surrender. Just the inedible swill
then, please. See what
I mean by the day ending like it began?
Mon May 19/03 Brian
I had a terrible night's sleep.
Somewhere nearby and all night long, trains being shunted
about kept waking me up. And
then insanely early, about 8 am or so, construction started on the
building that I had failed to notice was being constructed right
beside the motel. I
already knew there was nowhere nearby to eat breakfast (or lunch, or
dinner), so I just got the hell outta Dodge. I left town with a
decidedly less than good impression of Fresno.
I
wanted to head to Hwy168 back along the freeway I'd come into town
on last night but immediately and embarrassingly, I got lost and
somehow found myself headed north on Hwy 41 instead.
Stopping to consult a map, I decided to turn off 41 onto
Friant Rd and then take Sheppard Ave over to 168.
Sheppard repeated the pattern I had seen the previous day;
continuous, massive new subdivisions all along it, broken up only
occasionally by a few of the remaining, forlorn orchards which used
to line this road. These
are obviously doomed to disappear as well, leaving behind only the
perverse use of the word “Orchard” in the names of some of the
developments emblazoned on those longitudinal flags that real estate
developers love so much. I'm
kind of surprised that the California bear flag isn't flown the same
way.
Once
on Hwy 168, I pull over at the Academy Ave junction to set up for
recording. Just as I'm
ready to head north and check 168 for DH status, seven (!?!) CHP
motorcycle STCs on beemers go by in the other direction towards
Fresno. As I
congratulate myself on my impeccable timing, three of them pull onto
Academy and stop so one can use his cell phone. Never shy to pass up an opportunity to market our books to
any motorcyclist, I wheel around. Turns out they were out for a
“training run” and none of them ride off-duty (?!?).
One of them remarks, “ Yeah, this is my only bike.”
“ Not a bad one,” I reply, conversationally.
“ Not as fast is yours, I'll bet”
I smile and say only to myself, “Well, you won't find out
today.”
They know one guy who does ride off-duty, so I hand over a DH
Washington sample leaflet for him.
Hwy
168 is varied and clearly demarcated into four distinctive sections.
Though there is a fair bit of development, the first part is
an attractive blend of changeable curves on good pavement through
low Sierra Nevada foothill scenery running up to the junction with
Lodge Rd. The second stretch, is a high-speed sweeping four-laner
which climbs up Big Sandy Bluff to the map dot of Pine Ridge. Then for the third bit, the road gets very tight and twisty,
if a little tar-snakey, as it romps challengingly through the forest
to Shaver Lake (fabulous pancakes at the Village Restaurant, by the
way). In a more relaxed fashion, the fourth and final piece, a light
and fluffy, easy-to-digest batter whipped up from moderate curves,
sweepers and good pavement heads past the lake and town into the
more remote and rugged high country south of the Kaiser Wilderness
ending up at Lakeshore on Huntington Lake. A delectable four-course meal and one that’s sure to be a
Destination Highway.
I
wanted to check out the Kaiser Pass Rd which leads to Florence Lake
and Lake Thomas A. Edison but was stopped after only a mile (1.6 km)
or so by a foot and a half (0.5 m) of snow.
The mountains around here are at the 8500 ft level (2610 m)
and May is obviously just a bit early to be exploring the area’s
back roads. I'll have
to get Mike to do Kaiser Pass when he's up here later doing the DH.
Meanwhile,
I take Lakeshore Rd into lower country around the north side and
west end of the lake through an area of cottages still closed up
from last season. The
road then starts to descend steeply into the deep valley of Big
Creek which runs off the steep gorge that is the San Joaquin River
valley. When I got to
the junction with Stump Springs Rd (FSR 5), I take it along the
north side of Big Creek valley and as it swung north along the
eastern heights of the San Joaquin valley.
If
you want remoteness combined with decent pavement and lots of
easy-to-manage curves, this is a TE for you.
It occasionally narrows and, this early in the year at least,
it was sometimes littered with sand, pine cones and needles and such
but on the whole it is very predictable and neither climbs nor
descends precipitously. Facing you far across the the western side
of the San Joaquin River valley/gorge are vistas of Whiskey and
Chiquito Ridges. All together, an impressive combination.
And
if you're looking for a nice, remote campground, you also get the
West Kaiser BCG just where pavement ends at about 20 mi (32 km),
situated on a large flat area by a burbling creek. There may be more
remote campgrounds in California but I’m sure not many can be
reached as easily by street bike.
Rather
than coming back the same way, maxburners may be tempted to continue
on the gravel past the campground until the road hooks up with the
aforementioned Kaiser Pass Rd. This would let them circumnavigate
entirely the heart of the Kaiser Wilderness. At least after the
snow’s gone. (Ah, the mad bastards probably aren't afraid of
a couple of feet of snow either.)
I
retraced my steps back to the Huntington Lake Rd and though it's a
bit of a goat path down to Big Creek (no services), after the
village, it's pretty much a stroll through the forest between
Tamarack Mtn and Musick Mtn back to the junction with Hwy 168 just
north of the lake called Shaver. It's always preferable to have a
rideable alternative to coming back entirely the same way.
The
Shaver Lake Village Hotel (559.841.8289) has a renovated
bunkhouse-like building with each room having its own wildlife
motif. It looked too
good to pass up, especially situated as it was in the cool, high
country away from the heat down in the big valley.
I stayed in Room 3 where the very first entry in the guest
diary was from a guy who first came to Shaver country in 1938 when
he was 19 years old. He
worked in the area until 1977 and his diary entry was from 2001.
That would mean he's in his 84th year, God bless ‘im.
Although he doesn't mention whether or not he's a
motorcyclist, he's obviously a guy with good Karma anyway. When he
stayed here, he found something nice, left presumably by accident,
in the freezer. He consumed it and left another treat for the next
guest. According to the
diary, this tradition has been intermittently followed ever since,
although unfortunately not by my immediate predecessor (obviously
not a motorcyclist). Wanting to help the tradition continue, I left
a DH Washington leaflet wrapped around a beer in the fridge.
Do I know good Karma, or what?
The
good meal provided by the Sierra House Restaurant (559.841.3576),
just across from the hotel, was much appreciated especially after
last night’s “dining” experience.
I had just about finished when the power failed and the
restaurant, save for the table candles, went dark.
(This in spite of all the Consolidated Edison guys you see
and hear about in the area.) The
restaurant had a backup generator, which obviously had its own
problems. Once it got
going, the lights kept dimming and brightening. Didn't seem to affect the coffeemaker though.
As I headed back to a great night’s sleep in the bracing
mountain air, I was happy to note that the power seemed only to have
failed on the side of the street across from my hotel.
I reflected on the day; some great roads, a couple good meals
and a nice place to stay. Yes, definitely not a Denny’s Day.
Tue May 20 Brian
My morning was taken up with the Dinkey Creek Rd/FSR 40 combo that
runs west straight out of downtown Shaver Lake and should make for a
good TE. Dinkey has fine Pavement and Engineering along with a fair
number of moderate curves and very little traffic.
FSR 40 takes you into higher country with tighter curves
along with still-good Pavement and Engineering to the Wishon and
Courtright Reservoirs --typical California fake lakes, apparently
good for fishing. On my
way back to Shaver Lake I saw my first California deer although it
wasn't acting in a threatening manner.
Other than by existing near a road, I mean.
I headed back down Hwy 168
towards Fresno aiming for all the small side roads south and east of
168 down to the Kings River which we had determined would mark the
southern boundary of DH Northern California.
As I busted out of the tight stuff at Pine Ridge, a CHP STC
patrol car went by in the other direction just as the wide-open
sweepy shot down Big Sandy Bluff began.
Excellent timing. Should leave this run wide-open for me. I wicked it up and was just about at the bottom with my
sensors on low when, oh-oh, a second CHP STC went by, popped on his
impressive Christmas tree light display and whipped around.
Unlike my
marketing conversation yesterday with the motorcycle STC's, I
guessed this one was going to be a little more serious.
Very friendly-like, he asked me how I was doing.
I allowed as to how I was a little warm. He asked me how many tickets I got riding down from Canada.
None actually, I said. (Which,
surprisingly enough, was true.)
Then, the conversation turned to the “what dat on yo’
head?” variety which sometimes works out in my favor.
Well, low and behold, if this officer didn't turn out to be a
Gold Wing rider in his real life. As I whipped out a DH
Washington sample leaflet and handed it over, I pointed out that
Wing nuts are some of the most avid buyers of our first two books.
We chatted amiably over the leaflet for a bit and then he
wished me Godspeed. Nice fellow, I thought.
Back to work.
Lodge Rd off 168 was okay, if a little developed.
Burroughs Valley Rd started out nice but then deteriorated
the closer it got to its end at the three-way junction with the top
piece of Watts Valley Rd and Maxson Rd. Neither of the latter are
good motorcycle roads, being both very narrow and having inferior,
barely Pavement.
Maxson did
eventually dump me on the road of the day however, the Trimmer
Springs Rd run from Piedra on the Kings River around the north side
of the Pine Flat Reservoir and then back along Kings River to the
end of the good stuff at the Kirch Flat BCG.
It is one tightly wound spring, especially around the lake.
You'll get all the curves you want here --Twistiness should
top out, although better Pavement wouldn't hurt.
The mountain and lake Scenery is also good and Remoteness is
high from the Maxson Rd junction. And you get a nice campground on a
river at the end where you can chill out.
Should make it as dead-end DH Piedra – Kirch Flat, without
question. If you want
more excitement, there is a white water rafting operation just past
the campground.
Back out to
freaking-hot Piedra, where, after downing three bottles of fluids
and spending some time in the air-conditioned store, I set out again
and determined that Trimmer Springs Rd back towards Fresno was
nothing. Then, it was
north on straight Riverbend Ave to the bottom piece of Watts Valley
Rd. This section of Watts Valley is good as it parallels Hwy 168 (DH
Fresno – Lakeshore) away from Fresno and up into the
foothills connecting to Pittman Hill Rd and then Toll House Rd.
The latter eventually Ys and gives you the option of taking tamer Lodge Rd back to the
Hwy168 DH at the bottom of Big Sandy Bluff or continuing on the wild northern
section of Toll House as it squiggles its way up Burrough Mtn to the
top of Big Sandy Bluff and ends at Hwy 168 near Pine Ridge.
I think the TE
will be (the southern part of) Watts Valley Rd-Pittman Hill
Rd-Tollhouse Rd. Lodge Rd will be an ALT-TE for those who find the
upper part of Toll House a little too squirrely.
Oh, and Humphrey’s Station at the junction of Pittman Hill
and Toll House is an attractive little oasis consisting of a General
Store/Cafe combo which has outside tables set among cool, green
trees. Don't know
whether they serve barley sandwiches.
Being in TE
land had killed the afternoon and since I was only about 6 mi (9.7
km) from Shaver Lake, I could hear the Village Hotel calling my
name. This meant I got
to do the sweet, tight stretch of 168 north from Pine Ridge to SL
for the second time today.
After checking
back into the hotel, I walked to Trappers Bar & Grill
(559.841.4141). After a
decent dinner, I ordered a double Glenlivet to both celebrate and
contemplate another good day of riding.
Bob over-poured both shots into my glass and then topped that
up with a little free pour action so the drink was more like a
triple. Have I
mentioned how much I like Shaver Lake?
Wed May 21 Brian
I started the day with some more of those excellent Village
Restaurant griddle cakes.
While eating at a window seat, I saw two CHP motorcycle STCs
burble north through town. It
appears the gang of them I saw two days ago wasn't an anomaly --I
guess they really like the variety of this road. What a horrible thought; a DH as an STC training ground.
Consider yourself forewarned.
Today,
my task was to suss out TE possibilities north of the Hwy 168 DH,
which forced me yet again, gosh darn it, to do the great little
stretch between Shaver Lake and Pine Ridge.
Then, I turned north on Auberry Rd (opposite the Tollhouse Rd
TE heading south). Although it has the same name, this is not to be
confused with the great TE heading north out of the Clovis suburb of
Fresno to Prather on Hwy168. The
Auberry I was on now heads up around the back side of Big Sandy
Bluff and then squiggles down to the little town of Auberry.
Not a bad little road, though and it will be a TE.
Unlike
the 40 mi (64 km) of merde I next punished myself on.
North of Aubery, this excretia loops around Redinger Lake and
is made up of José Basin Rd, Italian Bar Rd and Redinger Lake Rd.
It's a multicultural mishmash of too-narrow, too-tight and
too-rough garbage in the middle of nowhere, not even fit for
maxburners, that I never want to see again.
So
why did I do it? Not
because it goes right by the geographic center of California, I can
tell you that. For
sure, it didn't look on my map as long as it turned out to be. But
really, I guess I did it because it was still early days riding the
state and I was, at this point, optimistic that, although a road may
start out crappy, that doesn't necessarily mean it will be fecal
material the whole way. Northern
California has since largely disabused me of this misconception.
I
did discover two things on this punishing ride though; I definitely
had to do something about raising the bars on the VFR and UPS does
deliver anywhere. After
about 30 mi (50 km), with the base of palms having long since gone
numb, I was way over to the right in the middle of a blind
righthander. By the
time I saw the UPS pylon coming the other way, taking up more or
less the whole road, I was halfway down his left side trying to
cling to the foot or so of bumpy surface he'd generously left me,
happy not to be impaled in the middle of his radiator.
I
thanked God for remembering my prayer of three days ago and
immediately modified my plea not to be called to join the choir
orchestral while on nothing roads, if it pleased Him, to include
being taken out by drivers wearing unfashionable Brown.
After
about another 10 mi (16 km) of pain, I was mercifully excreted onto
Powerhouse Rd which runs between Auberry and North Fork.
I headed south to Auberry and then turned around to videotape
the whole road. From Aubery to Kerkhoff Lake, the Pavement is very
good and there is lots of twisty fun.
North of the lake neither the asphalt nor the Twistiness are
as good but this road is still a pretty respectable TE.
When I got to North Fork, I noticed
the town's claim that it’s the geographic center of California.
Make more sense I mused, if they called it Center Fork.
From North I
headed to South Fork and then out of it on FSR 81. This eventually takes you up the west side of the San Joaquin
River valley below Whiskey Ridge and Chiquito Ridge (on the other
side of the valley from the FSR 5 TE that run to the West Kaiser BCG,
see the May 19 Diary entry). FSR
81 runs about 50 mi (80 km) to Mammoth Pool Reservoir (offering
several BCGs) and though it's not as nice as its cousin across the
valley, if you like remote and challenging TEs with little traffic,
it may appeal. The
paved surface continues past the reservoir but if you're not stopped
by snow as I was, it will eventually turn to gravel.
Some maps show paved Grizzly Rd connecting FSR 81 to FSR 7 (Beasore
Rd) as a possible loop route back to Bass Lake.
Be aware though, that single track, rough Grizzly will maul
you pretty badly in the process.
I had to get back
to Turlock tonight for three days of air reconnaissance.
After taking a much-needed break halfway back along FSR 81, I
arrived back in North Fork. I decided the best route was to go back down the Bass Lake Rd
DH to Oakhurst, take (boring) Hwy 49 to Mariposa, drop down on
Hwy140 to Catheys Valley and do half of the Hornitos Rd DH to Merced
Falls from whence side roads would shoot me more or less straight
west to Turlock. Some hours later, of course.
By the time I got
to Snelling on county road J59, it was dark and because I was in the
middle of farmland, my helmet visor was sorely in need of a bug
cleaning. The
incredible number of bugs on it reminded me of how amazingly bug
free California had been so far, as long as you’re not near
farmland (and development will increasingly take care of that).
Most days, I only cleaned the visor at the end of the day and
often it didn't much need it then. Try that in most of BC and Washington.
I hit a Snelling
bar called Bud's Place and while there, observed (the 23rd
incarnation of) Bud turn the dance floor into a garage for his
Harley-Davidson for the night.
Nice. Wish I was
in a position to do that with my bikes.
Sun May 25 Brian
By the end of three continuous days in the air, I had almost
completely lost the queasy feeling I had discovered on the first
couple of Cessna flights. I
was eager to get back on my bike to confirm what I'd seen from the
air.
Out Hwy 132 from
Waterford to Coulterville (for what seemed like about the 15th time)
I took Penon Blanco Rd (not recommended) off 132 and over to
Hwy 49. Then it was
down 49 to Moccasin (a good stretch of DH Moccasin - Bear Valley)
where I checked out the Old Priest Grade Rd heading east on the
other side of the steep canyon from Hwy 120 (which we expect to get
DH status and will be reconnoitered later).
Old Priest is a hell of a twisty road, has good Pavement and
is a great, if short TE. From
the top of it I hung a right on the Priest Coulterville Rd, which
unfortunately has half okay and half bad Pavement.
On the other hand,
the Greeley Hill Rd (J132) between Coulterville and Smith Station on
Hwy 120 is a pretty good run through a mix of mostly forest and some
farmland in the Wagner Valley.
Unless you're a maxburner, don't get sucked in by Buck
Meadows Rd which you can get to from Greeley Hill and and also goes
up to Hwy 120. Unlike what a lot of maps incorrectly show, air recon
showed that this baby does turn to gravel.
I then checked out
Ferretti Rd which loops off and parallels Hwy 120 (about a mile or
so west of the J132 junction with 120) and runs around Pine Mountain
Lake before coming back to 120 in Groveland.
This is much better than I expected to be.
There's more development at the Groveland end but it's still
a nice option if you've done Hwy 120 a lot.
Just watch out for the fresh and juicy cow pies.
Not to mention what served them up for you.
From Groveland, I
headed west on 120 to Evergreen Rd, checking out a couple of side
roads, which turned out to be nothing, as I went.
(This stretch of 120, by the way, convinced me that it would
almost certainly become a DH, probably running from Moccasin to the
junction with Hwy 140 in Yosemite National Park.)
Evergreen to mapdot Mather wasn't much but it does get you to
Hetch Hetchy Rd, 8.0 mi (12.9 km) of sweetly paved curves from
Mather leading to the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir which has some good
views, first overlooking the Poopenaut Valley and then of Wampama
and Rancheria Falls once you get near the reservoir.
Of course, because this TE is in Yosemite you have to pay $10
to ride it (less than a buck a mile, if you count the return trip on
this dead ender) and the Park Rangers don't take credit cards.
Being Yosemite, traffic will undoubtedly be bad at times and
passing can also be very difficult.
Once back in
Mather, I took Mather Rd (FSR 12) to the junction with Cherry Lake
Rd (FSR 17). My plan
was to head north on 17 to Cherry Lake and check out FSR 14 all the
way to Tuolumne. But my
numb palms and sore wrists were having none of that.
Also, being the Sunday of a long weekend, I decided it might
be prudent to grab some accommodation before it got too late.
So, from the junction, I headed south rather than north on
Cherry Lake back to Hwy 120. Combined
with Mather Rd, this is certainly better than the Evergreen Rd and
would be the preferred route to get to the Hetch Hetchy TE if you're
coming up 120 from the west.
I headed back to
Groveland and just east of town, right on 120, found a B&B
called the Berkshire Inn (209.962.6744) which still had a room left.
This B&B is more like a hotel, really.
Nice large rooms, all with their own separate outside
entrance off a walkway. And complimentary wine in the afternoon.
Not to mention a much appreciated hot tub, wherein I had a
conversation with a woman who once took a course in drawing blood.
Mon May 26 Brian
I met the chief pilot for BozAir at the Pine Mountain Lake Airport,
located on the Ferretti Rd TE, and aerial surveyed the rugged
country north from 9am until 4pm. Then I hopped on the VFR, took Hwy
120 back to Cherry Lake Rd (FSR 17) and took this road all the way
to Cherry Lake. FSR 17
is not a very good road but if you get to Cherry Lake from Tuolumne
on FSR 14, it is the only alternative to retracing your steps.
FSR 14 is a long,
interesting, remote road through thickly-forested and rough terrain.
Its elderly (there is vegetation growing in some of the
cracks!) but not bad Pavement hints at its age.
It's fairly well Engineered for the most part and certainly
doesn't have much traffic. It’ll
get enough points to become a DH, and will probably top out for
Twistiness.
From the tired,
vacant little town of Tuolumne, I took straight County Rd E17 out to
Hwy 108 at Sonora. From
there, I headed north on Phoenix Lake Rd, a nicely paved route
through a largely urban area that nevertheless has enough curves to
make it an interesting alternative to the part of 108 which it
parallels.
Phoenix Lake butt
ends to Big Hill Rd which heads west through the heavily-treed hills
north of the flattish area making up Greater Sonora.
It's pretty curvy, especially on its least-developed, western
section, a steep descent down a big hill towards the historic,
gold-rush town of Columbia. The
Pavement is only fair, as is the Engineering and yet something about
this road was charming while at the same time challenging.
On the other hand,
the deer were only challenging.
As I rounded a lefthander early on, I spotted two of these
woodland Al-Queda, waiting just to the left of the road. The more maniacal of these suckers, instead of moving away
from me (as any legitimately frightened but reasonably intelligent
dumb animal would do) decided to attack.
In fact, he chose to make it across the road right in front
of me or become venison trying.
He succeeded in
beating me only because the tightness of the road was keeping my
speed down and because the VFR has such great brakes.
Although I have yet to watch the video, I'm sure he was no
more than a foot from my front wheel.
Even so, I didn't tap into the ABS zone.
Somehow comforting, no?
Less comforting
were the four more members of his cell I spotted in a field at the
junction with Sawmill Flat Rd. They were all looking at me with
malice, obviously brazenly plotting their next terrorist attack.
Hey come on, with all the guns in the country, doesn’t
anyone hunt anymore?
I wasn't going to
let fear rule my life, so I just went on about my daily routine.
From Columbia, I took the wide, sweeping, well paved and
marvelously high-speed Parrotts Ferry Rd down and across the broad
Stanislaus River, then up the other side to Vallecito on Hwy 4.
A note of caution was raised by all the emergency vehicles
off to the side right before the bridge over the river.
Judging from the flowers I saw at this spot on a subsequent
ride, some poor soul it seems, failed to navigate this stretch
properly. Either that
or the deer got him.
I considered that
maybe Someone was trying to tell me that I'd done enough riding for
one day. No dumb animal
me, I took the hint. I
decided the closest thing I’d get to the afterlife again today was
going to be nearby Angels Camp.
Tue May 27 Brian
Man, did I spend a lot of time riding crap roads today.
I started out by checking all the small roads east of Hwy 49
between Angels Camp and Mockelumne Hill.
I knew some were garbage from the air recon yesterday but the
rest I had to check out. And
most of them turned out to be ka-ka.
Oh sure, some of Railroad Flat Rd, south of Wilseyville was
okay but it doesn't connect to anything decent. At Wilseyville I
rode the excellent, twisty stretch of Hwy 26 up to Hwy 88.
We're certainly going to have to come back and do all of 26
as it will be a DH for sure.
Next, I headed
south on 88 to scope out the side roads south of it and north of
the North Fork Mokelumne River. After getting some bad advice
from another rider about the quality of Tabeau Rd, I did manage to
find Clinton Rd. Like the ex-president, it's pretty slick and is a
good bypass to 88 from Jackson to Clinton.
I motored north
from Jackson on Hwy 49 Sutter Creek. I was looking for Sutter-Ione
Rd but my map didn't show the junction with 49 very well and I ended
up in Amador City. (Both
of these are old gold rush towns transformed into cute tourist
towns.) Heading back
south on Hwy 49, I managed to find Sutter-Ione (look for the sign
for the Henderson Reservoir rather than the road name) and took it
out to Hwy 124.
Sutter-Ione Rd
appears to have quite new pavement but in spite of its looks it's
actually quite rough and bouncy.
It feels like they put new pavement over a bad base.
There's already a few sinkholes and there was even a repair
crew working on some of them.
Heading back from 124 to 49, I had slowed to about 20 mph (30
kmh) approaching the truck of the work crew’s flag person when the
guy leaped out of his truck, threw up his hands and generally acted
as if I was going about 90 mph (145 kmh) and wasn't going to stop. I
guess the VFR looks fast even when I'm crawling.
From Sutter Creek,
I took the Sutter Creek Rd out to Volcano. Once you pass the Pine Gulch Rd junction it has increasingly
poorer Pavement. (Today's
lesson: when flying air reconnaissance, be sure you fly the entire
road. Don't
assume because a road starts out well, it will continue to be
good for its whole length.)
Volcano, which
looks like another ancient mining town, has a nice old hotel which
looks like it has a bar. From
Volcano I took the twisty, well paved but very short Rams Horn Grade
Rd up to Shake Ridge Rd. This
road will be a TE between Sutter Creek and Hwy 88 just south of
Cooks Station. At the
Sutter Creek end it splits and you can come into town via either
Gopher Flat Rd or the ALT-TE option, Pine Gultch Rd/Sutter Creek Rd.
It was close to 40°C
(100°F) by the time I got back into Sutter Creek, so I took time
out to ingest about 3 gallons of fluids.
It was way too hot for leather in this country at this time
of year. We really have
to get the hot weather gear before our next trip.
Mike won't be able to take it.
Up Hwy 49 to
Plymouth, where I headed east on Fiddletown Rd. This runs on the north side of the South Fork Dry Creek
valley more or less opposite Shake Ridge Rd until they connect up in
the foothills, a few miles west of Hwy 88.
They are quite similar rides, with the Fiddletown Rd being
maybe a little more placid. (Fiddletown
is yet another old gold-rush town, by the way.)
Back down 88 to
Jackson where I picked up the Stoney Creek Rd/Pardee Dam Rd/Campo
Seco Rd/Chile Camp Rd/Buena Vista Rd/Camanche Pkwy N
TE out to reconnect with Hwy 88 out in the Central Valley.
This is a varied collection of road surface and scenery that
takes in the best riding in the area bounded by Hwys 88/12/26 &
49. If I was heading
between Stockton and Hwy 49, it's probably the way I'd go. Except for riding back to Turlock, that was the end of my
day. And this trip.
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