Travelogue: June 30th - July 3rd, 2007
Prologue - I had a few extra days off work for the 4th of July holiday (Monday -
Wednesday) so I decided to do a moto trip up to Crater Lake, OR. I had
never been and had heard from a number of other folks that it was beautiful
so I set my compass north. It is always more fun to travel with a
buddy so I posted to my moto club (Northstars) that I was going and if
anyone wanted to join they were more than welcome. Lisa Brazieal and
Mike Chaplin responded with an affirmative so we started hatching plans.
Lisa was on her way up to her brother's in Portland for the holiday week and
Mike was headed up to Washington on an adventure of his own.
Unfortunately Mike had to cancel at the last minute so it was just the girls
on what Lisa deemed the Thelma and Louise trip, very fitting. No, we
didn't run into Brad Pitt, but we kept an eye out.
Day 1 - Saturday,
June 30th: San Fran Bay Area to Eureka, CA
Route: 80/37 Napa/Lakeville Rd/101
North/128 Cloverdale/1 North/Branscomb Rd. to 101/101 North/Redway to
Briceland/Ettersburg/Honeydew/Mattole Rd. East to 101/Ave of the Giants to
Eureka via 101. Total miles: ~380
Great run overall through the mountains
and woods and everything in between. We were getting pretty beat by
the time we reached the little town of Honeydew, CA. By then we had
concurred a pack of squids on sportbikes that kept cutting in between us,
man eating sized bugs, $1000 sized potholes that you couldn't see due to
tree canopy shade, a 1/2 mile stretch of steep hairpin downhill that was
dirt/silt/gravel. That was an interesting one, as we were rolling
along about 40mph on this little narrow backroad and all of a sudden with no
warning it turned to dirt and gravel. We both rolled off the
throttles, puckered up, and held on hoping to hell we didn't dump the bikes.
We gingerly tiptoed down a steep incline, still puckered of course, and a
bit wide-eyed as we stared at the edge of a nice drop-off. I kept
repeating under my helmet "don't look over there, don't look over there".
If you look over the edge, you'll probably go over the edge, as the bike can
turn into "Christine" and become its own being. Fortunately, our Wonder
Woman like powers kicked in and we successfully negotiated our way
down the trail and back onto solid pavement. After all that we decided
we needed an ice cream. So off to Honeydew in search of Haagen Daz.
For those of you that haven't been to Honeydew, it's not as serene as it
sounds. We pulled up in front of the only store/mart, that is all
there is to Honeydew, and there were a bunch of skanky looking characters
out front. Apparently it is "meth" central out there and that's where
the locals hangout. They were nice enough though as we chatted for a
bit.
Don't ever want to piss off the locals, so playing along is a good thing.
After our ice cream social we hopped back
on the bikes and head up towards 101. We had planned on doing the Lost
Coast but we were getting tired and we had both done it before so we figured
we weren't missing all that much. We were both glad we did the route
we did as we both had not seen some of the stunning redwoods we were about
to pass through. We stopped and had a great photo shoot and
then head for Eureka. We found our hotel without a hitch, took much
needed hot showers to wash the road grime off, then headed for drinks/dinner
at the Sea Grill restaurant. Great grub and company hanging out with
Lisa. Day one of the adventure complete.
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Lisa at Laytonville, CA along 101and Branscomb Rd. at a little mini-mart. Wall paintings were interesting
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Laytonville, CA paintings
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Lisa filling up on go-juice for the Triumph
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Amazing perspective of the size of the redwoods. This was on Mattole Rd. heading back up to 101 near Ave of the Giants
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Redwoods on Mattole Rd
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Redwood tree canopy - Mattole Rd.
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Our trusty rides in the tree forest on Mattole Rd.
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Ave of the Giants. I am taking a shot while riding
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Lisa riding ahead on the Ave of the Giants
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Day 2 - Sunday,
July 1st: Eureka, CA to Shady Cove, OR
Route: 101 North/299 East/96 North
to 5/66 to Klamath Falls/140/ 62 to Shady Cove, OR. Total miles: ~280
The best part of this day was highway 96!
An amazing road that parallels the Trinity and Klamath rivers most of the
way. Lisa and I chased each other through the twisties and beyond.
We finally stopped for lunch in Happy Camp, CA and yes we were both happy
with big grins on our faces. We scarfed down a couple of sandwiches
and headed out in search of more perfect pavement and Brad Pitt. We
eventually hit Interstate 5 and did a short stint to get to highway 66 which
took us into Klamath Falls, OR. Lisa had a deer encounter on 66 but in
plenty of time for her to brake and slow to a safe speed to let him cross.
We rolled into Klamath Falls from 66 and walked into a gas station/mart and
there again was the ice cream freezer staring at us. Oh darn.
Couldn't let that go untouched, besides we needed a little mid-afternoon
pick-me-up.
We had planned on doing the rim loop of
Crater Lake, but realized we wouldn't have enough time as we were meeting
some friends of Lisa for dinner in Shady Cove, OR. So we hightailed it
west on highway 140 which went by Klamath Lake. We arrived at our
hotel (Edgewater Inn) in Shady Cove in just enough time to clean up and see
her friends pulling in the lot to meet us. We had a great dinner at a
Mexican food joint (Guadalajara) that was next door and right on the Rogue
River. Company was great and the margaritas were good too ;-)
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Lisa along highway 96
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Somewhere along highway 96
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Funny trailer at our lunch stop in Happy Camp, CA.
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Along the Klamath River on 96
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Cool bridge on 96
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Klamath Lake, OR on highway 140
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Klamath Lake, OR on 140 - shot while riding as I was too lazy to stop.
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Day 3 - Monday, July 2nd: Shady
Cove, OR to Burney, CA
Route: 62/230/Crater Lake rim
loop/62/97 to Klamath Falls/161 East/Hill Rd to Lava Beds NP/Tionesta Rd
(97)/Powder Hill Rd (49)/Harris Springs Rd (15)/89 to Burney Falls State
Park/299 to Burney. Total miles: ~320
Since we didn't make Crater Lake the day
before, today was my day to do the lake loop and Lisa would head off on her
journey to Portland. Her friends helped her map out a backroads route
so she didn't have to endure Interstate 5 the entire way. We headed
north on 62 towards the lake then continued on 230 to the 138 cut-off to the
north entrance of the lake. We hugged and said our goodbye's and were
sad to break-up but we each had a destiny to get to. As I rolled off
on down the road it felt strange to be traveling alone, which struck me as
odd since I am so used to doing business travel alone. But this was
different, I was on a motorcycle instead of a plane or in a taxi going to a
defined destination. All those thoughts start running through your
mind that mess with your psyche: what if I get a flat tire; what if I crash
in the middle of nowhere and no one is around to see me fly off into the
bushes; what if I breakdown miles from nowhere, yada yada yada. I had
to have a little conversation with my inner monologue to stop all the
voices: you have a flat tire kit and pump and know how to use them; don't
ride like an idiot and you won't crash, you've never crashed; your bike is
fine mechanically, you have a cell phone, plenty of water, and eventually
someone will come along. Ok, enough on the Zen motorcycle thing, on to
the great natural wonders that needed to be seen.
Crater lake was as amazing as everyone
said it would be. It is the deepest lake in the United States at 1,943
feet and the seventh deepest in the world. It was created around 7000
years ago when Mt. Mazama erupted and collapsed. Apparently there is
only one hiking trail down to the lake which is steep, slippery, and overrun
with tourists. Ah, no, think I'll skip that little side "trip".
Besides, I had hurt my back the week before and I wasn't interested in
possibly going ass-over-teakettle just to see some lake water up close.
It was nice to see the lake calm and pristine in its natural beauty, no
boats, no jetskis, no people on it whatsoever. Due to the steep cliffs
there is no access other than the hiking trail and one area that does do a
boat tour to Wizard Island.
After the lake loop it was on to Lava Beds
National Park which is south and to the east of Crater Lake. Since I
had Craig's national park pass I figured I might as well get my money's
worth, right. The lava beds were interesting but not nearly as
exciting and spectacular as the lake. I poked around a bit and tried
to adhere to the 35mph posted speed limits. Last year I had gotten a
nasty $350 fine for speeding on federal land through Yosemite and supposedly
if you are caught again on federal land it is an outrageous fine and
possibly jail time. Hmm, neither of them good options. Ok, so I
couldn't hold it at 35mph exactly, but I didn't go a mph over 40, yeah
right. The visitor's center at the end was a happenin' place with all
of a few cars in the lot. I decided to foregoing the enticing key
chains, t-shirts, and refrigerator magnets (sorry Dad I know how you love
those), and just kept riding. This was where things got a little
interesting and a few of the earlier voices returned.
Once past the visitor center the road
deteriorated and I was in the land of $1000 potholes again and a rough ride.
Hmmm. A few wallops and seat to butt impacts encouraged me to back-off
on the throttle paw and gave me some respect for the next 15 miles of Mr.
Toad's wild ride. Ok, not that bad, but not much fun either.
Whew, finally make it to the T in the road and happy to be there. Next
up was miles and miles of road, that was in good condition, to highway 89.
I cruised along at a respectable speed and never saw another car from the
visitor's center until I hit highway 89.
Next up was Burney Falls State Park, which
was 25 miles down the road from the 89 junction I had just pulled on to.
This was certainly another highlight of the day as the falls were stunning.
Not the biggest falls but certainly picturesque. It was a short hike
to the overlook from the parking lot area and then you had the option to
hike down to the bottom of the falls and the pools. This time the
trail was paved and switch-backed so I figured my tender back could handle
it. I am glad I did because it gave you a fabulous perspective.
There was a campground and lake there too, I sure wished I had my camping
gear, it was a great park.
By now I was beat, all these natural
wonders, roads, voices, and fresh air had worn me out. I pulled into
the town of Burney, about 20 miles down the road from the park and got a
room for the night. I hit the local pizza joint for a pint of cold
tasty beer and pizza and called it good for the night.
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Rogue Gorge overlook on highway 62 going toward Crater Lake
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Lisa at Rogue Gorge overlook
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Rogue Gorge overlook
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Rogue Gorge overlook
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Rogue Gorge overlook
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Lava tubes at Rogue Gorge overlook
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Me at Rogue Gorge overlook
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Rogue Gorge overlook
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Rogue Gorge overlook
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Me at north entrance to the lake
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Driving up to Crater Lake - still some snow up there
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Driving up to Crater Lake
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Crater Lake and Wizard Island in the middle
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Crater Lake
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Crater Lake
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Driving around the lake - again shot while riding down the road...too lazy to stop for the 10th time
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Me, self-portrait taken while riding - still at Crater Lake
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My luggage rack, oh, and the road behind me at Crater Lake
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Riding along Hill Rd. towards the lava beds. Neat road out there.
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Lava beds kiosk with map
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Some of the lava beds
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More lava beds
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T junction after the bumpy road from the lava beds visitors center
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Tionesta Rd (97) which would eventually take me down to highway 89 and then to Burney Falls
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Burney Falls, ooh, aah.
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Burney Falls. Check out the people in the lower right corner. It will give you some perspective of the falls and the pool below
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Burney Falls
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Burney Falls
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Day 4 - Tuesday,
July 3rd: Burney, CA to Castro Valley,
CA
Route: 299/89 South/Thru Lassen
National Park/Gold Lake Forest Highway(24)/49 South/Lotus Rd to Ponderosa to
50/Latrobe Rd/Willow Creek Rd to 124/104 (Twin Cities Rd)/160/4 to
Antioch/Hillcrest Rd/Deer Valley Rd/Marsh Creek/Vasco/580 to Castro Valley.
Total miles: ~460
Today was the marathon woman day at 460
miles, this was the longest day I had done on a moto in one day. I
woke up and figured I had done most everything I wanted to do on this trip
and decided I'd head for home. But I did want to see Lassen Volcanic
National Park again, and get that last free scoot through the park on the
park pass. It was as I had remembered it, stunning views and snow
again at the higher elevations - the summit is 8511 feet. After that I
was headed for home through the sierra backroads. At one point I was
so in the groove and zone that I passed by a Nevada County Line sign which
also posted Nevada City - 23 miles. This smacked me out of my zone and
I had that instant moment of panic. You now, the kind where you drive
along for a while and then wonder, OMG, how did I get here. Did I blow
any traffic lights or run anyone off the road...and you are stone cold
sober, just out in the ozone layer. Well, yes, that can happen on a
moto when you are in the zone of a wonderful ride on a fabulous road.
Back to my panic attack, I thought I had somehow taken a wrong turn and
ended up in Nevada. Crap, 40 miles since my last gas fill-up and I
have to backtrack? UGH. Map-time. I pulled out the map and
to my relief realized that Nevada City was in fact in California and it was
Nevada County, not Nevada state. Sheesh, heart rate back to normal.
Onward through Auburn I trudged and realized I was getting back to reality,
congestion, people, traffic. I always hate that part of the journey.
But I discovered a few new backroads on this trip that I hadn't been on in
past rides so I scooted around some of the mess and was back on the roads
less traveled.
I meandered through the delta waterways,
through Antioch and finally home to Castro Valley. I rolled into my driveway
and I timed things perfectly, I must say, as I smelled BBQ chicken on the
grill, and it was my grill. My neighbor, Dowd, usually does Tuesday
night dinner at his house and occasionally uses my gas grill to cook.
Cold beer, chicken, ribs, salad, strawberries - great ending to a great
trip. Thanks to Lisa for coming along and sharing some good times.
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Lassen Volcanic National Park - ride through the park
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Lake Helen at Lassen
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Lassen Volcanic National Park
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Sulphur springs at Lassen
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Sulphur springs - this one was bubbling and broiling away
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Sulphur springs at Lassen
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Sulphur Works sign at Lassen
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Sulphur springs at Lassen
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Sulphur springs at Lassen
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