Day 18: Red Bluff

 Distance traveled: 385.8

Cumulative distance: 4,268.5

Maximum speed: 125 kph

Moving average: 69 kph

Temperature range: 15.6 - 31.0

Someone who shall remain nameless but who's name rhymes with "man" said to me today "never a dull moment with you!".

I said goodbye to the sweet little cabin that was my home for the last two nights. And, i was able to get the bike loaded and out without incident. One challenging moment was descending the fairly steep driveway with extra gravel filling in the dip where the driveway meets the road. That was bad enough but the driveway approaches the road in such a way that it is very difficult to see traffic coming down the hill, let alone stopping in the gravel and looking uphill to see what's coming. It was a challenging set of variables.

Oh, GPS settings. I had the Garmin set to "shortest distance". Last night I spent about an hour planning my route home; so far, it has been pretty easy because all i had to do for the first part of the trip was to keep the water on my right. For the next part, all I had to do was point the bike in the direction of the target destination and only one road would lead there. (For the most part.) For this last segment of the trip, I'll need to know mid-points, intersections and highway numbers to keep off the slab.

So, as I am departing Nevada City, I'm expecting to be retracing my steps from Thursday for a while. I'm looking forward to this because I already know where I want to stop for a latte: Gord Downieville. I rode through it the other day and I regretted not stopping for a few pictures and a closer look. But it didn't take long before the terrain was looking unfamiliar. Then the road was getting increasingly twisty as i went further away from urbanization. I'm talking REALLY twisty. And then it is getting steeper downhill. I was heading into the Yuba River valley. And then it is gravel. At first i thought it doesn't look too bad, i could handle a few kilometers of this. The Garmin was set to avoid gravel so maybe this was temporarily gravel or just a short distance. Bumpy, washboard, steep and scary, the further I went. I was picking my way down the road in first gear attempting to avoid the bigger washboard but I did bottom out the centre stand a couple of times.

After what seemed like an eternity, I came to a fairly steep section and there were a number of vehicles

The bridge over the Yuba River and no-go zone.

The road as it approaches the bridge.

My first view of the bridge.

parked at the side of the road and I saw that I had come to the river. I assumed it was people fishing or swimming or something like that. It is Saturday morning after all and doubtless locals know these spots for this stuff. It actually was looking very enticing.

At the bottom, there is a bridge across the river.  I like bridges like this one. Bridges with wooden decks have always appealed to me, unless it is raining. There are also several people around, all carrying white buckets. It turns out that they are volunteers picking up litter in the river valley. In fact, i had seen a number of young people in Nevada

These guys saved me, or laughed at my expense.

City carrying the same buckets and walking along a river there as well.As it happens, two fellows approached me and after greeting me said, "you're not going that way". It was more of a statement than a question. They said that if I thought where i had just come was gnarly, I hadn't seen anything yet. They told me this was not the bike for that route and suggested I go back and go around. They acknowledged that it was the shortest route but said it gets way worse going forward. Then another guy approached me and said "you don't want to run into a meth lab out there and there are a few. And they might think you look like a cop with the camera on your helmet." Well, there is the problem after all: I neglected to tick off  "meth labs" on the Avoidances control on the Garmin. So back I went. 

Yuba River.

It went faster going back than coming down. By the time i reached the highway,  exactly one hour had passed.

I did get to Downieville and since so much time had elapsed, rather than stop for a latte, I stopped and
had a latte AND lunch.  It is a very picturesque town. Population 252. It seems that it is a hub for mountain biking and the restaurant where I had lunch was

connected to the local mountain biking store. There was a steady stream of people coming in and renting mountain bikes for the day. In fact, it was a hub for motorcycles today as there are dozens in town stopped at the various restaurants and bars. It is a busy day being a Saturday and perfect riding weather.

Riding north, I rode through a serious fire burn. I had read online the night before that the biggest fire in California's modern day history had burned through the area in 2021 and had burned all the way up to and past Lassen Volcanic National Park, my dubious  destination for tonight.

Dubious because when I had checked last night, all preservable campsites were booked. I thought it must just be a matter of being a Saturday night and good weather at the end of the season. Anyways, there is a first come-first serve campground in the park, though I was arriving a little late for that. 

I rolled up to the gate about 4:00 pm and good luck already favoured me! Park admission is free today to celebrate "National Parks Day". So i I saved $30 for the privilege of being rejected a camp spot. THAT must be why the park is so busy. It turns out that the first come campground is a two hour trip into the park. That was just too big a risk. There were other campgrounds outside the park but if i was going to visit the vulcanization, I would have to come back the next day. They told me where the next state forest campgrounds were located or I could "disbursement camp" as it was a state forest surrounding the national park. That means just camping wherever. I didn't. 

Once I was rolling, I just kept going, riding another hour where I stopped at Red Bluff Recreation Area, one of the campgrounds suggested to me at Lassen. It is 12 degrees warmer here than Lassen.

I may have traded the bike today, for a G.I. Joe and a Malibu Barbie play set.

Day 17: Nevada City

 Distance traveled: 9.1 km

Cumulative distance: 3,882.7 km

Maximums speed: 58 kph

Moving average: 24 kph

Temperature range: 24.0 - 24.0 (I wasn't riding for very long!)

I'm really loving my Airbnb spot here. It's super cute. Nan asked me if it was a trailer but I don't think it is one; it seems a little bigger to me, not that I have spent a lot of time in mobile homes. But the hosts do have several holiday trailers on the property: 3 Airstreams and three other lesser names. They buy old ones then recondition them. I had a look inside one and it was done really well, so I am pretty sure they are not hoarders. But they do have a lot of stuff. The hostess Rachael tells me they used to spend a lot of time at garage sales and the decorating inside this cabin reflects that. I don't mean that unkindly, it is a little quirky but really quaint. Actually, that describes the town. Rachael has a guy working here clearing out all the stuff. She has resolved to get the place cleaned up. Thankfully, the guests don't have to see everything since it is behind a fence. But it would be a perfect getaway spot for a couple on a motorcycle (or two). Jack. Except for the sloped, gravel driveway. But I successfully managed to turn around twice today with both mirrors intact so all is good.

A somewhat tentative parking spot.

I walked into town again today. I originally had a plan to go to the Yuba River to go swimming as it is popular around here but when I read the description of the location and accessing the river, I decided against it as it just sounded too complicated for the motorcycle. I spent a good deal of time walking around though, I was probably in town a little earlier than I needed to be because a lot of places were still closed at 10:30. However, after a couple of hours, more places were opening up. I did a little shopping for a special girl I know and hopefully I will be able to find some extra room on the bike! That is the dangerous thing when motorcycle touring and shopping. There is little margin for (packing) error, amongst any other kinds.

On the way, I once again walked by the local bone yard. I love cemeteries because there is real history

in there. In this one, many of the tombstones were from the mid 1800's, a few with stories, which is the best kind. This cemetery is "non endowed" which means that the responsibility of the upkeep falls to the descendants of the decedents buried within. Across the street was the "endowed" cemetery, meaning the state pays for the upkeep, which was far tidier and cared for. But not as interesting.

I have been craving a steak and since I have had red meat only once (or twice?) on this trip, I figure I was due. I met a foodie yesterday who told me which restaurant served the best steak in town, a 16 oz rib eye and I thought Holy Guacamole a whole pound! It has been a long time since I have been able to choke down a steak that size. Weeks at least. So while I was walking around town, I stopped in at the local wine merchant and we were discussing my dilemma: walk another 6 km round trip to go for dinner then walk back on a busy road in the dark, or find a butcher. He gave me the name of a market that sold good meat and actually, it was sort of within walking distance as it would have added only another 3 km to my day but I had probably already walked 9 or 10 so went back to the rental, had a big glass of water then got on the bike and attended the market, got myself a nice 12 oz rib eye, which I will further trim, some veggies and potatoes and I'll barbecue the steak here at the rental. I went back to the wine merchant and bought

This 1930 Bacardi is in the personal collection of the
wine shop owner. He has plans to open it this fall.

a split of nice French red wine. For all the groceries and wine, still less than the dinner out, to say nothing of a glass or two of wine and either a starter or dessert. (Can't do both anymore.) And I am having an appetizer of roasted almonds with Quebec 7 year old cheddar and a lightly truffled Gouda.

Back in business tomorrow! But not expecting cell service to be available. Heading to Lassen Volcanic National Park.

Day 16: Nevada City

Distance traveled: 214.4 km

Cumulative distance: 3,873.6

Maximum speed: 111 kph

Moving average: 65 kph

Temperature range: 6.4 - 24.6

At 2:00 a.m., I was awaken by a loud clap of thunder. I think there was two and they came within fractions of a second after the lightning. My first thought was that I took the trouble to pick a tent spot that could be shelter in the trees from heavy dew. When I was waken, my first thought was that they will find my body fried to a crisp inside my tent because I was under the highest trees in the campground. Pure lightning rods. 

Everything was wet in the morning however, I couldn't allow that to slow me down. I had an Airbnb

booked for Nevada City and the hostess promised she would do my laundry if I arrived by 1:00 pm. The alternative would have been to get on my bike as soon as I checked in and then go hang out in a laundromat for a couple of hours.  That was actually how I envisioned it would be before the trip but I was happy to not have to do that. In exchange, I offered to do some chores for her and she said that since her husband was away tonight I could use the leaf blower and blow out some cobwebs, which seem to be in abundant supply. He must have been away for a few days as she said it was normally his job.

So, getting out of the campground wasn't too tough, though I thought I would be away earlier than I was. I had picked a camp spot that would get some morning sun in anticipation of having dew on the tent and when the sun did peek up, it would have been ample to dry everything if I had been prepared to wait. As such, I just packed up everything that was dry and everything that was wet I strapped to the bike outside of any dry bags since I didn't want to get the dry stuff wet. It worked out but it was 8:45 before I had figured out how I was going to pack everything. Plus, I also wanted to wait until the last possible moment to pack the stove and food since I didn't want to have to deal with the bears having all my food sitting out on the picnic table or, worse, on the bike.

I had a route from Lake Tahoe planned for Nevada City avoiding the interstate. It took me down hwy 89 then to 49 into town. Sometimes the GPS takes me in directions that seem counter-intuitive so I stopped a couple of times to make sure I was going in the correct direction by double checking what Google Maps said but it was all good but it is still a nuisance wondering if I am going in the right direction or not. Only yesterday, the GPS took me down a private lane. However, I suspect that at one time, it had been a public road because I could see how close I was to the public road but it was just through someone's private property.

It turned out to be a great ride. Twisty, very pretty and through a few very interesting towns. One was Sierra City, which is so much of a misnomer because the sign also said Population 250. "Small" city, I guess.

When I arrived at the Airbnb, I was distraught to see it was a fairly steep driveway of coarse gravel. I took a run at it and made it up fine but get to the area where I am supposed to park and it is a slanted driveway right to left. I did manage to park the bike by angling it up the slope somewhat but a bigger issue will be getting out. I plan on going out tomorrow so I will deal with it in some fashion. I would hate to bust my brand new mirror though. 

Once I had all my wet camping gear laid out and had done my "chores", I proceeded to walk to town.

The Airbnb description said "three minutes to town". In a fast car. It was a half hour walk downhill on the way there and actually uphill on the way back. My mother had to walk to school UPHILL and then walk home UPHILL as she never failed to remind me. By the time I had walked to town, walked around a little then walked back, I had logged 7 1/2 km, according to Strava and gained 168 metres of elevation. Not a bad little workout. I actually deserved those two beers I had in town. Along with the loaf of asiago bread I bought at the bar.

Nevada City is actually a very picturesque little town filled with old buildings. Most of the stores on main street are places that sell incense, scented candles, some jewelry, clothing a couple of pubs and restaurants. Not really touristy but there was one or two places that clearly catered to tourists. Most of the buildings I saw dated from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. 

In no particular order....

Day 15: Lake Tahoe

 Distance traveled: 335.0 km

Cumulative distance: 3659.2 km

Maximum speed: 117 kph

Moving average: 44 kph

Temperature range: 12.8 - 31.0

"Distance traveled" not to be confused with how far I went, which was nowhere near 335 km. So yesterday there was some confusion about whether the road ahead of me would be open due to some road maintenance. However, i had checked on the California state highway website for the road status and since it said complete by 6:00 pm yesterday, I figured I was good to go.

It was a pretty ride including some nice tight two line road, with a crest of the summit of the pass around 8,000 feet. I find it interesting that there are signs to indicate when passing through multiples of 1,000 feet either going up to the pass or down from the pass.  I had been alternating leading or

following with a jeep going up the road, with each of us taking turns to stop and take pictures and then allowing the other to pass. Just past the summit, the other driver pulled over to look at the view so I pulled over to chat to him. I was hoping he would have a definitive answer on the road closure question. Apparently, he had done as i had and had the same information. Which  was  worthless.  As we stood there visiting, two gals driving up the hill stopped to vent to us that the road was closed because they were going...somewhere. They were quite choked but we said the the road would open again at 5:00 pm so they were going to consider that. Not me. I already knew that i was just going to turn back. I had filled up with gas, even though I really didn't need it in anticipation of this very thing happening. So after visiting, I turned the bike around and was on a new mission find myself a latte. My friend Chuck from the hill passed me a little later. He was going to try and talk his way through. Clearly that didn't work.

I did eventually find myself a latte but it was all the way back in Arnold, where I had bought myself some "insurance gas" yesterday. The night before i had booked myself an Airbnb in Nevada City for Thursday and Friday nights, so there was no point in heading over there just yet. Lake Tahoe would make for a reasonable alternative as it wasn't terribly far. 

I set the GPS to find Lake Tahoe based on the shortest distance (rather than fastest time) and I ended up going through some pretty obscure terrain. The road looked like a patchwork quilt. Steep and twisty, too.

I'm thinking this gas station hasn't been open in a while.

The price of gas on the pump says "18 cents"! And that's US!

My first thought had been to ride to Tahoe look around,  then head towards Nevada City and find a tent site on the way but there are so many campgrounds around Lake Tahoe, I just decided I would stay here. Only three hours to Nevada City from here so easy.

What is NOT so easy is bear wrangling. There are three that frequent the campground and the warden asked if i had ever been camping in bear territory. I said, "im from cNada. We.ride bears".  He said lock it or loose it because they will definitely be around. Then as I was getting ALL the food out of my top case, one of my camping neighbours came over and warned me that the bears here don't scare off easily. Banging pots, yelling foul language, nothing scares them away. It's like they are coming for your lunch money.

To say nothing of the WASPS around here. It's the usual California campground routine. Ride around, pick a spot, go back. So when I pick my spot, the gal at the gate says "oh, there are wasps at that spot". But the ranger, who was in the gate station said they are all gone. Well, as ibam setting up my tent, inhear a NEARBY thud and at first I think it is a grey bag of garbage has just dropped out of the sky. I walk over to take a closer look and the ravens have knocked the HUGE wasp nest down but it, fortunately,  is definitely dormant. 

These wasps were no match for the local ravens.

Storing AND cooking in the bear bin.

Sand is nice and water clear at Lake Tahoe.

Day 14: Big Meadow Campground, Somewhere on Hwy 4 in the Sierras

 Distance traveled: 332.7 km

Cumulative distance: 3324.2

Maximum Speed: 116 kph

Moving average: 61 kph

Temperature range: 13.6 - 31.6

I started my day with two coffees, courtesy of my Swiss friends Nico and Melanie. They rented a camper in Vancouver and are spending a total of two months in western North America. The coffee was very welcome: it was 1.4 degrees when I got up and there was ice on the picnic table, bear bin and motorcycle. 

I was tempted to stop back at The Mobil restaurant, where I had dinner the night before but I really wasn't hungry and there just didn't seem much upside other than to eat for the sake of eating. But I did stop and take some pictures of Lake Mono. 

From there, I made one of my objective stops for the trip: The ghost town of Bodie. It was 19 km off the highway of which only three were gravel... each way! Enough to get and the bike good and dusty. But it was a fascinating visit. The town's last inhabitants bailed in the early 50s from a peak population of 8,000, with 2,000 structures at one time, though the majority of the structures were victim to two fires which decimated the town, in 1892 and 1932. The buildings are in a state of "arrested decay" after the area was proclaimed a state park in 1962. Work continues on keeping the structures upright and intact; several of the buildings still have the furnishings, decorations and once-signs of life. There was quite a lot in the school. I'm not sure if the writing on the blackboard was original or added after the school was abandoned. 

Very fun ride over Hwy 108. Signs at the other end indicated a grade of 26% over the pass, which I find astounding. I've never seen a grade so steep. Vehicles pulling trailers were NOT RECOMMENDED, but I did see a couple. 

Not quite sure how I have cell service what out here in the boonies but I am endeavouring to upload a few pictures.

The computer gave out. Too cold but I can upload a couple from my phone. 

Dinner from The Mobil at Lee Vining. Outstanding meatloaf with garlic mash and fresh broccoli. They even had a nice wine cellar, including splits!

Day 13: Yosemite Valley and on to Lee Vining

 Distance traveled: 168.9 km For the record, this took me from 9: 15 am to 3:30 pm.

Cumulative distance : 2,991.5 km

Maximum speed: 99 kph

Moving average: unknown

Temperature range: 8.6 - 33.0

Maximum elevation: 3046 metres. For the record, that's in the clouds!

Spectacular views of El Capitan, The Half Dome and Bridal Veil Falls. Unfortunately, no spectacular view of a campground in Yosemite. I checked with someone who was not the Queen of Yosemite and was denied a camping spot.  I could have waited around till the end of the day on the hopes that somebody would cancel but if I was unlucky, I would be really stuck. Where are the Queens of Yosemite when you need them!

The Half Dome

Bridal Veil Falls. 628 feet high.

El Capitan.

That last shot is of El Capitan in the distance, on the right in the photo. A park ranger had a small telescope trained on the top and we could see climbers up there!

I'm sorry today's post is so brief. It is 6:45 pm and I need to get back to the campground before it is dark. Plus I need to do a quick check of where I am going tomorrow.

I have lots more pictures from today! But in the boonies, upload times are long.