nklr northern california back roads ride report and other items

[billmonahan]

I got home this afternoon from a four day loop around the northern portion of Ca and see many KLR messages with some interesting subjects and I am sure interesting comments on the "inbox". But I would like to share a great ride while it's still fresh in my mind. I left my house Friday morning and met my friend James at our local coffee shop and (college-girl watching) hangout. He has a Tengai which I sold him about a year ago. We headed out after going to Cycle Pro in Santa Rosa to get the missing swingarm locknut which I noticed missing from his bike after I remembered Mark Weaver's tale (thanks, e-list) of losing his own. We took 101 up to Garberville, too long on the freeway for my tastes, but we stopped in Hopland for coffee and Harley-tough-guy watching at the Keg Saloon right next door to where we got the coffee. In Garberville, we got burritos at the Aztec Grill (has anyone noticed these little Mexican joints springing up in Chevron stations? They're pretty good!) and washed them down with a "four-pack" of Sierra Nevada. Then we headed up Aldepoint Road, twisty and all paved, east from Garberville, climbing a very steep and winding road uphill to an elevation of about 2200' with a great view out to the Pacific and its fog bank, which did a great job of keeping Northen California cool all weekend. Alderpoint Road winds down a long grade on the east side of this hill, crosses the Eel River at bottom, and begins its climb again, continuing up to CA 36 via Blocksburg Road....which we didn't take. I chose to take Zenia Bluffs Road, because I had never ridden it, and we followed the twisties (mostly paved) along the bluffs to Zenia, no services, just real pretty, and then on to the Ruth Lake-Zenia road, up and over the mountain which separates the Eel drainage from that of the Van Duzen River. Dropping down into Ruth Lake, we followed miles of mixed old pavement and graveled hard-dirt road, and were able to see over to the tops of the Yolla Bolly Mountains and breathe the pine-scented air. Lots and lots of twisties, not one car. This is also a great way to make it north through CA without freezing in summer fog on the coast. At Ruth Lake you can buy gas, which we did, since we hadn't filled up since Willits. We considered camping at Ruth Lake, but it was windy there, and the campsite would have cost $12 had we chosen to camp in a campsite with running water and a table. Onward down Mad River Road from Ruth we rode, to connect with CA 36 14 miles to the north. We followed 36 east for about 15 miles of beautifully engineered sweepers through which I was flying, until a big doe jumped across the road in front of me and shook me out of my fantasy. I backed down to normal speeds as we motored into Forest Glen Campground, our now-well-recommended $4 campsite, located in a quiet and beautiful spot on the South Fork of the Trinity River. Beuatiful spot...nice river for bathing and swimming, great trees, but bring your own water. After pasta and vegetables, and a few beers, we hit the sack there, worried about bear activity...we even hung all our stuff up in a tree, although I am sure any bear worth his salt would have grabbed it easily. Next morning, after coffee, a hike, and a quick bath in the not-very-cold Trinity, we packed up and made for Hayfork, via Rattlesnake Road, a 20 mile stretch of dirt road and broken asphalt. This road put us on CA 3, a great twisty road, at Peanut. We turned north on 3, passed through Hayfork, stopped for supplies at a shopping center in Weaverville, and made for Scott Mountain Pass, north of Trinity Lake. Crossing the Scott Mountains, and dropping down into Siskiyou County, we turned east on Gazelle-Callahan Road and headed back up into the high country for Kangaroo Lake, on Rail Creek Road, very twisty and tight. The lake sits at about 7000 feet, and there was a fair amount of snow just above the lake on the mountainside's shady or protected spots. James fished, and I helped Yvonne, the granny in the site next door, assemble her tent.......she was ready to start some very un-granny-like cussing when I got there. The had: brand new Ford Explorer. Brand new tent, about 10'x16', three rooms. Brand new sleeping bags, still in plastic. Brand new cookstove range. Brand new sleeping pads. New toys for the kids. Wow. I wasn't sure what to think. I guess not everyone is a minimalist on a budget, like myself. In the early evening, we took a ride up to the summit, a couple of miles of rocky rough road, steep and almost technical. My KLR was pretty heavy, I keep all my tools and spares in the Kawi bags (now wearing out after four or five long trips, and about 16,000 miles, with a big burned hole appearing next to the muff), but it picked its way up the steep uphills and downhills pretty well. From the top, you could see about a hundred miles, and it was sunset....and cold, too, there were some big fields of snow up there. Then we went back to camp, ate some gumbo (James is the exec chef at a wine country restaurant), had a bottle of wine, and hit the sack. Sunday morning we packed out gear and headed for a loop I had planned to make for a long time, but never done. It was to leave from Etna, CA, heading west on Sawyers Bar Road, following the north fork of Salmon River along the southern boundary of the Marble Mountain Wilderness, then returning through Forks of Salmon and Cecilville and back to Callahan. This is one spectacular road. Great view from Salmon Mtn. Summit (about 5500 ft.) There are also lots of dirt roads, including nicely maintained FS roads which will take you over the mountains from Sawyers Bar to Cecilville instead of going around through the river canyons. The riding here is nothing less that the best...the best twisties, the most spectacular scenery, almost no cars..absolutely beautiful! We stopped at Callahan, a little ranch town in the Siskiyou which is quite dead nowadays, with a cowboy/gold rush derelict hotel (the hotel, not the cowboys)slowly rotting into the ground. Getting some coffee from the bar, we sat on the front porch of the old-time bar (since 1861) as some Harley riders pulled up. After acting tough to us for only a short while, they softened up and we traded some jokes.....so I asked them, did they know the difference between a Harley and a Hoover? They didn't. (it's 'the location of the dirtbag') ....or, what kind of cereal did Harley riders eat for breakfast (nut'n bitch). Then it started to thunder loudly and rain fairly hard, which made them kind of worried. They could not believe we were taking off for Weaverville in the rain. We had a nice cold ride back to Weaverville, punctuated by some nice lightning bolts and thunderclaps, where we went to the grocery store again, and then headed out into the emerging sunshine back down to Forest Glen campground, and some better weather. Monday morning, we took back roads along South Fork Mountain (longest continous mountain ridge in the continental US, according to the plaque, 46 miles, at approximately the same elevation) and along the Van Duzen River, thence down the Kettenpom Road (Lake-Mountain Road) into Covelo....nice twisties in the Humboldt County portion, at the county line, it turns to gravelled dirt, very twisty and fun, almost all the way into Covelo, about 18 miles. There were some really nice switchbacks down into and out of the Eel River Canyon about five or ten miles inside Mendocino County. We opted to take pavement back to Santa Rosa from Covelo....it is possible to make it on dirt, throught the Mendocino National Forest, down through Lake Pillsbury, thence down to Upper Lake. We took CA 162 to Willits, got a burger (first restaurant meal of the trip) and headed for home. All in all, a great ride, with lots of exploring some new backroads for use on later trips. I am getting more into feeding myself well on trips, and less into spending money at roadside restaurants.....though there are plenty of those that are enjoyable. The KLR makes one sweet touring bike. I can't wait to go to Idaho for the Nez Perce Ride. It's a good one. Ciao (chow?) Bill KLR - 16,000 miles.....still on its first chain at this point. and an R1100RS....30,000 miles, and on its second clutch