weekend ride report from northern ca

[bill e goat]

List Lizards, Backroad Bill and Chef James headed up 101 to Laytonville Saturday morning on the first leg of a Labor Day KlR ride and camping trip. After gassing up at Laytonville, we headed east on Dos Rios / Laytonville Road, a twisty and narrow mostly graveled dirt road through the coastal mountains. All the time keeping an eye open for drunk natives, we dropped down into the Eel River Canyon where we met Higway 162, and took that into Covelo. I guessed I missed Poonkinny Road. I was looking for it as a dirt route twisting over the next range into Covelo, but somehow missed it. Rolling through Covelo we didn't stop but continued on to the north, on Lake Mountain Road, a dirt road which crossed the Eel again and 4 miles later crosses the Mendocino/Trinity County line. Coming down the grade into the Eel River Canyon was very slick.....slippery mud requiring good balance and first gear only. We stopped for a beer and a side-of-the-road salami sandwich and took a break, it was also drizzling. We continued up through Kettenpom, then to Zenia, turned northeast on Ruth-Zenia road and wound back into the Yolla Bolly and Van Duzen woods. About 6 o'clock we made it into Ruth to buy some water and some more beer. It was our intention to bring plenty of beer as we were not going to be near any stores, and my bald tire prevented me from doing any extra riding of any distance. From Ruth we headed east on CA 36 and down into the Forest Glen Campground, starting a big fire with wood we collected using our KLR-barrows and bungie cords. I stood around freezing (did I mention it was cold?)wishing I had not forgotten my wool sweater (more on this later) while Chef James whipped up a pan-broiled London Broil with tomatoes and green beans, jardineri vegetables, et cetera. Very tasty, I felt sorry for the average camper who seems to exist on hot dogs. After burning much wood and watching the sky hoping for the weather to clear up, we polished off the last of the cabernet and hit the sack. Next morning James made some red potatoes cooked in water contained in last nights beer cans, on the fire, then added some ham steaks and some soft-boiled eggs. Great Breakfast. He took off to explore while I cleaned up the cooking gear, and came back to tell me about a lookout point about ten miles away from where you could see the Trinity Alps to the north, or the Yolla Bollys to the south. We spent the afternoon hiking and checking out the river, watching big blacktail deer and poking around the camp. We took the bikes and loaded them up with lots of wood for a big bonfire. I still missed my sweater, it was the only warm thing I had brought, and it appeared I had forgotten it. We had salmon pasta with capers for dinner, and some more beer. Not too bad, and lots of it. I slept well that evening with my full stomach. Next day it was up and make coffee, eat a simple breakfast of grapefuit and granola bars, and pack up camp for the ride home. Going back on 36, we turned off on South Fork Mountain Road (South Fork Mountain is the longest continuous montain ridge in the continental US, at 46 miles in length). This road offered outstanding views to the north and to the south, with the Trinitys and the Salmon mtns to the north and the Yolla Bollys to the south. It was very cold, fresh, and clear, and you could see forever. We hooked up with Forest Road 1 and that dropped us down about 4000 feet in five miles to Mad River, where we gassed up. It was about twenty miles out of Mad River we ran into a couple of people on BMWs. They were trying to fix a flat tire in a brand new Metzeler on the K1200RS. I stopped and offered the use of my bicycle pump, as they had just run out of C02. Needless to say they were grateful. Once the got the tire pumped up, they discovered it had not one but two holes, so we got out another plug kit and glued in a plug. I ave them my plastic "Moto-Pump" and a air cartridge to use to get the tire most of the way pumped, and when the bike pump got it up to 35 lbs I told them they looked OK to me and I was taking off, towards Garberville on Blocksburg Road, a 50 ribbon of broken blacktop about ten feet wide, running through the beautiful California coastal hills and across the south fork of the Eel. It turned out OK for them, we ran into them again on 101 several hours later, and the tire was holding up just fine. Mine was going smooth in a big hurry, though, I should have changed it before I left. I guess that will give me something to do this week, though, and it made the trip fine, in spite of its baldness. All in all, a cold KLR trip, where the clattering KLR once again proved its roadability over any reasonable terrain. Backroad Bill