Shivering Down Sierra Nevada to a Golden End

Wednesday, September-19

I've also heard a lot of good things about Yosemite National Park, in the Sierra Nevada mountain range - pronounced with four syllables: Yo·seh·mi·tee - Certainly the 32-mile [51½ km] ride from nearby Mariposa (stopover town) to the Park's entrance was spectacular in itself.

With the entrance fee at USD $20, I'm again glad to show my Annual Pass to the Ranger and get into the park for free .. :o)

I look at the weather forecasts, for the ensuing two days, with some apprehension.

Riding through Arch Rock Entrance, and then along Portal Road, is an absolute delight. Onwards until we spot a sign indicating ...

.. 'Bridelveil Fall'. Gotta take a look. And walk the short distance, through the woods, of 1,000 ft [305 m] to ...

.. the spectacle, which is in a delicate free-fall. Not too much water flowing over the 620-foot drop [190 m] at the moment, which is not surprising, considering that we're virtually at the end of a very dry summer

'El Capitan' - the largest granite monolith in the world.

Towards lunchtime and we head towards the Visitors Centre for a bite. There's a lot of smoke around, which we later find out ...

.. is a controlled, or "prescribed burn". Apparently, staffers here at the Park routinely burn parcels of the forest deliberately - in part to reduce the risk of uncontrollable future fires, and in part to encourage a more natural mix of forest vegetations.

But right here, around this vicinity, is not a good place to eat egg sandwiches .. believe me!

Gotta move on. So the decision is made to ride over the Tioga Pass towards the eastern entrance of the Park. Here's the view as we make the climb up to Hwy 120, which will take us over the near 10,000-feet [3,000 m] high Pass.

As I discover, it can get bloody cold at these heights this time of year.

With most of our luggage back at the Mariposa-based motel, I nevertheless pull-on and wear every layer of clothing available to me.

6ºC [42ºF]. Certainly this is THE coldest temperature that I've experienced over the last three months.

By 5.00pm the sun is starting to sink lower in the south-western sky. The decision is made to get back to the motel ASAP. This involves a second trip - westwards - back over the Tioga Pass. Brrrrrrr! I now wish I had retained my warmer Rev'it jacket, and sent the cooler JoeRocket mesh one back home!

Maybe we'll come back to the Park again tomorrow. But the weather forecast is not good .. :o(
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Thursday, September-20

With today's weather looking decidedly 'dodgy', especially towards the north (Yosemite NP region), we decide to head back to the coast a day early. San Francisco here we come!



I guess we didn't see Yosemite NP at its glorious best. So here's a DVD 'postcard' that we bought yesterday at the Visitors Centre, which will be a reminder of what 'could have been' - if only we had arrived at the Park a couple of days earlier ...
Ho-hum? .. C'est la vie!
(NB: The commercial producers of this video have reserved all rights)

The 200-mile [322 km] journey westwards to San Francisco - the final destination - is ridden-out in weather that just keeps on getting better and better. Glad now that I retained my cooler JoeRocket mesh jacket, and sent the warmer Rev'it one back home .. :o)

Three and a half hours after leaving our base in the Sierras, we're riding up ...

.. and over the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge towards the northern shore of San Francisco

Fifteen minutes later and something really special comes into view ...

.. I was here 5½ months ago, at this very place, the famous Golden Gate Bridge.


The last few miles.

SUMMARY: Back in early April my post-operative left wrist and fore arm was heavily bandaged and living within a New Zealand plaster-cast & hung in a Kiwi-gifted sling. My left collarbone was broken in three places; my LH-side rib cage cracked badly; one rib and a few fingers were completely broken. I was in some considerable discomfort back then, coupled with more than a little pain.

BUT, WHAT a difference today! .. :o)

Since that desperate, 2-day fleeting visit to this Pacific-based city during the early Springtime, I made just sufficient enough recovery over the following two months to allow me to ride my trusty Silver-Pan-Machine, with just under 13,000 miles on the clock at that time, up from North Cornwall - accompanied by my good mate, North Vancouver-based Stan, on his UK Suzuki GSX 1400 - to Southampton docks on the south coast of England.

Ten days later we (the Pan & I) both arrive in Nova Scotia, on the Atlantic seaboard of Canada.

Thereafter my dependable silver travelling companion has carried me, and my luggage - plus Ellen with hers from time-to-time - 14,000 miles [22,500 km] across this great continent of North America to a familiar spot - The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, California. And I can tell y'all, I have a real smile on my face .. :o)

So there, we did it - after all!

----------------

.. to be continued

Crater Lake, Red Giants ... I Can't Find Any Fault

Weekend commencing Saturday, September-15

I've heard a lot about Crater Lake, famous for its deep blue colour and water clarity. With dimensions of 5 - 6 miles (8 by 9.6 km) across and an average depth of 1,100 feet (350 m), scientists have calculated that the lake was formed around 7,500 years ago by the collapse of the volcano known as Mount Mazama.

So being this close .. well, ya just gotta go take a look, haven’t you?

Saturday, Sept-15 So we set-off around mid-morning at a leisurely pace and head inland on a broad easterly course towards this famous Oregon lake; a distance of no more than 160 miles [257 km] - approx 3½ hours travelling time. Following the curves of the Uumpqua River, which looks like a mirror in this cool, late summer/early autumn atmosphere

These roads will be covered in falling leaves within the next few weeks

Lunchtime stop at Karen's Coffee Cup, Roseburg ...

.. highly recommended for the rhubarb pie alone!

And onwards, further along the Uumpqua, until we find the cheapest dump of a motel yet - 20 miles [32km] on the other [wrong] side of our destination. All the nicer 'quality' accommodation around Crater Lake has been, regrettably, already taken up .. :o(

(TIP: if visiting Crater Lake, especially at the weekend, then book in advance .. ;o)

Sunday, Sep-16
The intention was to get back to the Park early this morning .. [8:00am] But it's dang cold! .. so a cooked brekky is required, to leave sufficient time for the sun to rise high enough into the cloudless sky to tempt the mesh-jacket wearers of this world to throw a right leg over the saddle.

Y'all should understand that the rim of Crater Lake ranges in elevation from 7,000 to 8,000 feet (2,130 to 2,440 m).

Dj'all get m'drift .. huh? 'tis cold up here at these elevations and latitudes ...

.. in mid September!

So arrival time after the gentle curving up-hill climb to the crater's rim is around 10:45am. A crowd of people appear to be gaping over the edge ...

into this.

I make a shivery clockwise loop around the rim [now wishing that I had retained my Rev'it jacket] and start taking loads of pictures, as and when the oppotunity(ies) arise. These two wide-angle shots summarise around 50 others ...

.. what I find kinda 'spooky' is the lack of apparent wildlife around here.

I think this place has an atmosphere all of its own. I just can't put my finger on it?

This is a 'special place'.

Ho-hum! Dunno what it is ...

.. but by around midday it's time to make the descent, westward, down through the surrounding forests into - hopefully - warmer altitudes.

To summarise: IMHO, Oregon is one of the USA's best kept secrets. It seems to have everything going for it; (a) great scenery, (b) fabulous coastline (c) spendid lakes and fishing rivers, (d) gentle mountains & green canyons, (e) wonderful, uncrowded surfing beaches - it's laid-back - unpretentious and unassuming attitude .. I really luv'it here.

Indeed, if ever I found myself in circumstances where I needed to live in America, then given a choice of location .. the state of Oregon would be near to the top of my preference list. I can pay no greater compliment to Oregon than this .. can I? surely not?

(Warm Rhubarb Pie & vanilla ice-cream .. Mmmmmm - yummy .. an' evrythang .. :o)

140 miles [225 km] later (3½ hours), towards the southwest and the Pacific coastline, it's time to enter California - the 'Golden State' of America

Then it's - literally - nearly downhill all the way to the coast for another 41 miles [66 km] ...

.. but the sun doesn't want to come out and play. So we push on for a further 85 miles [137 km] to the seaside city of Eureka, for yet another night's stopover in a deficient Super-8 motel after an 'all you can eat' Chinese buffet meal.

Monday, Sep-17
Just one more week remaining .. :o(

It's still cloudy and overcast here on the coast. But just around 15 miles [24 km] inland, there's not a cloud in sight .. :o)

40 miles [64 km] down the road ...

.. we arrive at the entrance to the 'Avenue of the Giants' ...

.. The Redwood tree forest, that is

Feeling quite tiny (and young-er .. :o) today.

Some of these beasts defy living logic ...

.. Take this monster, for instance. 5,000 years old; in its heyday it stood 275 feet [84 m] high; a diameter of 21 ft [6½ m]; circumference of 64 ft [19½ m]. I seem to remember seeing a picture of this old gent in one of my geography textbooks, when I was around 11 years old. That's a long time ago too, of course!

The view from inside, looking up.

But we must press on, inland, for at least further 200 miles [322 km], through the originally[?] named lakeside township of Nice, where during the morning the local area, according to the FM radio news, experienced an earthquake measuring 3.?(summin') on the Richter scale .. jeez [gulp!]

The time of day is 7:10pm, and what a glorious one it's been, as the sun sinks towards the eastern horizon - time to call it a day too, for sure, as we stopover in the town of Woodland, just 20 miles [32 km] west of ...

Tuesday, Sep-18
.. Sacramento, where the following morning we dodge off the interstate to take a look around. I'm half expecting to see Arnie the Austrian-Oak pop out from around a corner, as Sacto is, of course, the capital city of California.

I read somewhere once that this city has been voted one of the top five best places to live in the whole of America.

At first view it has a lot going for it; a combination of the new ...

.. with the old

Step back nearly 140 years ...

.. to where on April 4, 1869, Sam Hamilton galloped into a blinding rainstorm, right from this very spot, on the first lap, of the first ever near 2000-mile [3,219-km] long Pony Express delivery to the state of Missouri.

But move on again we must to ...

.. San Andreas for a spot of lunch. I cannot find a fault with this place, anywhere (dja get it? .. :o) - too subtle for ya .. huh?)

Ever inland we continue, around some fantastic motorcycling roads .. up ...

.. and around ...

.. and down ...

.. for what seems like hours. Elated, and somewhat exhausted - with a cheesey grin - the day finishes, conveniently, just outside Yosemite National Park.

It's been a hot one, with temperatures creeping into the low 30sºC [nearly 90ºF] .. Glad I retained my cooler JoeRocket mesh jacket and posted my warmer Rev'it one back home .. :o)