April 29 - May 6 2011
My wife had the opportunity to do a bit of traveling – work related – to a conference in the Bay Area. This is a nice time of year…wonder if we could maybe do a little road trip in the middle of this?
“Sure – sounds like fun!”
The goal – to take a couple of days to get to Palo Alto, California. While my wife deals with work for a few days, I’ll lay low – maybe a day trip here or there in the region. Once the work-related activity concludes, we’ll hit the road and take a few days to head back to the heat of the desert.
You may have noticed that the route there was rather circuitous. Well, there’s a reason. The route that I really wanted to take was damaged along the coast. Two reasons – either fire or mudslide will close CA-1. Sometimes for a short while, other times for many weeks or even months.
In preparing for this trip, I’d been reading a blog kept by a local in the Big Sur area – Big Sur Kate. Her blog is a fantastic compendium of all things coastal related. Thru a second source of information, a motorcycling forum focusing on California, I learned about a very picturesque route could be taken, avoiding the current closure of Hwy 1. Let’s take the route that eventually leads to Nacimiento-Fergusson Road.
Noting on the map there’s not really any good places to buy lunch, a plan to hit a grocery store, get some road food, then back on the move!
Our picnic spot – twenty minutes or so in this gorgeous campground in the shade of this magnificent tree.
The route down the hill to the coast is little more than a slightly-wider-than-one lane of pavement. A little more of a challenge with towing the trailer, but the views thru here are simply stunning.
I've omitted some of the photos I took in the Bay Area. A lot of my riding was done fairly close to the Palo Alto area, and took the time to do more relaxing than anything else.
On the way toward the parks, I picked a very iconic community in which we returned to our touring ways - Sonora, CA. At this juncture, I'd only traveled with a dedicated GPS a couple of times. So, when I programmed in "take me from Sonora to Yosemite Valley the shortest way possible, it did.
The photo below was on one of the more pristine portions of this road. It reminded me a lot of the riding we'd done only a few days earlier via the Nacimiento-Fergusson Rd.
The reader may be asking "Wow - a lot of money spent on entering these national parks and monuments!" Well, the trick? The national park Annual Pass - $80 for all the parks you can stand for twelve full months. From our trip to South Dakota and all other points we'd done the year before, the card is still providing entry! Best money you'll ever spend, even if you'll only do two or three of the major parks per year!
There's a story behind this next photo. Our travel, along with our stay in Sonora yesterday we were able to take care of some mundane travel chores - like laundry. Fortunately, not only were we able to do that, but at the same time, hit up a restaurant for dinner.
Pizza and chicken wings. Mmmmm! But, wait, we got a LOT more wings than we expected. Not to waste a golden opportunity, we took the balance of the wings (a dozen of them, at least) wrapped them in foil, and took them with us.
So, as we're enjoying the view (but NOT the crowds - oh, my!) that you see below of Yosemite Falls, we were enjoying our lunch, warmed by heating of the wings in the saddlebag all morning.
We then proceeded toward the next key stop of our travels - Sequoia National Forest. Again, only a small sampling of the photos we took. The scale of these trees is unreal - see the photo below.
Unfortunately, it's time to begin the process of pointing the bike toward (a) lower elevation and (b) hotter temperatures as we get closer to home. The decision was made to travel as much in the cool of the morning, find a place to stay, and repeat the next day.
My wife had the opportunity to do a bit of traveling – work related – to a conference in the Bay Area. This is a nice time of year…wonder if we could maybe do a little road trip in the middle of this?
“Sure – sounds like fun!”
The goal – to take a couple of days to get to Palo Alto, California. While my wife deals with work for a few days, I’ll lay low – maybe a day trip here or there in the region. Once the work-related activity concludes, we’ll hit the road and take a few days to head back to the heat of the desert.
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| On the road early - still ahead of traffic - Ventura County, California |
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| Away from the coast - Santa Barbara County, California |
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| Route map to destination. Day 2 started in Camarillo, California |
You may have noticed that the route there was rather circuitous. Well, there’s a reason. The route that I really wanted to take was damaged along the coast. Two reasons – either fire or mudslide will close CA-1. Sometimes for a short while, other times for many weeks or even months.
In preparing for this trip, I’d been reading a blog kept by a local in the Big Sur area – Big Sur Kate. Her blog is a fantastic compendium of all things coastal related. Thru a second source of information, a motorcycling forum focusing on California, I learned about a very picturesque route could be taken, avoiding the current closure of Hwy 1. Let’s take the route that eventually leads to Nacimiento-Fergusson Road.
Noting on the map there’s not really any good places to buy lunch, a plan to hit a grocery store, get some road food, then back on the move!
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| Along Nacimiento-Fergusson Road near Jolon, California |
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| Ponderosa Campground, near Big Sur, California |
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| One of the best motorcycling roads in central California. |
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| The million-dollar view of the Pacific Ocean - but where's Highway 1? |
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| A few twists and turns later, it appears. |
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| The iconic photo from Nacimiento-Fergusson Road, overlooking Big Sur, California |
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| Approaching Big Creek Bridge near Big Sur, California |
On the way toward the parks, I picked a very iconic community in which we returned to our touring ways - Sonora, CA. At this juncture, I'd only traveled with a dedicated GPS a couple of times. So, when I programmed in "take me from Sonora to Yosemite Valley the shortest way possible, it did.
The photo below was on one of the more pristine portions of this road. It reminded me a lot of the riding we'd done only a few days earlier via the Nacimiento-Fergusson Rd.
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| 'Cow Path' leading to Yosemite Valley, California |
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| Yosemite Valley and the Merced River, California |
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| Bridalveil Fall, Yosemite National Park, California |
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| Water is *cold*! |
Pizza and chicken wings. Mmmmm! But, wait, we got a LOT more wings than we expected. Not to waste a golden opportunity, we took the balance of the wings (a dozen of them, at least) wrapped them in foil, and took them with us.
So, as we're enjoying the view (but NOT the crowds - oh, my!) that you see below of Yosemite Falls, we were enjoying our lunch, warmed by heating of the wings in the saddlebag all morning.
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| Yosemite Falls, California |
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| Tunnel View, Yosemite National Park, California |
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| A six-foot tall person would not hit their head on that tree tunnel! |
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| The largest living tree on the planet. Base of this tree is huge! |
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| Photography simply can't accurately show the scale of these trees. |
Unfortunately, it's time to begin the process of pointing the bike toward (a) lower elevation and (b) hotter temperatures as we get closer to home. The decision was made to travel as much in the cool of the morning, find a place to stay, and repeat the next day.
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| One final look at the Sierras as we leave the eastern slopes. |
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| Rural California landscape |
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| Our routing home. |
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