Northern California River Ride

Saturday–Tuesday, 11–14 Jun 2005

Pictures

Tom Martin

Saturday morning’s assemblage of riders included many who would be joining us for breakfast only. Carl, Gregory, Fred and Irma all rode with us to breakfast at Henny Penny before distributing their excuses and heading off on their own. The rest of the group, Dan, Lorraine, Ramon, Dave, Jerry, Jerry and Jill and I (Tom aka I) ventured forth.

After the usual great Henny Penny breakfast, we headed north to Cloverdale, the gas and pee stop. We took Hwy 128 to Booneville and then turned west on Mountain View Road which winds its way over three ridges to the Big Blue at Manchester State Beach. After re-grouping at the intersection of Mtn. View and Hwy 1, we headed on up to Fort Bragg for lunch and more gas. It was beautifully clear all the way up the coast but as we gathered at Legget for the usual layer removal and group photo I noticed Ramon was the only one to remove any layers. I remember it being much warmer last year. We jumped on 101 and headed north; we took the back way through Eureka and stopped for gas in Arcata. While the group got gassed, I picked up my good friend Peggy Martinez and brought her along for the Sunday loop. We all managed to get to the Bigfoot motel with a tremendous thirst at about 6:00 pm. A few beers and off to dinner at Cinnabar Sam’s restaurant, a short walk away.

Sunday morning we set off for Weaverville and the wonderfully forgettable breakfast from the Nugget cafe. We headed north on 3 for gas and wound up spending a hour in the gas station as Bill “MacGyver” Nelson helped Jerry fix the broken gear shift lever on his Harley. With Jerry’s Harley road worthy, I announced we would stop to pee at the lake in about 20 minutes. We had a great view of the snow capped peaks of the Trinity Alps as we headed up 3. We were almost to the pee stop when Jerry decided to pass the cars in front of us and Ramon took off with him. Neither was seen again until we returned to the motel. We made the next turn and pulled into the view overlook on the shore of Trinity Lake. We had a nice rest and were all a little surprised that Ramon and Jerry didn’t return. Jerry commented that Ramon had his GPS and he may not know where we are, but he does know where he is.

I guess they wanted to live by the club motto. We cruised up over the quite curvy Scott Mountain and on to Callahan and the Scott River Valley. The wildflowers were carpeting the valley with purple and yellow flowers. We all stopped at the Ray’s Food Place in Fort Jones for a snack.

Dave and Jerry were planning to stay on 3 to Yreka and have lunch with Bill Nelson before Bill headed home. Dave convinced Jill that Scott River Road was really rough and she ought to come with him and Jerry to Yreka instead. I remembered Scott River Road to be rough, but worth it. She opted to go with Dave, Jerry, and Bill while Dan was adventurous and joined Peggy and I for Scott River Road. Scott River Road starts out nice, just your ordinary country road, then it gets narrow as it follows the Scott River through its narrow canyon. It really is worth it, even when rough, but the real treat was that this road has been re-surfaced in the last year and was nice and smooth the whole way. It is still very narrow in places, but winds along the river at a comfortable pace for nearly 30 miles before setting you onto Hwy 96 for the trip down the Klamath River. When we got to the intersection of Scott River and Hwy 96 Dan opened his helmet and said “All I can say to Jill is Meh, Meh, Meh!”.

Too bad, she didn’t know what she missed. The Klamath River is a popular river for floaters but we didn’t see any as we cruised along side and on into Happy Camp. We stopped at the Frontier for a burger and a little rest before heading down the river to Willow Creek. There are many wonderful stretches along 96. Most of the road is sweeper after sweeper as you follow the river south. One of the best stretches is between Weitchpec and Hoopa where the road hugs the cliff several hundred feet above the river and keeps you entertained with tight corner after tight corner. By the time we got to Hoopa we were ready to relax and took it easy going back to the motel. We once again enjoyed the food and service of Cinnabar Sam’s before heading back to the motel to talk and drink into the evening.

Monday morning we all said goodbye to Ramon as he headed west for the Lost Coast and his return home. Breakfast for the rest of us was at the Nugget in Weaverville, it’s the only place in town.

Lorraine had everyone interested in the Sundial Bridge in Redding so after breakfast we all headed down to Redding to see it. After getting stuck in road construction twice we had the “pleasure” of following a long line of cars and logging trucks all the way down one of the best sections of Hwy 299 to Redding, too bad it was at pilot care pace. Through blind luck and guesswork, we found a small parking lot with access to a trail to the bridge. We pulled in and parked and after some discussion of whether we could get the bikes closer and not have to walk, the group split in half. Dave, Jerry and Jill rode to the other side of the bridge while Dan, Jerry and I walked the trail. We met them on their side of the bridge. We were all impressed with the design and took many pictures, most of which probably aren’t worth a damn. Mine weren’t.

After pondering the bridge for some time Dave, Jerry and Jill headed to Hwy 5 for the quick ride home. Dan, Lorraine, Jerry and I continued on. We headed east to Burney for lunch at the local diner and then on up to Awesome Burney Falls. We hiked down to the bottom of the falls, took many pictures, and decided that we didn’t really want to hike up to the top of the falls as you can’t see the falls from there anyway. We skipped a few rocks into the lake and headed for Lassen Park. It takes less than one hour to get from Burney Falls to Lassen Park. We self registered at the entrance and headed on into Lassen Volcanic National Park. The road is nice; speed limits of 45 and 35 are okay. At the higher elevations in the park there is still a lot of snow. The road is clear but the drifts can be over 10 feet high in places. The road down out of the park winds wonderfully at a brisk pace past the vents where sulphur smelling steam is spewing out of the mountain and views for many miles are striking. The ride from the park to Lake Almanor is 45 minutes of mixed bag. Some good, some bad, mostly high speed highway.

We found the resort at Plumas Pines with ease and settled into our rooms. Dan came over to see if anyone was game for a swim in the lake and I joined him for a quick dip. The lake was “bathtub warm” I said, Dan says he doesn’t bathe in 65 degree water. We didn’t stay in the water long. We met for dinner in the resort’s restaurant for a wonderful meal on the deck overlooking the lake. Dan gave the waitress and bartender a lesson on the vodka gimlet and suggested they buy Mr. Boston. After a long day, we all went straight to bed.

Tuesday morning’s ride to breakfast was one of the shortest on record. I believe it was less than 3 miles. Carol’s restaurant in “Camp Prattville” was very good. The service was great and the pan cakes were easily the best of the trip. After gassing up in Greenville, we headed for Hwy 70 and the Feather River Canyon. The Feather River Canyon is another great ride as the highway follows the river as it meanders down to Lake Oroville. We kept a brisk pace as Jerry needed to get home early. I had a close call trying to pass a slower pickup, but Dan swears he didn’t soil his drawers watching. His reaction was limited to profanity and disbelief. No contact, whew! After a couple of miles my pulse was back to normal and we continued down the canyon. We stopped on the hill for a last photo and said goodbye to Jerry and Lorraine as they were taking the quick way home and Dan and I were taking the scenic route. There is no good way to cross the Central Valley. Every road is straight for a long way.

We took one of the straightest roads I have ever ridden, Hwy 162, to Hwy 45 to Hwy 20. We followed Hwy 20 to Hwy 5 at Williams. We had a great lunch in Williams at Granzella’s. The sandwiches were good, but it was the malt and root beer float that really made it special. After lunch we headed west on Hwy 20. No Hwy 5 on this trip! We followed Hwy 20 over the hill to Hwy 53 and south to Clearlake. We took Hwy 29 down through Middletown and over Mount St. Helena to Calistoga and continued on Silverado Trail to Napa. We jumped on Hwy 29 again and headed south. I waved goodbye to Dan at Hwy 121 so he could head west and on home. I stayed on 29 down to 80 and headed for my home.

Four days, 1327 miles, six great rivers.

This ride isn’t about the destination, it is about the roads. The roads all have one thing in common. They follow some of the nicest rivers in the northern part of the State. These roads are great because they follow the natural flow of the river. We shall call this ride the Northern California River Ride instead of the North Coast River Ride because Fred convinced me to add a fourth day and go in-land to do the Feather River Canyon and Burney Falls. Too bad Fred didn’t make the trip.

I hope all of you who joined me had a great ride. Those who didn’t might want to think about it for next year. Who knows, I may just do it again.