The Wow Factor... A Sierra Nevada Pashnit Ride

Paul and a cat named Bodie

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Electricty in the high desert

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Blacksmithing in Columbia SHP

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And yes, this fella had some thick forearms. Note the horseshoe Trike on the lil table.
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Gratiutious shot of busa
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Billy's FZ1 atop Ebbetts Pass - Hwy 4

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I'll take the red one please.
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Variety is the spice of life!

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Tinker and her Harley

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atop Monitor Pass - more Wow!

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Sonny on the RC51 he got on eBay. He'd just moved to California and this was his first exposure to all the sights and heights that are now in his backyard.

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One of my favorite pics from this batch

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Harley leads the way across the crest of 8314 ft Monitor Pass

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And a ride for that Pashnit Guy
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Version 2.0

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...another for the one or two busa fans 'round here. ;)

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My cover shot

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Monitor Pass as it descends to Hwy 395 near Coleville

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Hwy 89 starts here, and rides north all the way across the northeastern portion of California

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Later that evening... top case pulling double duty
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Day 3... we'd done a bit of twisty mountain roads by then.

We noticed this. More Wow! And so Bob headed off a few miles down the road to get a new tire. Yes, he made it fine, although don't try this at home. Trained professional on closed course.

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And it seems Steve on the FJR would be in need of a new pair of boots too. I think that might be his socks.
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Another day meant another pass... The 8574 ft Carson Pass atop Hwy 88 near Kirkwood

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And now for the biggest Wow! of all...

I took the riders up to Big Hill Lookout at 6132 ft, a fire lookout & fire attack base, along Ice House Rd. Yep, that road is paved to the top, and anyone can come up here. This is the southerly view, in that valley in the near distance is Hwy 50, main throughfare b/n Sacramento & South Lake Tahoe. You would never know this lookout is even here.

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The pics are a paltry attempt to show what it's like to be up at the Big Hill Fire Lookout and have everything on all sides below you. On the clearest of days, you can see across the entire state. We could make out Mt Hamilton & Mt Diablo in the Bay Area from here.

Looking eastward, Lake Tahoe is just over the other side of the Crystal Range... That's Union Valley Reservoir (4800 ft) below.
Loon Lake is in the mountains over there too, and the launch point of all the jeepers and their rock crawling the Sierra.

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Southeasterly view, the pointy peak in the middle is Pyramid Peak, el 9983 ft, one of the most visible landmarks in this part of the Sierra Nevada.
The lake is Ice House Reservoir, along which Wrights Lake Rd (paved) connects back to Hwy 50 near FR 71 (also paved).

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Westerly view- the ridgeline at right is Wentworth Springs Rd.

You can see the fireline of the last massive forest fire that burned this entire area- the Cleveland Fire which burned 24,000 acres in 1992. The fire was so big, it burned all the structures on this hilltop including the fire lookout. The patches are from logging.


Not a bad place to do a chin up or two. The fast response firefighters are stationed here.

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Their mode of transportation. The helo that is.

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packs all ready to go at moments notice!

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So out walks Phil (bald dude in red with beard), the pilot of the helo, and we all start chatting. He tells us all about the Bell 214, this one is specially built for firefighting, and privately owned. Only 3 like it in the world he says, looks like a Huey, but not so fast.

The blades are 3 feet wide, and cost $350,000 apiece. This baby uses 150 gallons of fuel per hour from 5 gas tanks positioned all around aircraft into a Rolls Royce engine. Aloft time is about 2 hours.

These guys are private contractors too, not USFS, and they can travel all over the US to fight fires. Asked about his longest flight, said he flew this copter to Florida nonstop (remember, flight time is only 2 hours), took couple days, lotsa refueling.

This Bell 214 B1 helicopter was built by Helimax Aviation, which make specialty heavy lift helos for the construction industry. Phil mentioned this helicopter has done everything from lift HVAC units onto buildings to pour concrete for mountain top ski lifts.

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While the helo hovers 50 feet over the ground near the fire, the firefighter (this guy) fast rope out of the copter with just boots and gloves, no safety lines, nuttin! They attach the rope like this, throw on the packs, and zippity do da out the aircraft! Guys on the ground in seconds Phil said.

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Up in the Fire Tower was Walt, who said he'd been up here for about a year. I kind of wondered how a person got a job like this. Says we were his only visitors today, but day prior, he had 30 kids show up at once!

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That plotting table for triangulating fires with adjacent fire towers.

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360 Degree View!

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The view north, can see the Helo, our bikes, Union Valley Reservoir, Ice House Rd to the right, Wentworth Springs Rd on the ridgeline to the north.

Just plain Wow!
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-fin-
 
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