2024 Pashnit Touring on a Hayabusa

[pashnit]

Promise me, we’ll never ride this road again.

That was 2015. And that was my buddy Phil.

I kept my promise to Phil, but only for 9 years. We’re back. Alderpoint Rd is not for everyone, it’s a backroad, paved, but remote and zero reason to be on this road. It also has some amazing views across the NorCal mountains as it rides the tops of the ridge lines.

But this day, my plan was to double down and ride a road we’ve never done before, although maybe for good reason. But this was the group to do it with. I had two Multi’s, a Tiger, a Tracer, an Africa Twin, and a GS. Although by buddy Peter was on his Goldwing and me leading on a Hayabusa onto one of the most remote backroads in the state, Zenia Bluff Rd.

Zenia isn’t a town, or even a destination, It’s a single building with a sign out front that is being swallowed up by a tree.

Alderpoint Rd

 

[pashnit]

Alderpoint Rd out of Garberville

Alderpoint Rd | Humboldt County | California Motorcycle Roads | Pashnit

Ride Humboldt County Motorcycle Roads, Northern California Coast Range Mountains

www.pashnit.com

Yup, major storms a few months ago just washed the road away

 

[pashnit]

Alderpoint Rd

 

[pashnit]

 

[pashnit]

This is NorCal

 

[pashnit]

 

[pashnit]

Then in the middle of absolute nowhere, there's an intersection. I wonder where that goes.

Zenia Bluff Rd gets interesting real fast. This is goat.

Zenia Bluff-Ruth Zenia Rd | Trinity County | California Motorcycle Roads

Ride Humboldt & Trinity County Motorcycle Roads, Northern California Coast Range Mountains

www.pashnit.com

 

[pashnit]

But it is twisty

It's paved, I promise. But this road is so goaty, it's got a couple of short gravel sections.

 

[pashnit]

Single lane remote road somewhere in the forest - what are we doing out here?!

 

[CBXRider]

Oh man, back when it was illegal in the late 70s that area was prime for growers. I came across a couple guys carrying hoses and big white plastic buckets who really gave me the eye. I ventured into another growing area off 36 E of Fortuna and found a road sign had been switched. Very protective folks out there. I suppose it’s gotten better these days.

 

[pashnit]

Ack! Too many gravel section on this road. Easy does it. We're almost there.

But that view!

Single lane remoteness on Zenia Bluff Rd - we didn't see anybody. Not a soul.

 

[pashnit]

Oh man, back when it was illegal in the late 70s that area was prime for growers. I came across a couple guys carrying hoses and big white plastic buckets who really gave me the eye. I ventured into another growing area off 36 E of Fortuna and found a road sign had been switched. Very protective folks out there. I suppose it’s gotten better these days.

As Terry mentions, this region in Northern California for many years was known as The Emerald Triangle, heart of the illegal pot industry. Pot is all legal now in California, it's no big deal anymore, you can buy it anywhere like buying cornflakes, but back in the day, this region was the center of the universe.

Quite frankly, you have no reason to be on this road, unless you're following that Pashnit Guy around California.

Anybody seen that documentary on Netflix called 'Murder Mountain'? Yah, that documentary was filmed on this road. And largely based on events in the nearby tiny mountain town of Alderpoint.

Murder Mountain (TV series) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

"...and multiple disappearances and murders that have occurred in the surrounding mountain range..." Yup. that's right here. People came out into these hills and just disappear - presumably murdered. And they made a movie about it.

So why are we out here?

This.

And this. How many years will it take for this tree to swallow up this sign? So cool.

Don't think Zenia ('zen-yah') is a town, but there's a post office here.

 

[pashnit]

Zenia was first named 'Poison Camp' by men who went there in the 1860s after larkspur in the area poisoned their cattle. Postmaster George Croyden named the community Zenia after a girl.

Why would anyone ever go to Zenia. ('zen-yah')

Likely it’s this sign. How cool is this been eaten up by this tree.

How many years did it take for the tree to grow over the sign? Decades perhaps?

Yes, the tree out front is growing into and around the sign, devouring it like in that Twilight Zone episode.

Zenia Bluff Rd is not for everyone. And it's likely we won't ever ride this road again. Utah Ken called it 'one and done'. But he's a good sport and handles everything I throw at him. And if there is such a thing as The Middle of Nowhere, this might be it.

 

[pashnit]

How long since anyone in here? The 80s?

It was all based on logging of course, but they don't do much logging in California anymore.

What passes as a post office - yes, people actually live out here in the middle of absolute nowhere.

Kudos to these guys willing to follow me around to these crazy remote places: Mark, Paul, Rob, Gordon, Ken, Eric & new guy Dan on the end. I met Dan at a motorcycle event I put on 20 years ago, no kidding, 20 years later he signs up for a motorcycle tour with me.
Oh yeah, don't forget Mike down below.

Zenia Bluff-Ruth Zenia Rd | Trinity County | California Motorcycle Roads

Ride Humboldt & Trinity County Motorcycle Roads, Northern California Coast Range Mountains

www.pashnit.com

 

[pashnit]

Here's the plan:

Surprise! As soon as we leave Zenia, we discover a racetrack in the sky! Why is this here? We're in the middle of nowhere.

I described Ruth Zenia Rd as a racetrack in the sky earlier to the tour participants. It’s an odd road in the middle of nowhere, wide two-lane, curvaceous and miles of fast s-curves connecting Ruth Lake with Zenia.

Zenia Ruth Rd tops out at 3800 ft up and over the range. This wonderful pavement lasts 9 miles to Bar Creek and then mysterious ends. Is it perfect? Not even close. As soon as you gain any speed, a pothole appears and there's that slap in the face again.

Ruth Zenia Rd drops off the range and into the Hettenshaw Valley becoming Van Duzen Rd which is all s-curves, and fast, running parallel to Ruth Lake to the vaunted Highway 36.

 

[pashnit]

What we didn't know is this road was actually closed for repairs. Van Duzen Rd was open for one hour per day, just mid-day during the workers lunch. Our timing was perfect.

Spring rains had washed the road away. CalTrans was rebuilding it.
We were very lucky to squeak past the construction as we had no idea the road was actually closed and it's would have been a huge detour to go around the closed road.

The burnt forest along the road is occurred a few years ago in August 2020, a massive lightning storm swept across California. This storm generated over 12,000 lightning strikes in 72 hrs starting over 560 fires. All burning at the same time. Many of them merged into massive conflagrations. One of these August 2020 fires was the August Complex Fire south of Highway 36 that burned mostly in wilderness mountainous regions. Originating as 38 separate fires, the August Complex fire became the largest fire complex in California history burning over 1,032,648 acres, roughly about 1614 square miles of forest land, an area larger than the state of Rhode Island.

 

[pashnit]

In several places, the road was falling off into the canyon below.

 

[pashnit]

Van Duzen Rd

 

[pashnit]

This fella was having a bad day.

He had bottomed out his lowboy trailer pulling out onto Highway 36. And he was blocking the road. Both lanes. I actually felt a bit sorry for this poor fella as I can only imagine the pressure he was under due to blocking the highway with his semi. Traffic in both directions was at a standstill, and slowly building. The semi couldn’t budge the bottomed out lowboy trailer.

But there were a few feet of space in front of the semi. I wonder. Doesn't hurt to ask. And, lunch was 2 miles away.

Motivated by thoughts of juicy burger and a root beer float, I approached the CalTrans worker holding up the traffic. Do you mind if we slide on by? We’re on bikes, I added as if that wasn’t obvious from all the black leather.

I’m not in charge, he replied, but pointed to a forest service worker who seemed to be in charge of this dilemma. He pointed at the truck driver passing the buck, If it’s okay with him. We don’t want you guys to get smooshed by the semi, he said with a quizzical look.

The truck driver was underneath the lowboy fiddling with the trailer. I assumed he’d have to unhook the massive Caterpillar 740 Articulated Dump Truck and drive if off the lowboy to get the trailer unstuck. The CAT dump truck weighs 42 tons. Okay by me, the truck driver said and went back to his trailer fiddling.

I gave the forest service worker a thumbs up. It's a go. Lunch was 2 miles away.

Success! They're letting the bikes through, the cars were stuck.

 

[pashnit]

Mad River

We zipped on by the semi and went on our merry twisty way along Highway 36 to the Mad River Burger Bar. Not a bar, but an old camper that’s been there since the early 70s. Yes, 50 plus years serving burgers out a dilapidated old camper shell along Highway 36. But the ancient camper shell was gone, replaced by a modern food service trailer. 50 years of progress.

And I got my root beer float.

Mark's new name is Mary. Close enough. Is there a Mary here?