A Pashnit Adventure: Riding the Road with No Name

[pashnit]

Thought you guys might enjoy a little adventure to ring in the new year for those stuck in the massive rain storms right now in California, or those in colder climes!

Here's a little adventure I had a short while back on the Hayabusa!!

----

<span style='font-size:13pt;line-height:100%'>The Road with No Name - A Pashnit Adventure in the Southern Sierras</span>


Every been out riding and had no idea where you were? Where the road goes, or how long it'll go for? Maybe? A little?

The ride went something like that. It was one of those "I wonder where this goes sort of days." Or rather the road looks paved, and I don't want to go back. Know that feeling, huh?

All I do know is that I've got a full tank of gas, I have a general idea of where I am (Southern Sierras) and I haven't lost my sense of direction. Yet. All that and a Hayabusa.

After coming up Round Mountain Rd out of Bakersfield, and enjoying the smooth chocolatey slice of Granite Springs Rd, I found myself in Sugarloaf, California staring at the map and somewhat unsure.

After all, here I was riding out into the wilds of the Sierra Nevada Mtns with only a vague idea of where I even was. Well folks, our ride begins in Sugarloaf. Which wasn't really marked on my map, but there was a little hall-type building. The kind you'd find in a 1950's Fred Astaire movie where the vacationing townfolk migrated up into the mountains for a spell. As for civilization, that was about it, a couple homesteads, a couple mountain-man type homes clinging to the 1970's as if time had stood still. Time to motor on.

Sugarloaf Lodge

 

[pashnit]

Since I'd gone off the map by now, I simply continued riding. I had actually been looking for Mtn Rd 109, but made a wrong turn somewhere. The kind of turn where in the movie, the hero guy inadvertantly drives himself off into the wilderness & is never heard from again.

But... The road ahead, whatever road this was- paved. The elevation was climbing, the view was increasing, and the surrounding trees were slowly closing in on me. My kind of adventure. That is if you like one-lane goat trails.

It seems as though I was going straight up, forget that foothill stuff, this was no holds bar climbing in elevation. In looking at a 3-D topogaphical map later on, I realized the road was just straight up the mountain side. This range was steep, and the ride steadily went higher.

No map. No GPS. Just intuition and a full tank of gas.

 

[pashnit]

The fruits of all my climbing.

This is looking west across the Central Valley. The challenge is of course to make it up here on a day without haze. (Day after major rain storm always does the trick btw). On the clearest of days, you can see 70-80 miles across the California's Central Valley (which is a valley 300+ miles long).

 

[pashnit]

Panoramic Version

Scroll --->

 

[pashnit]

At the top of the hill at Porteguese Pass, el 7280. The majority of the ride would stay above 7000 ft. The ride south, which the map claims is not paved connects to Highway 155 at Greenhorn Summit & Alta Sierra (only 6 miles away).

Hmm, Johnsonville sounds as good a direction as any. Where ever that is. It's the biggest number on the sign.

<!--EDIT|pashnit
Reason for Edit: None given...|1136110106 -->

 

[pashnit]

Might as well go north then. See what's up this-a-way.

 

[pashnit]

My first glimpse eastward across the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Ah, success, now I know why I came!

 

[pashnit]

Panoramic

Scroll --->

 

[pashnit]

Atop this ridgeline, these views begin to get common place.

 

[pashnit]

Now this surprised me, have to admit this is the first time I have seen something like this. The label on the Yurt simply read 'Warming Shelter'.

Wanna get a Yurt? (a huh?) Yes, you too can be the proud owner!
http://www.yurts.com/

 

[pashnit]

Okay, so here's a pic for those of you that love the rides off in the middle of nowhere. You likey the forgotten, one-lane, unknown, undiscovered, un-used rides, huh? I have just the thing. And yes, still paved, which I was thankful for.

At this point, I still had no idea what road I was on, where it was going, or where I'd end up. Ah, that allure of exploration.

 

[pashnit]

Always been a sucker for a picture perfect view. Now this is the Sierra Nevada. Here out in the middle of nowhere was this little valley, picturesque, deep in the heart of the Sierras.

Beauty!! This one is my screensaver.

 

[pashnit]

I believe this is Vincent Meadow (or Dunlap Meadow) which my map shows as not paved. Gotta love that. Sometimes ya just gotta go see for yourself.

The surrounding mountains, Tobias Peak, which didn't seem all that much higher than I was, rose to 8264 ft.

 

[pashnit]

Finally, a stop to rest, and listen to the sound of silence. That view stretched off for miles!

 

[pashnit]

Lotta sand though. It was just bleeding off the hillsides onto the road. You might say I manuevered my 550lb machine quite gingerly on my unknown road.

The whole time on this road, it kept reminding me of all my fellow riders on the BMW GS.

 

[pashnit]

But oh that view! Pictures cannot capture it.

The valley below is the Kern River, which flows on down to Lake Isabella & Kernville (to the south/right).

 

[pashnit]

Zooming in on Sherman Pass Rd, which starts in the Kern River Valley, and climbs this mountain side... It was the road I had come down the day before. But that's another story.

It was the sense of space that always grabs me. On that opposing mountain range is Sherman Pass Rd which leads up to Kennedy Meadows, a small mountain community in the southern Sierras. Have you figured out by now this is a outstanding place for dirt-bikes? Yes indeed.

 

[pashnit]

Tired of the view yet? Me neither.

 

[pashnit]

Soldiering on past a good sized landslide that looked recently repaired. It would seem that this road could at any time just slip off the mountain side.

 

[pashnit]

Finally, the ride began to descend from those elevations well above 7000 ft...