Cali Coast On The Cheap

[Guest OCMSRZR]

So after getting done with a semester of grad school I decided to clean out my head with a trip down the Pacific coast from Portland. Being my first multi-day tour I wasn't sure what I was getting into, but looking back that was kind of the point. When I started researching my trip I decided I wanted to be a little adventurous and simply not plan it....just a sketchy outline of going down the coast and possibly staying with family in SF.

On the way out of town

The first day of the trip was hot as hell! Highway temps on friday the 16th got up to 105....and here I was going south. And haul ass I did. My only real stop on the Oregon coast was at Cape Blanco.

Cape Blanco

I was at Cape Blanco because I was looking for free camping....i know it's sort of bullshit for me to be riding around looking to save $4 on a campsite....but this trip was all about entertaining myself so what the hell. Turned out there were folks there looking after the sites so on I went. I ended up south of Crescent City in Del Norte Coast Redwoods Park....tired. I found a "vista point" many miles off the road. Put my sleeping bag on top of a bench and that was it....until about midnight. Seems as though the "vista point" was more of a place for high school kids to get wasted than anything else. So I was treated to cackling kids and cops for a few hours. The cops left me alone though (even though I was illegally camping). Whatever. Sort of a comical way to start the trip. Up at 530 and into the best day of the trip.

Waking up to riding through redwood forests with nobody else on the road isn't so bad. However, the breakfast in Orick was terrible. I've never had such a bad sausage in my life....or coffee. Really, stay the hell away from the food in that town...something is wrong with the water....or maybe poor refrigeration.

But the coast!!!

I'll spare ya'll most of the details from saturday...because really all i did was ride highways 101 and 1. That and decide not to ride into SF and trapse across Napa valley at sunset into Calistoga.

Reward for living through sausage hell

Highway 1

And cue fog

Bodega Bay...any Hitchcock fans in the house?

More "picknick table camping" in Calistoga, then North to Williams, 20 to Penn Valley and North to 49

Highway 49

Then Highway 89 up through Lassen Volcanic National Park (sulfur is stinky)

Chilly

[more tired than i look]

I tried to chill out in Hat Creek park but the mosquitos started getting to me and I really wanted to sleep in my bed....so I rode my self back to Portland. The first part saw the highest sustained speeds of the whole trip...triple digits on wide open country roads was lovely. Little did I know that 89 to Shasta City would be deer target practice once it got dark. ~390 miles from there and I was back in Portland just in time for AM rush hour.

Although it was a ton of riding, what I really wanted to do on that ride was clear my head on the bike. I have some disdain for most tourist type activities, so i'm sure that factored into it...also I dont trust folks enough to leave all my gear on soft shell cases. Be that as it may, I was happiest on the trip when i was moving. There is something about the focus motorcycling requires that is a great respite from the preoccupation of everyday life. (maybe because you are dead if you start thinking about taxes?)

Ended up being ~1600 miles in <72 hours.

Observations: Oregon police tend to be low budget when it comes to radar. Mostly x and k, and not a single instance of instant-on. Cali, on the other hand, was all instant-on.

My ass still hurts....also I think my genitalia has been permanently numbed. Ya'll aren't bsing about the seat thing.

Final note: This post is sort of "pay back" for all the good info and entertainment i've gleaned from this site....hope ya'll are entertained!

[wrestler]

Hey man,

I don't know if my other note registered but I just want to say congrats on your trip

and the end of the school year. I admire your grit for taking the three day treck

I have a '99 but haven't ventured that far or that long except to go to the Honda Hoot

in Knoxville. Good luck to you

Ed

[teleskier]

You are not kidding about Orick. I live 20 minutes south of there. They are a different breed altogether. I think its too much crank and heroin. Anyway, glad to see you rode hwy.1 down to Ft. Bragg etc. That is one of my favorite stretches of twisties. Looks like the photo in Lassen is looking south since Diamond Peak is in the background. We skied Lassen from the summit a couple weeks ago. Of course the road was not open yet so we skied from the south entrance then climbed the peak. Long day. We were going again this weekend but with all the hot temps you experienced plus the incoming storm this weekend it looks like a good idea gone south. Nice trip. Thanks for the photos.

[VFR4Lee]

When I started researching my trip I decided I wanted to be a little adventurous and simply not plan it....just a sketchy outline of going down the coast and possibly staying with family in SF.

Nothing like winging it solo with a tent and sleeping bag on the back seat. :cool:

I remember camping at Navarro beach, IIRC near fort Bragg. some fort in NoCal anyway.

Not an official camping beach, but there was a few RVs and stuff there too.

Just one night on a 10 day trip inland route north to Mount Hood and Portland, then south back home to L.A.

15+ years ago, and there's been other good runs since. But your post is giving me an itch. Time for a good long run. :musik20:

Good pics, looks like a good time. :huh:

[Guest]

You are not kidding about Orick. I live 20 minutes south of there. They are a different breed altogether. I think its too much crank and heroin. Anyway, glad to see you rode hwy.1 down to Ft. Bragg etc. That is one of my favorite stretches of twisties. Looks like the photo in Lassen is looking south since Diamond Peak is in the background. We skied Lassen from the summit a couple weeks ago. Of course the road was not open yet so we skied from the south entrance then climbed the peak. Long day. We were going again this weekend but with all the hot temps you experienced plus the incoming storm this weekend it looks like a good idea gone south. Nice trip. Thanks for the photos.

Hey teleskier...believe it or not i've been dropping my knee for 4 years now. You got it -- south facing.

There were some folks on the north side of Lassen that were gearing up as I was rolling past. They were on there way up....this time of year me thinks some of the couloirs/drainages would be killer if timed right. I'm sure they done good. I didn't get any pics from the north side, but looked very skiable from the summit. The south side was filled in dependent on shade as you'd expect.

Here is the peak of the south-side. Looks like you could pull a few laps on a good day.

Great to hear back from ya'll.

[tc rides]

There is nothing like a quick trip to clear one's head.

The way I see it, my brain is like an Etch-a-sketch, and when it gets full, it gets messy for awhile. Motorcycle riding is like the shaking action that clears all the extraneous crap out of the way.

[BonusVFR]

Thanks .............all good. Did the Bodega Bay and Lassen last year...........maybe again this year?

[BustedKnuckles]

Nicely done!

I've made that same trip by bike and with the same kind of planning. It's a great route and a fun way to travel. 101, the Redwoods, and the roads around Napa/Sonoma/Calistoga are really fantastic! Thanks for the ride report and the pics. :fing02:

[vfr_steve]

superb, must of been a great experience :fing02:

[superfunkomatic]

great post. good idea looking for cheap camping, the hotels in northern california are atrociously expensive. nothing like a nice long ride to clear your head after university, eh?

i did a trip down through oregon and northwestern california last year - felt like a million bucks afterwards. highway 1 is absolutely stunning. highway 20 from fort bragg east is pretty fun too. i'll have to venture back to do the southern routes in california.

thanx for sharing.

[Silver#788]

There are a few of us here in portland, 4 of us are headed to reno and then to the mexican boarder this week. Dont be a stranger. George

[melvis]

Righteous! Tx for sharing your story and killer piccies - before my daughter was born I often thought of doing something like this, but work or other BS always got in the way, and now, well it's a whole 'nother story! But I hold out hope that someday...

[teleskier]

we go to Bachelor each new years for a week. Lets hook up and link some turns. I have hiked the PCT when I was a kid (2nd person to hike the full length) but want to ski the sisters!!! I have skied extensively in the Sierras, Shasta and Lassen and some other hot places I don't tell anyone about so if you ever want to come this way, let me know.