Four Days in Jefferson

After my big summer trip, the riding pretty much fell off. I'd lost a little bit of mojo, honestly, after getting my ass kicked on the White Rim Trail, and I wanted to focus on family and other hobbies after spending what was an admittedly selfish nine days on a Moto trip. Thank God for my loving and supportive wife, who endulges my two-wheeled whims. After a late summer/fall consisting of family trips, kids soccer, and back-to-school, I was starting to get the itch for a Moto trip again. So I texted Monte, my co-conspirator in most of my other two-wheeled excursions, and proposed a 4-day route through the State of Jefferson. So he rode up from Santa Cruz and crashed at my place in the east Bay Thursday night for a fresh start Friday morning.

We slabbed across the valley on I-80, stopping for gas and coffee in Colfax. Then, the fun began...Hwy 174 into Grass Valley and Hwy 49 through Downieville to the Gold Lake Hwy. That stretch of Hwy 49 north from Grass Valley on a warm day with no traffic? If you know, you know. If you don't know, get on your bike and find out!

We stopped for a pee and a photo op at this vista point with the Sierra Buttes serving as the backdrop.




Continuing through Quincy and along the west shore of Almanor, we made way into Lassen Volcanic National Park. Again, warm weather and empty roads!




After Lassen, we looped to the east on Hwy 44 and dropped down McCoy Road into Westwood for gas and provisions for the night. The plan was to camp on Pegleg Mountain, but the locked gate halfway up the mountain clearly wasn't consulted in our plans. A quick map check later, we opted for the North Shore Campground at Lake Almanor, just outside of Chester. With rapidly fading light, we made our way...



We made camp under the lights of our motorcycles and ate camp food for dinner before solving the world's problems over beer and cigars.

469 miles on day 1...

IN.. tell me more.

Looks like you were in Northern California....

My body clock (read: bladder) usually wakes me up at sunrise and this morning was no different. At a time when Lake Almanor was at capacity, this campsite would've been right up on the shoreline, but not now. This lake (and ever other one we saw this weekend) had receded considerably.





...and in case I forgot where we were...



Time to hit the road! I was map-sturbating on Gaia and Butler Maps and between the two, I plotted out a dirt loop through Little Valley into Hat Creek. We followed 35N02 towards the Antelope Lookout but missed the turnoff and kept on until that road intersected Eagle Lake Road. This area burned in the Dixie Fire last year ..



After riding north a few miles, we caught Champs Flat Road out towards Upper Gooch Valley. It was nicely maintained dirt.





...and continued into Little Valley



Past Little Valley, the road begins to climb and coming over the top, Mount Shasta comes into view off in the distance.

Nice! Beautiful scenery.

...our dirt sojourn through Little Valley deposited us on Hwy 89 at Hat Creek and we continued north into McCloud for gas before checking out our next segment.

Military Pass is a dirt road that starts just south of McCloud and goes around the east side of Mount Shasta before depositing you on Hwy 97 north of Weed.





The first section is a wide gravel road, but at approximately the halfway point, you have to take a split to the left...and the first few miles of that road is soft moondust, but not too deep. Monte dropped his GS at one point, but I was able to keep my bike upright. I guess all those sandy stretches on the White Rim Trail this summer paid off. You know you're almost to Hwy 97 when you go under the railroad tracks. We stopped here for a short break just in time for a train.







After that, it's a quick ride into Weed, parts of which burned earlier this summer. We rode through Greenville yesterday, which burned last year...very sobering to see the devastation first-hand.

After a pretty full day at this point, we were hungry. Asian American BBQ is a great spot to fill your belly after a long day in the saddle. It was a pleasant evening to sit outside and there's a great view of Mount Shasta.



There was still daylight left after dinner and we wanted to get to Trinity Lake that nii, so we hit the road and crossed over the Trinity Alps via Stewart Springs Road (17N42), a fun, goaty road going deep into the mountains and links up with Hwy 3.

About Hwy 3...my hat's off to the engineer that designed that road... whoever that was, must've been a rider because that stretch of road into Trinity Lake was amazing!

Unfortunately, Trinity Lake, or what's left of it, wasn't so amazing. It looks completely empty --to the point we couldn't find an open campground along the lake. It was pretty much dark when we found the Rush Creek Campground just south of Trinity Lake and this time of year, we had the entire place to ourselves.

After 300 miles in the saddle, day 2 closed out like this:

Day 3

It was dark when we pulled into camp last night and we didn't get to see what it looked like, other than seeing the flowing creek by flashlight. This morning, we got to enjoy what turned out to be a very pretty campground and we had the place all to ourselves, making it that much nicer!





We opted to forego camp food and stopped for breakfast in Weaverville, just a few minutes down the road. I loaded up on bacon, eggs, and biscuits and gravy...in hindsight, that was a good call.

Gas stop in town...I don't see many of these stickers around the Bay Area



After breakfast, we planned to ride up to the Bully Choop fire lookout and also, possibly, the Hayfork Bally lookout. But first, Bully Choop...we climbed up via Reading Creek Road. The first few miles had an even layer of fresh gravel--I think that's in preparation for fresh pavement, because towards the end of the gravel section, we could see remnants of a paved shoulder on both sides of the road. The road continues, paved, through a narrow valley before turning to dirt and beginning the climb in earnest. Towards the top, the climb starts to get steeper and rockier. I managed to navigate a particularly sketchy loose, rocky section and stopped to regain my composure for a few minutes.



Right after I stopped, I heard Monte, who was behind me, in my Cardo...he had dropped his bike just down the hill about 50 yards or so. I walked down to help him right his bike--we couldn't get it in a position to get the kickstand down, so we just leaned it into the side of the hill. We both decided to hike the rest of the way up--a few hundred yards, at best, although with the altitude and our riding gear, we were both huffing and puffing in no time.



The Bully Choop lookout...





From the lookout, we saw another dirt road extending to the ridgeline heading east and we decided to take that route down, which took us through the Whiskeytown Recreation Area. In the pic below, you can barely make out the lookout peaking between the trees off in the distance.



You can see it better here:



It was 28 miles up to Bully Choop and another 13 miles down before we connected with Hwy 299 east of Douglas City. It was getting close to 2pm and we still wanted to make it to Fortuna today so we could be positioned to ride home via the Lost Coast tomorrow, so we decided to skip the Hayfork Bally lookout and come back to that another time. In the meantime, we blasted down Hwy 299, trailing a cloud of dust like Pigpen. And then we re-connected with Hwy 3, which is motorcycling nirvana. Pavement like velcro. Sweeping, nicely banked turns. Ample shoulders. Hwy 3 meets Hwy 36 past Hayfork and Hwy 36 continues on the theme of nonstop twisty roads. For about two hours, we rode one amazing corner after another, continuously, with little to no traffic. We didn't stop for any pictures except for this one on Hayfork Summit.



As we got into the dark redwood forested section closer to Fortuna, we both decided to back off the pace a little bit. Between the climb up/down Bully Choop and the lengthy stretch of twisties, we'd been intensely focused for most of the day and fatigue was starting to set in. We topped off on gas just outside of Fortuna and chatted with a couple of locals on dual sports that had rolled up, then decided it was time to make for the Eel River Brewing Company. Over burgers and beers, we discussed our options for the night. There was camping several miles back the way we came on Hwy 36, or at Mattole Beach, a good 45 minutes away. Or there was the Super 8 right across the parking lot. We could shower, change, and walk back for another round of drinks.

...so we got a room with a view of the brewery



My rear tire at the end of the day...Monte wore his even closer to the edge. My front tire was worn edge to edge.



Day 3 wrapped with another round of drinks and desert and another 190 miles logged on our odometers.

stratslingr77 said:

map-sturbating

Click to expand...

Heh. Looks like a great ride so far, the weather appears to have been very cooperative.

Bully Choop, yay! arty

was the gate on the road to the watch tower open and unlocked?

Last time I was there, they'd installed a new gate at one of the narrow spots near the top.

it's a handful getting to the watch tower on my KLR, proud of you guys for hiking up ...

I usually just stay on Indian Creek Rd, I'll have to try Reading Creek Rd next time. Did your GPS get you up there? Google maps has intentional breaks on Reading Creek Rd and Indian Creek Rd, just to keep the Honda Accords from trying to get up there, I guess.

wonderful write up and pics, thanks for posting, looking forward to moar.

N4teTheGreat said:

Heh. Looks like a great ride so far, the weather appears to have been very cooperative.

Click to expand...

We couldn't have asked for nicer weather! Even on the Lost Coast section.

SFMCjohn said:

Bully Choop, yay! arty

was the gate on the road to the watch tower open and unlocked?

Last time I was there, they'd installed a new gate at one of the narrow spots near the top.

it's a handful getting to the watch tower on my KLR, proud of you guys for hiking up ...

I usually just stay on Indian Creek Rd, I'll have to try Reading Creek Rd next time. Did your GPS get you up there? Google maps has intentional breaks on Reading Creek Rd and Indian Creek Rd, just to keep the Honda Accords from trying to get up there, I guess.

wonderful write up and pics, thanks for posting, looking forward to moar.

Click to expand...

Hey John..yeah, the gate was open. I just double-checked Gaia and it looks like the road starts off as Reading Creek and then it becomes Indian Creek further up...and then Cannonball Creek further up still before splitting off to East County Line Rd and then Bully Choop Mt. Road for the last little push.

stratslingr77 said:

Hey John..yeah, the gate was open. I just double-checked Gaia and it looks like the road starts off as Reading Creek and then it becomes Indian Creek further up?

Click to expand...

I remember a sign for Indian Creek Rd at Hwy 3, so pretty sure I just stay on Indian Creek Rd. That's also what my google maps shows, Indian Creek at Hwy 3 ...

btw, Hayfork Bally is much, much easier to get up to than Bully Choop, for you next trip ... although Bully Choop is spectacular.

SFMCjohn said:

I remember a sign for Indian Creek Rd at Hwy 3, so pretty sure I just stay on Indian Creek Rd. That's also what my google maps shows, Indian Creek at Hwy 3 ...

btw, Hayfork Bally is much, much easier to get up to than Bully Choop, for you next trip ... although Bully Choop is spectacular.

Click to expand...

I'm definitely going up Hayfork Bally next time. Honestly, I think I could've made it up Bully Choop Mountain this time. I got past the sketchiest section before stopping to wait for Monte.

yes, if you can get up St. John Mtn on your Honda, you could get up Bully Choop.

they both scare me ...

SFMCjohn said:

they both scare me ...

Click to expand...

Me too! I dropped my bike going up St. John...and going back down!

Good stuff Strat !!!

Really enjoying it. Lot of miles, campfires, lookouts, cool pics.. etc.
nice report! : thumbup

Lovin' it and taking notes for the Future!

Wanna go there, do it! Thanks for sharing.

That stretch of Hwy 49 north from Grass Valley on a warm day with no traffic? If you know, you know. If you don't know, get on your bike and find out!

Click to expand...

I know one of my favorite routes to Reno! 49 east of the Gold Lake turn-off is also excellent pavement.
Like the ride title.

Day 4

It's a long ways to the Bay Area, even via Hwy 101 and we planned on going through the Lost Coast so we got an early start. It was still dark when we packed up and pulled out of the hotel parking lot for some McDonald's drive-thru. We caught the first glimpse of daybreak as we turned onto Mattole Road in Ferndale and by the time we climbed up onto the ridgeline and out of the trees, we got to catch the sunrise. It was a beautiful morning!





We caught the dirt stretch into Shelter Cove off Briceland Road--just a dirt road through the trees, nothing too crazy, and then stopped for a break in Shelter Cove.



...obligatory coffee/pastry/ocean view shot

After coffee, we hit Usal Road and followed the fun, flowy dirt track into Usal Beach





This section between Shelter Cove and Usal Beach is one of the most fun sections of dirt I've ridden. Plus the weather was nice and cool and dirt was sticky. "Hero dirt" as Monte called it.

We both splashed through the big mud puddle by the Usal Beach Campground and climbed back up the ridge, headed towards Hwy 1





Once we reached Hwy 1, we headed south to Fort Bragg for gas and lunch at Jenny's Giant Burger. It was pushing 2:30 by the time we were done eating and we were both ready to head to the barn...we enjoyed a spirited ride south on Hwy 1 to Hwy 128, which turned into one last playful romp in the twisties before the slab of doom: Hwy 101 into the Bay Area and home, giving us 318 miles for the day.

All told, I put in 1,288 miles-- Monte had further to get home. Roughly 225 miles of that was on dirt. Not bad for a long weekend!

Thanks for taking us along.