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harvest season, October 8th, 2011...

B

Bruce_H

Guest
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harvest season, October 8th, 2011...


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After a week of rain there was to be a break in the coming days, Dave, Jim and I headed for California. The northern part has some nice places to ride but this is pot harvest season so we will need to stick to paved roads. Quite nice on our ride south as the summer's traffic is gone. The first night out we will stay with Tank in Brookings, always a treat. In the morning breakfast will be in Crescent City and then to the lighthouse for some photos. We were a bit late so missed sunrise, oh well. No rain and a light blue sky.

Jim and Dave...

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we did like this boat...

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Crescent City, California...

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no officer, we weren't speeding, O'brien, Oregon...

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a bit of snow over the pass to Happy Camp, California...

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We stopped in Sawyers Bar for photos and were approached by some local residents. Hi, where are you going? See anything? Where have you been? Going to be here long? Do watch out for cows in the road and other small chit chat. The church was the only thing we found interesting to photograph.

this Catholic church at Sawyers Bar, California was constructed in 1855...

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Onward, up and to the top of the pass. This one is at six thousand feet and has fresh snow. The road surface has been plowed so the pavement is bare and black. Bet overnight this will freeze creating icy places on the downward slopes. Stopping for photos, here they come, the pot growers. They pull in behind us, back around and wait to see if we will continue down the other side. At the point it is evident we are not staying they go back down the side they came up. Escorted out, paranoid bunch living here during pot harvest season. We head for someplace to camp, dinner and to fill the bikes with gas.

six thousand feet and fresh snow...

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At dinner the waitress was checking places for us to stay. Her friend has a ranch up the road a piece and we might stay there but she couldn't reach him on the phone, doing some chores I'd guess. The cook lined us up at a local bed and breakfast. We phoned and could indeed stay in the garage. There was a couple of hikers already there so one of us would have to sleep on the couch. At twenty five dollars per person, pass... I had been told it was possible to stay in the city park, we headed there. There was a sign on the bathrooms saying something about a camp fee but they were locked so I'd guess we didn't have to pay, nice place to camp. We did find out later that the local RV park allowed camping, twenty four dollars for the three of us, flush toilets and a hot shower, sure might be nice.

In the morning at breakfast all wanted to know where we had found to camp. Funny thing it wasn't the same people who had been here the evening before, small town I guess. Today we would head south past Trinity Lake, what a fabulous ride. As we left town the fog lifted reveling a very vivid blue sky and exceptionally green trees. Up, over, down, around, bank and level, climbing the pass and down the other side, what a fabulous ride! The light was perfect but we didn't take any photos, just cruised along taking it all in. At Hayfork we headed west and the beach, soon the fog came back turning an otherwise fabulous day gloomy and colder. My feeling was that we should consider a motel room for the night but once in Fortuna the sky looked better, at least less gloomy. Some dinner might help the situation, breakfast was a long time ago. Gassing the bikes in Trinidad and continuing north, there is a little red schoolhouse up the road and a place to camp.


little red schoolhouse...

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thru the Redwoods...

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finding a water crossing, it was time to play, Jim rides across...

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Bruce & Dave follow...

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along the cliffs over the ocean...

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just shy of a thousand miles for the weekend, a very nice ride...

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Harvest season indeed, stay on paved roads!...
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Bruce, Dave & Jim, thanks for riding along...


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Thanks for sharing. Now we know what we missed 'cause of a cancelled ride earlier this year - maybe next Spring.
Russ
'05 12GS shorty
 
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