Another fabulous trip in the same month. Piyush joined with his VFR and he turned out to be an excellent fellow rider and canyon carver. We camped all the 3 nights, with dawn temps from 9C to 3C. Our main targets were Crater Lake national park and Lava Beds national monument, but we also checked out some great roads in both OR and CA - shown in the route map.
Day 1 (Fri 29th Aug): 130 mi, Total 130 mi, Sunnyvale CA to Healdsburg CA. Usual slow traffic on 101, but got some amazing fog around San Francisco, so dense at places we could hardly see traffic in front of us. Camped at a very nice place - Alexander valley RV park and campgrounds. Got temps going down to 9C at dawn and thought that was cold, till the next night.
Day 2 (Sat 30th Aug): 400 mi, Total 530 mi, relaxed ride through the redwoods. Visited the drive-through chandelier tree (21 ft dia, 2400 yrs old) at Legett, and then some detour from 101 through the avenue of the giants and later through the Prairie creek redwoods park. Tall redwoods making night out of day and great views of sunlight peeking through. And then some fantastic coast views as we neared Crescent City. Stopped at Trinidad state beach to enjoy the shore view. Then more mountain roads through Smith River NRA and we arrived at Grants Pass. Temps were going down like crazy, so bought extra fleece blankets. Camped at Valley of the Rogue state park around 9:30pm with temps already near 12C. Woke up in the dawn to find 3C outside. Brrrrrrrr.
Day 3 (Sun 31st Aug): 340 mi, Total 870 mi, visited our planned spots, namely the Crater Lake national park and Lava Beds national monument. Stunning views alongside the Oregon byways - Rogue Umpqua national scenic byway, Modoc Volcanic sb, Volcanic Legacy sb, etc. Hiked inside one of the pitch dark caves at the Lava beds, and it was a memorable experience. Thankfully we didn’t have to encounter rattle snakes which abound in that whole area. Afterwards a relaxed and scenic ride through 139, 299 and a part of 89 to Burney falls state park. We went to Burney for some delicious pizza dinner and Piyush had the idea of roasting corn and potato. It was indeed good over the open flame of wood fire.
Day 4 (Mon 1st Sep): 380 mi, Total 1250 mi, another chilly night later we woke up to a sunny morning and the sound of a waterfall. This time we had the chance to see a decent waterfall up close. A short hike later we were mesmerized by the huge white curtains of water. It reminded me of Shivasamudram in South India. The roar of the 120ft high falls, the mist and the view made me forget the steep 0.3 mile trail I was reluctant to do at first. Afterwards, the ride up 89 to Mount Shasta was like a roller coaster with the snow covered peak of mount Shasta playing hide and seek. It was the last good ride of the trip. A hearty Breakfast followed by riding on I-5 got me in my drowsiness mode very quickly. Had to stop every 40-50 miles to wake up from a zombie state. Ran into 2 painfully slow construction zones, and while lane splitting, saw the common goldwing overheating issue - 15-20 mph at first gear makes the temp gauge go up in a hurry. Stopped few times by roadside to cool off, then found out from Susie (fellow winger) that 2nd gear can help a little. Anyways, we made home shortly after sundown.
Pictures:
- Priti’s flickr set
- My flickr set
Simply amazing. 5K miles in a month, i cant tell you how much i adore reading your roadtrip blogs. i should be moving away from the cage to the bike on my trips soon