The Y2K+12 Ride, S.N.A.P. D.R.A.G.O.N.

(Sierra Nevada Alternate PeCee Destination Riding Amidst Gifts Of Nature)

Pictures, Trip Reports, Photo Links, etc.

The riders:

And their steeds…

Attendees

Name	Home City, State, Country	Bike Ridden
Linda ?	Orangevale, California	Passenger with Jack
James Abart	Lincoln, Nebraska	1990 PC800
Karen Barnett	Brampton, Ontario, Canada	2004 Suzuki Bandit
Malcom Cook	Brampton, Ontario, Canada	1989 PC800
Julia Coss	Elk Grove, California	Passenger with Roy
Roy Coss	Elk Grove, California	2003 GL1800
Gregory Hall	Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada	2011? ST1300
Tom Humphrey	Brentwood, California	funny looking 4 wheeled thing
Graeme Lowen	Invercargill, New Zealand	1997 GL1500
Bruce Mann	Corning, California	1989 PC800
Diana Mann	Corning, California	Attended by telephone 🙂
Gary Mick	Loveland, Colorado	1996 PC800
Dave Misunas	Santa Cruz, California	1990 PC800
Peter Noeth	Rocklin, California	2007 GL1800
Jack Parrish	Orangevale, California	1990 PC800
Bruce Pickett	Federal Way, Washington	2012? Triumph Tiger 100
Leland Sheppard	Placerville, California	1989 PC800
Art Steinbach	Redding, California	1997 PC800
Donald Ward	Invercargill?, New Zealand	Passenger with Graeme
Dean Williams	Springfield, Oregon	1998 PC800 in glorious yellow
Jerry Wright	Beaverton, Oregon	1997 PC800
21 people		16 bikes, 11 PC800s

Leland Sheppard’s Trip Report

Saturday:

The 2012 PCH ride began with the arrival of Art Steinbach from Redding and Dave Misunas from Santa Cruz on Saturday afternoon. The three of us rode to Placerville and had our supper at Original Mel’s Diner, a 50s style eatery. I’m the only one of the three of us that goes back that far but that’s OK… I think we all enjoyed the food and I know we enjoyed the camaraderie.

Sunday:

Sunday morning, Graeme Lowen and Donald Ward from New Zealand, Roy and Julia Coss from Elk Grove and Jack Parrish and Linda from Orangevale joined us for the Sunday ride. We headed out from Cameron Park about 10:30 or so and headed for the Georgetown Divide via Lotus Road and Marshall Grade Road. After passing Garden Valley, the road turns into a twisty delight all the way to Georgetown.

Passing the usual contingent of Harleys at the bars in Georgetown, we head east on Wentworth Springs Road. After passing through Camp Virner and Quintette, we stopped at beautiful Stumpy Meadows reservoir for a butt and potty break. Leaving Stumpy Meadows, we continued on the newly laid out section of Wentworth Springs Road until we turned onto French Meadows Road. They’ve done some repair work on this forest service road in the past 4 years because there wasn’t as much broken pavement as we encountered last time.

Art, Dave and I got a little too far out in front of the group (the corners on these roads are irresistible) and I realized that the last fork in the road was going to be a problem. I asked Art and Dave to wait and I went back. Sure enough, I found Jack and Graeme wondering where in the heck we went. About that time Roy and Julia caught up to us and we all continued down the correct fork of the road… We stopped at French Meadows reservoir for another butt break. Another pretty spot. This is also the beginning of Mosquito Ridge Road which is famous for its 600+ corners in 30 miles. It’s a favorite spot for the sport bike crowd and for the CHP to sit in waiting for them.

We took off up Mosquito Ridge Road heading for Forest Hill and our lunch break. We waited at the junction of Mosquito Ridge and Forest Hill Road for everyone to catch up and then headed for Wooten’s, a local grocery store and deli with a couple of outside picnic tables in the shade of some large pines and a gorgeous view out over the area we had just ridden through. Bruce Mann was waiting for us when we arrived. Unfortunately Diana wasn’t able to join us this year. Hopefully she will be recovered from her chemo and able to join us next year. After lunch, we stopped for gas and then headed back to Cameron Park via Forest Hill Road, Old Forest Hill Road, CA49, Lotus Road and US50. Lots more corners on the way back. I estimate this ride must have between 1000 and 1500 corners in it. 🙂 Pure fun…

By the time we got back, the Canadian contingent had arrived and the Oregon and Washington contingents weren’t far behind them. After sitting around the pool visiting for a couple of hours, we walked across the street to my friend’s Mexican restaurant, Que Viva, and had a terrific dinner. Tom Humphrey “rode” in on some funny looking 4 wheeled thing to join us for dinner.

Monday:

Monday morning, after some cautions about the wind and other things we were going to encounter that day, we started south on CA49, through Sonora and Chinese Camp, headed for Lake Don Pedro and our group and bike photo spot overlooking the reservoir. We stopped briefly in Sonora but there were no restrooms close by so it was mainly a butt break. After arriving at Lake Don Pedro and still not finding any restrooms, the gents headed for the bushes to take care of business.

We continued on to Big Oak Flat via New Priest Grade Road and its wonderful corners. We stopped at Big Oak Flat for gas and, finally, some outhouses (we are out in the boonies, folks). Leaving Big Oak Flat, we continued on through Groveland to the Yosemite north entrance. Once again, we had 3 or 4 Golden Eagle Passports for entrance to national parks for us old farts and, as a result, they just let the whole group through.

There was construction on CA120 just past Crane Flat in Yosemite and we had to sit and wait for about 20 minutes to get through. Plenty of time for stretching the legs. Continuing on through Yosemite, past Tuolumne Meadows to Olmsted Point, where we stopped for a photo op. You can see Half Dome in Yosemite Valley from here and it’s a nice place to get some photos. We ended up taking another group photo here.

After Olmsted Point, we crossed over Tioga Pass (9945 feet), out of the Yosmite east gate and down the mountain to Lee Vining and a late lunch. At Lee Vining, we ate at the Whoa Nellie Deli which is run by a 4 star chef. I had the fish tacos this year. Lobster taquitos and buffalo meatloaf are also on the menu. This deli is inside a Mobil Gas station and is always doing a land office business. Word has gotten out that the food is good.

After lunch, we started north on US395, past Mono Lake, over Conway Summit (8143 feet) past the Bodie turnoff, through Bridgeport, through Walker Canyon, past Walker Burger. We stopped at the Walker Country Store and for about $5.00 a gallon, filled our gas tanks. And drained our other tanks. Then it was on to the junction with CA89 and Monitor Pass. Destination Highways rates this section of CA89 as the best motorcycle road in northern California. It is a dandy, no question… After having a ball on CA89, crossing Monitor Pass at 8314 feet, we arrive at the junction with CA4 (the road out of Ebbetts Pass) where we turned north, through Markleeville and on to the junction with CA88. We turned west on CA88, past Pickett’s Junction and the turnoff to Lake Tahoe, through the Hope Valley and on up over Carson Pass (8574 feet).

We next ride by beautiful Caples Lake, past Kirkwood Ski Resort and over Carson Spur (7990 feet). Fortunately, at this time of year, we don’t have any 20 foot snow banks to contend with (google Carson Spur, CA if you want to see what I’m talking about). We continue past Silver Lake and on to the junction with Mormon Emigrant Trail. We take a butt break at that point. Mormon Emigrant Trail is a recently re-paved forest service road that is used as an alternate to US50 between Lake Tahoe and Placerville when the inevitable land slides close that section of US50. There are no services and no cars so it is a nice peaceful ride for 30 miles or so back toward civilization.

At Jenkinson Lake/Sly Park reservoir, we turn north on Sly Park Road and make our way back out to US50. 25 miles or so down the road and we are back in Cameron Park and everyone is probably happy about that as this is a very long day, about 388 miles. We walk from the motel over to the Applebee’s restaurant where they set us up at some tables on their patio. Nice and relaxed atmosphere for our dinner. We had a guest on this night too, Brian Soloway joined us for dinner.

Tuesday:

Tuesday we head north. From Cameron Park, we take Lotus Road to CA49, head down through the American River Canyon and back up the other side to Auburn. We continue north from Auburn through Grass Valley to Nevada City. CA49 reverts to a curvy two lane road at that point. We stop at North San Juan for a potty break. When we get ready to leave, my bike won’t start. We try to bump start it but it sounds awful. I pull off the road, hook up a pair of jumper cables to have someone jump start me and inadvertently touch the free cable ends together. Something got cured as a result, the bike started and we were off again.

We stop at Downieville at the Two Rivers Cafe (formerly The Gallows). It’s a little warm to have lunch on the patio so we stay nice and cool to have our sandwiches and other goodies. Continuing north on CA49, we periodically run into construction zones which does take away some of the fun. We cross Yuba Pass (6701 feet) continue past the turnoff to Truckee, through Loyalton to the end of CA49 at Vinton. There we turn east on CA70 and stop at Hallelujah Junction where CA70 meets US395.

We gas up at Hallelujah junction. Minor skirmish here for James Abart. The SUV in front of him backed away from the pump and, not seeing James on his PC, scrunched James’ front fender. As usual, the full complement of helpful PCers got the fender taped back into place so that James could continue on with us. We head south on US395, through Reno, Nevada. We turn off at NV341, Mt. Rose Highway, and start the climb up over Mt. Rose.(8911 feet) and down the south side toward the spectacular overlook of Lake Tahoe. We stop for photos at the overlook before continuing on to the junction with NV28 at Incline Village on the north shore of Lake Tahoe. We take NV28 around the east side of the lake, join with US50 and continue on into StateLine and South Lake Tahoe. We hit a lot of construction and heavy traffic here so it was slow going until we got to the junction with CA89.

We climb up over Echo Summit (7382 feet) on US50 and head down the hill toward Camino and dinner at the Forester Pub and Grill. Dinner is excellent and relaxed. After dinner we continue on down the hill to Cameron Park and the motel.

Wednesday:

Wednesday we started east on US50, up over Echo Summit (7382 feet) and down to Lake Tahoe. The view from the highway coming down toward the lake is spectacular. We stop at Meyers for a butt and potty break. Continuing on, we leave US50 and take Pioneer Trail which bypasses much of the traffic and all of the construction we got into the day before. We cross into Nevada and turn on NV28 and skirt the eastern shore of Lake Tahoe. Just past Incline Village, we turn northwest onto NV431, Mt. Rose Highway, and head back up to the same spectacular overlook of Lake Tahoe.

After stopping for photos, we cross over Mt. Rose summit (8911 feet) and head down into the Reno area. We stop for lunch at this point. The weather is so nice we sit outside. Continuing on past the junction with US395, we turn off NV431 onto NV341 (yeah, it was confusing to us too – at least to me…), Geiger Grade, and wind our way on a newly paved twisty road to Virginia City, the old silver mining town.

We stroll around Virginia City for an hour or so, ogling a raft of customs and hot rods in town for something, and sampling the ice cream and other goodies Virginia City has for the tourists. The combination of 1850-1875 vintage buildings, wooden sidewalks, gun slingers moseying around town and other such things, we get a sense of the old west. That’s in spite of the ipods, blue tooth and other goodies that you just can’t get away from these days…

Leaving Virginia City and heading south, we pass through Gold Hill and Silver City on our way back to US50, Carson City and our next gas stop. We head toward Carson City but take the bypass to avoid some of the traffic. We turn off US395 onto Jacks Valley Road which will take us through Genoa, Nevada’s first settlement, and past Walley Hot Springs. This road turns into NV206 which leads us to NV88/CA88 and we are headed back into the Sierras. We get stuck for a time at a construction zone on CA88. I realize at this point that we have lost a good portion of the group but I’m not concerned because Roy Coss is with that bunch and Roy helped me lay out these routes. He will bring them home.

We continue on CA88 over Carson Pass (8574 feet), past beautiful Caples Lake, Kirkwood and Silver Lake. We take a butt break at the turnoff to Mormon Emigrant Trail hoping that the others will catch up with us. They don’t so we continue on down Mormon Emigrant Trail, over Carson Spur (7990 feet) to Sly Park Road, US 50 and the motel in Cameron Park.

We couldn’t get Sizzler to accept a reservation this time so I switched to a new restaurant run by people I’ve had experience with. It’s farther than I feel like walking from the motel so we ride down to Zac Jack’s Bistro. The food is excellent. The camaraderie is even better. 🙂

Thursday:

Thursday morning, we had back up US50, turn on Sly Park Road and again on Mormon Emigrant Trail to CA88. Turning left on CA88, we head for a butt break at Caples lake, back down through Hope Valley, through Markleeville and, once again, take CA89 over Monitor Pass to US395. We stop for gas at the Walker Country Store before heading to Walker Burger for lunch. After consuming a delicious lunch, we head for Sonora Junction, turn west on CA108. We pass the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center headed for Sonora pass (9624 feet) and its 26% grades… We stop for a butt break and photo op at Donnell’s Overlook. We then continue on down the mountain to Sonora, and turning north on CA49 head for Cameron Park. Dinner on Thursday is at Papa Gianni’s Italian Restaurant in Cameron Park. Delicious food and more great camaraderie.

Friday:

Friday we head south on CA49 to Angel’s Camp. We turn east on CA4 and stop at the Calaveras Big Trees State Park. Among other interesting sights, this park has a tree stump that was used as a dance floor. It must be 40 feet or more in diameter. The trees of primary interest in this park are giant Sequoia. And they are giants! After leaving the park, we head up over Pacific Grade Summit (8050 feet) and on to Ebbetts Pass (8730 feet). This is a one wide lane road over the top so we have to be pretty careful. Unfortunately, a Beemer heading the other direction was too far out toward the center and drove Gary Mick off onto the shoulder. Gary went down but the damage to both himself and the bike was mostly cosmetic so he was able to continue on.

When I arrived at the junction of CA89 and CA4 just south of Markleeville, I stop and wait for the others to catch up. We spent enough time in the park that we are too late to take the scheduled trip over Monitor Pass and to Walker for lunch and gas. So instead, we head into Markleeville and have lunch at a sandwich shop on the main drag, gas up at the one pump station after lunch and head on back. We take CA89 north out of Markleeville, turn west on CA88 and head up over Carson Pass (8574 feet). 

This time, though, instead of turning on Mormon Emigrant Trail, we continue on CA88 past Ham’s Station, through Pioneer and Pine Grove all the way to Jackson. In Jackson, we turn north on CA49 and pull in for a butt break and to wait and see if the rest of the group will catch up with us. Our New Zealand friends are doing more sight seeing than the rest of us and have fallen behind us at this point. While we are waiting for them, we see a GL1500 turn south on CA49. I thought is was NOT Graeme and Donald so we continued on hoping they would find their way back OK. Turned out that it WAS Graeme and Donald. Fortunately, they went only a few miles before they realized they had turned the wrong direction. They made it back just fine.

After returning to Cameron Park, we again walked across the street to my friend’s Mexican Restaurant, Que Viva, for a good dinner and more great camaraderie.

Saturday:

By Saturday morning, everyone had headed for home except for Art Steinbach. Graeme and Donald were back in Elk Grove at Roy and Julia’s house and everyone else was on the road.

So, Art and I took my Saturday ride. Back up Lotus Road, past my place, to Marshall Grade road and on up through Garden Valley to Georgetown and Wentworth Springs Road. We took a butt break at Stumpy Meadows before continuing on up to Ice House Road and Loon Lake. Loon Lake is a small power company reservoir above 6000 feet and is a gorgeous spot. We stopped at the campground on the north side of the lake for a while, shooting the breeze with a dirt biker who was camped in the campground. I took Art out over the dam on the northeastern corner of the lake and back just so he could see the start of the Rubicon Trail. This is a well known jeep trail and there were, as usual, jeeps and other assorted rock climbers on the dam and below the dam at the parking area by the trail head.

We made our way back via Ice House Road and US50, stopping momentarily at my place before continuing on to Elk Grove and Roy and Julia’s house for more camaraderie and a terrific dinner.

After dinner, I dropped Art at the motel on the way back and headed for home.

Another terrific September ride in the books.

Leland