West Coast Madness/2008

[Bill_Anderson]

This year's annual Yahoo ST owners rally was a Meandering Madness which started in Jackson, CA. and ended in Gold Beach, OR. with an intemediate stop in Weaverville, CA. I passed on Jackson and joined the group in Weaverville.

Day one was spent slabbing I-5 to my parents' house in Vancouver, WA. I continued the slab south on I-5 on day two as far as Roseburg, OR where I headed east over the Oregon Cascades on Hwy. 138. Just south of Diamond Lake I turned south on Hwy. 230 and stopped at the Diamond Lake rest area where I met four Harley riders who live not far from me. They were returning home from the Redwoods Rally.

I continued south on 230, then took Hwy. 62 east, which cuts through the SW corner of Crater Lake National Park. The road winds up to 6200 feet elevation and there was still snow along the side. I passed on a tour of the park since the road around the rim of Crater Lake is not yet plowed. I continued on east to US 97, then south to Klamath Falls, where I spent the night after having dinner with my nephew, a student at the Oregon Institute of Technology.

Diamond Lake rest stop and Diamond Peak in the background.

[Bill_Anderson]

I headed back west out of Klamath Falls on Highway 66 on day three, crossing the headwaters of the Klamath River at Keno. The best part of Hwy. 66 is the western half as it winds down a mountainside to Emigrant Lake south of Ashland.

I did not go into Ashland, but took the old Siskiyou Hwy up to I-5 at the summit of Siskiyou Pass. It is hard to believe this road was once the main highway as you ride past hidden driveways and wind through 15-25 mph curves including a pigtail cross over. The road surface is bad and deer were crossing the road on front of me, so it was not the place to be speeding. I crossed over the old railroad line twice. It is an incredibly steep grade and can see why the Southern Pacific relocated its mainline between Oregon and California to what is now the US 97 corridor.

I took I-5 to Yreka and Hwy. 3 from there to Weaverville. The ride over Scott's Summit was spoiled by an incessant parade of large gravel trucks which liked to travel in groups of three. I passed two on the north side of the summit, and met six more which were north bound. I got stuck behind one on the south side of the summit and there was no passing. We met six more coming up the south face of the summit and six more on the flats below. I feel these trucks should not be allowed on this road as they use both lanes to negotiate the <10 mph hairpin curves on the south side of the summit.

I was the first of the Mad Ones to arrive at the Red Hill motel and cabins in Weaverville.

[Bill_Anderson]

Fellow PNW rider Mark Turbo and I joined forces on day four to make a loop out of Weaverville. We headed south on Hwy. 3, over Hayfork Summit, then took Wildwood Rd. This road heads SE through Wildwood and joins Hwy. 36 in the foothills. We did not stay on it long as we headed north on Platina Road.

Platina Road winds about 40 very twisty miles along the foothills of the west side of the Sacramento Valley to Ono, located south of Redding. A local at Ono told us about a backroad through Igo to rejoin Hwy. 299 between Shasta and Redding.

Riding west on Hwy. 299 was a blast as we lucked out and got behind slow vehicles when there were passing lanes. Unlike Washington drivers, California drivers actually use the right hand lane and allow you to pass. Many even pulled over to allow us to pass when there was no passing lane, something no self-respecting driver in Washington would be caught dead doing.

Having graduated from high school in Lewiston, ID, we left Hwy. 299 to ride through Lewiston, CA. I did not think anything could make Lewiston, ID look good, but this other Lewiston did just that. We continued through Lewiston and stopped at the overlook to Trinity Dam, then continued on to Hwy. 3 and back south to Weaverville.

Photo #!: Mark at Wildwood.
Photo #2: Me at Wildwood.
Photo #3: Mark at Ono.
Photo #4: Mark at Trinity Dam.

[Bill_Anderson]

Day five saw the Mad Ones relocating to Jot's Resort at Gold Beach, OR. Several of us rode in a group west on Hwy. 299 to Willow Creek, then North on 96 to Happy Camp. Once again California drivers showed their couteousness by pulling over when we overtook them.

We left Hwy 96 at Happy Camp to take a Forest Service Road over the Siskiyous to reach Cave Junction, OR. Outside of Happy Camp we discovered one of our riders, Ducati Don, had a steel belt showing on his rear tire. We had to take it easy all the way to Grants Pass, where we arrived just in time for him to get a new tire.

After the tire change, we headed west through Merlin and Galice to Forest 23, which I named "The Road of Death" after the James Kim tragedy of Nov.- Dec., 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Kim

The road is paved, but there are bad spots and short gravel stretches. It should not be ridden at night and definitely not in winter. There are many side roads and it would be very easy to get lost if the signs were buried under snow.

We arrived at Jot's in Gold Beach about sunset on the first day of summer.

Photos #1 & 2 : Hwy. 299 overlook.
Remaining photos: Forest Road 23 lookout.

[Bill_Anderson]

There were group photos, some events, and a dinner planned for day six, so I made a short ride north on US 101 to Bandon. The scenic part ended about 27 miles north of Gold Beach at Port Orford. North of that the road turns inland with no good scenery. I took some shots at Port Orford and Bandon, then headed back. The weather was turning cold and rainy, so it did not bother me to put in a short, 100 mile day.

Photos #1 & 2: Port Orford
Photo #3: Bandon
Photo #4: Group shot at Jot's Resort, Gold Beach. OR.
Photo #5: Good use for an AWACS trunk when the riding is done for the day.

[Bill_Anderson]

On day seven I made a solo ride south on US 101 as far as the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, about 25 miles south of Crescent City, CA. I stopped at the Trees of Mystery for a shot of Paul Bunyon and Babe the Blue Ox as I have fond memories of traveling this area in 1960 or 1961 with my grandparents.

I returned north via US 199 past Cave Junction, OR, then took a cutoff to Merlin. I repeated the route over the Road of Death, only this time I stopped to take some photos as it was much earlier in the afternoon than my trip two days earlier.

Photo #1: Highly photographed derelict boat at Gold Beach.
Photo #2: Jot's resort across the Rogue River.
Photos #3 & 4: Oregon coast between Gold Beach and Brookings.
Photo #5: Trees of Mystery.

[Bill_Anderson]

Day seven continued. I took some photos of the coast south of Crescent City and cruised through Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.

Photos # 1 & 2: California Redwoods Coast.
Remaining photos: Prairie Creek Redwoods Sate Park.

[Bill_Anderson]

Day seven continued. After touring the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, I headed back north. Since I had crossed the headwaters of the Klamath River a few days earlier, I stopped at the mouth of the Klamath River just north of the state park.

[Bill_Anderson]

Day seven continued. Forest Road 23 (Road of Death) revisited.

Photo #1: Looking northeast. One of the volcanic peaks of the Oregon Cascades is in the distance.
Photo #2: Looking west.
Photo #3: Summit. Eelvation = 4,500 feet (map) or 4,700 feet (GPS).
Photo #4: Lookoing west from the summit.
Photo #5: Snow.

[Bill_Anderson]

Day eight. This is where things starting getting tense. Mark Turbo used his GPS to plot a route home through the mountains on Forest Service roads between Gold Beach and Powers along the north bank of the Rogue River. The Road of Death is a bit east of here along the south bank of the Rogue River.

Mark, Ducati Don, and I set out on a decent gravel road off Forest Road 33 SW of Agnes, but things got worse the higher we got. We got a glimmer of hope when the gravel turned to poor pavement in the middle of nowhere, but the pavement disappeared and the gravel turned to rock, dirt, and ruts with a small water crossing, all of which were along a precipice with a very steep drop off on the left.

At one point I got my wheel stuck in a deep rut and I had to walk the bike out of it. The 520 lb. leg presses I do at the gym, finally paid off. We came to a very bad downhill section with deep ruts running across the road, 90 degrees to the direction of travel, followed by a 90 degree left hand turn and a run down a steep mountain side. I put on too much brake and dumped my bike on its right side.

Mark and I picked up the bike and leaned against it while Ducati Don mounted it and rode it through the bad section. Mark said he had no trouble with his Multistrada, but he has no idea how Don and I made it through with our ST's. One word: desperation. It was physically impossible to turn back and I did not want to wind up like James Kim.

After taking 2.5 hours to travel about 30 miles, the GPS finally came to its senses and led us back to Forest Road 33 about 15 miles north of Agnes. We rode this to Powers and stopped for lunch.

I am sure these roads are not as difficult as many of you have ridden, but remember that Don and I are on 550 lb sport touring bikes, not 300 lb dual sports.

Photos # 1 & 2: Rest stop. This was one of the better sections of the road.
Photo #3: Battle scars from where I dumped my bike.
Photo #4: Bad section of road. I dumped my bike up around the right corner. The photo does not depict how steep and bad the road really is.
Photo #5: I still don't know where we are.