*October Sierra Bike Tour - Part 1: Into the Sierra*
Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 9:09 pm
Howdy folks! I've been working on this trip report for a long time and it's really huge. I'm going to break it down into manageable segments. For the first part I'll be discussing the concept of the trip, moving into the first few days of the tour. I hope you enjoy it. Grab a glass of whiskey or hot chocolate or both, or neither, or whatever you like to do when you read something real long that thankfully isn't required. Hope you enjoy it.
I am planning on doing a presentation in-person in a few months so please let me know what your feedback is. You can't hurt my feelings, just tell me. The presentation will be significantly shorter than what I've written here, as it all must fit into an hour long event with question and answers at the end and so forth. I will likely break it down into talking points rather than try to modify this text into a script of sorts.
Adapting my trip report from MS Word into this forum editor has resulted in indents missing and other odd inconsistencies.
With love, your dictator and Guerilla Chief of the Upper-Left-West Chalupastani Khanate, San Gabriel Mountains Distrikt,
~Taco
I’ve been planning this trip for years, in some form or another. My first couple tours into the Sierra Nevada were rock climbing oriented, carrying everything I needed to climb a bigwall sans portaledge, crampons, ice tools, boots, and all I needed for alpine stuff as well. A subsequent trip had me bringing my best approach shoes, La Sportiva Gandalfs, and a chalk bag, a more minimal approach that was significantly lighter but obviously meant I free soloed everything. I enjoyed free soloing and all my objectives were pretty easy, so there was no need at the time for a rope. I had climbed many of these things alone, some of the routes many times. One I hadn’t done yet was the linkup of Tenaya’s Northwest Buttress, Matthes Crest, and Cathedral Peak via whatever line doesn’t have a buncha people on it already. I never got around to that one, so it was on my radar as an objective for this trip.
I haven’t been climbing much since I don’t have a car, which means that practically speaking once all is said and pedaled it takes me about 6 hours to reach the nearest crag I actually want to climb at by bicycle. This, coupled with normal working human Los Angeles life, means I haven’t climbed a whole helluva lot in the past six years or so. To save your eyes some reading and me some remembering, I haven’t climbed enough lately to be able to free solo or even climb roped near my previous modest proficiency. Some years have passed and I process things differently now, so I would find that I have no problem letting go of some objectives that used to be important to me. Bike touring has given me great space to think and grow, and this has led to some flexibility in planning and thinking. I used to plan very tightly along specific routes, timetables, weather, clothing, you name it. Riding a bicycle across the surface of the Earth erodes away a lot of the civilized, structured bullshit many of us are comfortable existing within, our own walls in our own minds, and forces you to be exposed to the real world, the true reality of the weather conditions, elevation, everything. This is rarely a negative thing, such is not my aim to infer, but it does wash away those layers we’ve applied to ourselves like old coats of paint. I would imagine backpacking has a very similar effect. I feel like a born again Christian with how I say “everyone should bike tour” or whatever, since I feel it would help people greatly with their mind and soul. Mental health, as things are so conveniently packaged down, labelled, and sold today. The endless intricate landscape of one’s mind cannot be safely explored nor cared for in the confines of modern working life and ‘weekends’. When one has the luxury of time off, however it may be gained, one should explore their mind and learn from the universe. Of course, I don’t have a place, a kid, nor a wife or anyone truly dependent on me, so I perhaps am the most luxurious asshole around.
Getting the time to do such trips is a big challenge as well. Having a boss good enough to give you time off is a rarity, and I had that until a few months back when the best manager I ever had, Andrea, left the job and went to school. I’m glad she’s going after something better than our dumb job, but of course I missed having her around. I could just let her know I was gonna take a month or two off to go be a dirtbag, and it was easy, no drama. We were working at a sandwich shop in Old Town Pasadena, and I was a bike courier, delivering sandwiches by bicycle. I’d been doing this job for about 5 years now and it was time to move on, probably long ago. I got this job as a temporary thing so I could do something while getting a ‘real job’ that actually paid enough, but this ain’t pre-2008 and real jobs are harder to score nowadays. I’ve also learned that I cannot work a regular people job indoors doing indoor human things, or I go to some dark places and start to fall apart. It’s hard to find something you can do, as you often won’t know it until you’ve been doing it for some time. I’m still not sure what job I’d be happiest doing. People will ask you what your dream job is, and in my head I respond that it’s like picking your favorite disease. I don’t know how many jobs I’ve had, I’ve had a lot of jobs doing lots of different things, and I honestly haven’t really liked any of em, but could tolerate a few. I tend to be good at things that one doesn’t get paid for except in rare circumstances. Anyway, going off on a tangent I can write on forever…
I put my two weeks in at my dead end stupid sandwich job where my best manager left and was replaced by my district manager who got things running, sort of, and then she got fired for who knows what and was replaced by a guy who by no fault of his own was way over his head, as well as lots of young new people, shortage of all sorts of supplies, and on and on. All us old guys started to leave. I’ll miss my homies the most, a few of the regular customers, weaving through traffic, and the 60 miles per day of cycling that were a big benefit of that low paying job. I relaxed a bit at work after I put my 2 weeks in, knowing I didn’t need to worry about the little things anymore as I finally wasn’t coming back here. I’ve taken a couple months off in the past for trips, but there was nothing to come back to this time.
Now that I had an open schedule, I could execute my plan. I usually have some hard parameters with open areas around them. The route I wanted to take through the Sierra on this trip was a hard route, both in difficulty but more importantly for this concept it was a hard set route as it offered what I envisioned as the best cycling. That route was set until Mono Lake, where I had options and was more open to trying this pass or that road or whatever, instead of sticking to something specific. It would also depend on money, something I’ve never had much of, and something that’s devalued significantly for myself as a tourer post 2020.
I very loosely based my route on Adventure Cycling Association’s Sierra Cascades Route, which as you can gather from the title goes north-south through the Cascades and Sierra Nevada ranges as their biggest defining features. I’ve driven or ridden a fair amount of that route and found some of it less to my liking, so over the past handful of years I’ve studied and scouted various roads and picked what would likely present the best cycling. More recently I’ve been knocking off the ‘hardest’ cycling climbs in the state, and so I also chose my route based on the most difficult road riding. The challenging climbs are rewarding, and the descents are one of my favorite things in life. The ACA route is considered challenging, with a lot of climbing, but it still avoids options for harder climbs, and is all paved. I connect some paved sections with dirt roads, as this can keep you in the solitude of the mountains with low traffic and more options for camping. I have wider tires (650x47mm) on my bike which allows me to ride most dirt roads comfortably, and have taken the bike places most people wouldn’t bring a mountain bike. That said, it isn’t a mountain bike, and while I don’t mind 30 miles or so of dirt here and there, it rides best on pavement, especially when one of my goals was going fast downhill.
The route goes up 39 past Crystal Lake to the 2, where I had options on how I wanted to head to Lake Isabella. There are a handful of options, but I chose to head west on the 2 to Three Points, take the road towards Pacifico Mountain, then descend the dirt road down past Little Rock Reservoir to the high desert. I’ve ridden up this road before on my old Surly Disc Trucker with skinny tires and knew it would be easier this time with a superior bike. This pops you out just east of Palmdale, where again you have some choices on how to go northwest. Edwards Air Force Base sits north of you and riding north means going around that. Since I’m trending west, I took Barrel Springs Road into Palmdale to Sierra Highway, which has a good bike path on it. Didn’t know about that until I got there. Rode up to Rosamond, turned west, and bivied before Willow Springs Raceway.
The next day, I took the ACA route up the hill into Tehachapi, took Woodford Tehachapi Road alongside the 58 until I had to take the 58 for a few miles, and then jumped off on Bealville Road. The ACA route takes this as it turns into Caliente Creek Road. I chose to take a left on Caliente Bodfish Road, which is very steep and twisty, then drops down into a pleasant valley and continues north to Lake Isabella. I spent the night at the Keyesville BLM site. Woke up, rode north along Wofford Heights Boulevard, and made a left on the 155 which is very steep. I’ve driven it before a couple times but it doesn’t hit you until you’re on a bike. Took that uphill to the top where I made a right on Rancheria Road, which is wonderful and mostly unpaved, connected to near Johnsondale, made a left followed by a right onto Great Western Divide Highway, and slept near the Trail of 100 Giants. The following morning I continued north, the road becomes the 190, descended that into Springville, made a right on Wagner/Balch Park, and took that up pretty far before realizing and accepting I probably couldn’t pass through the private property near its end. Turned back and took Yokohl Valley Road, which wasn’t on my radar previously but turned out to be a truly outstanding ride. Rode this to the 198 to the edge of the central valley, then up to Three Rivers to spend the night at Kaweah Oaks Campground.
A ride up imposing Mineral King Road was next on the menu, and I returned to Kaweah Oaks for a second night afterwards. From there I continued into SEKI on the Generals Highway, got lucky and got a spot at Lodgepole Camp, and planned my next move. I planned my route to continue north through the Sierra into the huge burn area, but I didn’t know what would be open or how likely I would be to get supplies, so I decided to skip a portion of it. I will have to come back on a shorter trip to really see all the stuff in this region I missed, to truly make this a great route. Thus, the next day rode down into Kings Canyon to Road’s End, back up, then down into the central valley and across to the small coastal agricultural city of Watsonville. My sister lives just north near Santa Cruz, and she picked me up and we went grocery shopping. That was a 306 mile day, and by getting picked up I missed 7-10 miles or so of whatever riding I’ve done multiple times before. I spent a few days with family before heading back east across the lovely central valley yet again to Raymond, then further into the hills where I bivied about 10 miles short of Oakhurst. Woke up and rode into Oakhurst for supplies, and met Jason. He picked me up and we drove the 50 miles or so into Yosemite, saving me $$$$ and riding on the 41, which I don’t particularly enjoy, less so now after much has burned.
We spent the next few days climbing rocks and riding around in the valley. When he headed home, I rode up the 120 towards Tioga Pass, with me bivying off the side of the road before Tuolumne Meadows (don’t tell the cops). A bear or something big and loud woke me up, and I rode to Tioga Pass, descended, and then turned north to head to my buddy’s place in Reno. Took the 395 and camped north of Coleville. Continued on the 395 the next day into Reno, which I’d never been to, then west to his place in Verdi. Spent a few days with him and his wife where they spoiled me rotten and fed me the best food on earth before I rode east and south to Virginia City, the 50, Silver Springs, then camped north of Yerington. Kept going down the 95 to Hawthorne, then down past Mina to the 360, up and over the hill and crossed the CA border to continue to just south of Bishop on the 395 where I camped after about 200 miles.
Kris woke me up several hours later and I crammed my stuff in his van for a few days of riding up challenging passes in the Eastern Sierra, another goal of mine. We knocked out some roads, then Danny met us near Big Pine and we camped outside Lone Pine. The next day we rode up Horseshoe Meadows Road, Kris drove home, and Danny and I rode north to Independence to attempt Onion Valley the following day. We avoided the wind rain and snow in a motel, then got about 3 miles from the top of Onion Valley Road before the snow and ice was unrideable, then descended and booked it south to Ridgecrest to stay with his brother. Rode south from there to Patrick’s in Lake Arrowhead, had a blast there with everyone, then headed west onto the 138 to Lone Pine Canyon Road to the 2, then down the 39 to home.
I’ll write more about each day in detail. I wrote some posts in Strava to accompany my tracks and also some writings in Facetoob so that I could translate it into this work later. If you don’t write enough down and you wait too long, the trip report ends up a bit bare, as many of the important details and feelings have faded from memory. Photos help a great deal as well, but since this site doesn’t let you post enough pics in each report, I’ll just put my favorites.
The start of any tour is the hardest for me. I wake up in my own warm comfy bed, life is pretty easy, I have this grand route planned out that will take an unknown amount of time, and my mind is full of what-ifs. I can’t tell you how many big rides and climbs and everything I haven’t done simply because I didn’t leave in the morning after the alarm went off. I’ve gotten up, had coffee and breakfast, got my clothes on, bike loaded the previous day, completely ready to go, and quit right there. I’ve quit after riding a short distance. That first day, those first steps are the hardest. The most effective way to attack this, I’ve found, is to involve friends. I can get up each day to ride 60 miles a day for work, or do other physical labor for seemingly little benefit, simply because others are relying on me. I got Kris and Danny to ride with me up the 39 until whenever they wanted to turn back and head home. Last time I did a challenging trip, Kris rode with me up the 39 to East Fork bridge where he went up GMR to Lower Monroe, and I continued up over the 2 all the way to bivy behind the bathroom at the park in Lone Pine. It doesn’t take a whole lot, just meeting your friends. I met the boys on this first day and we partied our way up 39 to get Cave Burritos from Adam at Crystal Lake. We stuck together up through the closed portion of 39, which is a wonderful ride, then chilled a little at Islip Saddle. I said goodbye to my boys who I would miss greatly until seeing them again at the other end of the trip, and they got a descent I was envious of, all the way back down 39 to home and predictable comfort. I made a left and took the 2 towards Pacifico. I made chimpanzee noises at some climbers on Tunnel Crag, who gave me an odd look in response. The 2 was pleasant as usual, and is mostly downhill to Three Points.
I had a bunch of options for my next leg of the journey. I could take the road past Horse Flats to Angeles Forest Highway, then bomb down that to Palmdale, or go past Gleason and wind my way up through Santa Clarita to Old Ridge Road again to go north to Tehachapi. Wasn’t as excited about that option. I settled on taking the old dirt road north from Alder Saddle down past Little Rock Reservoir, which I haven’t ridden in a few years, and up into Palmton, uh, I mean Palmdale. I don’t like Palmdale, but they do have food, and I do eat a shitload of food, so there you go.
Last time I rode Little Rock Truck Trail (LRTT) I was on my Surly Disc Trucker with I think 32mm tires. It’s a dirt road, pretty typical of the San Gabes as far as quality, which is to say kinda shitty compared to the Sierra or San Bernardino ranges. Our rock here is just splendid, as you all know, so there are rough chunks of decomposed granite all over and lots of ruts and so on. I remember walking a fair bit up this road on those skinny tires and that bike that handles like crap on this sorta stuff. With my Midnight Special and fat 47mm any-road tires, this road was almost fun, especially cause I didn’t have to climb this damn thing. It’s a pretty long road, even when descending on a bike that excels on rough roads, and I don’t think I’ll come back unless it’s the best choice. Like I said, our dirt roads in the San Gabes aren’t very nice. They tend to be real rough, as the mountains here tend to shed any human structures in short order. Pretty cool. They resist humanity by their very nature of being crumbly and fast growing. I dig it. For cyclists, this also makes them a really excellent training ground, as they tear the sidewalls of tires that do just fine most anywhere else, and they require more skill to ride as well. Took me years of following Luis and other riders better than myself to get good enough to not hate every minute on these dirt roads.
I got down sometime after dark and eyeballed the map. Looks like Barrel Springs Road is the most logical choice. Took that into town and got a ton of cheap and wonderful food at Del Taco. Dollar menus have gone the way of the Dodo nowadays, everything is more expensive, and this trip would pound that point home as food costs have effectively doubled for bike touring. Del Taco still has a decent value menu, with bean and cheese burritos costing about $1.40 as of October 2022. I get a few of those and some crispy chicken tacos and have enough fuel for many hours for $11.87 or so. The ingredients are good and simple and the result is tasty. Cheaper than Taco Bell, the meat is real and not soy or whatever, and while the beans do make me fart a lot (everything makes me fart a lot though), I don’t have ‘athletic’ shits and my butthole doesn’t burn like after Taco Bell. I enjoy Taco Bell from time to time, I suppose, but it’s not the same. This is why I continue to go to Del Taco. Yeah, there may be legit Mexican places around which are better, but for the price and predictable outcome, I can’t beat Del Taco.
It was real windy in the high desert, and the wind gods smiled down upon me as it was blowing north. Take advantage of tailwinds whenever they happen! This is an important bike travel lesson. Even if you might be a bit tired or this or that excuse, just go when the wind is at your back. It’s like finding $20 on the ground. I rode over to Sierra Highway, which parallels the 14 and has an excellent bike path, and cashed in on the wind, riding north to just a little south of Rosamond, where I turned west on Avenue A and bivied a bit off the side of the road in a sandy area. Day one was complete after 103 miles and 9,600ft of gain.
I woke up in my sandy little depression just east of Willow Springs Raceway. I’ve worked there doing grid and timing a handful of years back so I was keen on getting a photo by the sign out front for my friends, who predictably asked what my personal best lap time was around the track on my bicycle. I got up, got rolling at my usual slow morning pace, and got my photo. Just past the racetrack is a right turn onto Tehachapi Willow Springs Road. I’ve ridden this road before from the Santa Clarita area, and had incredible headwinds that slowed my progress to the point where I asked Amanda to come pick me up from Bakersfield. On that ride I couldn’t actually ride the last part, as it was blowing so hard I did everything I could just to stand and hold the bike upright. Luckily the wind gods were still smiling down upon me, or perhaps their attention was on some other poor insect trying to cross a mountain pass or desert plain elsewhere on this fine planet.
The road has small hills and descents before turning northwest and slowly climbing the range of hills bordering the Tehachapi region, where it climbs rather steeply to Oak Creek Pass at 4,820ft. This area is dotted with hundreds of big windmills, and you can see them from the San Gabes and the high desert as tons of blinking red lights in the distance. I wanted to take a break and a wiz at the top of my first new pass of the ride so I pulled over. There’s an historical monument off the north side of the road in a somewhat odd position where I feel few will see it. It describes the modern history of the pass, and how Francisco Garces used the pass in 1776 to cross from the San Joaquin Valley back to the Mojave Desert.
The descent into Tehachapi is pretty chill and you only lose about 800 feet. If you headed southbound you’d lose about 1,400ft, a bit more fun in that direction, not to mention the speed you’d get from how steep Oak Creek Pass is. I was being passed very slowly by big rigs crawling up this pass as their alternative to the 58. I stopped at the truck stop for supplies and breakfast/lunch (am I allowed to call this phenomenon ‘brunch’?), and turned west to ride through the town of Tehachapi. I’ve driven through here on the 58 and not yet had reason to see the town itself, and was surprised by how nice and chill it was. The railroad came through here in 1876 or so and this seems to have made the town, as it’s the way to send supplies by rail between the central valley and desert. I wanted to avoid the 58 as much as possible, since such things suck on a bicycle, so I took Woodford Tehachapi Road, which I’ve been on in Joe’s Mazdaspeed 3, so I was familiar with how nice of a road it would be to ride. The highlight of this section, aside from the excellent riding, is the Tehachapi Loop. A train climbing the pass from the valley does a big loop to gain elevation, crossing under itself and then over a bridge. Bear with me as I’m having trouble describing something so simple, but a search online will show you what’s up. I’m not a big train nerd or anything but it’s still cool engineering. I continued down until I had to do a mandatory section of riding on the 58, which is part of the official ACA SC route. You go from a quiet country road to a very loud freeway for 5 miles. Thankfully this section goes by relatively quickly, and you’re back on favorable roads. A right turn onto Bealville Road brings you to a very fast and fun descent into a hot, dry valley with lots of cows, low traffic, and occasional freight train traffic. The descent to the railroad crossing is very fun, one that my buddies and I drive in fun cars from time to time. These are the roads I enjoy most: fast, steep, excellent corners, mid-grade pavement requiring more attention and calm attitude mixed with aggression, rewarding balance and proper braking with good corner exit lines. Packing light and keeping the weight distributed properly on the frame come into play in a big way on these roads. Such movement fills me with endless satisfaction. A long train was slowly climbing the pass and so I waited at the crossing for a few minutes with a few cars, just chillin’.
Steep Caliente Bodfish Road
There are two options up ahead: one can continue on the road following the normal SC route, which is longer and has less climbing, or one can make a left turn and climb Caliente Bodfish Road, which is very steep but much shorter. I’ve never been on the regular route, having just ridden shotgun with Joe and Nick up the twisty way and driven it once in a less-sporty Subaru Crosstrek, so I rode this way as well. To slightly break from the groove of this current story, I gotta throw in some input. I’d really like to descend this road from the north. It’s very steep going northbound uphill, and that’s great and I’m glad I’ve done it, but the real value for me would be to descend this. I can only imagine how awesome it would be, since I was slowly crawling up it for quite some time, as it gains about 2,800 feet and covers a little more than 9.5 miles before dropping 1,000ft into the quiet Walker Basin. Cows cross the road here and there, and a coyote darted about 50 meters ahead of me up a steep slope. I only saw a couple sports cars out, which surprised me as this is an excellent driving road, and the rest of the traffic was predominantly local ranch trucks and sedans.
Walker Basin ain’t much from a car, just a quick flat distraction on the way to twistier roads north to Lake Isabella. From a bicycle, however, it’s so much more. Big open fields with cows, ranches, huge old oaks, friendly dogs, good rural stuff. The mountains around are of modest height, not huge and steep like the Sierra but big enough that you know riding out of the basin is a fair bit of work. There are some granite crags here and there above the basin that would likely give excellent climbing in a quiet setting, one of my favorite aspects of rock climbing. The route continues north and you begin the climb out of the basin, which was steeper than I expected. The sun had fallen behind Breckenridge Mountain to the west, which has a great driving road on it as well, and the temperature had become cooler. I spent the first week going through some pretty warm temps up to the mid 90’s so riding in the shade so-to-speak was always welcome. The road climbs and descends past Havilah and presents a good riding atmosphere. There’s one short climb left to a small pass from which the entire Lake Isabella area can be seen. This descent into town is truly awesome. I hit 50mph before corner entry on one of the hairpins, smashed out of the corner and stunted hard on some guy in a car. I may have missed the downhill earlier but I got to rip down this part at great speed.
I had a mad hankerin’ for a big nasty cheeseburger (what else is new), so when I dropped in at the first little store on the way into town I asked the locals who made the best burgers around. They agreed that 178 Bar and Grill was the way to go, and thus I set off with great hunger and abandon. Locked my bike up out front, walked in and sat at the bar. The young man behind the bar helped me out and I ended up getting some sort of fancy burger, likely with avocado on it, fries, and a beer or two. The service was awesome and I gotta say, for someone who rarely goes to bars, this place is great. The burger was outstanding and well received, and a beer or two really set the mood for the trip. Hard work, but not taking things too seriously. I asked him what my options were for free camping and he suggested Keyesville just across the way. Local kids party and do acid and whatnot there so I wanted to find a spot where I could hide without having to try too hard. Got a little spot at the first turn towards the river after the bathroom, and nobody bugged me all night. A huge female Black Widow protected my bike from thieves and evil doers, and I enjoyed a Sancho Panza cigar while posting bullshit online before bed. Sancho Panzas are my favorite cigars thus far. I’m pretty new to cigars so I don’t know much, but they’re about $7 each, are just the right size for about an hour of chilling and conversation, and they have a smooth flavor. At this point in my life I’m enjoying cigars specifically for relaxing and talking with friends, or sitting atop a pass and looking out across the land. I get the benefits of the relaxation from tobacco and a reason to sit still and mind something, without the paranoia and reduced coordination of marijuana or other stuff. They’re great for campfires. Anyway, I settled into bed with a mild buzz, ready for whatever tomorrow served up. The numbers for the day were 86.7 miles with 8,035ft of gain.
I needed to get some supplies for the next couple days as I didn’t think I’d have a good resupply until the end of day 4, so I rode slowly into the town of Wofford Heights and hit the Dollar General. You would think things would cost about a dollar at the Dollar General, but you’d be wrong. I walked out with about $8 worth of stuff for about $20. This trip was gonna be more expensive than I’d hoped. I got water, snacks, and a bottle of that Mexican electrolyte stuff that I put in my main water bottle, diluted about ¼ of the bottle. Helps keep me sharp during the day, keeping the wobbles at bay. Several options were ahead of me: I could either go up into the Chimney Peak area to Kennedy Meadows and descend Sherman Pass again, I could go north along the Kern river past Sherman Pass and up towards Johnsondale, or I could climb the 155 and take dirt roads north along the ridgetop to Johnsondale. The last option won out, as I’d already climbed and descended Sherman Pass a few months back, the ride along the Kern is hot and busy, and the dirt road atop the ridge to the west looked great and offered free camping and silence. Well, it’s a good thing it was hot out cause the climb up the 155 wasn’t steep enough. No joke, this thing is very steep! I’ve driven it before but again, you don’t notice much at all from inside a car. The area had burned recently as well so tree cover was nonexistent until near the top. This climb is considered one of the more challenging ones in California, though one I don’t suggest riding since it’s a bit too busy and not fun in my book. Descent, maybe. Probably fast. Some good corners and great sight lines, so yeah, maybe give it a shot downhill. The west side of the 155 looks more fun, though, so if I had to choose, I’d go that way.
I drank a ton of water on the climb up and was relieved when I reached the top. I rode into Alta Sierra, a very cool small community saved from burning in the last fire, and although I knew the local restaurant was closed for the day I still checked it out and took a break. A cute Australian Shephard dog named Oreo ran to me excitedly and said hi. I’d soon find this was to be a trip with many great dogs on it. I ate some snacks and began my ride out of the town, checking out the campgrounds before heading to the top of the pass. Crossing 155 puts you onto Rancheria Road, which I would follow onto 23S16. This is a dirt road until further north closer to Johnsondale. If you like chill dirt road riding, this one is for you. While it succumbed to the fires that hit recently, it was still calm and beautiful with a good surface that was easy to ride while your head was in the clouds. There are easy climbs and short descents along the way, never too steep nor too sandy, and I only saw one motorcyclist pass the whole time. I stopped at a stream to filter some water, topping off my four bottles and setting me up for the rest of the day. I carry roughly one gallon on my bike and have small Hydrapak collapsible bladders for an additional 3 liters or so. This is almost always enough except for hot desert rides.
The riding takes you up to a beautiful meadow before it hits an intersection with the paved segment of the road. This is around halfway through the effort between the pass atop 155 and the town of Johnsondale. There’s a gate here, which was closed, as well as a sign stating the area ahead was closed to all people. Absurd! I was halfway through a hours long effort to get somewhere by bicycle and now there’s a sign stating I can’t go in or they’ll charge me some insane amount of money I’ve never had before. Hey, if you work for the government or whatever agency, please put a sign at the START of a road so someone knows. I’m not in a vehicle so going back takes a great deal of effort and time. If I was to go back and stay out of the closed area, I would’ve had to go back to the 155, descend down to the 99, go north to the Johnsondale Bridge, then climb to Johnsondale, which at my current rate would take me all night. I said fuck that noise, you make a stupid decision in not signing this logically and I’ll ignore it. I went past the gate and rode on cautiously, mulling excuses in my head over and over again as to what crap I’d say to a cop or whoever if I got caught.
I rode faster in this state of mind, which was quite easy as the road is paved and in pretty good shape. I stayed out of as many dirt patches as I could to avoid leaving sign of my passage. A shame I was paranoid because this is an excellent road to ride, with awesome views to the north and especially the ridges to the east. The sun was beginning to set and the light was perfect. The trees were turning colors and the temperature was just right. I mashed out and covered the 20 miles or so in little time. There’s a long descent over lightly potholed tarmac to a short climb, followed by a descent into Johnsondale. I had a choice of dropping into the town itself or just west of it on the 50, which I chose since I didn’t need any of the supplies Johnsondale probably didn’t sell anyway. I passed around the gate at the 50 without seeing another soul, and relaxed, as I was pretty sure the 50 was open. I wasn’t 100% sure, and traffic was nonexistent so I was a bit worried I was still in a closed area until a lady drove by in a Kia sedan.
By taking this descent west of Johnsondale I had cut off one of my lesser options, the road 22S82 that bypasses the 50 and the southern section of the Great Western Divide Highway. Not a problem, as that option also would’ve cut off the Giant Sequoia groves at the Trail of a Hundred Giants. I’m a big plant nerd (should’ve gone to school for botany instead of computers), and I really like big trees, so I was more than happy enough to do a bit longer ride to see them. There was still enough light to see some big trees in detail when I arrived, staring way up, stretching my cramped neck to see these ancient giants. They’re so different from the Lodgepole and other tall, skinny conifers around that it’s nearly comical to come across them, especially off a paved road. As a child I always wanted to grow one as well as a Redwood, but knew that even if I lived a very long life my trees would still be too small to look ‘special’. I think I let go of a few concepts at that age, though it would take me more time to let go of having plants and animals of my own and instead enjoying visiting them in the wild where they do best. I killed a lot of great plants out of neglect to get to this point!
There’s a campground just north of the main trail which I figured I’d check out even though I expected the price to be too high for a dirty vagrant such as myself. Boy was I in for a treat: $32 a night! $32 to sleep on the ground alone with a stinky toilet nearby. Fuck that shit. Welcome to 2022 where you can’t afford to be poor. I ranted out loud about how stupid this was. I had about $500 to my name at this point so charging me an absurd percentage of what I own to do nothing for about 6 hours in the dirt is truly fucking absurd. I turned around and camped near some European tourists taking a trip across the southwest. I think I weirded em out as I was still ranting a bit about the stupidity of the price. They agreed on that point, which I was happy to hear. I put my ground sheet down, set up my pad and quilt, and ate my dinner of peanut butter and honey tortillas before smoking my pipe and going to bed. I covered 54 miles to this bivy spot. I don’t know the gain because I couldn’t upload my Strava track, since there was no reception. I uploaded it after lunch the next day.
I got up sorta early in the morning after the Europeans had left. Since I didn’t have to set up my tent, I didn’t have to take it down, and my cleanup in the morning is significantly faster. My Tarptent Contrail ultralight tent I got from Hikin’ Jim is wonderful, takes up little space, weighs about 2lbs with everything, but still requires time and minimal effort to work with, so if I’m stealth camping and think I might need to leave in a hurry, I avoid using it. Thankfully the weather on these trips tends to be mild enough that a tent is rarely required, and often rarely brought with me. I was up and outta there in short order, on my way to go for a short walk amongst the giants.
This was my first time in this grove of Sequoia. When I was living in Yosemite Valley, I’d occasionally visit the Mariposa and Tuolumne groves. The Mariposa has a bunch of very large trees and is very easy to visit, with most of em close by the road. This also means a lot of people go there and kills the atmosphere. Tuolumne Grove up off the 120 east of Crane Flat is still my favorite grove, as it requires a truly monumental one mile walk down a paved road to reach. That’s enough to keep most civilized humans incapable of normal movement away, and the result is a much more quiet forest with Douglas Squirrels (aka nuggets) running and chirping, and it feels like the moon of Endor in Star Wars. If there was only one grove to visit, that’s the one.
This grove was pleasant and had some wonderful trees. I walked around in silence for a while before turning around and getting back on the bike, riding north to go check out Dome Rock. I’ve had it on my radar for a while now as there’s the Tree Route on it, a 4 pitch 5.6 everyone seems to really like. I didn’t have my approach shoes with me, nor enough skill remaining in my blood to climb it alone and onsight. Onsight means climbing it without having ever been on it before, and usually without knowing much about it aside from length and the general consensus on difficulty. Doing this alone and unroped adds to that, as anyone can understand. I had this route in mind for such an exercise in the past when I did such things often enough that it didn’t seem out of the question.
There is a dirt road to near the top of Dome Rock to a famous gate featured in a few photos taken by climbers. I parked my bike up against this gate and walked to the summit. Great views of the Needles and practically everything else to the north, east, and south. Can’t see any of the climbing as it’s a dome for crying out loud, but the granite was nice to have around. My favorite rock. I farted around, got back on the bike, and returned to the road. Not too long afterwards I arrived at the Ponderosa Lodge, staffed by friendly people and a super friendly dog who made friends with me in short order. The store has a comfy relaxed feel to it and is well decorated. I complimented the lady running the place and said how it contrasts with the often haphazard nature of other similar establishments, who often sell everything they can to make ends meet. I don’t mean this as an insult against other places, just an observation. I doubt I could pull off their way of doing things. It felt comfortable and wasn’t cluttered or visually chaotic, which helps when you come in from the road, so often bombarded with stimuli that makes me feel like I can’t get out of there quickly enough. I got a sports-type beverage and a coffee and sat out front. The dog came over to me and I gave him some pets. He warmed up pretty quick and jumped on my lap. This guy is probably 100lbs so this ain’t no lap dog! He ended up sitting at my feet and getting pets and scratches. Eventually I cleaned up and headed down the 190.
My buddy Nick and I drove 190 with friends in the springtime and I was eager to see how it was to ride down the mountain. It’s a long descent from about 7,000ft to 2,500ft with lots of corners and no appreciable straights save for the very top. The finest corners in my memory are closer to the top, with some very tight hairpins with dirt on the tarmac. The lasting impressions I got from this descent are that I’d like to come back without a touring load, with bigger gearing, and to attack it more aggressively. To put in an effort I really like would mean I’d need to descend it many times to learn the road. The sheer number of corners means I’d need real time on the route to learn a good line, and the length of the descent rewards excellent anaerobic fitness. I’m sure I’ll climb it from the west sometime, but to go real fast I’d probably have to get dropped off at the top and run it repeatedly. This and similar roads on the trip greatly contributed to ideas for a future bike build for attacking mountain passes at speed. Less weight, more powerful gearing, lighter wheels and the choice of 700x35 or so tires are key points for this. I think for 190 downhill the 650b tires I was running are just dandy for this route as it’s a little dirty in some spots, and its corner after corner so acceleration trumps top speed. My personal goal for descents is much more the feeling I get after an excellent run, not so much how fast I went or my place in the overall rankings, which is easy to get lost in.
The descent levels out near the bottom and even has a short climb or two before you glide into the town of Springville. My homies and I ate at The Hamburger Stand last time we went here, so I knew where to get my fix for my endless addiction. As before, the burger was outstanding, and despite my lactose intolerance I probably also got a shake. They have many flavors to choose from and they’re all winners, so go wild in there. I chatted with a few locals about my route and asked some questions about the road ahead, but nobody knew of where I was headed. After lunch I headed up Wagner/Balch Park road towards my goal of the 276 to connect with 19S36, to drop into Grouse Valley and stop for the night in Three Rivers. I rode up the 276 a short distance but found that my way would eventually be blocked near the top. I could continue to the top of Blue Ridge, which has an electronics site at the top, and find a way down, but I would probably still need to trespass on private property which I’m not cool with. I filtered water in the Tule River while hiding from the hot sun and the damned ever-present flies in the shade, turned around, and went downhill. There was an option I hadn’t seen before called Yokohl Valley Road, which climbs over a low 2,300ft ridge before dropping into a valley and heading towards the central valley. This was my best option.
This is one of those instances of great things you discover when your plan ‘fails’. Turns out this road is an absolute gem with excellent riding and beautiful views reminiscent of Chino Hills State Park. The climb up the west side is relatively steep, passing ranches with old oaks and gentle hills fading into mountains. Yet another Australian sheepdog came out to greet me, though it was somewhat indifferent. Another ranch dog patrolling the area. Came up and sniffed me, said hi, then moseyed on down the road. A little more climbing brought me to the top, where despite what the 2,300ft figure would suggest I found one of the best descents of the trip. The road was dirty with many potholes so my wide tires were right at home, and the line was complex and rewarding. The sun was slowly setting ahead of me and the lighting was sublime. Tiny cows dotted the fields below and beyond, with short sharp corners opening up into odd straights. The road continues through a great open valley for quite some time before turning north to head to the 198. If you’re ever in the Visalia, or more specifically Exeter area, and you want a nice peaceful yet sporting ride, give this road a go. You won’t regret it.
I hit the 198 and was officially at the edge of the central valley on a busy road. I had the same goal of reaching Three Rivers, so I turned north and followed the road to a small market. I started a new addiction by purchasing a can of V8, which I used to drink often as a kid. I talk a lot of shit on tomatoes cause I don’t really like em but it turns out I love em in sauce and beverage form, just not solid. There’s a lotta good stuff in V8 that replenishes what you’ve lost on a hot day of riding so I slammed this bad boy and went back and got another. Drank that one at a more enjoyable pace, plotted my simple route to Three Rivers, and gave it a go. I called the camp host at Kaweah Oaks Campground and they were still open. All juiced up with somewhere to go, I rode fast up past Lake Kaweah in the dark, with traffic easing as I got closer to the town. Got some supplies at the market as well as a beer (maybe several) and headed to camp, arriving just before my anticipated 2100 arrival time. I chatted with the lady running the place and stayed in spot 3. The price is $20 a night which isn’t cheap, but the showers are free so I was able to wash myself and most of my clothes as well as have a base of operations for the following night.
The host told me the open-top shower was by far the best, as the other is in a sort of porta potty type structure. She’s 100% right. I enjoyed my first shower in a few days and washed my clothes while enjoying a shower beer. Always, always enjoy a shower beer. Someday you will be worm food and if you could cobble together yer dirt thoughts you’d be pretty bummed your ass didn’t have a shower beer more often.
A nice gentleman named David had the spot next to mine and we talked a bit later. An interesting couple with a boisterous lady had the opposite space. Once they settled in for the night I was given the luxury of a Dolby Surround Sound experience of her not-so-muffled throes of passion. A different form of crushing and busting than I’m used to lately but I’ll raise a beverage to that. My total mileage for the day was about 97 miles. I don’t know the climbing, but from Springville to Three Rivers was 4,550ft of gain, and the gain for the section I couldn’t upload until Springville was 10,385ft, so do with that what you will. It was a good chunk.
I'll post part 2 soon, where I ride up the imposing Mineral King Road and into SEKI and beyond. Cheers.
I am planning on doing a presentation in-person in a few months so please let me know what your feedback is. You can't hurt my feelings, just tell me. The presentation will be significantly shorter than what I've written here, as it all must fit into an hour long event with question and answers at the end and so forth. I will likely break it down into talking points rather than try to modify this text into a script of sorts.
Adapting my trip report from MS Word into this forum editor has resulted in indents missing and other odd inconsistencies.
With love, your dictator and Guerilla Chief of the Upper-Left-West Chalupastani Khanate, San Gabriel Mountains Distrikt,
~Taco
October Sierra Tour 2022
October 2 – November 4
-=Concept=-
I’ve been planning this trip for years, in some form or another. My first couple tours into the Sierra Nevada were rock climbing oriented, carrying everything I needed to climb a bigwall sans portaledge, crampons, ice tools, boots, and all I needed for alpine stuff as well. A subsequent trip had me bringing my best approach shoes, La Sportiva Gandalfs, and a chalk bag, a more minimal approach that was significantly lighter but obviously meant I free soloed everything. I enjoyed free soloing and all my objectives were pretty easy, so there was no need at the time for a rope. I had climbed many of these things alone, some of the routes many times. One I hadn’t done yet was the linkup of Tenaya’s Northwest Buttress, Matthes Crest, and Cathedral Peak via whatever line doesn’t have a buncha people on it already. I never got around to that one, so it was on my radar as an objective for this trip.
I haven’t been climbing much since I don’t have a car, which means that practically speaking once all is said and pedaled it takes me about 6 hours to reach the nearest crag I actually want to climb at by bicycle. This, coupled with normal working human Los Angeles life, means I haven’t climbed a whole helluva lot in the past six years or so. To save your eyes some reading and me some remembering, I haven’t climbed enough lately to be able to free solo or even climb roped near my previous modest proficiency. Some years have passed and I process things differently now, so I would find that I have no problem letting go of some objectives that used to be important to me. Bike touring has given me great space to think and grow, and this has led to some flexibility in planning and thinking. I used to plan very tightly along specific routes, timetables, weather, clothing, you name it. Riding a bicycle across the surface of the Earth erodes away a lot of the civilized, structured bullshit many of us are comfortable existing within, our own walls in our own minds, and forces you to be exposed to the real world, the true reality of the weather conditions, elevation, everything. This is rarely a negative thing, such is not my aim to infer, but it does wash away those layers we’ve applied to ourselves like old coats of paint. I would imagine backpacking has a very similar effect. I feel like a born again Christian with how I say “everyone should bike tour” or whatever, since I feel it would help people greatly with their mind and soul. Mental health, as things are so conveniently packaged down, labelled, and sold today. The endless intricate landscape of one’s mind cannot be safely explored nor cared for in the confines of modern working life and ‘weekends’. When one has the luxury of time off, however it may be gained, one should explore their mind and learn from the universe. Of course, I don’t have a place, a kid, nor a wife or anyone truly dependent on me, so I perhaps am the most luxurious asshole around.
Getting the time to do such trips is a big challenge as well. Having a boss good enough to give you time off is a rarity, and I had that until a few months back when the best manager I ever had, Andrea, left the job and went to school. I’m glad she’s going after something better than our dumb job, but of course I missed having her around. I could just let her know I was gonna take a month or two off to go be a dirtbag, and it was easy, no drama. We were working at a sandwich shop in Old Town Pasadena, and I was a bike courier, delivering sandwiches by bicycle. I’d been doing this job for about 5 years now and it was time to move on, probably long ago. I got this job as a temporary thing so I could do something while getting a ‘real job’ that actually paid enough, but this ain’t pre-2008 and real jobs are harder to score nowadays. I’ve also learned that I cannot work a regular people job indoors doing indoor human things, or I go to some dark places and start to fall apart. It’s hard to find something you can do, as you often won’t know it until you’ve been doing it for some time. I’m still not sure what job I’d be happiest doing. People will ask you what your dream job is, and in my head I respond that it’s like picking your favorite disease. I don’t know how many jobs I’ve had, I’ve had a lot of jobs doing lots of different things, and I honestly haven’t really liked any of em, but could tolerate a few. I tend to be good at things that one doesn’t get paid for except in rare circumstances. Anyway, going off on a tangent I can write on forever…
I put my two weeks in at my dead end stupid sandwich job where my best manager left and was replaced by my district manager who got things running, sort of, and then she got fired for who knows what and was replaced by a guy who by no fault of his own was way over his head, as well as lots of young new people, shortage of all sorts of supplies, and on and on. All us old guys started to leave. I’ll miss my homies the most, a few of the regular customers, weaving through traffic, and the 60 miles per day of cycling that were a big benefit of that low paying job. I relaxed a bit at work after I put my 2 weeks in, knowing I didn’t need to worry about the little things anymore as I finally wasn’t coming back here. I’ve taken a couple months off in the past for trips, but there was nothing to come back to this time.
-=Route=-
Now that I had an open schedule, I could execute my plan. I usually have some hard parameters with open areas around them. The route I wanted to take through the Sierra on this trip was a hard route, both in difficulty but more importantly for this concept it was a hard set route as it offered what I envisioned as the best cycling. That route was set until Mono Lake, where I had options and was more open to trying this pass or that road or whatever, instead of sticking to something specific. It would also depend on money, something I’ve never had much of, and something that’s devalued significantly for myself as a tourer post 2020.
I very loosely based my route on Adventure Cycling Association’s Sierra Cascades Route, which as you can gather from the title goes north-south through the Cascades and Sierra Nevada ranges as their biggest defining features. I’ve driven or ridden a fair amount of that route and found some of it less to my liking, so over the past handful of years I’ve studied and scouted various roads and picked what would likely present the best cycling. More recently I’ve been knocking off the ‘hardest’ cycling climbs in the state, and so I also chose my route based on the most difficult road riding. The challenging climbs are rewarding, and the descents are one of my favorite things in life. The ACA route is considered challenging, with a lot of climbing, but it still avoids options for harder climbs, and is all paved. I connect some paved sections with dirt roads, as this can keep you in the solitude of the mountains with low traffic and more options for camping. I have wider tires (650x47mm) on my bike which allows me to ride most dirt roads comfortably, and have taken the bike places most people wouldn’t bring a mountain bike. That said, it isn’t a mountain bike, and while I don’t mind 30 miles or so of dirt here and there, it rides best on pavement, especially when one of my goals was going fast downhill.
The route goes up 39 past Crystal Lake to the 2, where I had options on how I wanted to head to Lake Isabella. There are a handful of options, but I chose to head west on the 2 to Three Points, take the road towards Pacifico Mountain, then descend the dirt road down past Little Rock Reservoir to the high desert. I’ve ridden up this road before on my old Surly Disc Trucker with skinny tires and knew it would be easier this time with a superior bike. This pops you out just east of Palmdale, where again you have some choices on how to go northwest. Edwards Air Force Base sits north of you and riding north means going around that. Since I’m trending west, I took Barrel Springs Road into Palmdale to Sierra Highway, which has a good bike path on it. Didn’t know about that until I got there. Rode up to Rosamond, turned west, and bivied before Willow Springs Raceway.
The next day, I took the ACA route up the hill into Tehachapi, took Woodford Tehachapi Road alongside the 58 until I had to take the 58 for a few miles, and then jumped off on Bealville Road. The ACA route takes this as it turns into Caliente Creek Road. I chose to take a left on Caliente Bodfish Road, which is very steep and twisty, then drops down into a pleasant valley and continues north to Lake Isabella. I spent the night at the Keyesville BLM site. Woke up, rode north along Wofford Heights Boulevard, and made a left on the 155 which is very steep. I’ve driven it before a couple times but it doesn’t hit you until you’re on a bike. Took that uphill to the top where I made a right on Rancheria Road, which is wonderful and mostly unpaved, connected to near Johnsondale, made a left followed by a right onto Great Western Divide Highway, and slept near the Trail of 100 Giants. The following morning I continued north, the road becomes the 190, descended that into Springville, made a right on Wagner/Balch Park, and took that up pretty far before realizing and accepting I probably couldn’t pass through the private property near its end. Turned back and took Yokohl Valley Road, which wasn’t on my radar previously but turned out to be a truly outstanding ride. Rode this to the 198 to the edge of the central valley, then up to Three Rivers to spend the night at Kaweah Oaks Campground.
A ride up imposing Mineral King Road was next on the menu, and I returned to Kaweah Oaks for a second night afterwards. From there I continued into SEKI on the Generals Highway, got lucky and got a spot at Lodgepole Camp, and planned my next move. I planned my route to continue north through the Sierra into the huge burn area, but I didn’t know what would be open or how likely I would be to get supplies, so I decided to skip a portion of it. I will have to come back on a shorter trip to really see all the stuff in this region I missed, to truly make this a great route. Thus, the next day rode down into Kings Canyon to Road’s End, back up, then down into the central valley and across to the small coastal agricultural city of Watsonville. My sister lives just north near Santa Cruz, and she picked me up and we went grocery shopping. That was a 306 mile day, and by getting picked up I missed 7-10 miles or so of whatever riding I’ve done multiple times before. I spent a few days with family before heading back east across the lovely central valley yet again to Raymond, then further into the hills where I bivied about 10 miles short of Oakhurst. Woke up and rode into Oakhurst for supplies, and met Jason. He picked me up and we drove the 50 miles or so into Yosemite, saving me $$$$ and riding on the 41, which I don’t particularly enjoy, less so now after much has burned.
We spent the next few days climbing rocks and riding around in the valley. When he headed home, I rode up the 120 towards Tioga Pass, with me bivying off the side of the road before Tuolumne Meadows (don’t tell the cops). A bear or something big and loud woke me up, and I rode to Tioga Pass, descended, and then turned north to head to my buddy’s place in Reno. Took the 395 and camped north of Coleville. Continued on the 395 the next day into Reno, which I’d never been to, then west to his place in Verdi. Spent a few days with him and his wife where they spoiled me rotten and fed me the best food on earth before I rode east and south to Virginia City, the 50, Silver Springs, then camped north of Yerington. Kept going down the 95 to Hawthorne, then down past Mina to the 360, up and over the hill and crossed the CA border to continue to just south of Bishop on the 395 where I camped after about 200 miles.
Kris woke me up several hours later and I crammed my stuff in his van for a few days of riding up challenging passes in the Eastern Sierra, another goal of mine. We knocked out some roads, then Danny met us near Big Pine and we camped outside Lone Pine. The next day we rode up Horseshoe Meadows Road, Kris drove home, and Danny and I rode north to Independence to attempt Onion Valley the following day. We avoided the wind rain and snow in a motel, then got about 3 miles from the top of Onion Valley Road before the snow and ice was unrideable, then descended and booked it south to Ridgecrest to stay with his brother. Rode south from there to Patrick’s in Lake Arrowhead, had a blast there with everyone, then headed west onto the 138 to Lone Pine Canyon Road to the 2, then down the 39 to home.
I’ll write more about each day in detail. I wrote some posts in Strava to accompany my tracks and also some writings in Facetoob so that I could translate it into this work later. If you don’t write enough down and you wait too long, the trip report ends up a bit bare, as many of the important details and feelings have faded from memory. Photos help a great deal as well, but since this site doesn’t let you post enough pics in each report, I’ll just put my favorites.
-=Day 1=-
The start of any tour is the hardest for me. I wake up in my own warm comfy bed, life is pretty easy, I have this grand route planned out that will take an unknown amount of time, and my mind is full of what-ifs. I can’t tell you how many big rides and climbs and everything I haven’t done simply because I didn’t leave in the morning after the alarm went off. I’ve gotten up, had coffee and breakfast, got my clothes on, bike loaded the previous day, completely ready to go, and quit right there. I’ve quit after riding a short distance. That first day, those first steps are the hardest. The most effective way to attack this, I’ve found, is to involve friends. I can get up each day to ride 60 miles a day for work, or do other physical labor for seemingly little benefit, simply because others are relying on me. I got Kris and Danny to ride with me up the 39 until whenever they wanted to turn back and head home. Last time I did a challenging trip, Kris rode with me up the 39 to East Fork bridge where he went up GMR to Lower Monroe, and I continued up over the 2 all the way to bivy behind the bathroom at the park in Lone Pine. It doesn’t take a whole lot, just meeting your friends. I met the boys on this first day and we partied our way up 39 to get Cave Burritos from Adam at Crystal Lake. We stuck together up through the closed portion of 39, which is a wonderful ride, then chilled a little at Islip Saddle. I said goodbye to my boys who I would miss greatly until seeing them again at the other end of the trip, and they got a descent I was envious of, all the way back down 39 to home and predictable comfort. I made a left and took the 2 towards Pacifico. I made chimpanzee noises at some climbers on Tunnel Crag, who gave me an odd look in response. The 2 was pleasant as usual, and is mostly downhill to Three Points.
I got down sometime after dark and eyeballed the map. Looks like Barrel Springs Road is the most logical choice. Took that into town and got a ton of cheap and wonderful food at Del Taco. Dollar menus have gone the way of the Dodo nowadays, everything is more expensive, and this trip would pound that point home as food costs have effectively doubled for bike touring. Del Taco still has a decent value menu, with bean and cheese burritos costing about $1.40 as of October 2022. I get a few of those and some crispy chicken tacos and have enough fuel for many hours for $11.87 or so. The ingredients are good and simple and the result is tasty. Cheaper than Taco Bell, the meat is real and not soy or whatever, and while the beans do make me fart a lot (everything makes me fart a lot though), I don’t have ‘athletic’ shits and my butthole doesn’t burn like after Taco Bell. I enjoy Taco Bell from time to time, I suppose, but it’s not the same. This is why I continue to go to Del Taco. Yeah, there may be legit Mexican places around which are better, but for the price and predictable outcome, I can’t beat Del Taco.
It was real windy in the high desert, and the wind gods smiled down upon me as it was blowing north. Take advantage of tailwinds whenever they happen! This is an important bike travel lesson. Even if you might be a bit tired or this or that excuse, just go when the wind is at your back. It’s like finding $20 on the ground. I rode over to Sierra Highway, which parallels the 14 and has an excellent bike path, and cashed in on the wind, riding north to just a little south of Rosamond, where I turned west on Avenue A and bivied a bit off the side of the road in a sandy area. Day one was complete after 103 miles and 9,600ft of gain.
-=Day 2=-
I woke up in my sandy little depression just east of Willow Springs Raceway. I’ve worked there doing grid and timing a handful of years back so I was keen on getting a photo by the sign out front for my friends, who predictably asked what my personal best lap time was around the track on my bicycle. I got up, got rolling at my usual slow morning pace, and got my photo. Just past the racetrack is a right turn onto Tehachapi Willow Springs Road. I’ve ridden this road before from the Santa Clarita area, and had incredible headwinds that slowed my progress to the point where I asked Amanda to come pick me up from Bakersfield. On that ride I couldn’t actually ride the last part, as it was blowing so hard I did everything I could just to stand and hold the bike upright. Luckily the wind gods were still smiling down upon me, or perhaps their attention was on some other poor insect trying to cross a mountain pass or desert plain elsewhere on this fine planet.
The descent into Tehachapi is pretty chill and you only lose about 800 feet. If you headed southbound you’d lose about 1,400ft, a bit more fun in that direction, not to mention the speed you’d get from how steep Oak Creek Pass is. I was being passed very slowly by big rigs crawling up this pass as their alternative to the 58. I stopped at the truck stop for supplies and breakfast/lunch (am I allowed to call this phenomenon ‘brunch’?), and turned west to ride through the town of Tehachapi. I’ve driven through here on the 58 and not yet had reason to see the town itself, and was surprised by how nice and chill it was. The railroad came through here in 1876 or so and this seems to have made the town, as it’s the way to send supplies by rail between the central valley and desert. I wanted to avoid the 58 as much as possible, since such things suck on a bicycle, so I took Woodford Tehachapi Road, which I’ve been on in Joe’s Mazdaspeed 3, so I was familiar with how nice of a road it would be to ride. The highlight of this section, aside from the excellent riding, is the Tehachapi Loop. A train climbing the pass from the valley does a big loop to gain elevation, crossing under itself and then over a bridge. Bear with me as I’m having trouble describing something so simple, but a search online will show you what’s up. I’m not a big train nerd or anything but it’s still cool engineering. I continued down until I had to do a mandatory section of riding on the 58, which is part of the official ACA SC route. You go from a quiet country road to a very loud freeway for 5 miles. Thankfully this section goes by relatively quickly, and you’re back on favorable roads. A right turn onto Bealville Road brings you to a very fast and fun descent into a hot, dry valley with lots of cows, low traffic, and occasional freight train traffic. The descent to the railroad crossing is very fun, one that my buddies and I drive in fun cars from time to time. These are the roads I enjoy most: fast, steep, excellent corners, mid-grade pavement requiring more attention and calm attitude mixed with aggression, rewarding balance and proper braking with good corner exit lines. Packing light and keeping the weight distributed properly on the frame come into play in a big way on these roads. Such movement fills me with endless satisfaction. A long train was slowly climbing the pass and so I waited at the crossing for a few minutes with a few cars, just chillin’.
There are two options up ahead: one can continue on the road following the normal SC route, which is longer and has less climbing, or one can make a left turn and climb Caliente Bodfish Road, which is very steep but much shorter. I’ve never been on the regular route, having just ridden shotgun with Joe and Nick up the twisty way and driven it once in a less-sporty Subaru Crosstrek, so I rode this way as well. To slightly break from the groove of this current story, I gotta throw in some input. I’d really like to descend this road from the north. It’s very steep going northbound uphill, and that’s great and I’m glad I’ve done it, but the real value for me would be to descend this. I can only imagine how awesome it would be, since I was slowly crawling up it for quite some time, as it gains about 2,800 feet and covers a little more than 9.5 miles before dropping 1,000ft into the quiet Walker Basin. Cows cross the road here and there, and a coyote darted about 50 meters ahead of me up a steep slope. I only saw a couple sports cars out, which surprised me as this is an excellent driving road, and the rest of the traffic was predominantly local ranch trucks and sedans.
I had a mad hankerin’ for a big nasty cheeseburger (what else is new), so when I dropped in at the first little store on the way into town I asked the locals who made the best burgers around. They agreed that 178 Bar and Grill was the way to go, and thus I set off with great hunger and abandon. Locked my bike up out front, walked in and sat at the bar. The young man behind the bar helped me out and I ended up getting some sort of fancy burger, likely with avocado on it, fries, and a beer or two. The service was awesome and I gotta say, for someone who rarely goes to bars, this place is great. The burger was outstanding and well received, and a beer or two really set the mood for the trip. Hard work, but not taking things too seriously. I asked him what my options were for free camping and he suggested Keyesville just across the way. Local kids party and do acid and whatnot there so I wanted to find a spot where I could hide without having to try too hard. Got a little spot at the first turn towards the river after the bathroom, and nobody bugged me all night. A huge female Black Widow protected my bike from thieves and evil doers, and I enjoyed a Sancho Panza cigar while posting bullshit online before bed. Sancho Panzas are my favorite cigars thus far. I’m pretty new to cigars so I don’t know much, but they’re about $7 each, are just the right size for about an hour of chilling and conversation, and they have a smooth flavor. At this point in my life I’m enjoying cigars specifically for relaxing and talking with friends, or sitting atop a pass and looking out across the land. I get the benefits of the relaxation from tobacco and a reason to sit still and mind something, without the paranoia and reduced coordination of marijuana or other stuff. They’re great for campfires. Anyway, I settled into bed with a mild buzz, ready for whatever tomorrow served up. The numbers for the day were 86.7 miles with 8,035ft of gain.
-=Day 3=-
I needed to get some supplies for the next couple days as I didn’t think I’d have a good resupply until the end of day 4, so I rode slowly into the town of Wofford Heights and hit the Dollar General. You would think things would cost about a dollar at the Dollar General, but you’d be wrong. I walked out with about $8 worth of stuff for about $20. This trip was gonna be more expensive than I’d hoped. I got water, snacks, and a bottle of that Mexican electrolyte stuff that I put in my main water bottle, diluted about ¼ of the bottle. Helps keep me sharp during the day, keeping the wobbles at bay. Several options were ahead of me: I could either go up into the Chimney Peak area to Kennedy Meadows and descend Sherman Pass again, I could go north along the Kern river past Sherman Pass and up towards Johnsondale, or I could climb the 155 and take dirt roads north along the ridgetop to Johnsondale. The last option won out, as I’d already climbed and descended Sherman Pass a few months back, the ride along the Kern is hot and busy, and the dirt road atop the ridge to the west looked great and offered free camping and silence. Well, it’s a good thing it was hot out cause the climb up the 155 wasn’t steep enough. No joke, this thing is very steep! I’ve driven it before but again, you don’t notice much at all from inside a car. The area had burned recently as well so tree cover was nonexistent until near the top. This climb is considered one of the more challenging ones in California, though one I don’t suggest riding since it’s a bit too busy and not fun in my book. Descent, maybe. Probably fast. Some good corners and great sight lines, so yeah, maybe give it a shot downhill. The west side of the 155 looks more fun, though, so if I had to choose, I’d go that way.
I drank a ton of water on the climb up and was relieved when I reached the top. I rode into Alta Sierra, a very cool small community saved from burning in the last fire, and although I knew the local restaurant was closed for the day I still checked it out and took a break. A cute Australian Shephard dog named Oreo ran to me excitedly and said hi. I’d soon find this was to be a trip with many great dogs on it. I ate some snacks and began my ride out of the town, checking out the campgrounds before heading to the top of the pass. Crossing 155 puts you onto Rancheria Road, which I would follow onto 23S16. This is a dirt road until further north closer to Johnsondale. If you like chill dirt road riding, this one is for you. While it succumbed to the fires that hit recently, it was still calm and beautiful with a good surface that was easy to ride while your head was in the clouds. There are easy climbs and short descents along the way, never too steep nor too sandy, and I only saw one motorcyclist pass the whole time. I stopped at a stream to filter some water, topping off my four bottles and setting me up for the rest of the day. I carry roughly one gallon on my bike and have small Hydrapak collapsible bladders for an additional 3 liters or so. This is almost always enough except for hot desert rides.
By taking this descent west of Johnsondale I had cut off one of my lesser options, the road 22S82 that bypasses the 50 and the southern section of the Great Western Divide Highway. Not a problem, as that option also would’ve cut off the Giant Sequoia groves at the Trail of a Hundred Giants. I’m a big plant nerd (should’ve gone to school for botany instead of computers), and I really like big trees, so I was more than happy enough to do a bit longer ride to see them. There was still enough light to see some big trees in detail when I arrived, staring way up, stretching my cramped neck to see these ancient giants. They’re so different from the Lodgepole and other tall, skinny conifers around that it’s nearly comical to come across them, especially off a paved road. As a child I always wanted to grow one as well as a Redwood, but knew that even if I lived a very long life my trees would still be too small to look ‘special’. I think I let go of a few concepts at that age, though it would take me more time to let go of having plants and animals of my own and instead enjoying visiting them in the wild where they do best. I killed a lot of great plants out of neglect to get to this point!
There’s a campground just north of the main trail which I figured I’d check out even though I expected the price to be too high for a dirty vagrant such as myself. Boy was I in for a treat: $32 a night! $32 to sleep on the ground alone with a stinky toilet nearby. Fuck that shit. Welcome to 2022 where you can’t afford to be poor. I ranted out loud about how stupid this was. I had about $500 to my name at this point so charging me an absurd percentage of what I own to do nothing for about 6 hours in the dirt is truly fucking absurd. I turned around and camped near some European tourists taking a trip across the southwest. I think I weirded em out as I was still ranting a bit about the stupidity of the price. They agreed on that point, which I was happy to hear. I put my ground sheet down, set up my pad and quilt, and ate my dinner of peanut butter and honey tortillas before smoking my pipe and going to bed. I covered 54 miles to this bivy spot. I don’t know the gain because I couldn’t upload my Strava track, since there was no reception. I uploaded it after lunch the next day.
-=Day 4=-
I got up sorta early in the morning after the Europeans had left. Since I didn’t have to set up my tent, I didn’t have to take it down, and my cleanup in the morning is significantly faster. My Tarptent Contrail ultralight tent I got from Hikin’ Jim is wonderful, takes up little space, weighs about 2lbs with everything, but still requires time and minimal effort to work with, so if I’m stealth camping and think I might need to leave in a hurry, I avoid using it. Thankfully the weather on these trips tends to be mild enough that a tent is rarely required, and often rarely brought with me. I was up and outta there in short order, on my way to go for a short walk amongst the giants.
This was my first time in this grove of Sequoia. When I was living in Yosemite Valley, I’d occasionally visit the Mariposa and Tuolumne groves. The Mariposa has a bunch of very large trees and is very easy to visit, with most of em close by the road. This also means a lot of people go there and kills the atmosphere. Tuolumne Grove up off the 120 east of Crane Flat is still my favorite grove, as it requires a truly monumental one mile walk down a paved road to reach. That’s enough to keep most civilized humans incapable of normal movement away, and the result is a much more quiet forest with Douglas Squirrels (aka nuggets) running and chirping, and it feels like the moon of Endor in Star Wars. If there was only one grove to visit, that’s the one.
This grove was pleasant and had some wonderful trees. I walked around in silence for a while before turning around and getting back on the bike, riding north to go check out Dome Rock. I’ve had it on my radar for a while now as there’s the Tree Route on it, a 4 pitch 5.6 everyone seems to really like. I didn’t have my approach shoes with me, nor enough skill remaining in my blood to climb it alone and onsight. Onsight means climbing it without having ever been on it before, and usually without knowing much about it aside from length and the general consensus on difficulty. Doing this alone and unroped adds to that, as anyone can understand. I had this route in mind for such an exercise in the past when I did such things often enough that it didn’t seem out of the question.
My buddy Nick and I drove 190 with friends in the springtime and I was eager to see how it was to ride down the mountain. It’s a long descent from about 7,000ft to 2,500ft with lots of corners and no appreciable straights save for the very top. The finest corners in my memory are closer to the top, with some very tight hairpins with dirt on the tarmac. The lasting impressions I got from this descent are that I’d like to come back without a touring load, with bigger gearing, and to attack it more aggressively. To put in an effort I really like would mean I’d need to descend it many times to learn the road. The sheer number of corners means I’d need real time on the route to learn a good line, and the length of the descent rewards excellent anaerobic fitness. I’m sure I’ll climb it from the west sometime, but to go real fast I’d probably have to get dropped off at the top and run it repeatedly. This and similar roads on the trip greatly contributed to ideas for a future bike build for attacking mountain passes at speed. Less weight, more powerful gearing, lighter wheels and the choice of 700x35 or so tires are key points for this. I think for 190 downhill the 650b tires I was running are just dandy for this route as it’s a little dirty in some spots, and its corner after corner so acceleration trumps top speed. My personal goal for descents is much more the feeling I get after an excellent run, not so much how fast I went or my place in the overall rankings, which is easy to get lost in.
This is one of those instances of great things you discover when your plan ‘fails’. Turns out this road is an absolute gem with excellent riding and beautiful views reminiscent of Chino Hills State Park. The climb up the west side is relatively steep, passing ranches with old oaks and gentle hills fading into mountains. Yet another Australian sheepdog came out to greet me, though it was somewhat indifferent. Another ranch dog patrolling the area. Came up and sniffed me, said hi, then moseyed on down the road. A little more climbing brought me to the top, where despite what the 2,300ft figure would suggest I found one of the best descents of the trip. The road was dirty with many potholes so my wide tires were right at home, and the line was complex and rewarding. The sun was slowly setting ahead of me and the lighting was sublime. Tiny cows dotted the fields below and beyond, with short sharp corners opening up into odd straights. The road continues through a great open valley for quite some time before turning north to head to the 198. If you’re ever in the Visalia, or more specifically Exeter area, and you want a nice peaceful yet sporting ride, give this road a go. You won’t regret it.
The host told me the open-top shower was by far the best, as the other is in a sort of porta potty type structure. She’s 100% right. I enjoyed my first shower in a few days and washed my clothes while enjoying a shower beer. Always, always enjoy a shower beer. Someday you will be worm food and if you could cobble together yer dirt thoughts you’d be pretty bummed your ass didn’t have a shower beer more often.
A nice gentleman named David had the spot next to mine and we talked a bit later. An interesting couple with a boisterous lady had the opposite space. Once they settled in for the night I was given the luxury of a Dolby Surround Sound experience of her not-so-muffled throes of passion. A different form of crushing and busting than I’m used to lately but I’ll raise a beverage to that. My total mileage for the day was about 97 miles. I don’t know the climbing, but from Springville to Three Rivers was 4,550ft of gain, and the gain for the section I couldn’t upload until Springville was 10,385ft, so do with that what you will. It was a good chunk.
I'll post part 2 soon, where I ride up the imposing Mineral King Road and into SEKI and beyond. Cheers.
Plus all the cabbage nowadays contains at least 6.9% microplastics so I'm chugging macroplastics to get strongker.
That trail spits you out at Forks of the Kern / Lloyd Meadow, so you exit back through Johnsondale area. The ride past