2020 Pashnit Touring

[pashnit]

 

[WuzzaCBXRider]

You can't just ride into Yosemite NP anymore, or go over the pass- Highway 120 Tioga Pass. In Covid times, you have to have reservations made months in advance.

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Today's Goals: Ride the Cherry Lake Loop, haven't ridden this is almost 15 years and been years since I've included it in a motorcycle tour route. Cherry Lake Loop is a 55 mile loop deep in the Sierra Range, built back in the resevoir building days of the 1950s & 1960s. Nothing out here, no people, no towns, no traffic, no cross roads, nothing but forest.

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You can ride thru the Park w/o a Res but you have to tell them you’re just riding thru and will not stop to “recreate”. The Res requirement will end on Oct. 31st as well. Still, w/o a Pass, it’s $30 to enter the park.

 

[pashnit]

 

[pashnit]

You can ride thru the Park w/o a Res but you have to tell them you’re just riding thru and will not stop to “recreate”. The Res requirement will end on Oct. 31st as well. Still, w/o a Pass, it’s $30 to enter the park.

That's good to know. The $30 to enter the park just to ride across the pass to the other side or enter the valley for lunch is steep as a rider just visiting for a few hours. No plans to take any more tour groups into the park any time soon. There was a time (10+ years ago) when I was leading three tours per season into Yosemite valley & over the pass.

 

[pashnit]

2nd canyon over Cherry Creek

 

[pashnit]

Finally met the locals

Wild fires from previous seasons, always wonder why they don't salvage log these trees, but there is aggressive replanting going on.

Plus this pavement is super smooth.

 

[pashnit]

Trolling through the forest, I've seen one other vehicle in the last hour.

 

[pashnit]

Finally reaching Cherry Lake Reservoir

 

[WuzzaCBXRider]

That's good to know. The $30 to enter the park just to ride across the pass to the other side or enter the valley for lunch is steep as a rider just visiting for a few hours. No plans to take any more tour groups into the park any time soon. There was a time (10+ years ago) when I was leading three tours per season into Yosemite valley & over the pass.

It (is) ridiculous. It’s $20 just to walk or bicycle in! On tour some years back I found that I’d planned to visit five NPs so I bought a senior forever pass. Now, living a few miles away from Yosemite I’m glad I did. A couple of out of state LD riders followed me into the park a few weeks ago and the ‘ranger’ at the gate let them in but told them they couldn’t stop to ‘recreate’ (her word). I’ve also seen tourists w/o a Res being turned around at the entrance, despite the signs along the way saying a Res is needed, some apparently don’t believe them. Thankfully, the Res system ends at the end of the month.

 

[pashnit]

Good to know the reservation system is being retired. Wife, kids & I went in August and there was nobody in the park (10%) but we waited months to get into the park with our reservation. Nice to have the place to ourselves, but the trade-off isn't worth it.

 

[pashnit]

Built in 1956, this 1500 acre lake is part of the reservoirs supplying drinking water for San Francisco on the other side of the state.

Built in 2008, this Hayabusa is one of the funnest and most versatile bikes I've ever owned.

 

[pashnit]

A lot of the Sierra Nevada Range is also open cattle range. The recent wildfire up in Sierra Nevada 200 miles north around Oroville-Quincy Hwy and La Porte Rd, they had problems with a lot of cattle being caught up and dying in the wildfires in the Claremont-Bear Fire that were open range cattle. Tragic stuff and rarely mentioned in the news.

 

[pashnit]

Been years since I've ridden this, I'd forgotten what a 'racetrack in the sky' this road is, deserted, unknown. Hot Diggity.

And portions of it were brand new pavement. Sweet.

 

[pashnit]

 

[pashnit]

More brand new pavement.

May have to include this road in a tour route next season.

 

[pashnit]

Cherry Lake Rd pops out at Tuolumne but you'd never know it was there unless you were looking for it, looks like a residential street.

 

[pashnit]

One more road to check out, Big Hill Rd is a shortcut into Columbia and over to Highway 4, that I ride often.

No racetrack here, portions of it are really bumpy and long-forgotten.

 

[pashnit]

One last thing I wanted to check out. I was telling someone about Knight's Foundry in Sutter Creek dating back to 1873, almost 150 years ago. Cool old place. This was where they made all the iron everything for the gold mines back 150 years ago. Still there. But it was not open when I swung by, it's only open on the second Saturday of each month..

The fellas really liked the train museum, I was thinking this would make an interesting stop on a motorcycle tour. I last visited this place 21 years ago when my wife and I were engaged.

Knight Foundry - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[pashnit]

Well kids, that's it. Another tour in the books. Can't do much about the smoke or the heat, but we're riding, and that's what matters. One more tour left for 2020.

 

[pashnit]

Buckle up campers, Let's ride. For the last organized motorcycle tour of the 2020 Ride Season, we're headed south out the Bay Area.

28 Riders signed up for the last Pashnit Tour of the season, and 17 were able to make is so pretty large group of bikers.

Goal was to ride a brand new road paved in 2017 up to Mount Um which overlooks the Southern Bay Area.