2021 Pashnit Touring on a Hayabusa

[pashnit]

With wildfires burning to our south, west, east and north, it was a steady journey north to divert around the fires and plot a course north. Thankfully, Highway 3 was open for its entire length. One thing that does not change is the road. Weather, smoke, temperature fluctuate, the road remains the one thing you can count on.

Hayfork Pass, Highway 3 is likely one of the most fun stretches of road for many miles. This low mountain pass wiggles to the top and wiggles back down with fast curves. We passed multiple bulldozers, several of which were based from the Hayfork Summit. While the Monument Fire is over 200K acres and due west of Weaverville, we could still fuel up and engage in a hearty lunch at Tangle Blue, our new favorite restaurant in Weaverville.

Wildwood Rd

Trucks hauling bulldozers to cut fire lines staged at the Hayfork Summit

Following another bulldozer up Hayfork Pass - Highway 3

 

[pashnit]

Highway 3 Hayfork Pass looks more like this when it's not so smokey.

 

[pashnit]

Arriving in Weaverville - very smokey. The fire is a few miles to the west.

 

[pashnit]

Dirt roads on a Hayabusa

Headed out of Weaverville. The wildfire is on the other side of that range.

 

[pashnit]

The view - not really - of Trinity Lake

Same spot. What it normally looks like without the smoke.

 

[pashnit]

Bruce started riding with Pashnit Tours in 2006 and is one of our longest running tour alumni. 15 years!

When I first met him, he had a daughter that was an infant, and now she's 16 and driving.

Long-time friends Rich and Onson flew out from the East Coast for this tour for Rich's birthday

 

[pashnit]

Steep Mountain Highway.

Where do I sign up?

Making our way to Yreka via Steep Mountain Highway, another 100 miles of twisties

Along Trinity Lake, there's a lot of new pavement which is dreamy.

The national forests are all closed on this holiday weekend due to the wildfires , but that's good for us as it means no other traffic.

 

[pashnit]

Up and over Scott Mountain Summit

One of the riders wanted to know what these piles of rocks are. What is tailings.

All left over from dredging the river bottom with huge house-sized clamshell dredges. All in the hunt for gold.

We finally reach the other side of Steep Mountain Road.

 

[pashnit]

The original plan was to ride Cecilville Rd that runs between Callahan and Cecilville. It's a stretch of road where you wonder why is this here? Why did they build this? It goes nowhere. Sort of. I've started working on writing an all-new article for The Forks of Salmon and have begun researching this road. And I posted photos of our trek to the Forks of Salmon a few pages back in this thread on Page 16 if you want to re-visit it.

We call the southern portion of it 'The Racetrack', although you shouldn’t race on it. We call the western portion of it the Bolivian Death Road, but it's nowhere near Bolivia. Those two designations are quite the opposite. This road is in the shape of a Y. Both arms of the 'Y' have mountain passes to traverse, and the long portion of the 'Y' is another stretch of superfast super-fun two-lane. Northern California is known for a lot of amazing motorcycle roads, and we regard this region of Trinity Alps as a motorcyclist’s paradise. A combination of remoteness coupled with small towns, endless mountains, and endless curves coalesce into a place that leaves our riders in awe. Backroads aren’t for everyone, but it’s all we have around here. And they grow on you. The single-lane roads.

But.... another wildfire is burning to the immediate south of Cecilville, right up to the edge of the tiny one-building town. We'll have to come back another time, but at least we got a chance to ride 'The Racetrack' earlier in the season during my June Mystery Tour. Scroll back to Page 16 if you missed it.

Highway 3 north was marked as closed on the CalTrans site due to construction. Never know what that entails. The opposite direction is Gazelle Callahan Rd through the Marble Mountain Wilderness.

Gazelle Callahan Rd runs through a remote mountain valley broken up only by cattle ranches.
When the skies are clear, it looks more like this:

 

[pashnit]

 

[pashnit]

But today, we just had smoke. Come spring, it'll all be green grass and clear blue skies.

 

[pashnit]

Setting sun in Yreka

Cool mornings, ready to head across the Oregon border

 

[pashnit]

Highway 96 is one of these very unusual roads in all the state. It is the most northern road in the NW portion of the state.
Very remote. Very long. Very middle of nowhere. Very fast. Very fun.

It flows along the Klamath River for 150 miles. Imagine riding 150 miles of fast twisties with minimal other people. It includes several small country stores along the way, tiny markets that service a spread-out mountain community. Gas stops should always be pre-planned when running around these mountains.

There's always a hope the smoke will blow out overnight, but not today. All it takes is a wind direction change and 24 hrs later it's like the smoke never happened. But still smokey.

Highway 263 leads north out of Yreka & drops into the Klamath River Canyon.

But once in the Klamath River valley, the smoke is here to stay.

The Klamath River has the odd distinction of being one of the few rivers in the United States that flows towards the mountains and not away. It's known as an Upside Down River & drains 16,000 square miles.

 

[pashnit]

An early morning 60-mile jaunt into Happy Camp was evidently cold for some people. It's common for the non-locals to come here (fly-n-ride) and be surprised by how dramatic the temp swings can be in a day. 40s in the morning, but 90s in the afternoon. 50 degree temp swing over the course of a day, Not usual at all.

I like to tell the new guys, 'There's no such thing as a cold rider, only an unprepared rider'.

Onson resorted to doing push-ups upon reaching us to warm himself up.

I joined him because I just like push-ups.

 

[pashnit]

In Happy Camp, we got to visit an old friend. He's kind of gruff & doesn't say much, but is always happy to see me.

 

[pashnit]

Gary might trade up from his GSXR1000 to the Hayabusa. He's ridden his near-bone-stock GSXR1000 across the west, to Colorado & back

Christian is from Germany. Xavier is from France. Neighbors.

Hey, that's this weekend. There's supposed to be a parade, even.

.

 

[pashnit]

Thankfully, our friend is always friendly.

Happy Camp is at bottom middle. Our road across the border runs up this mountain valley.

 

[pashnit]

I last rode over the pass over the Siskiyou Mountains in May 2019. The forest was green and lush with snow on the edge of the road that time of year.

Yes, it's as fun as it looks.

 

[pashnit]

Happy Camp Rd / Indian Valley Rd

 

[pashnit]

Riding over the Oregon border through the Klamath National Forest on Indian Creek Rd over the Siskiyou Mountains was an eye-opener. The 2020 Slater Fire that roared through here one year prior in September 2020 destroyed everything. The fire line reached the very edge of town, but the majority of Happy Camp was saved. Happy Camp is tiny, a town in the middle of the forest with one grocery store, one liquor store, one pizza house, and of course its Bigfoot statue we love.

About 20% of the homes on the northern edge of Happy Camp were lost to the Slater Fire. Steel bridges across Indian Creek had wood decks and the wooden decks of the bridges all burned away and all that remains is a shell of several steel bridges with no clear way to get across the creek to the respective homesteads. The hilltops surrounding the town on the north side are all burned, and burnt forest surrounded the northern border of the town.

Happy Camp Rd / Indian Valley Rd - Huge Dreamcatcher

The destruction on this fire was sobering. Some wildfires creep along the ground other are super hot and jump treetop to treetop, even creating their own weather.

The 2020 Slater Fire burn scar we rode through was extreme and destructive.