2024 Pashnit Touring on a Hayabusa

Promise me, we’ll never ride this road again.

That was 2015. And that was my buddy Phil.

I kept my promise to Phil, but only for 9 years. We’re back. Alderpoint Rd is not for everyone, it’s a backroad, paved, but remote and zero reason to be on this road. It also has some amazing views across the NorCal mountains as it rides the tops of the ridge lines.

But this day, my plan was to double down and ride a road we’ve never done before, although maybe for good reason. But this was the group to do it with. I had two Multi’s, a Tiger, a Tracer, an Africa Twin, and a GS. Although by buddy Peter was on his Goldwing and me leading on a Hayabusa onto one of the most remote backroads in the state, Zenia Bluff Rd.

Zenia isn’t a town, or even a destination, It’s a single building with a sign out front that is being swallowed up by a tree.

Alderpoint Rd
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Oh man, back when it was illegal in the late 70s that area was prime for growers. I came across a couple guys carrying hoses and big white plastic buckets who really gave me the eye. I ventured into another growing area off 36 E of Fortuna and found a road sign had been switched. Very protective folks out there. I suppose it’s gotten better these days.
 
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Ack! Too many gravel section on this road. Easy does it. We're almost there.

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But that view!

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Single lane remoteness on Zenia Bluff Rd - we didn't see anybody. Not a soul.

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Oh man, back when it was illegal in the late 70s that area was prime for growers. I came across a couple guys carrying hoses and big white plastic buckets who really gave me the eye. I ventured into another growing area off 36 E of Fortuna and found a road sign had been switched. Very protective folks out there. I suppose it’s gotten better these days.

As Terry mentions, this region in Northern California for many years was known as The Emerald Triangle, heart of the illegal pot industry. Pot is all legal now in California, it's no big deal anymore, you can buy it anywhere like buying cornflakes, but back in the day, this region was the center of the universe.

Quite frankly, you have no reason to be on this road, unless you're following that Pashnit Guy around California. :D

Anybody seen that documentary on Netflix called 'Murder Mountain'? Yah, that documentary was filmed on this road. And largely based on events in the nearby tiny mountain town of Alderpoint.


"...and multiple disappearances and murders that have occurred in the surrounding mountain range..." Yup. that's right here. People came out into these hills and just disappear - presumably murdered. And they made a movie about it.

So why are we out there?

This.
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And this. How many years will it take for this tree to swallow up this sign? So cool. :D

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Don't think Zenia ('zen-yah') is a town, but there's a post office here.

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Zenia was first named 'Poison Camp' by men who went there in the 1860s after larkspur in the area poisoned their cattle. Postmaster George Croyden named the community Zenia after a girl.

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Why would anyone ever go to Zenia. ('zen-yah')

Likely it’s this sign. How cool is this been eaten up by this tree.

How many years did it take for the tree to grow over the sign? Decades perhaps?

Yes, the tree out front is growing into and around the sign, devouring it like in that Twilight Zone episode.

Zenia Bluff Rd is not for everyone. And it's likely we won't ever ride this road again. Utah Ken called it 'one and done'. But he's a good sport and handles everything I throw at him. And if there is such a thing as The Middle of Nowhere, this might be it.

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How long since anyone in here? The 80s?

It was all based on logging of course, but they don't do much logging in California anymore.

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What passes as a post office - yes, people actually live out here in the middle of absolute nowhere.

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Kudos to these guys willing to follow me around to these crazy remote places: Mark, Paul, Rob, Gordon, Ken, Eric & new guy Dan on the end. I met Dan at a motorcycle event I put on 20 years ago, no kidding, 20 years later he signs up for a motorcycle tour with me.
Oh yeah, don't forget Mike down below.

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