45 Days on a Gen3 Hayabusa - 2023 Pashnit Touring
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Volcanic eruption 3.4 million years ago blew down all these redwood trees at the same time. I really can't wrap my head around that.
They look like trees, but they're not. They're 3.4 million year old rocks. Crazy. And the redwoods were 2000 years old when they were blown down. Still can't wrap my head around that.
They look like trees, but they're not. They're 3.4 million year old rocks. Crazy. And the redwoods were 2000 years old when they were blown down. Still can't wrap my head around that.
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Always construction somewhere along the coast. Never ends.
The CalTrans worker spotted us and motioned us to come up to the front. Thanks. Bypassing the long line of cars & moving up the front. Nobody wants to be stuck behind this long line of cars on such a twisty stretch of road.
16 bikes in the tour group makes a huge long line of headlights behind me going a mile plus of just motorcycles railing through the turns.
If there's no traffic, it's as fun as it looks. Fast. Twisty. Amazing views of the ocean.
Highway 1 North | California Motorcycle Roads | Pashnit
Ride Coastal California Motorcycle Hwy 1 - Marin, Sonoma, Mendocino Counties
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One of our guys on the tour is one of the chief architects for the City of Sacramento. We were surprised to learn that one of Bruce's first projects as a young architect in the mid-1970s was rebuilding one of the buildings here at Fort Ross. Bruce pointed & said I designed that one. He was pretty excited and told us all about the effort to re-construct the fort into what we see today.
Most of this fort didn't exist a few decades back, the fort you see today is almost all a reconstruction on the original site dating to the 1830s when Russian fur trappers established a fort here.
Most of this fort didn't exist a few decades back, the fort you see today is almost all a reconstruction on the original site dating to the 1830s when Russian fur trappers established a fort here.
Fort Ross State Historic Park
Fort Ross State Historic Park (20 miles north of Bodega Bay) is a worthy stop for riders seeking a dose of local history. The fort is reconstructed atop the original site, active from 1812 to 1842. Predating the 1849 Gold Rush, it was built by Russian fur traders making their way down the West Coast of North America while the Spanish worked their way northward along the inland California Coastline, establishing the Mission System. The Russian expansion down the coast of North America also mirrored European expansion down the coast of Africa and to the Far East during the same time period.
By 1812, Ivan Kuskov arrived in the present-day Sonoma County region with 25 Russians, many skilled craftsmen and 80 Native Alaskans known as Aleuts. The Aleuts brought with them forty baidarkas, a fast-maneuverable ocean kayak made with animal skins for use in hunting. The tradesmen began building a fort to serve as a base for collecting sea otter pelts. The Russians also attempted farming and ship building, but were overall unsuccessful at either activity.
By the early 1800s, Russian fur trading companies were exporting an average of 62,000 fur pelts from North America back to Russia, 80% of which were seals. The Aleuts paddled in their sea kayaks as far south as the Farallon Islands 30 miles off the coast of San Francisco and lived in crude settlements on the Farallon Island from 1812 to 1840 while they hunted. By 1817, the sea otter populations were depleted by international over hunting.
Farming & ranching began to replace hunting. Orchards containing fruit-bearing trees still remain today about a mile from the fort. Animal stock was obtained from the Spanish and ranching proved to be more successful than farming, which was primary wheat. During the later years of the colony, animal stock expanded to 1700 head of cattle, nearly 1000 horses and 1000 sheep were in possession of the Russians.
By the 1840s, the fort was no longer needed to supply food to the Alaskan colonies, and the Russians were looking to sell. They sold the fort to John Sutter on credit for $30,000 in 1841. John Sutter built what today is known as Sutters Fort in 1840 in present-day downtown Sacramento. John Sutter is also credited along with James Marshall for discovering gold in Coloma in the tail race of the saw mill he and Marshall were building north of Placerville which set off the 1849 Gold Rush.
The present-day Fort Ross is mostly a reconstruction, the walls, buildings, and two defensive blockhouses overlooking the ocean were built with period techniques from drawings and plans of the fort. The Russian Church inside the fort was re-built several times, the current version was built after a 1970 fire burned down the building, which was then re-constructed as authentically as possible over the existing foundation.
Russian windmills were described in early accounts of the fort and in 2012, a new windmill 31 feet high and 25 feet wide was dedicated during the Fort Ross Bicentennial Festival. The new windmill greets visitors as you pull into the parking lot and is located on the west end of the lot. We have visited the fort with motorcycle tour groups when ocean winds were so strong, we thought the bikes might be blown over.
Russian windmills were described in early accounts of the fort and in 2012, a new windmill 31 feet high and 25 feet wide was dedicated during the Fort Ross Bicentennial Festival. The new windmill greets visitors as you pull into the parking lot and is located on the west end of the lot. We have visited the fort with motorcycle tour groups when ocean winds were so strong, we thought the bikes might be blown over.
The strangest thing about the fort is the original Highway 1 we’re riding today was paved right through the fort and then hung a right to head north along the ocean. The road bed is still clearly visible to this day along the south wall. Funding bills for Hwy 1 were passed in 1912 and 1923 laying out the route of Highway 1 before the decision to rebuild Fort Ross on the original location took place. The road flowed through the fort all the way into the 1970s.
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