OK !!! Here's the story : My fav local road JUST got better! And it is only abou 25 minutes from my house!
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Hwy 162 aka... Oro-Quincy hwy aka ... Forest Service road 119 ...
Dont matter whatchu call it, I call it SICK !!! Nor Cal and the Sierra's have tons of great roads and this one is awesome! No traffic, perfect pavement, beautiful scenery and very few side roads on the upper section. In fact the upper section isnt even a hwy, it's a forest service road ( yeah right ) Your fed tax $$$ hard at work.
There is a nice write up on Pashnit about this road from several years ago.
The bumpy section just past Lake Madrone has been under construction since last year and I am happy to announce it is done! ( just in time for next weeks rain & snow )
We braved the 45 degree weather and headed up the hill on friday, traffic was light and our young stunting friend got a few tricks in too. We had to watch for shaded areas as they are some times wet and we even saw frost on one bridge. The road meanders up through the little town of Berry Creek. Quaint and wooded and the pot capital of the county.
We stop & chatted with some of the workers who were putting the finishing touches on the road and they were all really nice folks. And the head of the construction company that has been working up there the last couple years said, ( and I quote ) " We got paid an extra 5% if we made it as smooth as possible... " And they did! BTW he stopped in the middle of the road and chatted it up with us for like 20 minutes asking about our bikes ... He is from Eureka and he rides a BMW.
The road mix has at least 2 special layers and has some kind of polymer added for smoothness and longevity and I can tell you it was like butter!
So the conclusion is what a shame it is gonna start raining and snow up there this week, but there was some construction debris, gravel and some other issues that should be clean by spring. In a word ... WOOHOO!
