August 8-11, 2008

Planned Trip RW3 (see revised planned trips here).  Extended to 4 days to allow for a more leisurely pace and more sightseeing.

4 day trip into Northern California.  1,797 miles.  4 Days.  A total of 4 stamps collected.  23 down, 1 to go!

Friday, August 8.

Friday was a 501 mile blast up I-5 to Red Bluff, with a small detour.  Pretty much boring super-slab all the way.  Michael was on his new 2008 Honda CBR1000RR.  I left Sylmar at 7:50, and met Michael in Gorman.  After topping off the tanks, we left Gorman at 8:45.  Next stop was for gas in Kettleman City at 10:15  154 miles down!  Since Michael was on a new bike, and on an aggressive sportbike, I tried to make stops at 90-120 miles.  About 80 miles north of Kettleman City, we turned off onto CA-165.  It was time for a break from the super-slab.  CA-165 is a fairly fast and straight north ride through a wildlife refuge, intersecting with CA-99 in Turlock.  My dad lived for many years northeast of Sacramento, so I knew many alternate routes.  This was one of my favorites, and one of the shortest ways to get from Sylmar to Sacramento.   We stopped for gas in Los Banos at 11:40.  246 miles covered so far.  The next 20 or so miles are in the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge.  We startled some swan while traveling through the NWR.  We made a stop at Hilmar Cheese Factory at 12:20.  The cheese here is good, but we did not have the means to keep it cold, so we just sampled some of the cheeses and used the very clean restrooms.  Leaving the cheese factory at 12:40, we quickly arrived at CA-99 for some more freeway riding to Sacramento.  We exited at Florin Rd and stopped for gas at 1:55.  Then it was city streets to the Squeeze Inn for lunch.

I found out about the Squeeze Inn on a Food Network show called Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.  This place is worth a stop for an excellent burger with cheese, called the "Squeeze with Cheese."  I did a SaddleSore 1000 run in 2007, making this place the primary goal.  If you like cheese burgers, don't even think of getting anything else.  They recently opened a second location in Galt, it is nothing like the tiny hole-in-the-wall original location.  We spent an hour at the Squeeze Inn, leaving at 3:10.  We had covered 362 miles so far.

At 16:00, we stopped for a break and gas in Arbuckle.  We made it to the Travelodge in Red Bluff at 5:30.  We walked and bought food in a nearby market and some beverages at a liquor store.

Saturday, August 9.

Saturday was a 399 mile loop through Lassen Volcanic NP and Lava Beds NM.  We left the motel at 7:35 in the morning.  After a quick stop for gas, we were on our way east and north to Lassen Volcanic NP.  Riding on CA-36 from Red Bluff, the highway was nice and wide open, making for a pleasant cruise.  I did see something that I did not believe existed in California anymore, our direction had a passing lane as it was going uphill, but traffic in the downhill direction could cross the yellow stripes and make use of the passing lane as long as there was no uphill traffic.  Eventually, the road narrowed down and there were some nice twisty sections.  The temperatures dropped as we gained elevation.  Turning north on CA-89, we arrived at the entrance sign at 8:30, eventually making it to the entrance at 8:50.

We wove our way up the side of Lassen Peak, arriving at the road's high point at 9:05.  It was chilly at 8,500'.  We had a snack at the small store in the parking lot, and Michael found a gift for his wife.  While Michael was shopping, I was chatting with the ranger as she was opening her booth.  We got out first of 2 Lassen stamps there.  By 9:20 we were descending as we continued on CA-89 north.  There were quite a number of hikers arriving to take the trail to the summit of Lassen Peak.

From roughly the high point of the road, until near Summit Lake, a distance of about 8 miles, the road was under construction and mostly gravel.  Along with the dampness from the morning dew, this meant our bikes were quite dirty by the time we made a brief stop at the Devasted Area for pictures.  We also stopped at Mazanita Lake and Loomis Museum at 10:05, for a second stamp.  At 10:30, we were leaving Lassen Volcanic NP.

Next was a gas stop in Old Station, and then a stop at Subway Cave, which is along CA-89 near Old Station, just before the east junction with CA-44.  We arrived at 10:55, and began exploring the cave.  Subway cave is a lava tube.  At one time, magma flowed here.  The outside of the flow cools enough creating a tube of magma, much like a straw.  Eventually, the source stops erupting, so the liquid lava drains out of the center of the "straw," leaving a nice tube behind.  Since this was not a water carved cave through limestone, like so many caves are, there are not stalactites or stalagmites.  The National Forest has developed a 1/3 mile section of the tube, placing stairs at each end, and plenty of interpretive signs both in and on top of the cave.  You must supply your own flashlight.  Luckily, I had a small flashlight in my toolkit.

We left the cave parking lot at 11:35, turned east of CA-299, and then had lunch at a small roadside establishment east of Fall River Mills from 12:15-12:50.  We stopped for gas in Bieber, at the junction with the Bieber Lookout road.  We took the cutoff road up to CA-139, and then turning left 10 miles later to head towards the southern entrance of Lava Beds NM.  The road through the National Forest is in horrible shape - Full of potholes which take careful riding to avoid.  Inside the NM, the roads were nice, but of course you then had to deal with the decreased speed limits that are prevalent in the NP system.  We made it to the entrance sign at 2:10.

We stopped for our stamps at the VC at 2:30, exploring the VC for 20 minutes.  We had covered 203 tough miles so far, just over 1/2 of the way.  Smoke haze was all around from the various fires in Northern California.  North of the wildlife refuge and almost to the Oregon border, we stopped at the former WWII POW camp at 3:20.  The camp is on Hill Rd, roughly 1 mile north of East West Rd.

Just south of the Oregon border, we turned onto CA-161 west.  This road stays just south of the border and goes through another National Wildlife Refuge.  We got to US-97, and turned south to head back to Red Bluff.  We tried to stop for gas in Doris, but the station had no premium (the CBR) or plus (my Connie), so we pushed on to Macdoel, stopping for gas at 4:00.  CHP units were all over US-97, looking for someone.  The rest of the ride was unremarkable, turning south on I-5, and stopping for gas in Dunsmuir at 5:00.  The water level in Shasta Lake was quite low.  We reached the motel at 6:30.  We walked to a nearby Chinese restaurant for dinner.

Sunday August 10.

Sunday was a 398 mile ride out to the coast and back for 2 more stamps.  We left the motel at 7:35, heading north on I-5, and then west on CA-299 in Redding.  Pay attention to the signs on I-5 in Redding, you actually briefly travel on CA-44 to get to the 299.  We got gas in Redding.  Heading west past Whiskeytown Lake (not open yet, stamp will be on return trip), the highway is nice and wide until just past the lake.  After that, CA-299 is quite a blast all of the way to the coast.  A great mix of tight and twisty alternating with straighter sections, and several summits to cross.  There were several forest fires burning in the area around Weaverville.  A major fire camp was set up in Junction City.  By the time we stopped 20 minutes for gas and a snack in Willow Creek at 10:10, we had put the fires and smoke behind us.  It was getting cold since we were nearer to the coast, so I put my windbreaker on over my mesh jacket.  We were deep in Sasquatch territory, so I bought some Jack Links jerky so I could "mess with Sasquatch."  As we neared the coast, the temperatures dropped and fog appeared.  We took CA-200 as a shortcut to US-101 north. 

The fog was thick and slightly drizzly as we headed north on US-101 to the Thomas Kuchel VC of Redwoods National & State Parks.  Arriving at the VC at 11:40, we spent the next 40 minutes at the VC getting stamps, checking out the exhibits, looking at the birds nesting at the VC, looking at the ocean, and finally taking our photos.

After the VC, we did stop at Redwood Trail RV Park for some souvenir shopping, then gas in Arcata at 1:20.  Next was a nice lunch in Willow Creek from 2:00-2:45 at Raging Creek Pub & Eatery.  Along CA-299 near Helena, we came across a helicopter loading zone on the Trinity River.  We pulled over and took some photos of the copters taking on water.  They would stop occasionally to let rafters through.  After that it was back through the fire base camp, and then a stop for gas in Weaverville 4:00.

I had forgotten to confirm the VC hours for Whiskeytown, so I erred on the side of caution and assumed the standard NPS closing time of 5:00.  We still had 36 miles, with some very tight 20mph hairpins to go, so it would be close.  We encountered a horse trailer holding up traffic in the tightest area, making for some slow going.  I kept my eye on the GPS and the clock, wondering if we would have to get very spirited in our riding to make it. The trailer finally pulled over and speeds picked up to normal.  We made it to the VC at 16:55.  It turns out that the closing time is 6:00, so we had plenty of time.  We then took our photos at sign that is east of the VC along CA-299.

We arrived at the motel in Red Bluff at 6:20.  Dinner was Italian.

Monday August 11.

Monday was 499 mile return ride to Sylmar down I-5.  We left the motel at 8:10, stopping for gas across the street.  Then gas in Arbuckle.  We stopped in Old Town Sacramento at 10:05, visiting the California State Railroad Museum. After the museum, we had some fries to eat, and walked along the river. I did stock up on my hard candy supply at the Candy Barrel. We left Old Town at 12:30.  It was a hot day in the valley.

We made a stop in Stockton for gas and a cool down at 1:30.  180 miles completed on our way home.  Another gas stop at the Panoche exit at 3:00.  285 miles completed.  Then gas and a meal in Buttonwillow from 5:00 to 6:00.  Only 103 miles to home.  A stop in Gorman to say goodbye at 6:40, and then I was home at 7:30.  What a trip.  Only 1 stamp remains to complete the set.  We plan on waiting until the fall for Death Valley.

GPS Track Log.

New stamps in the NPS Stamp Book.

 (note: photos were taken either by myself or Michael Bowman)