Alpine Lake, Ebbetts Pass, 7/27 - 7/30

[SFMCjohn]

Hey BARF Adventure Riders,

Anybody planning on riding this weekend around Hwy 4?
We'll be up on the east end of Alpine Lake Saturday night ...
and then joining an ADVrider group Sunday night
through Tuesday, maybe ...

Plans are a little vague now because I guess
maybe the campgrounds fill up this time of year,
but we do have at least one guy heading
up early Saturday morning ...

Anyway, say hi if you see us ...
KLRs and plated dirt bikes (KTMs) ...

see you around the campfire,
-- SFMCjohn
PS: We're planning on showing the Laguna Seca Eurosport MotoGP
at 7pm tonight at the clubhouse at 18th Street and Folsom ...
and a BMW guy who has been touring South America
for 18 months on his way to Alaska may stop by ...
If you are looking for something to do tonight ...
BARF Adventure Riders welcome!

 

[louemc]

Hope the guy that has been doing South America..and headed to Alaska, shows up.

I Won't be at Your meeting, but...Hope he is.

 

[ThumperX]

I wish!

 

[bikeama]

Be ready for weather we got rain and hail last weekend at Alpine. Are you going to ride slick rock road? I have been over slick rock road every year since 1966.

 

[SFMCjohn]

Hey bikeama,

Thanks for the heads-up regarding the weather, I'll be sure to pack a rain-suit

I've never seen Slick Rock Road, but the guys have mentioned it ...
We'll see ...
SFMCjohn

 

[SFMCjohn]

Hope the guy that has been doing South America..and headed to Alaska, shows up.

I Won't be at Your meeting, but...Hope he is.

Hi louemc,
You were right, our Alaska adventure rider was a no-show!
Hope to see you at the club some Thursday,
BARF Adventure Riders always welcome!

Maybe we'll see some BARFers this weekend
around the campfire,
-- SFMCjohn

 

[louemc]

Hi louemc,
You were right, our Alaska adventure rider was a no-show!
Hope to see you at the club some Thursday,
BARF Adventure Riders always welcome!

Maybe we'll see some BARFers this weekend
around the campfire,
-- SFMCjohn

Thanks for the invite, John...

I would have to be putting this Sierra place I Love, in the rear view mirror, and penetrating ever denser traffic and spaces, with concrete structures .. to get there.. So .. Ain't going to happen..A team of Horses couldn't drag me there.

Hope you understand (or at sometime will understand) how much I detest big city's.

Really sorry to hear the South America -to- Alaska dude, didn't show.

Words and pictures don't hold a candle to the actual experience it,...But they can inspire the Do It, And some of those roads in Peru and Bolivian Andes are just too OMG for words
( Shouldn't just mention, those two countries,,The entire Andes Range is involved)...
And a bike is the best (and safest) way to see them.

 

[SFMCjohn]

Thanks for the invite, John...

Hope you understand (or at sometime will understand) how much I detest big city's.

Really sorry to hear the South America -to- Alaska dude, didn't show.

Hey louemc,

I hate riding in the city, too ... We'll just have to come visit you up there!

Love to hear about your trip to South America ...

See you around the campfire!
--SFMCjohn

 

[ThumperX]

looks like we are seeing you around the campfire John

 

[SFMCjohn]

Silvertip Campground #5

So ... in the event, the weather was perfect ...

We rolled up to my coffee shop, the Mercury Cafe,
Saturday morning at 8 am ... Octavia and Paige ...

And we were off at 9 am or so ... we planned on
meeting four other guys up by Lake Alpine in
Hwy 4 in the afternoon ... one who was driving
his KTM 500 up the hill, and the other three who
left San Francisco at 6:30 am, so they could get
some riding in up there on Saturday afternoon ...

We got up to Bear Valley and Alpine California
around 1 pm or so ... The campgrounds around
Lake Alpine were indeed all full by Saturday
afternoon, but we found a great campsite in the
Silvertip Campground at site #5 ... there were
still a couple of empty sites, too ...

We did some hiking up Silver Creek, and got down
to making dinner Saturday night ...

Cheeseburgers, kale salad, roasted potatoes,
grilled onions and mushrooms ... yum ...

This crew had to return to the city to work on
Monday, so we rode down to Dorrington and
cut across from Hwy 4 to Hwy 108 on Hell's Half-Acre Road ...
This is Page doing his first water crossing on his
brand-new DR650 ... On Forest Route 5N02 ...

The OK Corral just off FR 5N02 ...

Our motley crew ... two KLRs, a DR, a KTM 690
and a GS1200 ...

 

[SFMCjohn]

looks like we are seeing you around the campfire John

Hey ThumperX,

Ha! We love our campfires ...

see you in the funny pages,
-- SFMCjohn

 

[ThumperX]

Thanks for the pictures! and taking us along to Campsite 5 and along for the ride

 

[Cabrito]

Looks like you need to add some blinker fluid to the left front blinker or something...

 

[SFMCjohn]

Thanks for the pictures! and taking us along to Campsite 5 and along for the ride

Hey ThumperX,
Thanks for reading and posting!
Hope you get your ATK together for the second-Sunday BARF Adventure ride, and that you take lots of pics ...

Looks like you need to add some blinker fluid to the left front blinker or something...

Hey Cabrito,
Yes, that's Kalle's KLR ... not sure where his left front blinker is ...

OK, got a few more pics to post ...
-- SFMCjohn

 

[SFMCjohn]

So, we eventually took FRN02 around and found Hell's Half Acre Road ...

We plunged down to the bridge over the gorge at the east end of Beardsley Reservoir ...

At the bottom of the plunge down the north side of the canyon ...

So, the last time I explored down around Beardsley Reservoir
we stayed on the paved road that leads over the dam and
then took FH52 up the north side ... turns out it is much
more fun to turn off the pavement on the south side and
make your way down Hell's Half Acre Road to the east end ...
much more interesting dirt, and this cool bridge ...
the turn off of 108 just above Strawberry is a well-marked
left hand turn onto a paved road ...

If you are looking to get into this area off of Hwy 4,
head to Dorrington and make a right (heading east)
onto Sierra Parkway and make a left at the first stop sign ...

I said goodbye to my four friends here ...
we took the time to leave a little Day of the Dead
style memorial for my brother at one of the intersections
between the bridge and FH52 on the north side of the river ...

It's a small tin cigar box you can open and leave a little note in,
if you have a pen ... it's on the right-hand-side of
Hell's Half Acre Road at a
triangle style intersection, just a mile or so below the
intersection with FH52 ... as you head north up the hill ...
Some more pics, here, and an obit, here.

I made a right onto FH52 to make my way along the
high road back to FR514 ... turns out to be a much
easier way to go, easy to navigate, better (easier)
dirt road and no water crossing ... brings you just past Liberty Dome ...

Got back to Hwy 4 in short order, and headed back up to
Lake Alpine to meet up with a group from ADVrider who'd be
camping and riding starting on Sunday through Tuesday ...

 

[SFMCjohn]

Calaveras Dome ...

Met up with four guys from an ADVrider.com
show-up-or-don't ride that had been posted by
Catfish on the West forum ... we were camped at
the east end of Alpine Lake, in the campground the
furthest away from the lake ...

We went for a ride on Monday, to Calaveras Dome,
north of Hwy 4 and about 22 miles west and
down the hill from Lake Alpine ... FR7N09,
which does a huge easy loop before entering
and exiting Hwy 4 at the same place, just east of the
Cabbage Patch Maintenance Center ...

Catfish and his Beta, an Italian bike ... from Italy ... ha.

The bad-ass plated dirtbikes on top of Calaveras Dome,
and what I'm told are old Indian grindstone holes ...
the dome is covered with these indentations ...

Salt Springs Reservoir ...

Lunch ...

Great day of riding ... I rode to meet the KTM
and plated-dirt-bike guys at the dome, and then
rode over to Utica Reservoir ... someone help me
with the name, here ...?

I had a nice nap next to this high alpine reservoir ... ha.

So, if you live in San Francisco, this area rocks ...
about four hours from the city, and you can slog across
580-205-120 and cross a big part of the Central Valley
pretty quickly ... the riding season up here is basically
July and August, by the time the high passes open,
but they plow Hwy 4 up to Bear Valley, so you can
get up here pretty early in the season ... there is gas in
Bear Valley ($4.38 for regular unleaded, and they have premium)
and a couple of stores at BV and Lake Alpine ...

I'm headed back up to this part of the world on
August 9-11th to attend
Bungee Brent's Backroads Bash #6,
a dual-sport ride based out of Long Barn on Hwy 108 ...
we're staying at the Long Barn Lodge, so we won't have to
pack a tent or sleeping bags ...

so, there you go ...
see you around the campfire,
-- SFMCjohn

 

[Dmitriy]

Some quality info in your posts on roads , I am definitely bookmarking your threads just for that! Thanks for taking time with pictures (I know it must be hard to interrupt your ride for them ) but we get a lot of enjoyment seeing them in the ride reports.

 

[WoodsChick]

I'm headed back up to this part of the world on
August 9-11th to attend
Bungee Brent's Backroads Bash #6,
a dual-sport ride based out of Long Barn on Hwy 108 ...
we're staying at the Long Barn Lodge, so we won't have to
pack a tent or sleeping bags ...

so, there you go ...
see you around the campfire,
-- SFMCjohn

Stay another day or so and catch the best of the Perseids meteor shower!

Thanks SO much for the photos and ride report! I love that area up there...love the granite!!




GraniteChick

 

[ThumperX]

I wish to hang with these cool kids!

Thaks for the pictures, the back story, and taking us along for the ride!

 

[Nemo Brinker]

Thanks for the inspiration to bust out my Benchmark Atlas, follow along, and dream!