From the Saddle. Pashnit Tours heads to NorCal.

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Highway 3 - Hayfork Pass

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It was here we worked on our 2009 Pashnit Calendar shots.



Larry



Kevin proved to be a willing target




So here's the skinny on doing shots like this. My camera has a rapid fire button. All those years I never bothered to read the manual. Something like 3 shots per second it will take. So hit all the right buttons, point the camera at the rider as they swing by and just press the shutter & hope for the best. Some of them actually came out pretty well.

Moral of the story is see if your camera has one of these rapid-fire buttons.

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Kevin even hopped on his wife's bike and took a few passes.




The Pashnit Guy caught on film again.






Down the hill & into Hayfork. Yes, it's as fun as it looks!

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So now it got interesting. It'd been cold and warmed up during the midst of the day, but as we were riding out of Hayfork, it began to snow.

Kevin over the radio took a minute to register. He thought he was looking at pollen or something floating around in the air.

Ah no Kevin - that floaty white stuff is snow.



Nearing the South Fork Mountain Summit.




Stop at the top of course

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The wind was blowing up the mountain side so hard, no one wanted to take their helmet off. See the snow?

On the other side of the summit, it snowed on & off for the next 20 miles.

Nothing serious, just white flaky stuff floating around in the air. Sucks to be cold, but gotta love the adventure! Could be out here riding, or sitting in an office somewhere.

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One thing I have always wanted to photograph is the 10 mile long goat trail section at Mad River. When you show people a photo like this...



and then call it the best road in the entire state, mouths salivate, and riders can think nothing but of spooning on a new set of tires and making a beeline.

Then you show them this! Goat! Yep, still Hwy 36.








Doesn't last. Back to that creamy smooth pavement.




Finally came down in elevation into the coast redwoods







...and went right through a cloud burst of rain. Thankfully that only lasted 10 minutes or so. We made it through the wall of rain, and you could look back and see this gray wall we'd just come through. Leading edge of the storm or something bumping up against the coast. Gotta love all of California's microclimates!

Billie captures our last fillup to be ready to ride first thing tomorrow.

I was ready for the hot tub!

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Our day typically starts out with a little tree huggin'.

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From the redwoods, then out to the Pacific Ocean



It had been cold and wet when we started out. Once we hit the ocean, blue skies and temps went up 10 degrees! It was incredible!









We weren't the only ones out this day enjoying the spring weather!

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Anybody hungry?