A Pashnit Epic Adventure - Riding Northern California

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I was a bit curious about Orleans as I had done a refinance loan here a year ago. Small, tiny, and a gas station with an above ground tank. That was about it. Onward!!

Highway 96 is also known for all the campgrounds. There were numerous campgrounds one after the other. If you wanted to camp- this is the place. And also known for some river rafting too on the Klamath River.

Sounds interesting

Photo by Alan

The trails lead down to this. One of the more interesting sights along Hwy 96 with this sheer rock face.


Photo by Alan

[pashnit]

Another thing that I did a lot of was panoramic photos. (You might have noticed.) A quick example of this is take this slide for example along Highway 96. Quick story about one of these - of which you can see could happen on a massive scale - is a river in Canada experienced a slide so big along the local river, it stopped the flow of the river entirely. As in a dam was inadvertantly created. The river began rising, flooding the surrounding countryside due to the natural occurrence. Downstream, the water simply stopped flowing, much to the surprise of the residents. Eventually, the river rose high enough to pour over the natural dam and continued its downstream journey.

The non panoramic

[pashnit]

Now here what happens when you take three photos (portrait/ tall style) and glue them together. Slightly different perspective. You can see in this pic the extent of the slide. And how if it were large enough, it could dam the entire river.

The panoramic

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Jeff is an interesting fellow. And one of the things I've come to enjoy about Pashnit Motorcycle Tours is that on the very same ride, we have Jeff, who in this photo is dragging his knee, and Haroldo who rode along without a care in the world. Doesn't matter what you ride, or what your pace is, we still all pace together as the day progresses.

Jeff had come on a ride last year, and his biggest reservation is that it'd be a bunch of slow riders tooling along. Well, not exactly.

Jeff on the Tuono

[pashnit]

Nearing Hoopa, the road takes a very twisty approach to navigating this sheer rock wall. Below it is a drop-off that you could bungee off of. To make the road cut, road engineers simply carved out the rock, and where there it was so sheer, they placed a bridge until there was rock to cut into again. And super twisty!

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Let's Eat!!


Mmmmm !!!

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After checking out the Bigfoot Museum in Willow Creek, it was off to our next assignment.

Bigfoot board games


Group shot at the Willow Creek Bigfoot Museum
Jeff, Tim, Alan, Haroldo, Megan, & Yours Truly

[pashnit]

If you've never heard of Forest Road 1, there might be a reason for that. Up until a few years ago, I hadn't heard of it either. And to make it worse, I'd been riding past it for more years prior to that. If you weren't told, you'd never know it was even there. Most maps, this road isn't even on there.

Titlow Hill Rd - South Fork Mtn Rd, aka Forest Road 1


(This map is made with Delorme.com 3-D Topographical mapping)

[pashnit]

There are so many stops (you'll quickly notice that), you have to say at some point, okay, I'm going to ride and keep making my way south. After leaving the relative safety of Highway 299 (which drops unevently back to the ocean and Eureka), then begins to climb.

The very first view is stunning, and gives the impression to stop at this very first vista and burn up the memory card. But ride on, and the view only improves as you climb up through a series of switchbacks. Just when you think you've reached the top, another view opens up to the north.

Forest Road 1 has really grown on me over the years, it's also known as Titlow Hill Road, and then South Fork Mountain Rd on the southern portion to Hwy 36. Any road with that type of length and no paved side roads- you have my attention.

Titlow Hill Rd

Photo by Jeff


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A quick photography lesson...

One of the time-honored things to do is shoot pics of your own bike. And you know you've finally shot enough when folks are just plain tired of looking at it. Gone are the days when my bike is in every single photo of my entire trip. (There was a time.) Nowadays, it's always about somehow capturing that 'magazine cover' shot of the bike.

But if you're wondering how to do a shot like this, it's really quite easy. The first thing is understand that every bike has a certain angle at which it looks its best. And finding it is half the fun.

The other thing is always position the camera low, between the level of the axle to the headlight. Graduate from always doing shots at eye level- especially with this style of photography.

The main thing this shot has is to fully utilize the zoom feature on the camera. Zoom it all the way to the extent of the optical zoom (don't tap into the digital zoom). Let's say it's zoomed to 4x. Then start backing off till you can fit the entire bike in the frame (you are zoomed after all).

Once you get to the right distance, put the camera at the level of the headlight or below, and shoot several different angles (like the shape of a radius from the bike)- at least 3 or 4.

Low and behold - one of those shots will stand out- Like this one!!

The Pashnit Busa

[pashnit]

On a long road like this (of 50 miles), it's normal for everyone to get spaced out a bit. I often read that riders in a group never took any shots of the road or scenery because the group all stayed together and no one ever stops. Not so here, it was a photographic free-for-all. Maybe one of these times we'll have to do a Pashnit Motorcycle Tour that spends half the time giving tips and suggestions on taking magazine-quality photos.

We were all just burning up the memory card, and you couldn't help it on a road like this. The scenery is just beyond reproach. While some up and over roads just give you a view at the top- this one keeps on giving and giving.

The first view that greets you on the north end of Titlow Hill Rd


Note how steep!

Photo by Jeff