The Grand Tour of Pashnit California- Ocean, Mountains & Giant Sequoias

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Neil




Neil's view of San Luis Obispo County




After Bitterwater Rd, the requisite stop at the James Dean Memorial in Cholame.

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Quicky sidenote, you see some interesting stuff when running around California. This sand rail for example, check out that motor, the nitrous, the exhaust, my my.




After crossing the state, we were met by Mark and Judy, local residents to the Bakersfield region. Mark is also a long-time cop and came two-up on their BMW GS.

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It was a pleasure having Mark along as we began riding some of his local roads in the Southern Sierra Nevada Foothills. Locals might recognize the highlighted roads on the Map. Jack Ranch Rd (bottom middle), Old Stage Rd (awesome!!!), Hwy 155 to Mountain Rd 50. The loop we finished up with at top is Hwy 190- the Western Divide Highway. (btw, Rick (gts_rider) recently posted some ride video - clicky of Hwy 190 which is fantastic)

That highlighted road at right btw was from a previous road trip in the region that generated some fantastic photography- check it out when you have some time- a thread entitled, "The Road with No Name."

No pics of of Old Stage Rd (use your imagination- it has 'Old' in the title) or Hwy 155 which was just paved- glassy smooth!! So after lunch together, it was off to ride Mountain Rd 50, aka Hot Springs Dr, up into the Sierra Nevada Mountains.






Requisite Busa shot...

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The Intruder




Mark & Judy aboard the BMW GS

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At the top of the hill with the temperature dropping a good 15 degrees, we arrived at the Western Divide Highway. You'd never know this was here if you were just rolling through, but there's a grove of Giant Sequoia's there- the Trail of a Hundred Giants.




Okay, show of hands. How many have never seen a Giant Sequoia? Robert was awestruck.

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So just how big is it?




The size just boggles the mind...




You try to take it all in. This thing is huge!

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Branches that have fallen off Giant Sequoia were found to be as much as 6 feet in diameter. Just the branch.




You don't say, says Mark.

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Our group in the Trail of a Hundred Giants. Big tree!



Robert, Judy, Tim, Mark, Gary, Ron, Neil

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Very fun day of exploring Pashnit Roads.



Then it was off to ride this... Yes, all those twists and turns are real.



Oh, and did I mention about the Security Detail guarding the Pashnit Sticker? We take this stuff really seriously.

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Stopping mid-way down on Hwy 190 - Western Divide Hwy. Ridden a lot of twisty roads over the years but this section down to Camp Nelson is by far one of the most curvaceous roads in the state.

Did you catch the earlier reference to the ride video of Hwy 190?
Clicky if you'd like to watch Video of the road we were on.