Friday–Sunday, 7–9 Sep 2007
Carl’s pictures
Marc writes
I pulled in across the street from our normal starting spot with at least 90 seconds to spare, bike fully loaded for 2 nights in Sequoia National Park. Tom was waiting, as was Dave G. No Carl. Oh well, Carl knows where we are going (breakfast at the Cozy Cup) and can meet us there. Dave G. was along just for the (expensive) ride to breakfast.
Expensive? Dave is now in possession of another R1100RS (less a working transmission) just to get a replacement for the saddle-bag that fell off of his bike someplace between Burlingame and Hollister. Dave was riding in the back; neither Tom nor I saw the bag fall off.
As expected, Jerry Carl joined us shortly after we ordered breakfast. He didn’t see Dave’s wayward bag, either. After breakfast we said goodbye to Dave, the three campers heading south on 25 to 198 and Coalinga. After a gas stop, that is.
Packed for camping 1
Packed for camping 2
Packed for camping 3
Carl at 25 and 198
At rest and fuel stop in Coaling we decided that we would skip lunch in Visalia, instead continuing on to Three Rivers where we’d fuel up again for riding in the park on Saturday and pick up any needed supplies. This would get us to the camp ground sooner, perhaps offering a better selection of camp sites. In any case none of us were hungry after the large breakfast we had.
Stake driving
his and his
Tom’s home away from home
We got to the Buckeye Flat camp-site about 2:30; it was already quite full. We found two sites with areas flat enough to pitch tents. After getting our tents set up and food stored in the bear box it was time to really start Camping drinking. Tom mentioned that you can’t really say you’re camping until you’ve got a beer in your hand. Or something similar. Carl and I settled for some Merlot.
Peaceful. We sat, talked, sipped drinks, looked at the camp critters, and had a good time. We did not go overboard on snacks (in spite of skipping lunch) so dinner was prepared at a reasonable hour (where reasonable is defined as early enough to clean up after dinner before it got too dark). After dinner Tom made a fire which lasted longer than we did; we hit our sleeping bags pretty early.
Firestarter Tom
Water boy
Beer boy
instant garage
Overhead view
Mmmm Merlot
Critters
The garbage collection folks woke about half the camp-ground Saturday morning. I had coffee, scrambled eggs, and left-over beef franks for breakfast. Tom made french toast. It looked good. I might consider the same for next year. After breakfast it was time to ride.
I’d never been to the top of Mineral King, a somewhat recent addition (1978) to the park. I headed back toward Three Rivers where I picked up the 30 mile dead end road to Mineral King. It’s about a 90 minute ride to the top with a stop or three to take some pictures. The road is mainly paved with two sections of dust over either old roadway or very hard packed dirt. The only other bikes I saw were a pair of Harleys. Here are the pictures I took on the way to the end of the road.
Bridge on road to Mineral King
View from bridge 1
View from bridge 2
7800 feet
View at Mineral King road end
Who’s this guy?
More Mineral King
Even more Mineral King
About 3 or 4 miles from the end of the road is the Silver City resort area. On the way back I stopped there where the restaurant has maybe 5 things on the menu. That’s 5 more than I expected. An ice tea and a quesadilla later I was ready to get back to the camp site.
I took some pictures of an interesting rock formation and the winding road down the hill on the way back to camp. When entering Sequoia about 2:30 I saw that the Buckeye Flat was marked as full. Had we not changed the dates of the ride to be Fri-Sun instead of Sat-Mon we would not have been able to camp there this year. Lucky.
I got back to camp, changed into some shorts, and walked down to the river to rinse away the sweat with some cold water. The water level was much lower than usual. The camp host reported that the levels had dropped dramatically within the last week or so.
About an hour and an half after I got back to camp Tom and Carl arrived hauling wood for the fire and refreshments for the afternoon. The evening and night was similar to the previous save that we managed to stay awake a little longer.
Back in camp
Tom arrives
Wood hauler
Carl arrives
Planning a big breakfast
Sunday morning the garbage collection folks again made sure the entire camp-site was awake by 6:30. We were having breakfast in Visalia with Carl’s sister and brother-in-law for important reasons: Carl needed to replenish his supply of real Vermont maple syrup! After breakfast Carl rearranged his luggage to make room for the precious addition. Once on the road we backtracked the route we took Friday, stopping in Hollister for gas, a cool drink, and a chance to say good-bye before heading in different directions.
The only change I can think of for next year will be to take the road past Los Gatos Creek, perhaps stopping there for a break, to 25 on the way to Hollister. That would let us bypass Coalinga on the way back. Come join us and see if that happens.