Hot And Heavy After 21 Years: Stonyford Ride n' Camp

[WoodsChick]

Looking to celebrate 21 years of marriage, Eric and I decided to take a little ride up to Stonyford for the weekend. We wanted to get out of the cool city and enjoy the crazy summer heat going on up there. We packed up the "big" bikes...his KTM 950ADV and my Terra 650...and split our way out of the Bay Area at rush hour o'clock on a Friday. Headed north on Suisun Valley Road on our way to Knoxville-Berryessa Road...

As soon as we'd gone through the Caldecott Tunnel we were greeted with instant summer. It was warm. It only got warmer as we gained latitude. By the time we got to Clear Lake at dusk it was downright hot. We fueled up the bikes, thereby making them as heavy as they could possibly be before hopping on dirt, and then fueled ourselves at Fosters Freeze before heading out to Walker Ridge beneath pitch black skies. We were really enjoying the warm evening...something we don't get in Oakland...and having a blast up on Walker Ridge. Eric has a new super-duper headlight on his 950 and this was our first night ride with it. What a difference actual visibility makes! We wanted to camp up on the ridge and were looking for a good spot when we came upon this sign...

Wow...how cool is that?? But, um...no thanks! While I was pleased to no end to see that there was going to be a rally car race up there, I did not want to be waking up to rally cars ripping past my prone body in my dust-colored tent. We continued on, enjoying the warm night. We dropped down the switchbacks on Brim Road and headed north on Leesville-Lodoga Rd. It was nearing midnight but the thermometer was stuck on 76º. We set up the tent in a hurry on a closed trail and slipped off to slumber before the moon came up.
Photos had to wait til the morning...

It was already getting hot at sun-up so we moved camp down to the creek as quickly as we could. It involved some reverse portage...

This will do...

Once camp was secure we headed out to do some riding before it got too hot.
It was nice riding the bikes without all the camping gear...they actually felt not-so-heavy...but, again, heading out to dirt with full tanks...

Did I mention it was hot?

Time to hit another swimming hole...

We hit up the Timberline for ice tea, A/C and some MotoGP qualifying...
(this photo was taken the next day but for the sake of continuity...poetic license and all that LOL)

It was about 104º by this time so we headed back to camp and our lovely little creek...

The solid rock soaks up the sun and warms up the water to simply sublime temps...

Sublime, indeed...

More on the way...

 

[FabOneUp]

Nice! How many times did the KTM break down?

 

[WoodsChick]

Nice! How many times did the KTM break down?

Hah! Not once. It's pretty reliable.

 

[ray_ray]

18 yrs of marriage for me ...

Nice looking creek area but those things fill up quickly after a rain .... And you are looking a little exotic in some of your pics ... .. you know, for 21 yrs of Eric ...

 

[WoodsChick]

18 yrs of marriage for me ...

Nice looking creek area but those things fill up quickly after a rain .... And you are looking a little exotic in some of your pics ... .. you know, for 21 yrs of Eric ...

Hah! I'd probably die of a heart attack at seeing rain in July at Stonyford before the flash flood killed me. There's no rain in sight. None. Not for a few months yet. And "exotic?" That's funny, ray_ray Good one

 

[WoodsChick]

We weren't the only ones enjoying the wonderful water...

After playing in the hot sun and water all day, then lounging in the creek with the bota bag full of Zinfandel all night, we retired to the tent a tad early...

Korean beef jerky and dried mango served as our dinner at midnight. It was still 74º. The thermometer plummeted to 70º by the time we woke up at sunrise. A lazy cup of coffee prepared us for the dismantling of our camp and the climb out of the canyon.



Is nature trying to tell me something?

We loaded the bikes up and headed out through the forest. We checked out a previously unknown campsite...

After goofing around in the forest a bit we headed west on Goat Mt. Road. The temps climbed higher as we dropped lower on the road to Hough Springs. Good lord, it was hot!

As we got closer to Hough Springs, the road became less and less identifiable. We kind of rode around in circles looking for it. Surely it wasn't down this dry riverbed?

Well, it wasn't down this way...

Maybe down here?

Nope. Damn it! It was about 100º and very still down here...no breeze. The bikes were getting hot and I was getting tired of turning around in the rocks. Maybe the road was this way?

Well, hell...it wasn't this way, either...

We finally said "screw it" and parked in the shade of a big tree and went for a dip in the creek. After cooling off and being able to think clearly once again, I offered Eric the key to my 650 should he want to go on a reconnaissance mission. He thought that was a grand idea...probably because he really likes riding the "little" 650...and he took off in search of the road while I soaked and explored the immediate area.



I have a jealous heart...

I also found a rather deep swimming hole in the shallow creek. This thing was about 7' deep in the middle and it had a nice little fine gravel beach for lounging in the sun and watching the 10" fish swim around...

I made us a tasty lunch of nectarines and tuna sandwiches (gotta love those expensive vacuum-packed pouches of pre-drained tuna, packets of Kraft mayonnaise and stout sliced sourdough) and after a bit more playing in the water it was time to go. We had a lot of ground to cover, a lot of it dirt. Oh, and Eric had said that yes, the road was, indeed, down the rocky dry riverbed. Great. Looking forward to it. No, really...

 

[Coffee]

Sounds like you were having a *great* time, as usual.

 

[HuskyDude]

Nothing like a cool swimming spot after a hot ride.

Great write up Woodsie.

 

[Motosportz]

Fun

 

[oregonsage]

Refreshing...

 

[WoodsChick]

I was super-refreshed walking out of the water, but by the time I got up to where the bikes were parked I was hot again. It was hell putting my gear back on...and it's really cool full-mesh gear. I wanted to pitch the tent and stay another day but that was not to be. Eric and I rolled down onto the rocks...

Eric plowed through the rocks and out of sight. I followed...

We snaked around a little in the rocks and then up an old dirt embankment that was just a tad gnarlier than I would have liked, given that I had no crash bars and no knobbies. The Terra handled it with graceful ease, though. This thing is going to be easy to ride in the dirt. At least, it will be all the way up until the point where it's not. Then it's going to get ugly I've got BRMoto side and top racks on the way, along with some Wolfman Expedition Dry Bags, a Wolfman Dry Duffle and a beefy set of ALTrider crash bars. Gee, can't wait to ride it when it's even heavier than it is now...


We popped out onto the dirt county road, just like Eric said we would, and it felt good to open it up and get some airflow going. It was so hot, though, that it was cooler to ride with my face shield down. The wind felt like an oven with a blower in it.
We bombed past Indian Valley Reservoir, climbed up and over Walker Ridge, and made tracks for Clear Lake. We were in dire need of something cold to drink. Stopped into a new place in town and had bottomless Cokes and split a shrimp Louie salad...it was cold and crisp and it totally hit the spot.



When we left we hopped onto Morgan Valley Road and took it to Reiff Road. The sign said the road was closed but it clearly was open. It was a beautiful little dirt road with nice scenery but it was too hot to stop. I wanted to keep my hot-blooded Terra moving so not a lot of photos. I can't wait to go back in the spring when there's moisture in the ground and the hills are carpeted in electric emeralds. Even in the death throes of summer it was beautiful...

There's some cool mining history in the area...

This reservoir, which is not on any map I own, is a result of the mining in the area. It is operated by UC Davis and serves as a laboratory of sorts for their research into mercury poisoning. Mercury or not, I was really tempted to jump in...

Once past the reservoir it's nothing but climbing. It occurred to me that the road says "closed" just so the county doesn't have to maintain it. Sure you can still ride it, but there are rocks, wash-outs, ruts, piles of rockfall blocking the road, etc. It was pretty cool! At some point we also saw a sign alluding to the fact that the bridge over Cache Creek was washed out and that no vehicles could cross. It gave me pause for a moment, as I did not want to climb back up and down the ridges we'd already crossed, but I didn't worry about it too much. I figured we'd cross that bridge when we came to it...



I so wanted to go see Buck Island when we got to the top of the last ridge...

We talked about a friend's recent camping trip out there, and we decided to come back someday to check it out...

The drop down to Cache Creek from the top of the ridge on Rayhouse Road was steep, winding and seemingly never-ending. We'd not seen another human being since we left Clear Lake, either. I can't believe this was the first time I'd ridden this road! It was a ton of fun and, again, can't wait to ride it in the spring.



I knew we were getting close to the bottom when I detected the unmistakeable scent of water. We came around a bend in the road and there it was...the zero-ton causeway. There were signs everywhere saying it was closed, no cars allowed, emergency vehicles only, etc. We crossed it anyway...

Those were the last photos I took on this trip. We'd done almost 100 miles of dirt on the day and it was time to slip past the barriers and hop on HWY 16 to slab it home. I would have much rather turned the mighty 650 around and ridden the route in reverse but our time was up. It was just a nice little weekend getaway to celebrate a very happy 21 years together. I can only hope we get to do this again in another 21 years




WoodsChick

 

[WoodsChick]

Sounds like you were having a *great* time, as usual.

If you ain't having fun while on a motorcycle you're doing it wrong.

Nothing like a cool swimming spot after a hot ride.

Great write up Woodsie.

Thanks! Cool water in the summer, hot water in the winter. I think I'm getting old

Fun

Refreshing...

Yes to both!

Thanks for checking it out, kids!

 

[jerbear610]

Awesome report, Woodsie, as always. I know how squirly some of those dirt roads can be with all the loose gravel etc..
I would imagine riding the "big bikes" with gear, supplies etc was no picnic or in other words not for the inexperienced rider.
BTW, I love that store in Stonyford and make a point of stopping there every time even if to just top off the tank or get food,
whatever. Got to support the local economy.