California - The Adventure Republic

I've seen them petrified in Calistoga, but something tells me they're even more impressive alive and upright.

Where exactly are the really big ones?

There's Kings Canyon and I'm at Trail of one hundred giants.

Sequoia National Forest.

Further north you have the redwoods too. Think it was north of the bay area that I did the drive through tree years ago.

Sherman Grove is one place, South of Dinkey Creek and the way to Courtright & Wishon Reservoirs. Hopefully the Creek Fire doesn't get to them.

Sequoia trees need fires to open their seeds, fire doesn't really affect the tall trees, bark is too thick and canopy too high

When the forest burns regularly the fuel on the floor doesn't generate the heat needed to reach the canopy of the tall trees or to damage the bark. Then man comes along with his better idea and all bets are off.

I'm told that this is Cressman's on CA 168 at the top of the 4 lane and it looks like it to me:

Yikes ! we have the smoke up here now, but thankfully nothing like this too close by

from last week



this week



hopefully, the trend continues on a positive note!

From my porch in Acton. #bobcatfire

Very sad. Bobcat Fire has made it all the way down the hill into Juniper Hills community.

Good helicopter coverage.

Looking at the Inciweb page on the Bobcat fire I learned something new. Potassium permanganate filled "ping-pong" balls are injected with automotive coolant by a machine and then dropped by it from a helicopter. ~20 seconds after injection they ignite to start a back-fire. Perhaps this tech is a response to losing a young Fire Fighter setting a back-fire during the Thomas fire? Seems like a safer way to do that.

https://www.sei-ind.com/products/premo-fireballs/

That’s really interesting tech but also very scary as both ingredients are readily available to the public and many Southern California fires are arsonist set.

tremor felt at 11:38 last night, magnitude 4.5 at the epicenter, 30 miles from me.

so strong it shook my house while i was in bed. i still have to check my foundation.

tough times.

2020.. the year the self-destruction started!

Bad stuff has happened ever since. Let's just hope we don't get an extinction level event any time soon!

We felt it too...

It’s not the first and won’t be the last. im always amazed at how much shaking my house can take.
4.5 gets yer attention though.

Still a bit of haze over east bay, makes for pretty colors though, if you're color-blind that is.
​

More sad news regarding the Bobcat Fire ...

Devil's Punchbowl Visitors Center lost; https://ktla.com/news/local-news/bo...unchbowl-area-described-as-geological-wonder/


This is another CA site that I visited and or discovered while on an Adventure Bike ride that no longer exists. This was a really great place to visit ... from a visit in 2013

I took a little loop ride out of Fort Bragg today, to revisit the Branscomb Road and the Ft.Bragg-Sherwood Road. I had ridden both of these in July on different days and wanted to put them together. Taken in a single afternoon (less than 4 hours!) they encapsulate just about everything there is to riding in Mendocino County. Twisty mountain roads with fair-to-middlin' pavement that lead to lowland valley sweepers. The Pacific Coast Highway with its perpetual work zones and seaside towns, US 101 in the valley with those sweltering cow towns full of potheads, and then a good 35 miles of unpaved logging roads.
Since Mendocino is mostly trees, there won't be too many pictures in this post. Also I took a bunch of pics using my GPS (Locus Maps) and I need to learn how to get them into my regular file location. The good news is I have a GPX file for this trip, but GPSXchange is offline right now.
I deliberately rode this loop in the clockwise direction because that would keep the uphill side of the road on my right side where it belongs; so I can see far enough into those left turns to tell if it's okay to get on the oncoming side.
I rode my '17 Africa Twin DCT with just the Givi case full of tire repair kit and first-aid.

Click the thumbnail pics for full-size images.

Hwy 1 N.:
I took a bee to the neck just north of Ft. Bragg, which reminded me to buy some antihistamine for the First-Aid kit. Re-paving operations weren't too troublesome, one or two single-lane sections. Two numbskulls tried to go through after their light went red, and my peleton met them in the middle. The Putzim are numerous on the PCH. What else can I tell you about Hwy 1? Gorgeous, breathtaking vistas, pristine pavement, recreational vehicles. And bees. I didn't take any pictures.

Branscomb Road:
I frikkin' love this road, and I've only ridden it twice, both from west to east. Western end is fairly well paved, no lines, bendy but not uncomfortably contorted, nearly no cars on weekdays. It's a lot like the My. Hamilton road, in that I think they laid it out when horse & wagons were popular. Long & twisty, but not too steep on the switchbacks. At the top you can stop where the local teenagers have spray painted the shit out of everything and look at the trees you just rode through. Good time to take your sweater off.



Down the other side more of the same until about the 9 mile mark and then it gets more wide open and higher speed as you go into Longvale (Long Valley, Laytonville). Better pavement, long sweeping corners, marked lanes, no more switchbacks. At some point you go through Branscomb, and there's stuff there, but I didn't take any pictures. The stuff is all old and perfect for pictures, but there's no store or gas or all like that. It's a place, more than a town.



US 101:
Longvale. If you're hungry, or need some antihisatamines, there's a market right at the end of the Branscomb road. And some pothead businesses. I took a picture.



Hwy 101 is rural here, but becomes divided just south. To catch the Sherwood Road you need to pay attention, and you need to be going south. There's a sign just before it, but for posterity I took a pic of the mile marker, which is Mendocino 101 62.50. If you miss it (if you pass the Cherry Creek Rest Area, you missed it) you can do a little loop through Willits and get back on track at a different point.



I'll make another entry for the Ft. Bragg-Sherwood road, because it's it's own thing.