2 Weeks In The High Sierra: Granite, Water And Dirt

I highly recommend it California has a pretty bad reputation in a lot of select circles for various and assorted reasons, but it's a beautiful state with a lot to offer.

Yeah, I could see that The meadow had a really neat look to it, with steam rising from the river. There was a pretty big wildfire going on northwest of the meadow in the Golden Trout Wilderness and we saw the smoke heading our way the night before. It kind of botched up the air quality in the valley there and a few other places but it made for a really spectacular sunset later that night...which I didn't get a picture of, believe it or not

Our last dirt ride of the trip...kind of a sad occasion for us, knowing we probably wouldn't make it back down here til next year. Little did we know how sad it would be



Speakin' of sad, how do ya like that focus?



We were getting buzzed by kamikaze hummingbirds while watching the deer...



Eric's up in that saddle there...



What's he doing up there, you ask? Dealing with Mechanical Gremlin #7, that's what. He was trying to figure out where all the squeaking and squealing was coming from. The night before we heard a little noise while he was wheeling the bike around, sounded like squeaky brakes, but it was faint and not thought to be a big deal. No squeaks at all in the morning, no squeaks for the first 5 miles, then all screechy hell broke loose....


Turns out Eric's fairly new WR250 with 755 miles on it was losing the rear wheel bearings. He was not happy. We decided to tip-toe back to camp. He rode ahead while I goofed off and took photos...



Can you spot Eric way down there waiting for me? This a very steep section of Beach Trail that drops down into the Rattlesnake Creek drainage. There's only one switchback...



Heading for that one switchback...


Well, he couldn't have been too upset about his bearings, as he was still taking photos


We rode through the creek along the bottom of the drainage and then started the long climb back towards camp...


We'd left pretty early, and had only ridden about 12 miles or so, but we spent a lot of time futzing with Eric's WR and I was starting to feel the heat...




We returned from the ride, loaded up all the bikes and broke camp. We headed out towards the east and down to HWY 395. We'd been up at high elevation for almost 2 weeks straight, but down on 395 summer was in full swing. It was Friday afternoon and we didn't have to be back til Sunday.



Now, y'all didn't think this ride report was going to end without a few glimpses of my favorite thing, didja?


That's what I thought


Just a little bit more to come...


WoodsChick

I was thinking of you and this post today! We got the KTM motor back 2 days ago, and our motor guy didn't really find anything wrong. He lapped a valve seat that had slight nick in it but found no trace of the broken piece of slide and no damage anywhere. Eric put the motor in last night but it wouldn't start for love nor money. It was late so he locked up the garage, only to stew about it all night and all day. He tried to fire it up today but got the same thing. He checked the spark plug gap and voila'! It's purring like an angry lion now He checked it before and thought it was good but he probably couldn't see it. He's known for awhile that he needs new glasses but this was the final straw...he's making an eye appointment tomorrow

Thanks, 7point62!

Yep, I've been following that thread; Looks like a good time was had by all, but criminy there were a lot of riders there! Don't know if I could handle that many folks on one ride

Nope...just the way we like it! Well, minus the pushing the behemoth uphill part...

Yeah, getting old ain't easy, is it?

You and me, both, pal Yeah, the two-up ride was fun; makes me want to get a big bike for the two of us so I can take in the scenery and snap photos while Eric does all the hard work
I'm holding out for the Nuda XC model You still in the neighborhood? Drop on by sometime, drop that new coil in!

Alright, time to wrap this up

We headed down to 395, one of the most scenic highways in CA. The eastern Sierra is pretty special, and I always like loooking up and seeing Mt Whitney staring back down at me. Wish I'd gotten a decent photo of it.

We goofed off on 395, taking our time and enjoying the last days of one of the most enjoyable trips we've ever taken. This river was running fast and furious...





There's a lot of opportunity to get off the beaten path in the eastern Sierra...



The Darth Pose Lives On...



What trip could possibly be complete without warm water??



It was hot out, 97 degrees, and the thought of a hot springs might seem kinda silly, but this water was about 95 degrees...perfect!


We watched the sun go down while soaking and reliving all the fun things we'd done and all the neat-o things we'd seen...


This, folks, is what a happy man looks like...


The sky was beautiful and it kept changing every few minutes...





We were pretty much blown away by our experience here, and by the goodness of the whole trip in general. Yeah, we had a few mechanical issues...well, ok, more than a few...but from start to finish we just had a fantastic time riding our bikes, hanging out together and experiencing some of the best this great state of California has to offer





Thanks for coming along, everyone!

Thanks! Come on down sometime and ride some of those nice places with us

Thanks, Rob578! It was fun putting it together.

That sticker has pretty much been fubar'd since the bike was new...we're surprised it's still on there at all! We're kinda curious to see how long it takes for it to fall off completely. It's a waiting game, now If you want I can post weekly updates on the condition of the sticker Husqvarna should supply us with a new one. We saw a really pretty gold one at Dan's last week and Eric's kinda thinking about that, though, so there is hope