Up in the Snow

Day 34  Friday 6^th May 2011 

The complimentary Bridgeport Inn coffee was most welcome and a good start to the day. The sun was shining as we left north along the US 395 winding it’s was along the fast flowing river swelled by the now melting snow of the Sierra Nevada. We had planned to take the 120 Sonora Pass but as we got close to the junction Mark spotted the sign saying that the road was closed, still snowbound, and he stopped me from turning just in time.

We continued along the 395 until we reached Topaz, another name from our 2000 and 2001 trips off-roading in the Sierra. I remembered arriving at the motel on the lake after a hard days ride on the tracks high in the nearby mountain range and the road we took at Topaz, route 89, took us to another memory – Markleville – a small mountain town that we stayed in on a different day’s riding with Nevada Motorcycle Adventures.

Route 89 was a fantastic ride over Monitor Pass at 8314 ft high at its summit and then onto route 88 west over the Kit Carson Pass which was an old route on the Carson Trail followed by the old 49ers on the Gold Rush trail. The views were stunning and we rode for several miles through snowbound passes, frozen lakes and fields of snow. Luckily the roads had been cleared and we did not encounter any problems. 

 

Video ride through the snow

 The ride down towards our motel in Tracy took us through constantly changing scenery of pine forests and then flat lands of vines and fruit trees. The final leg of the journey near Lockeford took us to the summit of hills that had a 270 degree vista of the surrounding lowlands that spread beneath us for a good fifty miles or so into the distance – What a day’s riding that was – a whole day of ever changing scenery and fun roads to ride as well, sweeping bends along the river, mountain passes, snow, I could just keep going on and on.........................