22.June.2024
My plan was to do the 2 expert sections north of Lone Pine as I had not the chance to do them on my previous Southern California BDR (LINK) ride.
This was a great ride with some rutted and washed-out sections, I would not recommend to do on big bikes. The views where fantastic and I had a great time.
I made it in the afternoon to Mammoth Lake and got a spot on the local campground.
A freshly grilled steak and a few drinks later it was time go to sleep.
Hopefully getting a good rest too be ready for the start of the NCBDR.
23.June.2024
The night at the municipal campground was great.
I had a quick breakfast in the morning and stuffed my belongings into the bags. First thing planned was to ride to the Minaret Summit for the official start of the BDR. Nice viewpoint and cool morning temperatures.
The first few miles were running along ATV trails through the woods. The usual hoops from their trail usage were annoying but the hard alternate passed by Obsidian Dome. That was interesting to see with all those black shiny rocks.
The expert alternate to Mono Mills was nothing special, just some deep sand. Further to the Tufa Viewpoint followed mostly paved roads but allowed great views across the Mono Lake.
I decided to check out the ‘difficult’ water crossing, marked on the track.
The road leading to it was very well graded. As I arrived at the crossing, I looked how deep the short crossing was and it looked like about 30cm (1 feet), not too fast flowing and not very wide.
So, I decided to give it a go. Unfortunately, it was much deeper and I got soaked, but made it safely across.
The road from the lake to the Ghost town of Bodie followed a small valley until it crossed a ridge and opened the view to the town. I had been to this town many years ago, by now it is a state park with the associated fees. The town itself is a must see and very interesting to explore. A great piece of history.
From Bodie along the backroads to Bridgeport was nice and varied. Than to the Sweetwater Expert Loop. In the beginning it was nice and not too difficult.
This led me to tackle the track to Mount Patterson.
This is no joke and as usual, pictures never do justice how steep it is.
After some struggle I decided to shed the luggage and continued with a lot of caution.
Off camber, rocky, rutted, etc. all was provided including a very rocky, very steep final climb to the summit.
I’m obviously learning resistant and continued on the expert loop, despite the warnings for deep sand and rocky sections.
Mostly it was manageable until the point which is marked as impassable when wet.
This is a very steep, rutted and rocky part which is very difficult to ride.
I would not want to try this from N to S, which is the direction this picture was taken.
Later on, the trail it got really sandy an I struggled through.
Once I reached the rutted marking on the map the road improved a lot and I got fast to Topaz Lake where I settled in for the night with a great view over the lake at the Topaz Resort.
The hosts were very friendly and supportive.
24. June 2024
Shortly after I left the Resort, I climbed up Monitor Pass. A nice paved road (as will be most of the day) with some good views. Next was Ebbets Pass, which is a rugged landscape with big boulders scattered throughout. Once a potential Railway passage, it is hard to believe that this rough terrain was really considered for that.
My plan was to reach Bear Valley, which looked on my map to be a slightly bigger village, for fuel and Breakfast. At the village entrance was the gas station which was still closed. Thankfully the machine was accepting my credit card. Just for those who are not aware of the problems for a foreigner, our cards have no assigned postal code. Hence, most gas station machines are not taking the card without the input from a clerk.
All shops including the general store were still closed. So I left without supplies which will turn out afterwards to be not such a good idea.
As mentioned before, most of today was on some sort of pavement. But whenever it was gravel road, it was narrow, rough and often blocked by trees. Someone has cut those not too long ago to give way for traffic.
I ran out of water and was more than thankful to the camp host of Mokelumne River Campground, who gave me some.
Leek Spring Lookout was easy to reach and allowed a nice view of the surroundings.
From Kyburz to the Uncle Toms Cabin was mostly fast sweeping paved roads. I was looking forward to the Cabin as I have heard so much about it, only to find it closed. Bummer.
From here on I was riding through more burned woods and for a while even on a small paved road. That changed soon after leaving Eleven Pines Road towards Hell Hole Reservoir. The track was covered often with loose fist size rocks. Manageable but not nice to ride.
It was not too late in the afternoon when I arrived at the French Meadows Reservoir, but I decided to camp for the night. Flies and later many mosquitos made the stay not so pleasant.
25.June.2024
In the morning the clouds became darker with the minute and I packed up camp quickly not without a tiny breakfast.
The ride was fun even with the occasional drizzle.
Not enough to get wet but still good for a jacket.
Donner Pass was a nice paved road with a lot twisties. Soon I was in the very busy tourist town of Truckee where I only fuel up and got myself out of there. After leaving town the track passes by some Reservoirs and runs through light forest until the climb to the Verdi Peak started. Most of the road was easy, just a few harder spots on the final mile.
The lookout tower is not in very good shape but still worth to visit, especially for the view.
The coming miles were not memorable very much. Passing some nice lakes and a lot of forest until I came to the marked steep descent to Downieville. First it started not too bad, but soon it was too steep for engine braking only. The brakes where used a lot.
Downieville is a very charming rustic town where you feel send back in time. From here a very good paved road led to Sierra City. As I needed fuel and wanted to go the harder option up to the Sierra Buttes I had to go to town anyway. Only to find out that the only gas station is currently not available due to constructions. The friendly owner refers to the next option which is only 5 miles down the road.
The climb out of Sierra City was not too difficult but the drop on the side and the off camber of the narrow road mad it interesting.
As I reached the turn off to the Summit, I unfortunately misjudged the with of my bike and clipped the side bag at a tree stump. Ripped it right off the mount. Learned from this I stashed the luggage and continued lightened the steep climb.
The fire watch tower is very exposed located and can only be reached by many steps of several steel stairways. Once on top, I had a fantastic view.
On the way down, after picking up my bags, I saw a nice campground next to the trail.
In the hope that without a lake nearby there are going to be less mosquitos, I checked in.
As soon as the sun went down the mosquitos came and made a nice evening, where I chatted with the camp neighbors, a little less pleasant.
26.June.2024
During the night it rained a little but all was dry in the morning. A fast road brought me quickly to the side trip up to Mills Peak. There is an old white Lookout Tower which is also no longer in use.
After this, the track runs through a lot of burned woods. Gras and a lot of flowers are back but with all the burned trees it looks surreal.
Argentine Lookout was next on the trail and that one has an even better view. It is a 2 story building but in very desolate state. Thankfully the reconstruction began and the foundation for stairs to the tower are already in place.
Here I met 2 other BDR riders from the east coast and he had a short chat about our experience so far.
Along the BDR are many of these fire watch towers in various conditions. The next one, Mt. Hough Lookout, was in very good state and also in use.
As I reached the town of Taylorsville, I met those 2 guys again at Young’s Market. That is a great combination of General Store, Restaurant, Post Office, and much more. We had a great Sandwich and drinks before we headed separately out again. We have been told the burgers are famous but very big, so only if you’re really hungry!
I was not sure if I had enough fuel so I made a little side trip from the lake to Greenville. There is a brand-new Gas Station with a store located.
The road became very dusty and ran along various valleys with all trees burned down or harvested.
Each road revealed basically the same all over until I popped out onto the HWY 89 and to Chester.
Instead of staying there, I continued towards Westwood where the 3 of us met again at the Gas Station. After a quick stop at the General Store, we planned to ride only to the next campground.
It turned out that the 15 miles to had some surprises in store for us. I had a hard time to find my way in the maze of tiny forest roads and sometimes the most obvious way was not the correct one. There have been also many water channels which created hard hoops to go over them.
One of the other guys had a flat on the last stretch and limped the bike in the campground. After settling in, that got taken care of as well. We met 2 other guys who were on bicycles and we exchanged some stories before we made dinner and went to bed tired.
27.June.2024
A short ride brought us to the HWY which we followed for a little while. We rode separately to avoid dusting each other but met up along the route.
Made it up to the Antelope Mountain which had again a great view.
Despite that I got recommended not to take the expert route down from the mountain, I take it.
It was rocky in the beginning but got easier as further down I went.
All the following lookouts had ben closed, which was a bit disappointing.
The ride was easy gravel roads all the ways to Little Valley, where the Expert Section starts.
This is no joke and begins very rocky and overgrown.
If you stick long enough with it you come to a rocky hill climb which is challenging but after that the trail got easier. Aside of some down trees which have not difficult to get around.
For fuel safety I took the road to Bieber where I got also something to eat at the red barn. Very friendly staff and a good selection. There I also waited some time for the other 2 guys, but as nobody showed up, I thought that they have either made it through the expert section or I had missed them on the normal route.
Cruising through fast gravel roads in the woods was fun until I stopped at the Ash Creek Campground.
This is very nice situated on a river and quiet. Well, except the cows which have been grassing.
I took it easy as there was no other campground shown on my map for a while.
I basically settled in for the night and to my surprise the 2 other guys showed up and we had a lot to chat about in the evening.
28.June.2024
The morning was chilly and we got a late start. As usual we rode independent to stay out of the dust.
A last lookout tower with closed access again before we reached the main HWY leading into Alturas.
There we had a well-deserved big breakfast at the Wagon Wheel Restaurant.
On to the last section of this BDR. It was all nice and easy gravel road, another closed lookout tower until I came to a down tree which blocked the road for good. There was a little bypass on the upper side but very loose dirt. With my light bike I made it through, but I was concerned for the big BMW’s from the other guys, so I waited for them.
As they showed up, Cole noted another track on the lower side which was much more suitable for big bikes and after offloading the luggage to shed som eweigt, it was no problem form them to get through.
From here on out were only some water crossings left before we reached the border.
Overall, a great ride and a successful day in the book. We said goodbye after a last picture at the Oregon sign. They headed south towards Las Vegas to ship their bikes back home and I decided to stay at the border State Park Campground.
That has a nice layout but unfortunately the mosquitos had been a torture. Hence a had an early night.
FINISH
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