Bay Area Adventure Riders Club

Hi mtbjeff,

Hollister is fun, and there should be plenty of room for everyone ... we usually camp back in the Madrone campground, which is past the store, making it the last campground at the end of the access road ...

I think they now charge $10 if you're riding in to camp ... it used to be free if you rode in, because the $10 was a parking fee for tow rigs, but that was too good to last ...

I'll post up more info about what time we'll be getting there ... we may have some folks there Friday night, and we'll definately be there Saturday.

see you around the campfire,
-- SFMCjohn

Day rides if you ride in are free. If you haul your dirt bike in, you pay $5 for the day.

Camping has always been $10/night AFAIK.

BTW, Annual Pass isn't good for camping, only day rides. Which is kind of a rip off, but that's how it works.


Either way, it's cheap fun in my book. Even at $10, that's half what you'd pay at a National Forest. Even the ones without any trails to ride.

Always been $10? Nope it was $7 to camp and $4 to truck in the last time I was there. Hi Curt.

So that was what? 15 years ago?

Cuz it's been $10 since at least 2007...


The point was it was never FREE to camp... AFAIK. I'm sure they've raised the rates once or twice over the years.

hmmm 2000 or so yea that's about right Once I found this place called Clear creek! I didn't go back send in your comment now to BLM or you will never get to ride it poor dirt bikers.

Yeah, well, I'm still skiing the bunny slopes so to speak.

But at least that's where the ski bunnies are!

That's good to know. I have alway's trailered in. I will have to test this out on Sunday!!

Hey all,

So, some of us BAARCers and SFMCers will be at Hollister Hills OHV Park on Friday, April 26th thru Sunday, April 28 ... for our annual Sheetiron Tune Up and birthday party ...

We'll be taking a group photo at 5 pm on Saturday in the Madrone Campground, and this Airstream should be there, starting Friday ...

There will be birthday cake for our mascot, AJ Murphy, who is in middle school, I guess, and is a good dirtbike and flat track racer ... We get together every year for AJ's birthday at Hollister, it is a fun time, and Clay, AJ's dad, says "no gifts!", so you all are invited, and would be very welcome ...

Mike, the Airstream guy, also plays the guitar around the campfire, which is fun ...

Also, we'll be showing MotoGP Austin at the clubhouse at 18th and Folsom starting at 4 pm on Sunday, April 21st ... I won't be there this Sunday, but motorcycle people and BAARCers and ADVers are welcome ... MotoGP at 6 pm ...

And we have weekly meetings at the clubhouse every Thursday ... I'll be there tonight ... everything a motorcyclist may wish to quaff at our fountain, KLR prices ... ha. Doors open around 7pm ...

OK, that's one way to keep my post count low ... double ha.

a few SFMCers did recently to Mercey Hot Springs, Clear Creek and Carrizo:



A KLR, DR650 and KTM 690 ...

Hey, if you live in San Francisco, and are a motorcycle person, the SFMC is basically your club ... we've been around since 1904, and at 18th St and Folsom since 1947 ... we're always happy to see motorcycle people!

see you around the campfire,
-- SFMCjohn
2013 SFMC President

SFMCJohn - That photo looks awesome! I was just down that way a couple of weeks ago, but nothing I rode on was as cool looking as the trail in that photo. Care to post tracks?

Nice pictures.
Good to know my BRP would fit in the group.
Is that camp site at Panoche Hills? I didn't know it was out there.
Is it near Mercy Hotsprings?
I've been across that road coming across from hwy 49 a few times but it has been over 10 years since the last run.

I know that this conversation has been had before, but I thought that the Panoche Hills were off limits to motorcycles, quads, etc. (open only to cars/trucks on existing roads). Has something changed?

Perhaps a plated bike is not considered as a motorcycle in Panoche Hills?

I see a license plate on that last bike in the pic, if it is ok for cars and trucks I guess it is ok for all plated vehicles. I know some of the roads around\through CC were opened up, just not positive which ones and the last time I went through there it wasn't like any of the trails I saw running off the main road had "closed" signs on them. Was too chicken to do any of the trails off the main road, last thing I needed was another ticket from big brother.


Fasttrak

Hi leo_jb,

It's the BLM land in Panoche Hills ... closed now for fire season between April and October ... no tracks, I'm still a map luddite ... It is a fairly small area, used mostly by guys who want to shoot guns, and by wildflower viewers, during a good wildflower year ... oh, and to graze sheep ...

Hi woodsxr,
You'd be the bad-ass on the kick-start BRP ...

The Airstream is Hollister Hills ... the campsites in the linked photos are at Mercey Hot Springs and the Carrizo Plains ... the BLM land in the riding photo is near Mercey Hot Springs ...

Hi r3r3r and Fasttrak,

I've heard that Panoch Hills was closed to bikes, too ... most BLM and National Forest areas I'm familiar with, when they say "no motorcycles" they really mean "no dirtbikes" ... we stay on established roads and have not had a problem, but YMMV ...

They are going to go to some crazy permit/day-limit-per-year thing in Clear Creek ... not sure about the wonderful county roads thrugh Clear Creek, I'm getting the impression the BLM is going to grab them and "close" them to the through-riding I've done there over the years ...

Supporting my motorcycle/dirtbike confusion hypothesis, however, is the fact that the BLM uses the phrase "registered vehicles" in their most recent Clear Creek plans ... as in "only registered vehicles may use established routes" ... in other words, no OHVs ... so, if I have a plate, I can go anywhere a jeep can go on BLM land.

It was ever thus ... my old time dirt bike buddies love to tell me how they rode all over the Bay Area on their dirt bikes ...

see you around the campfire,
-- SFMCjohn

Now I'm worried. That's where I take my bike. What's wrong with the service?

I admit to my share of blame in this tale -- I requested a goodwill replacement of a known bad part (MFG knows this part fails, it's part of the DOT required safety equipment, they have a redesigned part) -- and the service dept. said "OK, yeah, we'll submit the warranty claim to the MFG.".

Weeks turn into months, I don't hear anything. So I call. They say "Oh, yeah, didn't you get the email? We need pictures." So I send them pictures. Yet more weeks turn into yet more months. I call again. They tell me they need the pictures again. So I send them again. Weeks turn into months AGAIN and I don't hear anything, so I call. They say that the "duplicate request" has been denied because the first request was fulfilled already. WTF? So, now I don't have the part, and the MFG thinks I already received one.

This is a $400 part, so I went to Scuderia to find out WTF, and they declined to "rat out" another dealer, and suggested I take it up again with them.

I absolutely should have been more persistent, and kept them on a much shorter leash. BUT, imho... I should HAVE to keep my vendors on any kind of leash, they should be proactive in contacting me when IMPORTANT SHIT happens, like the MFG declining my warranty claim.

They've damaged my bikes twice. And they're grossly incompetent.

Just an FYI on Panoche Hills.

We contacted the Hollister BLM Field Office a couple years ago before a
ride down there for some clear info on motorcycles in Panoche Hills.

We were told no motorcycles allowed in there period, plated or not.

They can't do that and don't have the authority to even say it. If a registered car is allowed, then so is a registered and plated motorcycle. Only private land and HOA's can exclude vehicles based on type of said vehicle.

Tell that to the guy with the smart uniform and gun. Sometimes being right doesn't make a damn bit of difference.

I don't see that guy?





Sometimes taking a stand is the right thing to do...damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!!