PCH trip planning - need input from So Californians

I'm planning a Thanksgiving trip for four sport-touring riders from Phoenix to the PCH, north to the Golden Gate bridge, East to Lake Tahoe, then zig-zag through the mountains until we return to Phoenix. We have five days to complete the whole trip and I'm hoping to see some GOOD roads during that time. I would really appreciate input from Californians who can suggest modifications to my route that would be more scenic or more fun.

Here are my tentative routes:
<tt>Leg 1: 1,157 mi – about 22 hours 59 mins
Leg 2: 1,073 mi – about 21 hours 12 mins
</tt>
The schedule:
Leave Friday night November 18th, high-tail it to the coast.
Home Thursday, Thanksgiving, November 24th or whenever we darn well get there.
Hotels wherever we find them.

Thanks in advance.

Input? The chance of rain and snow slowing you down is very high. Good route for right now, d-icey come November.

H'mm?

At higher elevations there will be snow @ Thanksgiving.

Tahoe may be out.

The San Gabriels may not be snowed yet north of Los Angeles

Big Bear and such.

I'd stay south and low for a sure weather ride. Anza Borrego/Cleveland National Forest/Joshua Tree, or will be a great time to visit Death Valley.

I think your November route is flawed.

I recently did a lot of the route you are talking about.

Here is the link to the ride report with maps to give you some ideas.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=716713

What the others said about weather conditions around Tahoe and Mammoth are definitely something you need to consider.

Either 4 or 89/88 is a great route to get over to the western side from the Tahoe area. Both are north of Sonora Pass route.

PCH????

Took a quick glance at your map. Unless your trying to get to Jalama State Beach or Vandenberg Air Force Base? You are wasting your time getting anywhere where Lompoc. Riding into LA just to do PCH /Malibu/Rock Store on a weekend for some is where its at. Just the ride into LA takes good timing for the traffic, let alone to get to the Malibu area. Actually, I would rather ride your trip in reverse and come down the coast so the view side is "RIGHT THERE" as you wind down Hiway 1 from SF area. When you get to Naci-Fergussen road I would climb up and over and run the roads that kept me out of the LA area all together. If you do this ride? Make sure you allow enough time to see the Sea Elephant sanctuary just about 8 miles North of Hearst's Castle. It is a must see if you are nearby. I am sure others will input. Just remember many of these roads are not "FREEWAYS" and your speeds will greatly reduced in some areas, so you will have to adjust your time to suit. ENJOY the Ride!

I got rained on for 3 hours and f*#kin HAILED on for 45 minutes in Yosemite park above 8,000 feet this past weekend, the second weekend of September.

Don't plan to cross the Sierras in November, more than likely, many of the passes will be closed for the season by mid- to late-October.

Regarding getting to the PCH, My recommendation is that unless you have a person you or your crew *needs* to visit in LA, or you have specific tourist destinations there, skip it entirely. I always take the high desert route through Victorville.

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Locals can tell you if Big Bear will be safe to travel around Thanksgiving.

If you want an absolutely insane, sick, deviant amount of twisty roads, this is your route. You'd want to get a hotel in, say Yucca Valley or 29 Palms so you can get an early start for this day, and in Santa Maria or Atascadero for the end -- you'll be worn out, I promise. It's only 450 miles, but you're working almost the whole way with a brief highway breather in the middle. I've never done all of this in one day. The good news is that going East to West, the roads get faster and easier.

If it's too much, you can bail to the coast before you get to Ojai and spend the night in Santa Barbara. From there North on the coast is very nice. South of SB, less so.

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Excellent suggestions everyone, THANKS!! I appreciate your concerns about the cold weather. We have heated gear and generally well-prepared but I hadn't considered it being blizzard-cold yet in November. I'll do more homework to see if these routes are still passable on the dates we can go. In the meantime I'd still love to hear more route suggestions in the area.

I crossed Tioga Pass last year in the first week of November. Two days later it snowed pretty good and I believe Tioga was closed for the season.

There are some fun roads just north of Ojai that I can recommend:
33 to Lockwood Valley to Cuddy Valley / Cero Noroeste to 33, then north to 58, then 229 to Paso Robles. Depending on the weather you can either head to Cambria and ride up the coast on 1, or you can go north from Paso on Indian Valley, Peachtree, and 25 to Hollister. Actually you could make a great loop out of Hwy 1 and the inland route I just mentioned. If you did that loop you could then ride across to Bakersfield you might be able to take 178 up and over to 395. Weather permitting you could go north on 395 and enter DV through Panamint Springs.

North of Monterey and south of Cambria are not great sections of 1 imho. I would cut those out.

Your Sierras route is ideally done in September, maybe october.

OK the date is quickly approaching and we haven't found any alternatives that sway us to go elsewhere, so we're still planning to head to CA this weekend.
Our route will be modified, but I'm still looking for good roads and awesome scenery. With more emphasis on the scenery.
Thanks!
-Steve in Phx.

Stay low. It snowed.

What about the canyons around Malibu? There's 3 or 4 that I can think of, but it's been a long time since I've been there. I'll give it a shot. Decker canyon, encil canyon, deer creek road and back in there somewhere is Ed and verns rock store. Great little motorcycle hang out.
This whole area I believe is between Malibu and thousand oaks. My buddies used to ride somewhere around ojai, too.

Good to know, thanks. Are any roads being closed yet?

This...www.dot.ca.gov/cgi-bin/roads.cgi

Good luck & safe travels.

All the nice Sierra Passes (4,120,89) are currently closed except 88. With another storm predicted for next weekend it looks like you may be out of luck in that area. Once closed, they usually stay closed for the winter.

Even if the roads are open, watch for ice. Of course.




.

Where do the twisties start? Is it after Santa Clarita?

[/QUOTE]

If you want an absolutely insane, sick, deviant amount of twisty roads, this is your route. You'd want to get a hotel in, say Yucca Valley or 29 Palms so you can get an early start for this day, and in Santa Maria or Atascadero for the end -- you'll be worn out, I promise. It's only 450 miles, but you're working almost the whole way with a brief highway breather in the middle. I've never done all of this in one day. The good news is that going East to West, the roads get faster and easier.

If it's too much, you can bail to the coast before you get to Ojai and spend the night in Santa Barbara. From there North on the coast is very nice. South of SB, less so.
[/QUOTE]

On that route above, the one that goes through all the state forests, assuming you're going East-West, it starts to get very entertaining right around Big Bear City --- however, that area is at high enough altitude that weather may play a factor.

I'd advise a loop that crosses the central valley and runs down the foothills, crossing back east farther south.

If you're going to be up here in Marin County and want a nice loop, think about 1 out to Stinson Beach, on up to about Tomales, then cut inland and over 37 to head east on 80. If you've got a bit of time, I'd recommend a loop up over 121 to 128, which is a nice ride up through Napa and will show you some nice vineyards and spectacular views. From there, you can probably navigate a course over the valley, but 80 is expedient. From there, consider 49 south. You'll have an amazing ride over some spectacular roads and will go right by Yosemite. If 120 is open, you can cut through and over to Mono Lake and Lee Vining.

This route will keep you from having weather issues and will keep you from getting stuck. Traffic at Thanksgiving around Tahoe is horrendous, so I'd avoid, avoid, avoid.

You also do not want to get stuck in a snowstorm over 80 on a motorcycle. You'll be hard pressed to secure lodging if it all goes bad.

bump

Would you believe I was just trying to plan the same trip for this coming Thanksgiving.
Forgot I had done all this before.
duh.

They just had a foot of snow in Truckee.... 3 snow days in a row (schools)

If it melts, I may ride up to see my daughter, but it could snow at any time. And ice is always a possibilty. Weather is day to day now.