The Mobius Trip

[DR. Rock]

Not too much traffic, it being a saturday, but we weren't used to the speed -- it was cold.



I think I saw Mt. Shasta way in the distance.



Just checked the GPS -- sure enough, ~75 miles away.

[DR. Rock]

we got to Klamath Falls,



we were freezing our asses off. It was a neat little town,







We spied a bagel shop, and intercommed consensus to stop for a cuppa hot joe.



The locals were gathered to do some street flower planting town beautification.





No one seemed to pay us much mind in our get-ups. One couple with a kid introduced themselves and asked if we knew a friend of his, Phil Freeman from Alaska -- he'd seen a Motoquest sticker on one of our bikes.

Do we know Phil? He's legendary. Even partied at the ADVentureLoft™!



Small world.

[DR. Rock]

it was much warmer. We gassed up, and hit the dirt.



Past Willow Valley Reservoir, we skirted the northern border of California, winding our way to Kellogg rd and then Crowder Flat rd. in the Modoc NF.

We followed this pipeline for quite a ways.



there were some pathetic attempts at reforestation.



What is incredible is that we would see the same pipeline days later, hundreds of miles away in Utah, if I'm not mistaken. Which makes sense as it stretches all the way from Wyoming from here.



The Ruby pipeline carries natural gas, construction began on July 31, 2010, and the pipeline was placed in service on July 28, 2011. The 42-inch pipe is 680 miles (1,090 km) long.

[DR. Rock]

to break away from the pipe. Northern California is really nice,



The roads through Modoc were graded and fast,



Are those snowcat tracks?



Here's how we knew we'd crossed into California:



I take pitchers of signs like this one, just in case we get lost and have to backtrack, I can scroll through the camera and see what's where back there.

Or if we want to go and see a dead burro.

[DR. Rock]

for the morning followed this sign,



we could see the smoke rising in the distance,



I hoped they'd let us ride through, but it didn't look promising,



It was kind of freaky,



but the yellow shirts seemed to have it all under control, they didn't even look up as we passed.



It got pretty thick in there,



like riding through a war zone.

[DR. Rock]

for us. Imagine how it was in 1853. Probably not nearly as fun.





I love these markers. Really a great idea, and design. I stop whenever I spy one.



Gratuitous product placement shot.

[DR. Rock]

crept into view to our East.



and we dropped down off of Crowder flat to Alturas,



where we'd been before heading north to Seattle on Mobius 4, we'd camped nearby at Plum Valley.



This time, we picked up provisions,



and headed East into the Mountains,



and South, towards Blue Lake.

[DR. Rock]

great time, and basically were back on schedule.



Not that we were on a schedule, more like back on pace, meaning that we wouldn't have to skip any of our planned route.



We passed the road to Mill Creek campground where we'd stayed on Mobius 3.



It was a bit out of the way, and Blue Lake was right on our route, so we decided to try someplace new. This is an adventure, after all.

Didn't take long to get there,

[DR. Rock]

and had plenty of time for some R&R.



It'd been a pretty easy day riding. But tomorrow, we'd be heading back into the desert.



We felt like kings (and queens)



The lake was a little chilly for swimmin' an besides, we hadn't gotten that sweaty and dirty riding today.



We cooked up the ribs which were most excellent,



we explored a little more, at least the monkey did,



We were a little spooked at the headless fisherman,



we hung out at the campfire, since it was chilly when the sun set,



and reflected on the trip so far.



We were treated to one last hurrah for the day.

[DR. Rock]

215 miles! epic.







.GPX track file available for download here.

[rufus]

Originally Posted by DR. Rock

We passed a guy on an F800GS along here who gave us the hand waving in a circle like you're handling a lasso "turn around" signal. But then he didn't stop, and we just kept going. Weird again.

WARNING !!!

Sirens ahead. LEOs, cops, the fuzz, whatever you want to call them. Slow down, look out.

[rufus]

Originally Posted by DR. Rock

We came down this road when we did the TAT in 08. The trees were grown together over the road. They were so thick that I lost GPS reception and we had to turn on our headlights. I was here again last year on the Goldwing and it looked like this.


I liked it overgrown better.

[Reddog*]

Doc, your snow Cat tracks look like standard Bulldozer tracks.
Probably ran the perimeter before the controlled burn, checking the fire break for any breaches.

[darkstarmoto]

Brilliant report!! Makes for excellent reading.

Probably one of these like they use in LA County

[MTrider16]

Originally Posted by DR. Rock

there were some pathetic attempts at reforestation.

What were you expecting to see? Looks like some seedlings are planted. - David