15 Days on the Pacific Crest

OK boys, I'll get things started here with a little intro on how the first night unfolded. Please toss in your stories and photos as we go along. I'll also supply a map or two of each day as we go along. Let's not go too fast, cause we'll need to ration our time as the epic unfolds.....


R-dubb

Here's a link to the complete Gamin file with a track for each day of the trip:

Download Mapsource (.gpx) Track File

Password = adventure

After a true adventure buying tires at West Valley Cycles, TT, J-L and myself bullied our way through SoCal freeway traffic and hit the high desert east of San Diego at about 4:30pm. Berti had arrived at Lake Morena County Park a few hours earlier and was busy downing beers with a good-ole-boy prison guard who was waiting for his fishing buddies to show up at The Lake. Lake Morena is no ordinary park. It sits at about 5000 feet, high above San Diego with a beautiful desert backdrop. The Pacific Crest Trail passes right along the lake only a few miles from the Mexican border at Campo. Only problem is that the once thriving recreational reservoir is quickly drying up. You see, they took all the water to fill some other lake downstream. Long and short of it. No one much goes there anymore. They have cabins, acres of camp sites, boat launches and a small town with a good bar. No one bothered to tell the prison guard that the water was gone, so he was gunna go fishing anyway and polish off about eight bottles of booze in the process.



We had a fine time at the bar and were treated to full breakfast send-off by our proud, red-neck neighbors.






R-dubb

About dang time. Off to the store for a sixer and then I'm

you're gona drag this out arn't ya? Well, you can't get rid of me that easily.

Second beer, still waiting Rick

Alright! Been waitin' for this stuff.

- kinda like going to a strip club - you get me all excited and then no payoff

Let's go your fans are waiting

And while I am waiting, may I point out how spiffy R-dubb looks in his new rally suit?

AWWWW YEEAAAAA! Time to get my Crest thread on!

Errin

Just to suppliment R-dubb's tail a little...

A picture of R-dubb's, Jean-Luc's and my bikes... pre-PCQ abuse.



As we get ready to leave LA I ask Jean-Luc if he needs gas. He replies that he will wait until we get "out of town". I haven't laughed that hard in a while... clearly J-L hasn't been to LA before! I can use the whole tank on my Adventure and not be "out of town".

R-dubb also forgot to mention that at the bar where "Britny Rocks", Jean-Luc met a girl. I think he got her number... I hope they keep in touch.



The first morning of the Pacific Crest Quest. A tranquil morning... all of us excited for the adventure about to begin.

I LOVE it when people drag out awesome stories that make me jealous.





You guys suck at this.

Truth be told; we're still waiting for Jean-Luc to get his photos up..... Poor guy is remodeling the house and traveling on business. Ok, back to the story...

Berti's in charge of keeping tabs on the ladies. We met a real sweetie at the bar that night. As I recall her favorite childhood passtime was going out into the desert early in the morning to find illegals who may not have made it through the cold nights. There was ice on the bikes when we got up and ready.

After our lovely breakfast courtesy of the Okie marine corp and prison guards we hit the road with huge anticipation, not knowing what the day might bring. Originally, I thought the southland would be the toughest part of the trip. Heat, deep sand and steep trails could have been a huge factor. As it turns out, the weather was cool; many of the toughest trails were closed due to last years fire. Mully did us right scouting out all the important details. Day one turned out to be huge, putting us at least a half a day ahead of schedule right off the bat!



The highlights were many. Less than a mile from camp we took the Cameron Truck Trail and Kitchen Creek Rd. covering about twenty miles of mixed dirt in less than an hour. Then it was the Sunrise Highway tracing the Pacific Crest across a ridgeline of some very scenic overlooks.





The next dirt section was Grapevine Canyon through Anza-Borrega. The narrow road follows a sandy wash for about 15 miles. Some interesting ruts, whoops and my first of many falls to come. (waiting for photos...) The cheapo soft bags I set up without a good test failed on that first fall. Buckles broke, straps stretched, and it was not looking too good for the first 100 miles of a 3000 mile journey.

Up to Warner Springs we followed Lost Creek Rd. north to Anza by about mid day.




R-dubb

Katie in Campo. Jury is still out whether she really is pregnant or not (this happened well before our arrival), however, she did serve us in her pajamas....modest though they were.

J-L's got the group pic at the restaurant.

b-

Ah the first day you guys covered all my local stopping grounds I wished I had known about your ride I would have ridden along the first section and even given you a few detours of dirt to avoid some of the pavement you had to ride Did you guys go UP Thomas Mountain?

Here it is:



Speaking about pajamas, here is Berti in our luxury cabin:



First real day of the PCQ with the lake or what's left of it:

I would have love to ride with you too! Too bad you missed the several threads and itinerary maps we published on the site

South California is certainly hot and dry...



We quickly had to learn how to cope with dust...



... and rebellious gear