15 Days on the Pacific Crest

R-dubb · 07-21-2004, 05:06 PM

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

R-dubb · 07-21-2004, 05:13 PM

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

richard cabesa · 07-21-2004, 05:45 PM

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

Ricardo Kuhn · 07-21-2004, 06:17 PM

raindog · 07-21-2004, 06:23 PM

spagthorpe · 07-21-2004, 06:29 PM

ktmnate · 07-21-2004, 06:32 PM

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

Renazco · 07-21-2004, 07:08 PM

Second beer, still waiting Rick

ErrinV · 07-21-2004, 07:40 PM

Alright! Been waitin' for this stuff.

Dick · 07-21-2004, 07:45 PM

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

Let's go your fans are waiting

DesertRat · 07-21-2004, 07:46 PM

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

ErrinV · 07-21-2004, 07:46 PM

AWWWW YEEAAAAA! Time to get my Crest thread on!

Errin

traveltoad · 07-21-2004, 08:59 PM

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.

Dysco · 07-21-2004, 09:42 PM

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

You guys suck at this.

R-dubb · 07-21-2004, 10:34 PM

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

07-21-2004, 05:06 PM	#1
R-dubb ^OP Dubbious Adventurer Joined: Aug 2001 Location: San Francisco Oddometer: 4,697	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 R-dubb screwed with this post 01-04-2009 at 04:03 PM Reason: update Garmin file link

07-21-2004, 05:13 PM	#2
R-dubb ^OP Dubbious Adventurer Joined: Aug 2001 Location: San Francisco Oddometer: 4,697	Day One on the PCQ 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

07-21-2004, 05:45 PM	#3
richard cabesa The Mayor Joined: Jul 2003 Location: Santa Cabesa Oddometer: 9,004	About dang time. Off to the store for a sixer and then I'm __________________ F800GS R1200RT Ca Stew says "You can't teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig."

07-21-2004, 06:17 PM	#4
Ricardo Kuhn a.k.a. Mr Rico Suave Joined: Sep 2001 Location: Salt lake city, Utah Oddometer: 11,605	I here waiting for the best "MOVIE" of the year __________________ I'm really Sorry but I'm "Out" of Rickybars, Actually I have a bunch of bars and a Ton of end pieces but Not that many clamps to offer them as a product anymore.

07-21-2004, 06:23 PM	#5
raindog dharma bum Joined: May 2003 Location: Naples, Long Beach Oddometer: 16,982	ZRight on! this is going to be good!

07-21-2004, 06:29 PM	#6
spagthorpe Beastly Adventurer Joined: Aug 2002 Location: homeless Oddometer: 13,721	Me too - I've been waiting for this!

07-21-2004, 06:32 PM	#7
ktmnate Beastly Adventurer Joined: May 2003 Location: Somewhere Oddometer: 2,994	you're gona drag this out arn't ya? Well, you can't get rid of me that easily.

07-21-2004, 07:08 PM	#8
Renazco Formerly AKA Boejangles Joined: Apr 2003 Location: Santa Rosa, Ca. Oddometer: 4,695	Second beer, still waiting Rick

07-21-2004, 07:40 PM	#9
ErrinV D Boon! Joined: Aug 2003 Location: Alhambra, CA Oddometer: 2,291	Alright! Been waitin' for this stuff. __________________ Thunderbird 1 - '07 KTM 990 "Love comes in spurts!"--Richard Hell

07-21-2004, 07:46 PM	#11
DesertRat Dehydrated Adventurer Joined: Jan 2003 Location: Reno NV Oddometer: 473	And while I am waiting, may I point out how spiffy R-dubb looks in his new rally suit? __________________ Adventure is where it finds you! 09 F800 GS

07-21-2004, 08:59 PM	#13
traveltoad Aaron S Joined: May 2002 Location: SoCal Oddometer: 6,152	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.

07-21-2004, 09:42 PM	#14
Dysco caddis muncher Joined: Jan 2004 Location: Salida, CO Oddometer: 14,879	I LOVE it when people drag out awesome stories that make me jealous. You guys suck at this. __________________ My best advice for life after major surgery or injury. Adventure is what happens when you thought you were going to have a good time.

07-21-2004, 10:34 PM	#15
R-dubb ^OP Dubbious Adventurer Joined: Aug 2001 Location: San Francisco Oddometer: 4,697	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 R-dubb screwed with this post 06-23-2009 at 05:00 PM

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