San Diego - Sequoia Np, Montana De Oro SP, & Pismo Beach

steve_k · 07-18-2010, 11:23 AM

YEAH! I just finished my first multi day motorcycle camping trip. It was a 4 day trip with stops in Sequoia National Park, Montana Del Oro State Park, and Pismo Beach. I didn’t get to do everything that a few people suggested since I was beat up pretty good from all the riding, but I had a good time!

I will try to keep the “bla bla bla” to a minimum and just post some decent pics.

DAY #1

Monday night the bike was fueled and ready to go!

I took off Wednesday morning around 3:30am since I had looked at the weather reports from some of the places I would be passing through, and saw that it was going to be HOT! Plus it would also help beat the LA traffic. My first stop for gas was around 6am in Santa Clarita, and also shed some gear since it was warming up a little.

The a$$ was getting sore about 50-75 miles later, so I pulled over in front of some brick/block factory and took a 10 minute break to walk around and stretch out.

Another 75 miles or so maybe, and it was time for another gas stop and bathroom break. I hung out in front of the store for about 10 minutes to walk around in circles stretch out. While chilling out, a Wally World truck drive stopped by to ask me about my bike so chatted with him for a few minutes before he jumped back in his rig and took off.

Not too long after the 2^nd gas stop, I was passing through this place, Exeter, Ca and had to stop for this water tower. Sure I have seen them before, but only when I use to do some work in Texas or while visiting family back in Georgia.

I knew I was getting close after I made my last gas stop in Three Rivers before entering the park.

There was some road construction going on in the park on Generals Hwy, so I had to stop for about 30-45 minutes to hang out. I found some shade and talked with a couple of people and took a picture of Moro Rock.

The ride up to the Lodgepole Campground was nice! Lots of shade covering the road which kept things nice and cool! It took a while to get to the campgrounds because of the traffic back up, but I checked in around 12pm and set up my tent and unloaded my gear.

I was pretty beat from the ride, so I didn’t venture off to far. There was a visitors center, post office, and store about a ½ mile (if that) from my camp site. So I walked down and grabbed a bite to eat, buy a post card and cold Gatorade, stop by the post office, and take a nap in some shade I found under a tree behind the visitors center.

After my nap behind the visitors center I went back to camp and gave my bike a once over, checked air in the tires and lubed the chain. After that, it was time to jump in the river that ran through the camp grounds. Oh it was cold, but it sure felt good! I chilled in and by the river for about 45 minutes to an hour. It ended up being laundry time too, I forgot to take off my socks and shirt, so they got a good rinse when I jumped in.

Washer

Dryer

Later on it was time to eat, review my map for the ride down to Morro Bay the next morning, and ended up crashing pretty early at around 8:30pm I think,

DAY #2

I got out of bed a little after 6am to some good shade covering the camp site. So I busted out the freeze dried scrambled eggs with bacon and added some Vienna sausages, with some coffee to boot. After eating and cleaning up my cook set. I started to pack and clean up camp, but had a visitor come over and dig for some nuts.

I think I left camp around 9ish or so and made a few stops for pictures on the way out.

I took the suggestion of taking the 180 East to Fresno, and that was a great ride, well, until getting to Fresno, that’s when the day started getting really warm! The 180 was full of twisties and made for a fun ride, even at slow cruising speeds.

My next stop was somewhere along the 41 south at this cool looking gas station. Filled up the bike, made a bathroom stop, and poured a bunch of water in my jacket to help keep me cool. The 41 south to the 46 east was kind of a boring ride. Especially at one point when the GPS told me to turn left in 95 miles. The ride was torture, it was hot, the road was straight as an arrow, and there was there was this cool refreshing irrigation canal that I wanted to jump into!

Things cooled off once I got into Morro Bay. The temperature had to of dropped 15 to 20 degrees. I stopped at a Rite Aid to pick up some more water and a couple chocolate snacks I was craving. The rest of the ride down to Montana De Oro State park was nice an slow through town. Once at the park, I set up my tent and took a walk down to the beach and then called fellow member Gogogordy up to make plans for meeting up on Friday to camp with him and his wife down in Pismo Beach.

Later on after walking around a bit, it was time to eat and see if I could scrounge up some fire wood for some campfire action. I took a walk around the campgrounds to the empty sights and found some firewood in some of the fire pits. I also had a ton of small pieces of wood in my campsite that looked like the splinters that flew off when someone was chopping up some fire wood. The fire started up without a match since I found some hot coals from whoever was there before me. While my little fire was burning, I decided ramen noodles were on the menu for the night, and they were mighty fine! Shortly after starting my dinner, one of my camp neighbors came over with some extra firewood they didn’t need and it was greatly appreciated. The fire burned till about 9pm, and then it was time to crash.

DAY #3

I was able to sleep in on Friday morning (7am) and it was wonderful! Normally I have my 2 cats jumping up and down on me at 5:30am. The campgrounds were cool and foggy, but it looked neat. Breakfast was once again, the freeze dried eggs with Vienna sausages, and still tasty. Once breakfast was done and cleaned up, I took another walk down to the beach to see how it looked in the fog. Around 9am after I finished walking around it was time to clean up and pack the bike.

I found this little guy while cleaning up

Gogogordy and his wife Patti showed up around 11:30am or so with their Buddy Scooters so I could follow them back down to Pismo Beach and join them for a night of camping.

The ride down to Pismo was nice, and the weather was warming up a bit too, which was also very nice. We got back to their place after about a 30-45 minute ride and took a walk for some lunch ( I forgot to take picture of the pizza!). After lunch, we started a little beer drinking and some damn good food! Matt and Patti really hooked me up with some fine grub! Shrimp cocktail followed by some bacon wrapped pork, mac-n-cheese, grilled zucchini, and more beer!

At sunset we took a short walk down to the beach, and when I say short walk, I mean about 100ft!

Then more beers with a great fire and some snicker doodles (Ouch, I forgot another picture of food!)

(I was probably thinking about what would happen if I pulled that cord behind me)

I think we sat around the fire and enjoyed the beers till around 11pm? Then I made a little bed outside next to the trailer, no tent for this night.

Day #4

A great nights sleep was followed by a wonderful stack of pancakes and joined by Duke.

Once the breakfast was down, I cleaned up my stuff and used the campground showers again, thanks my hosts many many times again, and hit the road. I took the 1/101/ & 154 to Santa Barbara for a bathroom break and filled up the bike. The 154 is a nice ride if you get the chance. Nothing hard core, but very little traffic and some good views. I made another gas stop in Westlake Village so I could make it through LA without having to stop for gas, which also got me all the way home with only one more bathroom stop just off of the 73 & the 5 south.

Overall I had a great time! This was the most riding I have done over a few days time, so I was a bit sore when I got home, but a little better this morning.

Later today I will download the trip data from the Zumo so you can see the roads I took, but here is a screen shot after I pulled into the garage yesterday afternoon.

All of the pictures can be seen here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/skrans/sets/72157624399402141/

Perry B · 07-18-2010, 07:42 PM

THANKS for the read!

steve_k · 07-18-2010, 08:35 PM

Glad you enjoyed!

earthroamer · 07-19-2010, 12:29 PM

Nice trip, Steve. Did you have to reserve a spot at Montana De Ora?

steve_k · 07-19-2010, 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by earthroamer

Nice trip, Steve. Did you have to reserve a spot at Montana De Ora?

Hi Jim, yes, I had to reserve my campsite since this is the peak season for the park. But it was easy to get since it was mid week, but the weekends were booked up pretty solid. I talked to one of the camp hosts and he said reservations were needed up till sometime in September or early October, then it was first come first serve. Then reservations are needed again sometime in May.

I enjoyed it, the sound of the waves put me to sleep prett quick!

http://www.reserveamerica.com/campgr...&parkCode=mont

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=592

I just looked on the Reserve America site and weekends were booked up to September and the week days were pretty open.

dave6253 · 07-20-2010, 10:19 PM

Nice first RR Steve K!

I'm sure you now realize that multi-day motorcycle camping trips are addictive.

WhorehayTheBarbarian · 07-20-2010, 11:43 PM

nice ride dude! couple guys here in san diego were just talking about hitting yosemite before the cold came in.

leaving for monterey on thursday for some ride and camp! wanna make it two weekends in a row?

I should see if there is a thread for the race this weakend....

steve_k · 07-21-2010, 06:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dave6253

Nice first RR Steve K!

I'm sure you now realize that multi-day motorcycle camping trips are addictive.

I am looking forward to the next one, but waiting for things to cool off! Not sure where the next multi-day ride will take me, but I would like to at some point do something like a CA-AZ-UT-NV ride, just do a loop where they are all tied together...

steve_k · 07-21-2010, 06:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WhorehayTheBarbarian

nice ride dude! couple guys here in san diego were just talking about hitting yosemite before the cold came in.

leaving for monterey on thursday for some ride and camp! wanna make it two weekends in a row?

I should see if there is a thread for the race this weakend....

If my new vacation policy at work didn't suck so much, I would be up for another ride this week!!!!!

You may want to check with RexInSD, I think he was heading up to the races with some other San Diego riders.

Keep me posted on any rides going on down here!

thebigkr · 07-22-2010, 11:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by steve_k

The ride down to Pismo was nice, and the weather was warming up a bit too, which was also very nice. We got back to their place after about a 30-45 minute ride and took a walk for some lunch ( I forgot to take picture of the pizza!). After lunch, we started a little beer drinking and some damn good food! Matt and Patti really hooked me up with some fine grub! Shrimp cocktail followed by some bacon wrapped pork, mac-n-cheese, grilled zucchini, and more beer!

Sweet ride. Looks like the same park my cousin has a trailer in. Pismo is a fun place, spent most of my childhood summers just up the coast in Morro Bay where we used to have a house.

mievil · 07-23-2010, 07:58 AM

What site # did you have at Lodgepole? Was there still snow on the ground? We were up there a few weeks ago and both of our sites still had snow behind the pad and up around the back loop.

steve_k · 07-23-2010, 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mievil

What site # did you have at Lodgepole? Was there still snow on the ground? We were up there a few weeks ago and both of our sites still had snow behind the pad and up around the back loop.

I was in #187, which I think was part of the back loop. No snow in the camp grounds, but I thought I saw some up on the side of some mountains.

steve_k · 07-23-2010, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thebigkr

Sweet ride. Looks like the same park my cousin has a trailer in. Pismo is a fun place, spent most of my childhood summers just up the coast in Morro Bay where we used to have a house.

This was my first trip to Pismo and the Morrow bay area, I liked it and would like to return. I would like to spend a couple nights in Montan De Oro to do more riding around the area, or maybe stay closer to the Morro Bay area.

The RV park was nice! Shade, grass, beach, and a clean facility!

07-20-2010, 10:19 PM	#6
dave6253 ad-ven-cher-uhs Joined: May 2006 Location: Phoenix, Arizona Oddometer: 2,538	Nice first RR Steve K! I'm sure you now realize that multi-day motorcycle camping trips are addictive. __________________ My 25 Ride Reports! dave6253.smugmug.com

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07-18-2010, 11:23 AM	#1
steve_k ^OP Studly Adventurer Joined: Jul 2008 Location: Rancho Bernardo (San Diego) Oddometer: 896	San Diego - Sequoia Np, Montana De Oro SP, & Pismo Beach YEAH! I just finished my first multi day motorcycle camping trip. It was a 4 day trip with stops in Sequoia National Park, Montana Del Oro State Park, and Pismo Beach. I didn’t get to do everything that a few people suggested since I was beat up pretty good from all the riding, but I had a good time! I will try to keep the “bla bla bla” to a minimum and just post some decent pics. DAY #1 Monday night the bike was fueled and ready to go! I took off Wednesday morning around 3:30am since I had looked at the weather reports from some of the places I would be passing through, and saw that it was going to be HOT! Plus it would also help beat the LA traffic. My first stop for gas was around 6am in Santa Clarita, and also shed some gear since it was warming up a little. The a$$ was getting sore about 50-75 miles later, so I pulled over in front of some brick/block factory and took a 10 minute break to walk around and stretch out. Another 75 miles or so maybe, and it was time for another gas stop and bathroom break. I hung out in front of the store for about 10 minutes to walk around in circles stretch out. While chilling out, a Wally World truck drive stopped by to ask me about my bike so chatted with him for a few minutes before he jumped back in his rig and took off. Not too long after the 2^nd gas stop, I was passing through this place, Exeter, Ca and had to stop for this water tower. Sure I have seen them before, but only when I use to do some work in Texas or while visiting family back in Georgia. I knew I was getting close after I made my last gas stop in Three Rivers before entering the park. There was some road construction going on in the park on Generals Hwy, so I had to stop for about 30-45 minutes to hang out. I found some shade and talked with a couple of people and took a picture of Moro Rock. The ride up to the Lodgepole Campground was nice! Lots of shade covering the road which kept things nice and cool! It took a while to get to the campgrounds because of the traffic back up, but I checked in around 12pm and set up my tent and unloaded my gear. I was pretty beat from the ride, so I didn’t venture off to far. There was a visitors center, post office, and store about a ½ mile (if that) from my camp site. So I walked down and grabbed a bite to eat, buy a post card and cold Gatorade, stop by the post office, and take a nap in some shade I found under a tree behind the visitors center. After my nap behind the visitors center I went back to camp and gave my bike a once over, checked air in the tires and lubed the chain. After that, it was time to jump in the river that ran through the camp grounds. Oh it was cold, but it sure felt good! I chilled in and by the river for about 45 minutes to an hour. It ended up being laundry time too, I forgot to take off my socks and shirt, so they got a good rinse when I jumped in. Washer Dryer Later on it was time to eat, review my map for the ride down to Morro Bay the next morning, and ended up crashing pretty early at around 8:30pm I think, DAY #2 I got out of bed a little after 6am to some good shade covering the camp site. So I busted out the freeze dried scrambled eggs with bacon and added some Vienna sausages, with some coffee to boot. After eating and cleaning up my cook set. I started to pack and clean up camp, but had a visitor come over and dig for some nuts. I think I left camp around 9ish or so and made a few stops for pictures on the way out. I took the suggestion of taking the 180 East to Fresno, and that was a great ride, well, until getting to Fresno, that’s when the day started getting really warm! The 180 was full of twisties and made for a fun ride, even at slow cruising speeds. My next stop was somewhere along the 41 south at this cool looking gas station. Filled up the bike, made a bathroom stop, and poured a bunch of water in my jacket to help keep me cool. The 41 south to the 46 east was kind of a boring ride. Especially at one point when the GPS told me to turn left in 95 miles. The ride was torture, it was hot, the road was straight as an arrow, and there was there was this cool refreshing irrigation canal that I wanted to jump into! Things cooled off once I got into Morro Bay. The temperature had to of dropped 15 to 20 degrees. I stopped at a Rite Aid to pick up some more water and a couple chocolate snacks I was craving. The rest of the ride down to Montana De Oro State park was nice an slow through town. Once at the park, I set up my tent and took a walk down to the beach and then called fellow member Gogogordy up to make plans for meeting up on Friday to camp with him and his wife down in Pismo Beach. Later on after walking around a bit, it was time to eat and see if I could scrounge up some fire wood for some campfire action. I took a walk around the campgrounds to the empty sights and found some firewood in some of the fire pits. I also had a ton of small pieces of wood in my campsite that looked like the splinters that flew off when someone was chopping up some fire wood. The fire started up without a match since I found some hot coals from whoever was there before me. While my little fire was burning, I decided ramen noodles were on the menu for the night, and they were mighty fine! Shortly after starting my dinner, one of my camp neighbors came over with some extra firewood they didn’t need and it was greatly appreciated. The fire burned till about 9pm, and then it was time to crash. DAY #3 I was able to sleep in on Friday morning (7am) and it was wonderful! Normally I have my 2 cats jumping up and down on me at 5:30am. The campgrounds were cool and foggy, but it looked neat. Breakfast was once again, the freeze dried eggs with Vienna sausages, and still tasty. Once breakfast was done and cleaned up, I took another walk down to the beach to see how it looked in the fog. Around 9am after I finished walking around it was time to clean up and pack the bike. I found this little guy while cleaning up Gogogordy and his wife Patti showed up around 11:30am or so with their Buddy Scooters so I could follow them back down to Pismo Beach and join them for a night of camping. The ride down to Pismo was nice, and the weather was warming up a bit too, which was also very nice. We got back to their place after about a 30-45 minute ride and took a walk for some lunch ( I forgot to take picture of the pizza!). After lunch, we started a little beer drinking and some damn good food! Matt and Patti really hooked me up with some fine grub! Shrimp cocktail followed by some bacon wrapped pork, mac-n-cheese, grilled zucchini, and more beer! At sunset we took a short walk down to the beach, and when I say short walk, I mean about 100ft! Then more beers with a great fire and some snicker doodles (Ouch, I forgot another picture of food!) (I was probably thinking about what would happen if I pulled that cord behind me) I think we sat around the fire and enjoyed the beers till around 11pm? Then I made a little bed outside next to the trailer, no tent for this night. Day #4 A great nights sleep was followed by a wonderful stack of pancakes and joined by Duke. Once the breakfast was down, I cleaned up my stuff and used the campground showers again, thanks my hosts many many times again, and hit the road. I took the 1/101/ & 154 to Santa Barbara for a bathroom break and filled up the bike. The 154 is a nice ride if you get the chance. Nothing hard core, but very little traffic and some good views. I made another gas stop in Westlake Village so I could make it through LA without having to stop for gas, which also got me all the way home with only one more bathroom stop just off of the 73 & the 5 south. Overall I had a great time! This was the most riding I have done over a few days time, so I was a bit sore when I got home, but a little better this morning. Later today I will download the trip data from the Zumo so you can see the roads I took, but here is a screen shot after I pulled into the garage yesterday afternoon. All of the pictures can be seen here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/skrans/sets/72157624399402141/ __________________ My rides: http://www.flickr.com/photos/skrans/2959275108/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/skrans/...7611854503124/

07-18-2010, 07:42 PM	#2
Perry B Perry B Joined: May 2008 Location: Orange County California Oddometer: 140	Thanks. THANKS for the read!

07-18-2010, 08:35 PM	#3
steve_k ^OP Studly Adventurer Joined: Jul 2008 Location: Rancho Bernardo (San Diego) Oddometer: 896	Glad you enjoyed! __________________ My rides: http://www.flickr.com/photos/skrans/2959275108/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/skrans/...7611854503124/

07-19-2010, 12:29 PM	#4
earthroamer Stuck in Pindadesh Joined: Jun 2006 Location: SoCal Oddometer: 2,045	Nice trip, Steve. Did you have to reserve a spot at Montana De Ora? __________________ Jim 06 F650GS I wanna ride

07-20-2010, 11:43 PM	#7
WhorehayTheBarbarian Gnarly Adventurer Joined: Oct 2007 Location: San Diego CA Oddometer: 153	nice ride dude! couple guys here in san diego were just talking about hitting yosemite before the cold came in. leaving for monterey on thursday for some ride and camp! wanna make it two weekends in a row? I should see if there is a thread for the race this weakend....

07-23-2010, 07:58 AM	#11
mievil Adventurer Joined: Jun 2008 Location: San Diego/GuangDong, PRC Oddometer: 79	What site # did you have at Lodgepole? Was there still snow on the ground? We were up there a few weeks ago and both of our sites still had snow behind the pad and up around the back loop.