Day 10, the last day, of my California Loop 2018 Motorcycle Trip. In this video, I ride from Crystal Lake Camp Grounds southbound on San Gabriel Canyon Road (California Highway 39) to Azusa, CA. From Azusa, I jump onto Interstate 210 East. Not shown in the video, I rode I-210 E to CA-57 South to CA-71 South to I-15 South to Lake Elsinore, CA.
The video resumes in Lake Elsinore, CA on Central Ave (CA-74) where I ride home to my apartment complex. Sidenote, my family and I moved from Lake Elsinore, CA to Ramona, CA in October 2019 preparing for our move to Georgia in 2020 (where we still live today in 2025).
On this day, I departed Rancheria Campground on Huntington Lake, California and rode the very scenic Huntington Lake Road which had some terrific mountain views and somewhat sketchy road in some spots. Then I headed towards Fresno, CA on California Highway 168.
This is where this video ends as the remainder of the day was mostly freeway and interstates all the way to Azusa, CA where I camped at the Crystal Lake Camp Grounds.
Ride from Stockton California to Huntington Lake California where I camped for the night. Much of the days ride was on CA Highway 99 which leaves much to be desired scenery wise. However, the ride back into the mountains was had some nice scenery and enjoyable riding.
On Day 8 – Part One, I travelled from Cottonwood Creek Campground, along the east side of Lake Tahoe, over Carson Pass, to Stockton, CA. The video picks up the trip in Lake Tahoe and ends in Clements, CA.
In this video, I take a scenic ride around a portion of Lake Tahoe from Kings Beach, CA to Emerald Bay State Park Lookout on the western side of the lake.
Lake Tahoe is such beautiful lake with crystal clear water. While the video and pictures are very nice, it still does not compare to how it looks in person.
On this day, I rode a scenic ride from my camp at Cottonwood Creek Campground to Donner Pass and back while stopping in Truckee, CA to grab some groceries for the evenings meals, tacos!
Yet another day where my camera angle was less than desired, not a total waste but disappointing that much of the view was missed. If and whenever I return to the Lake Tahoe region, I will be sure to record better footage.
The ride up to Donner pass and the views from the pass were impressive….AND WINDY lol.
In this video, I rode from Redding, CA to Cottonwood Campground Creek Campground in the Tahoe National Forest, just south of Sierraville, CA. Following Google Maps like a lemming, I turned onto the wrong road, Verdi Grade Road which was a bumpy dirt road with numerous sizeable rocks and wash outs.
Once I decided that I was on the wrong road, I turned around and was headed back to the California Highway 89 where my forward progress was halted by a large rock and of course there was a deep washout where I went to put my left foot down.
Dexter’s curb weight is about 850 pounds, figure about 200 pounds of gear and add my weigh of around 265, total weight is in the neighborhood of 1,200 – 1,300 pounds. That is freaking heavy lol and near impossible to hold up once the bike tips past a certain point. So, Dexter took a dirt nap. I tried to pick Dexter while still loaded, yeah not gonna happen. So there on the dirt road / path I unloaded the heavy stuff and did manage to pick Dexter up, reloaded and turned into the Campground which was maybe 500 feet from where I turned onto this interesting road.
Dexter is a 2005 Harley Davidson Ultra Classic, this bike is very much designed for pavement or at least a groomed gravel road. I had no business being on this road…buy hey, now I have a story to tell 🙂
In this video, I depart the Burlington Campground – Weott, CA and roll north first on Avenue of the Giants and then Hwy 101 to Eureka, CA where I turn east onto California Highway 299 to 11 miles west of Redding, California.
Avenue of the Giants and CA Highway 299 had some exceptional scenery and some nice sweeping curves on CA Highway 299. Also some very nice scenes along portions of the Trinity River.
In this video, I ride from Petrolia, California to Capetown, California along California’s Lost Cost on Mattole Road. The remoteness of this area of California along with the scenery makes this area a great ride and place to explore.
After my roadside pitstop at Captetown, I discovered that the angle on my GoPro mounted to the top of my helmet was too high. A bit of a bummer that I didn’t capture any usable video of Ferndale, California. This is a charming small town and there was parade on this day that I rolled through (I don’t think the parade was in my honor though).
On my next helmet, I have mounted the GoPro on my chin. I like the viewing angle better from here as you can see some of my motorcycle. However, my wife prefers the view from atop of the helmet, better for scenery she claims. Who’s right?….who knows (until she reads this, then of course she is right!) 🙂
Wanderlust Lyfe 