Riding the PCH

TSRBrad

Member
Joined
Aug 9, 2019
Messages
34
Location
Pahoa, HI
After travelling the PCH in a car many years ago, I always told myself "I gotta do this on a bike!!" Well, I finally decided it was time to make it happen.

I had originally planned to do the trip solo but after mentioning it to my regular riding partner, he says "So... when are you gonna go?" Suddenly a lot of my plans changed.
Initially, I had a fairly tight window to do the trip so the plan was to trailer the bike to a friend's place near Portland, park the vehicle and trailer and ride from there. With the addition of my buddy, it went from needing a single place trailer to a double. I didn't own a trailer prior to this, so trailer shopping suddenly got a bit more difficult. Plenty of affordable single-place units were out there but a suitable double wasn't so easy to find. Finally found a good condition Kendon Dual Stand-up for a reasonable price. Issue one down.

We decided on dates to go. As I said before, we had a limited number of days to do the trip. Turns out only one of us needed to worry about that. My employer of nearly 40 years decided to offer a retirement incentive that I really couldn't pass up. Time to turn in the badge. Suddenly my time constraints were gone but not so for my traveling companion so we stuck with our original schedule.

After about 2 1/2 days of driving from Minnesota we made to a friend's place near Portland. We unloaded, got a good night's sleep and hit the road the next morning.

Too many details to write down but simply put, we had a fantastic time... about 2200 miles ridden down the coast and back. Amazing roads, spectacular scenery and near perfect weather.

Almost there... the Columbia River Gorge


Along the Oregon/California Coast







Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park




A visit to Yosemite National Park on the way back north








We rode from Mulino, OR down the coast to Morro Bay, CA then inland back north. The ride from Morro Bay to Fresno was a big swing... low 60's near the coast to 103F when we finally called it a day in Fresno. The following day was our Yosemite visit and toyed with the idea of staying in Lake Tahoe. The issue there was finding a place to stay under $250 a night. Time to keep riding. We ended up in Red Bluff, CA. Our longest day in the saddle for the entire trip.

The remaining trip was a nice leisurely ride up through Oregon, stopping off to visit a friend along the Rogue River. We decided to head back east a few days early and do a couple days riding in the Black Hills. Unfortunately a crummy weather forecast put those plans on hold for another time. We were pretty tired by then and decided to head home. We made it back up to Mulino and loaded up for the trip home.

Needless to say, it was an unforgettable trip. Considering I'd owned the Super Tenere for a very short time, I really enjoyed the bike. Comfortable and a more than capable on all the twisty coast roads. We met several long-distance riders along the way and realized we are complete wimps when it comes to putting on miles. ;)

I can't wait to do it again!
 

mnccnm

Active Member
Joined
Feb 25, 2017
Messages
205
Location
Hesperia CA
Nice. Lots of familiar pics as I just did a similar ride in June. We started in So Cal and rode up through the east side of the state into Oregon, then across and down the coast to Morro Bay. Then cut across home. Beautiful scenery.
 
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ballisticexchris

Guest
That's a great ride!! Thank you so much for the memory. I would love to do that on my Super Tenere. At the time I just had my little Ninja. The ride report and pictures are fantastic!!
 
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ballisticexchris

Guest
BTW I ran into the same issue as you did finding a cheap place to stay. I see things have not changed in 10 years. LOL!!
 

escapefjrtist

Searching for Dry Roads
Joined
Sep 5, 2010
Messages
1,418
Location
Snohomish WA
Nice ride and pics! Being on the north left coast, am fortunate to have Oregon and Cali within easy striking distance.

I never get tired of a coast ride. Thanks for sharing!

~G
 

tntmo

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 10, 2017
Messages
649
Location
San Diego, CA
PCH is absolutely beautiful. I'm blessed living in CA, but haven't ridden it as much as I should. Great pictures and ride report.
 

TSRBrad

Member
Joined
Aug 9, 2019
Messages
34
Location
Pahoa, HI
I forgot to relate our most daring feat of the entire journey... lane-splitting through Santa Cruz rush hour traffic. I can definitely see the advantages but doing it for the first time can cause some profound sphincter-tightening. :oops:
 
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