Sherman Pass

Started by glennw, October 17, 2003, 07:41:09 AM

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glennw

 On the recommendation of another V rider in my area, Ron (well, about 100 miles away) I made a great two day ride up to an area I pretty well but to a road I had never been on.
    Saturday I made a 225 mile from Santa Barbara to Kernville. Now some of the best southern California mountain roads are on the way (Highway 33, Lockwood Valley Road, Highway 178) so the trip up was a gas. More corners than straights on most of these roads!
    I started up to 68 mile long Sherman Pass Sunday AM. NOOOOO TRAFFIC back here. You start at about 3000 and within about 20 miles you hit the summit at 9,300 ft. Unfortunately last year the had a huge brush fire and a lot of the trees at the lover elevations were totaled, leaving sand in just about every corner for the first 6-7 miles. It was Dirt bike style, foot down slow going! Ah... but then I got past the burned area, the road cleaned up and it was solid pine trees (I'm not sure what type... but the get pretty big up their).
    Then in was switchbacks all the way to summit! YAHOO. From the summit I counted 5 ridges. The most incredible view I have see in the Sierra's (without a back pack on). The V ran flawless, though I could feel the power fading from the elevation. From here its mostly down hill as you transition from trees, to brush and end up in the Mojave desert. The last nine miles in a road blasted out of a totally barren very steep mountain wall. The kind where you can see it all laid out before you. Sweet
When I got the desert floor and gas station in Inyokern (110 miles from my last gas stop) I found I had only used 1.97 gallons of gas! I was amazed but I guess the 48 miles of down hill helped!
    Roy and I have a trip planned in a couple of weeks to the same area.
Happy riding!

Half Mad Max