Boxerworks.com

Yeah, it's been a few weeks--took some time to get vid uploaded. Here we go, the last ride of the year took me here, running clockwise this time:



The north-south running bit on the right is mostly Forest Highway 1 maintained by the USFS. It is a ridgetop road, much of it over 4000'. The views can be amazing. 50+ miles of this, starting from here:



That's right, not only did I get 54 miles of FH1, but then I got to ride Hwy 36!

Here's a wee vid of FH1, once atop the ridge. The walking guy was a mystery--no vehicle in sight for 10 miles either way, and at least 5 miles to the nearest dwelling.

http://youtu.be/X-9GHbZ2oNU

Views a few miles later:







Maybe just a bit out of sight in the last pic, there's a pile of burned slash. When I rode through here almost precisely a year before, that burned slash was still smoldering. The awesome view is courtesy of a recent cut, maybe a bit more obvious here:





It's hard to believe sometimes that we're only taking a fraction of the wood out of our forests that we did just a generation ago. Even a little seems like a lot when you're up close and personal with it.

A little further down the road, looking West this time:







There was a geocache to find--I was STF (We are humspuds when we cache) on a cache that had been there over two months, but it appears I had a couple more hot on my tail, with two more finds the same day. I believe all of you can see this one, not just Rob and Brad:

http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC4J ... 638542d45a

Eventually, one must leave the ridgetop paradise:



But that only means it's time for Hwy 36. Here's the best bit of it. Sadly, nearly 1/2 of it was spent behind a pilot car, going through a construction zone. I present it in two sections:

http://youtu.be/bPmY-DLaqBg

And after the construction zone. For the most part, folks are great about letting one past on Hwy 36:

http://youtu.be/1hUujc6PqZ8

The moist streak had me riding cautiously--not sure if it was just water or perhaps something more sinister.

After that, it was time to hustle home to hibernate the bike. Full tank of gas mit stabilizer, oil and filter change, float bowls drained, and the battery out. Just in time to carve pumpkins:





Mine is the one on top. It's some funky heirloom pumpkin, and when gutting it out we found the walls were 4" thick. Hard to carve, that one. Muriel suggested a spade bit, and once I got a few of them out of the shop the arty part of the carving took about two minutes, including changing bits.

Nice ride Mel, Thanks.

I'm pissed.
Where's the burrito picture Melville?!

It's not a Melville post without a burrito.

When there's a burrito pic, I'll read the post.

I was looking to see if his ridge road was Street View'd (it isn't) and I found this really cool picture!

http://goo.gl/maps/mO3ZO

Nice loop.
Why pics of clear cuts?

Zombie Master wrote:Why pics of clear cuts?

Uh - the spectacular view of the distant mountains?

justoneoftheguys wrote:I was looking to see if his ridge road was Street View'd (it isn't) and I found this really cool picture!

http://goo.gl/maps/mO3ZO

That is a sweet pic! We've been over 25 years here and in Seattle, and have developed a great appreciation of gray scale. "It's a bright fog today."

justoneoftheguys wrote:

Zombie Master wrote:Why pics of clear cuts?

Uh - the spectacular view of the distant mountains?

Yep, generally no views here without benefit of the chainsaw. Our horizons are often no further away than you can throw a baseball.

ME 109 wrote:I'm pissed.
Where's the burrito picture Melville?!

It's not a Melville post without a burrito.

When there's a burrito pic, I'll read the post.

Sorry, saving room for Hallowe'en candy that day. Had I stopped for lunch, it would likely have been at Taco Loco:



or Amigas:



Happy reading!

Great ride report Melville, like me you have some excellent roads close by.
Spectacular mountains too.
Are the pines? natural growth or managed plantations? We also have vast tracts of pine plantations in our mountains, at the expense of the natural bush.
Which gopro do you have and what settings? Improvements to audio have made a big difference for my vids.

Looks like it was a real nice ride Melville. I started to watch one of the vids but then got distracted by WTF I need a handjob which apparently Youtube thinks is related to your video.

I was rather enjoying the ride report sans burrito until ME109 came along and demanded it.

ME 109 wrote:Great ride report Melville, like me you have some excellent roads close by.
Spectacular mountains too.
Are the pines? natural growth or managed plantations? We also have vast tracts of pine plantations in our mountains, at the expense of the natural bush.
Which gopro do you have and what settings? Improvements to audio have made a big difference for my vids.

They are Coast Redwoods, Douglas Fir, Western Red Cedar, and Sitka Spruce for the most part. They grew naturally, but have been cut and (mis)managed for the last 100-150 years. Some are on a 40 year cycle, most are longer, I think. Ed (enigma120) would know more.

I think it's a first generation Hero HD. I've been using the R4 screen setting, which gives a 4:3 frame IIRC, and in the waterproof case which mutes the sound somewhat. Footage is unedited, straight off the camera and onto the YouTube. My older boy has some editing skills, but Muriel would rather not have him involved with the moto in that way.

While looking for geocaches to find with Muriel today, I found out why there were two finders right behind me:

http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC4R ... d-with-10k

Those bastards placed one just a wee spot away from the one I found! Goddammit, I'll have to ride FH1 again to get that one. Probably next summer--we've had rain and cold here at the coast, so it should be snowed in until next June.

Steve, I don't know what to say about the HJ vid