California Yellowstone Las Vegas

Sgt Bilco

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On the back of the Trans America Trail trip I've organised this year, I will be staying on for a few weeks to have a run around the following route with a couple of fine tossers and a couple of ordinary people. Just about everything is in order so can take a few more folk if you are interested.

The bikes will be securely containered to and from San Francisco and the trip length is 3 weeks all in. I've been planning this for a while and there are some fantastic places we are going to like Las Vegas, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Monument Valley with Yellowstone being the highlight. If you've never been, it's just a fantastic place and September is a great time to be there for the wildlife i'e Bears, Bison, Elk and assorted others.

There is no off road and is all excellent tarmac so any bike will be good for this. It's also sensible mileage so new and novice riders will be OK and would be more than welcome.

Dates will be depart San Francisco on Saturday 10th September and back on Friday 30th September. This is a great time to ride in the area as the weather is really good (80's in California) and perfect for riding. It will be a bit chilly on the high passes but everywhere else should be good. The roads are quiet and accomodation cheaper as well as it avoids the main US season.

If you want any more info, have any questions and want projected costs etc, pm me or e-mail me on chrisbiltcliffe@btinternet.com.

Here is the basic route with mileages:



Day 1 Depart San Francisco and ride Skyline Blvd to Alice’s Restaurant. Overnight in Monterey. Mileage 212
Day 2 Ride through Carmel Valley and the superb R198. Overnight in Three Rivers Mileage 222
Day 3 Ride through Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Giant Redwoods and General Sherman tree. Overnight in Oakhurst Mileage 232
Day 4 Ride into Yosemite National Park via Glacier Point. Ride out of the East entrance at 10,000ft. Overnight in Lee Vining. Mileage 156

Day 5 Ride to Bodie Ghost Town. Overnight in Lee Vining. Mileage 212
Day 6 Ride across Death Valley into Las Vegas. Mileage 251
Day 7 Day off in Las Vegas Mileage 0
Day 8 Ride over the Hoover Dam and along an old section of Route 66 to Grand Canyon. Mileage 250
Day 9 Early start to see the Grand Canyon before riding to Monument Valley. Overnight in Mexican Hat Mileage 200
Day 10 Ride the Moki Dugway and on through Cortez. Overnight in the ski resort of Telluride Mileage 220
Day 11 Ride the R141 and on through Colorado. Overnight in Dinosaur Colorado Mileage 260
Day 12 Ride through the Dinosaur and ancient fossil beds of Wyoming. Overnight in Riverton. Mileage 260
Day 13 Ride the Wind River Canyon and overnight in Cody Wyoming Mileage 150
Day 14 Ride Dead Indian Highway and over the 11,000ft Beartooth Pass and head into Yellowstone National Park Mileage 180.
Day 15 Ride round the incredible Yellowstone National Park with geysers and hot mud springs. Overnight in West Yellowstone Mileage 150
Day 16 Early start and a ride across the Sierra Nevada’s to the overnight stop in Lewiston Idaho. Mileage 320
Day 17 Day off the bike and a raft ride into the incredible Hells Canyon. Mileage 0
Day 18 Ride some brilliant and rarely ridden roads through Northern Oregon to overnight stop in John Day Mileage 280.
Day 19 Ride down through Oregon and to Crater Lake, Overnight stop in Klammath Falls Mileage 280
Day 20 Ride across the West Coast through the spectacular Redwood National Forests. Overnight in Eureka California Mileage 180
Day 21 Ride down the best section of the Pacific Coast Highway to San Francisco Mileage 225
Day 22 Drop bikes off for loading and fly home.

Total Mileage is @ 4275
 
This sounds interesting, but I have a question.

Is this trip something you are running as part of your business - i.e. are you making a profit from organising the trip?

I am a little confused because you are running a business of organising tours, but if you read the sticky at the top of this section, it is not for business' to advertise :nenau
 
This sounds interesting, but I have a question.

Is this trip something you are running as part of your business - i.e. are you making a profit from organising the trip?

I am a little confused because you are running a business of organising tours, but if you read the sticky at the top of this section, it is not for business' to advertise :nenau

Good question and happy to answer. These initial ones I offer here are test trips for the business and I'm not looking at making a profit. I'm aiming just to cover my costs on these and in fact I lost a feckin fortune on the Coast to Coast in 2010. It's a steep learing curve and any UKgser coming is something of a test mule:augie

If anyone has any objection to me putting them here, I'll remove the thread straight away.
 
Good question and happy to answer. These initial ones I offer here are test trips for the business and I'm not looking at making a profit. I'm aiming just to cover my costs on these and in fact I lost a feckin fortune on the Coast to Coast in 2010. It's a steep learing curve and any UKgser coming is something of a test mule:augie

If anyone has any objection to me putting them here, I'll remove the thread straight away.

Thanks, sounds fair, and I don't have a problem if you were making money if the price is right, but I just wanted to be clear about the situation. Paying for a guided tour and going on a trip with like minded people does have a different feel to it.

I am not in a position to make any commitments, but would be interested to know potential costs and also keep up to date with plans.

Will send you a mail.
 
Having done the first part of that tour (on 4 wheels) due to Sgt Bilco being kind enough to pass on the detailed route to Amanda and I, I'm able to confirm what a truly wonderful place (and route) it is :thumb2

Andres
 
2012 :):):):):):):):):):) i,m gonna be a mule :clap:clap bring it on:beerjug:
 
Sounds Interesting....

I drove this area back in 2005... kind of.... From Oregon, down PCH1, death Vally, then Phoenix, Sedona National Park, Grand Canyon, New Mexico and home to Houston. Fantastic. If youve never experienced the vastness of the country.. it really is an experience...

I never had the chance/time to make any detours into the national parks but it is a fantastic place...actually Im kind of interested...

Just a thought but instead of shipping a bike over there, would it not be better to rent a bike there? (...or even buy a bike there and ship it back ? :augie)...

Ive always had a hankering to return...

F2L
 
I never had the chance/time to make any detours into the national parks but it is a fantastic place...actually Im kind of interested...

Just a thought but instead of shipping a bike over there, would it not be better to rent a bike there? (...or even buy a bike there and ship it back ? :augie)...

Ive always had a hankering to return...

F2L

Renting is mega bucks for 3 weeks and there is nothing like doing a trip on your own bike. I mean, where would you put the stickers:augie

If you let me have your e-mail address I'll get some info across to you:D
 
This is all systems go and I've got room for a couple more so let me know if you are interested and I'll get teh info across to you.

We will be having a professional camera woman on the trip to record everything in full technicolour:D She's a load better looking than Claudio so this is your chance to become famous:thumb2
 
Great Trip

I am doing something similar on the first two weeks of september but i am doing it in a car at a slow pace

Land in San Fransisco pick up car head out to Pleasanton stay overnight.

DAY 2 Head to Fish Camp near Yosemite stay for two nights
DAY 4 Fish Camp to Three Rivers at Sequoia NP two nights to see general sherman giant red woods stay two nights
Day 6 Three Rivers to Death Valley staying at the Opera House for one night
Day 7 Death Valley to Kingman route 66
Day 8 Kingman to Williams to take the train to the north rim of the grand canyon stay for two nights.
Day 10 Williams to Mexican Hat to visit Monument Valley and drive the valley of the gods road which is supposed to be spectacular scenary. Staying one night
DAY 11 Mexican Hat to Durango where we will take the Durango to Silverton railroad. staying two nights
Dar 13 Durango to Arches NP stay for one night
Day 14 Archess NP to Salt Lake city. Visit the Salt Lake flats do shopping, rest up, fly home from Salt Lake City.

I have done a good bit of touring around the states and west Canada. Any one going further north to Yellowstone will really enjoy the different landscape. I would recomend a visit to Jackson Hole (The Million Dollar Bar) The bar stools are saddles. A visit to the Old Faithful Inn is also recomended. Everyone who does this tour will really enjoy it. I would love to do the dalton road next year but can not get that much time off work in one go.

Have Fun
 
Don't know why anyone would wanna ride Hell's Canyon. The roads are all bendy ...
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And it's not very scenic either...
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Day 10 Williams to Mexican Hat to visit Monument Valley and drive the valley of the gods road which is supposed to be spectacular scenary. Staying one night
DAY 11 Mexican Hat to Durango where we will take the Durango to Silverton railroad. staying two nights
Dar 13 Durango to Arches NP stay for one night
Day 14 Archess NP to ...

Monument Valley is nice...


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Was a bit stormy when we rode through last June.

While in Silverton, don't forget to drive up to Ouray on Route 550 - great ride.
Have dinner and drinks in the bar at thje Pickle Barrel in Silverton. The bar is straight out of the old westerm movies. Food is decent and they bake their own pies on premises. Good stuff.
 
I'm going..

.. and looking forward to it already!!!!

:JB :ymca2 :ChrisKelly
 
Due to the current economic climate I've had a few recent dropouts on this trip so I have a few spaces available for this great trip.

If you are interested, PM me and I'll get all the details across to you:thumb
 
return leg

Hi
Looking at this ref flights and time off work to suit. The last day seems to be Saturday 1st Oct re dropping bikes off. What time will we be free of ride/bike commitments re flights out of SF?
Cheers
Harry
 
Harry

We get into SF on Friday evening so you can fly home on Saturday no problem. I will make sure the bike is loaded in the container which will be done on Monday.

Flights from SF are in the afternoon and early evening local time which get into LHR on Sunday morning and is a nice 10 hour stretch:augie
 


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