Day 3 – Tuesday September 28
49 miles/557 feet
The next morning it was a freezing 32 degrees, and I was thankful for my big sleeping
bag and warm little tent that night. Others who packed light for the tour had a harder
night. We arose to the sound of motor home generators and diesel big rigs idling in the
rest stop, and we found Dick Clothier this morning out in the arctic air in his sleeping
bag. He was delivered to the rest stop by car sometime that night and joined our group
here to complete the tour. Today was an easy downhill from 5,700 feet to 3,600 feet to
Lake Almanor then on to Greenville. After a hearty lunch of hamburgers, fries and lemon
pie in Westwood we continued down SR 147 along the east shores of the lake and then
turned onto Highway 89 for a final, fast descent. We were bedeviled here by a procession
of fast and generally impatient logging trucks. Their drivers seemed to take great
delight in blasting us with their air horns as they approached. In Greenville the “fast”
group (Nussbaum, Dodson, and Clifton) and we in the “moderate” group stayed at the
Hideaway Motel while, with the day still young, the "sight-seer" bunch (Groves, Delano,
Evans, Clothier and Perry), opted to ride the 30 miles on to Quincy, the animals. They
camped at the Quincy Fairgrounds. Rugged individualist fast rider Paul Gunkel camped at
a small primitive campground outside of Greenville. This was a recovery night for the
rest of us. We did our laundries in town, and Maben, Hawkins, Schroeder and I cooked up
a pasta dinner in our kitchenette motel unit. The dinner was a nice break from our
previous nights’ freeze-dried camp food. It was a warm, sunny afternoon and evening as
we sat out on the motel deck and contemplated the coming days’ rides.

Bart and Dick Clothier at Quincy Fairgrounds

Greg and B-Bob Sunning on Hideaway Deck

Chef Maben Cooking Dinner

Day 4 – Wednesday September 29
48 miles/2,772 feet
After a good breakfast in a small café in Greenville we headed out for Quincy. The
road slowly meandered 600 feet down on Highway 70 into a river gorge and then out again.

Maben On Descent

Again we had to deal with logging trucks hauling up Highway 70 with little or no shoulder
we had to get off the road several times to let them by. Arriving in Quincy at about
noon, we in the “moderate” group (Maben, Hawkins, Schroeder, and I) found a funky little
health food place for a lunch of organic sandwiches and power drinks containing
(according to the label) several million beneficial(??) organisms. As we climbed up
Highway 89/70 towards our day’s destination, the sky darkened and a light rain started.
We decided to forgo camping at Plumas-Eureka State Park and find a motel in Graeagle.
The rest of the group made the grueling 700 foot climb to the campground for the
evening. Meanwhile we “moderates” enjoyed the motel spa, a Mexican dinner, CNN and
comfy beds.

Day 5 – Thursday September 30
54 miles/3,576 feet
Today we faced the long nonstop 2,300 foot climb on the Gold Lake Forest Highway to
6,700 feet in the Plumas National Forest. Fortunately it was a glorious sunny day
and the beautiful scenery took our minds off the slow grind up the pass.

Greg on the Grind up Gold Lake Forest Hwy

After one false summit, we began the exhilarating 35 mile descent with the majestic
panorama of the Sierra Buttes unfolding to the west. We reconnoitered at the Highway 49
intersection and thencontinued the descent to Downieville for lunch.

Maben, Schroeder, and Nussbaum Regrouping at Hwy49

The day’s ride ended at the Willow Creek RV Park and Lama Farm outside of Camptonville.

Willow Creek RV Park

Schroeder and Hawkins Dining at Willow Creek

Day 6 – Friday October 1
73 miles/2,600 feet
Today’s ride would be our longest. At the Highway 49/Marysville Road intersection we parted
ways with Groves, Evans, and Clothier as they continued on to Nevada City on Highway 49, a
difficult ride.

Clothier, Groves, and Evans

The rest of us turned on Marysville Road heading for Beale AFB with the evening’s
destination being Camp Far West. We had learned that the east gate of Beale was closed so we
had to detour on Highway 20 into Marysville to enter through the north gate. We went through
in two groups, one led by Nussbaum and the other by Delano. After a lunch in a base restaurant,
we bought supplies at the PX and headed out the south gate for Camp Far West. Bart Perry was
in trouble as his fancy bike seat broke, and he was sitting on a makeshift duct tape seat.

Bart's Duct Tape Seat

We learned that our planned destination at the south campground was closed and we had to divert
to the north campground. The north Camp Far West campground had no showers, so some took a muddy
swim in the lake while others did sun showers or sponge baths. We went to sleep that night
listening to a wild Friday night party going on at another campsite.

Happy Hour at Far West
Ed, Clifton, Nussbaum, Paul, and Mike

Day 7 – Saturday October 2
64 miles/150 feet
This last day of the tour saw more of our group splitting off and heading their own ways home.
Schroeder and Hawkins took off straight south for Fair Oaks via Lincoln and the rest of us
headed southwest through Sheridan and across the flats to Rio Linda for lunch. A quick spin
down the bike trail brought us to the American River Bike trail. We were back in Sacramento
and done! It was at times a grueling wilderness tour but the camaraderie and glorious scenery
made it all worthwhile.

Tour Profile

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