Day 2: July 7, 2004
Monitor Pass to Humboldt-Toiyabe NF, NV (350 miles, 35 mi dirt)




Mono Lake from US-395

In the morning I tried to take an unpaved road from CA-67 to CA-120. I had asked a passerby how the road was and he said that it was hard packed dirt. It started out that way, but after about 10 miles, it turned to deep sand! Riding a motorcycle in sand is nearly impossible. I fell over at around 10mph after making it a few hundred feet into the sand. When I crashed, I put my hand out to brace myself, and the sand was so deep that my hand got buried 8 inches into the sand! Unfortunately, no pictures of the occation.

Note the lack of curves and vehicles. It's around 20 miles to the mountains in the distance, and I didn't see another vehicle the whole way there. Desolate!

US-6 in NV

In the afternoon I took this unpaved road that goes from NV-375 (the "Exterrestrial Highway" over a mountain range, through Humbildt-Toiyabe National Forest, and then to NV-318. Since I was pretty shaken up from my crash earlier today (first crash on my brand new bike!), I took it pretty easy on this unpaved road. Luckily, no sand and no crashes. The road was actually really nice, but it was hard to appreciate it because I was nervous from my crash.

Unpaved road through Nevada


Unpaved road through Nevada

There was an undeveloped campsite at the top of this unpaved mountain pass, where I spent the night.

Cherry Creek Summit

Someone had cut and left a ton of firewood of all sizes, so I made a blazing campfire (which turned out to be the only one of my trip).

fire

Next: Day 3 H-T NF to Tuweep, Grand Canyon NP, AZ

Day 1: San Francisco to Monitor Pass, CA
Day 2: to Humboldt-Toiyabe NF, NV
Day 3: to Tuweep, Grand Canyon NP, AZ
Day 4: to Grand Staircase - Escalante NM, UT
Day 5: to Owl Creek Pass, CO
Day 6: to Broomfield, CO

Return trip: Days 11-13: Broomfield, CO to San Francisco, CA