Western States Harley Tour

September 26 - October 6
11 days, 10 nights, 9 States, 4215 Miles (6744km)
A little 11 day jaunt around the 'neighborhood' seemed like a good idea during my sabbatical, being as I have been on the Great Wall of China, and never had been to the Grand Canyon, a road trip to get there was in order. Little did I ever know I would make my first trip to the Grand Canyon on a Harley. Eleven days, 9 rest stops (two nights in Vegas, baby), and a lot of spinning of the wheels made for a great time!

Tuesday, September 26
Vancouver, WA to Twin Falls, Idaho
Mostly on I-84 for this point, a lot of it my dad and I had traversed the week before coming back from Jackson Hole, WY. The southeast corner of Oregon is stunning in scenery, but most of Idaho is boring. Not sure if anyone has ever fallen asleep at the handlebars, but if it were to happen, it would be in Idaho on I-84.

Highlights of this section mostly revolved around the Oregon Trail. I stopped at Farewell Bend state park for a break and took some pictures...

Twin Falls has some very interesting parks that all revolve around the waterfalls on the Snake River, Shoeshone being the most famous.

Shoeshone Falls...Wednesday, September 27
Twin Falls, Idaho to Moab, Utah
Burskies... this was a cold morning... stopped a half dozen times just to warm up before getting to the Utah border.

Golden Spike NHS... While on route, I happened across the highway sign for the Golden Spike National Historic Site and it didn't look too far off the main road, so I decided to swing by... pretty amazing place with a great feel of history about it... of course, this is where the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads met and the Golden Spike was driven to commemerate the completion of the trans-continental railroad...

Arches NP... I got down to Moab, Utah just in time to spend some time in Arches... very neat place... some of the wildest natural formations of rock I have ever seen...

Thursday, September 28
Moab, Utah to Albuquerque, NM
Moab is an interesting small town in the middle of nowhere. Mostly a rafting and skydiving town that revolves around the local national parks, I was surprised at its size.. couple of miles to get from one end to the other on the main drag.

Canyonlands NP... I wasn't even going to stop here at this one, but when I got up that morning, I felt I would be missing something if I did not go see it... and a good thing I did... it was the highlight of the trip... it was pretty cold when i got there, but as the sun came up, the temperature went up, too... Canyonlands NP is where the confluence of the Green River and the Colorado River is, and is really in essence the headwaters of the Grand Canyon.

Mesa Vere NP... I had really no idea what this park was about when I arrived... I had always seen the cliff dwellings in pictures and see TV programs about them on the Discovery or History Channels, but never realized where they were. This was also one of the more scary rides I have done, as the road through the park climbs several thousand feet, is very narrow, curvy and no guardrails.

Friday, September 29
Albuquerque, NM to Grand Canyon Village, AZ
Historic Route 66... I've always wanted to drive part of this road where it still exists, however, riding it on a Harley was even better... in certain places, the road doesn't exist anymore... this picture was taken in Petrified Forest NP where the roadbed exists under the overgrowth, and the original powerpoles still outline the path of the road...

Petrified Forest NP... again, had no clue what this park was really about before getting here... just knew it was on the map... basically it contains the painted desert, as well as areas where large trees were swept into the area and petrified over time, thus leaving vast deposits of petrified wood scatter about the area...

Friday Evening Grand Canyon Arrival... Got there just in time to catch the canyon in the waning light. Also had a close encounter with 3 cow elk at 45mph. Fortunately, no physical contact was made.

Saturday, September 30
Grand Canyon Village to Las Vegas, NV
Sunrise, Grand Canyon NP...

I was up before sunrise to be able to spend some time roaming around the south rim, stop at all the viewpoints, and take it all in before heading out for the day to Las Vegas...

This cow elk was getting a drink of water the hard way...This is the very east end of the canyon, where the Little Colorado river comes in from the southeast and you can still see the high desert plain... Hoover Dam... It was 100 degrees here... pretty cool place, but not as big as I had envisioned from other pictures and stories.

Monday, October 2
Las Vegas to San Diego, CA

Another hot day of riding today...Imperial Sand Dunes... fortunately, it wasn't windy... that would have sucked! Slightly warm that afternoon in Imperial Valley... it was actually up to 110 across Interstate 8 later in the day.
Tuesday, October 3
San Diego, CA to San Luis Obispo, CA
Lots of beautiful coast here, but also a lot of hustle and bustle, getting through LA and all.
Wednesday, October 4
San Luis Obispo, CA to Santa Rosa, CA

An incredible part of the CA coast, however, quite curvy and slow roads. It also started to rain for the first time on this trip as I got up to Santa Cruz.

A lunch stop in Monterey...The Golden Gate Bridge... stopped here for about an hour just to take it in... Muir Woods... I was here over 10 years ago... amazing how it hasn't changed from what I remember... Sunset over Point Reyes National Seashore... Thursday, October 5
Santa Rosa, CA to Crescent City, CA
Redwood National Park... Some pretty darn big trees here... and if people claim that they can't see me in that rain gear, they shouldn't be on the road. My last evening along the coast before heading home... just south of Crescent City, CA... Friday, October 6
Crescent City, CA to Home

Just had a leisurely ride up the I-5 corridor to home. :) What a great trip!