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Death Valley Moto Sport Touring 2005 |
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Written by Daniel Hienzsch
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Saturday, 12 May 2007 |
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Page 4 of 4
Day 3
Back on Friday while looking in the binder for places to eat, Robyn had found a small local map that had a place called 'Indian Cemetery Road'. We weren't in any rush to get home, which was only 3 hours or so away, so we decided to explore. We again pummeled our guts with continental breaksfast (I think Robyn's mint tea would have been a better idea than the thin brown witches brew they had) and went into town to find the Indian Cemetery.
We couldn't find it. We headed up Whitney Portal road and turned left off Tuttle Creek before turning right on Indian Cemetery Road, which, again, was dirt. We braved the packed dirt and loose sand as far back as we could before running into a sign for 'Hidden Valley Ranch'. I'm guessing that's not where they make the stuff, but it would be convenient if it was for that tasty fried zucchini the previous night!
 Alabama Hills and Moon
Disappointed by our lack of cemetery, Robyn and I headed back to Whitney Portal Road and decided to head out to see where it went. We had an hour till we had to check out so why not fart around on the back roads a while.
The area was filled with little clouds of gnats. With the visor closed it sounded like someone was pouring sand over your head, with the visor opened, you wound up with three or four new friends trying to get out of your nostril, three day growth of beard or ear canal. A couple times I had to pull over and paw my helmet off to let the little suckers out.
Whitney Portal Road leads through the Alabama Hills; strange rock formations that would be a treat in their own right if they weren't so immensely dwarfed by the Sierra's behind them. The eastern ridge of the Sierras are very different from the western slope. On the west, they rise in a stately, gentlemanly fashion from the floor of the Central Valley with rolling hills until finally reaching their peaks after a good long while. On the east, you go from valley floor to 14,000 foot cliff face in the span of about three miles. It is incredibly impressive, daunting and beautifully picturesque.
 Mt Whitney and Portal Road
I would like to say that the ride back, which as a mirror image route wise of the ride up, was uneventful. It was, however the wind gusts were unceasing from the moment we left Lone Pine until we parked the bike at our apartment. Three hours of some of the worst wind I've ever ridden through, tossing the bike back and forth and straining every muscle fiber north of the Pecos. We ate at the same El Torito and forced our way back through a gusty Placerita canyon, grimacing the entire way.
This is the hell of touring on a Sunday knowing you have to be at work the next day. There is no leeway for stopping, resting or breaking off to hold out overnight for better weather the next day.
We got home without incident though. The wind was bad but not enough to dampen our spirits, or desire to head out to Yosemite in the coming months.
 Whitney Portal Road
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 08 January 2009 )
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