2008 Spring Ride to Death Valley
Carl sends these pictures:
Jerry and Carl at Mosaic Canyon
Jerry and Dan at Mosaic Canyon
Dan and Carl at Mosaic Canyon
Picnicking above Lake Isabella
Marc Hyman
My alarm went off at 5:30 Friday morning. I put my riding gear on while not fully awake. No worries, though. I packed for the ride to Death Valley Thursday afternoon. I'm camping again, this year, joined by fellow mid-week rider Randy. He missed the airhead ride to Death Valley this year and so decided to join me on the SMBC ride.
We would meet with another mid-week rider, Bob (AKA Major WWWobble although he claims that WWWobble is some other guy), in the Valley. Bob was not camping. He left Thursday, taking two days to get to the valley.
I got to the Cozy Cup in Hollister for breakfast where I was to meet Randy. After breakfast we headed down 25 in the fog around Hollister. By the time we got to the obligatory rest stop at 198 the skies had turned blue, but the weather was still on the cool side.
![[map]](http://maps.google.com/maps?q=36.187580+-120.818988+(p-20080418-0935-3765.jpg)&t=h&z=16){kind=link}
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We continued on 198 into Coalinga where we stopped for gas. From Coalings we headed down 33 to 46 and other rest and snack stop where 46 crosses 99. The weather didn't look bad enough to change our planned route of Famoso road to Granite road to 155 over Greenhorn Pass into Wofford Heights and then down to 178 at Lake Isabella. Nice ride.
We stopped for gas and a rest break east of Lake Isabella. then continued on through Ridgecrest for another rest stop at Trona. Lovely Trona. Randy took the opportunity to increase his knowledge of the thriving community. I finally removed some liners from my riding gear.
Randy learns about Trona [map]
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Beautiful down town Trona [map]
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Good looking bikes [map]
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GS and Searles (dry) lake [map]
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GS at Stovepipe Wells [map]
![[map]](http://maps.google.com/maps?q=36.605905+-117.144277+(p-20080418-1815-3777.jpg)&t=h&z=16){kind=link}
From Trona we rode through the Panamint Valley and took the Wildrose path into Death Valley. I promissed Randy a beer at Stovepipe Wells which was provided by waiting SMBC members. Our ride wasn't over yet, though. We still had to get to Furnace Creek and set up camp which we did just as the sun was setting. WWWobble met us at the campground and helped us look for a suitable site. Once camp was set up the three of us went into Furnace Creek for dinner.