My wife and I are planning to do a Fly-n-Ride to the west coast in August (timing not negoitable due to kids being away at camp). Some parts of the trip are definite: flying into Reno, picking-up 2 bikes, spending a day or 2 in the Lake Tahoe area, then ride out to San Francisco to spend a day or 2 with family out there. Then what? The question is, what's THE best riding from there (knowing we need to land-up back in Reno)?

Based on some web-surfing, we thought about heading SOUTH along the coast as far as Morro Bay and then maybe go inland, see Yosemite & mountains as we head back toward Reno.

Someone suggested things were more scenic heading NORTH from San Francisco along the coast and then ride thru wine country on the way back.

We'll probably have ~10 days and would like to stop and see things along our way (not just pressed to ride, ride, RIDE!), so we can't do everything. We might even want to spend a day or 2 at a nice coastal resort for some R&R. What what would those who've been there & know the options recommend?

 

Highway 1 along the coast can be a bit busy in the summer. There is terrific riding in Northern California and in the Sierra Nevada's down through Yosemite. Check out www.pashnit.com which has just about every road detailed - costs about $20 a year to see the info. Another couple of guys have put out an excellent book ranking the best roads http://norcal.destinationhighways.com/. We used it last year and it is very handy, got us on some great roads and has a bunch of other other usefull local information.

 

If you go South of SF on Hwy1 you'd catch some good coastal scenery twisty but beatiful then you could take 41 from Morro Bay thru Fresno ( hot that time of year) on into Yosemite check out Yosemite Valley then take 120 (Tioga Pass about 9600') over the Sierra and see the high country of Yosemite and down to 395 then North on 395 back to Reno.

 

While we haven't gotten to specifics yet, this is kinda what we were thinking originally. The resources RexBuck suggested look pretty helpful too. We'd like to be sure we make the best of our limited time out there.

 

If you go North of SF you could go up to Eureka and take 299 into Redding(also hot in Aug.)from Redding catch 44 thru Lassen natl. park, head toward Susanville and catch 395 South back to Reno. I'm ready to ride now

 

 

I would recommend going north out of San Francisco. Take the Golden Gate bridge out of town. You can either take Hwy 1 or 101. Like was said earlier, Hwy 1 is two lane the whole way and can be VERY busy and SLOW. Lots of very cool little towns along Hwy 1 though.

If you take 101 after crossing the Golden Gate you will still see some beautiful country and you can make better time.

I would take 101 to Willits, then head west on Hwy 20 (fun and twisty road). This will end at the ocean in a little town called Fort Bragg. Very cool little town. From Fort Bragg, head north on 1. It will dead-end back into 101 at Leggett. There is a drive through Redwood tree in Leggett which is fun for a little stop. The road is very twisty up to Leggett, so you might want to get off for a few minutes anyway.

From there take 101 north. There are some cool little towns along the way like Garberville. Make sure to take The Avenue of the Giants and see some incredibly old and huge Redwoods. From there, I would probably head back east at Hwy 299 just north of Eureka/Arcata. Stop in the town of Weaverville and grab something to eat or drink. Then take Hwy 3 north and enjoy some beautiful mountain twists and turns. Hwy 3 will take you back toward I-5 where you can stop in the town of Mt Shasta. Eat a great Mexican dinner at Casa Ramos. Be careful of the fish bowl Margaritas.

From there you would have a beautiful ride back to Reno via:

Hwy 89 east to Hwy 44 east (this will take you right by Mt Lassen)
Hwy 44 east to Hwy 36 east
Hwy 36 east to Hwy 395 south right into Reno

Just my .02

Zach

 

In case you missed this thread https://www.hdforums.com/forum/road-...c-hwy-1-a.html

 

North is better in August - daytime temps in Fresno will be 100+, sometimes 110+, and it doesn't cool down much at night. Yosemite is very crowded and surrounded by desert heat. And the critters come out at night....

The redwoods are spectacular. http://redwoods.info/ One of our very favorite places to ride.

 

Like most have said, best riding here in August is the coast or the mountains. Napa valley can be nice too, but like many places, can get very crowded. Some of the "mountain" roads leading in and out of Napa are great for riding. I've been just about everywhere in California having lived in Southern and Northern California and there aren't many places you can go and not be in awe of the scenery. One of the best scenic roads I've ever been on is Hwy 108 over the Sierra's just north of Yosemite. If you have the time once you reach 395 on the east side, head south for some incredible mountain vistas all the way down to Kings and Sequoia National Parks.