Does anyone else around here do what I do? I ride with a school kids style backpack filled with water, food and other odds and ends and go into the mountains until I run out of rideable road or trail. I then hike with the bike until it gets rideable again and repeat as needed until I get to a spot where I have to abandon the bike and navigate rocks and things on foot. Sometimes this gets me to a spot where I could ride the bike again but since it is a ways back I now just hike, secure in the knowledge that bears don't steal bikes. I get to some amazing places like this that there is almost no other way you could get there except maybe a hiking trip with the use of a car to get to base camp. The day usually come out at about 70-80 miles on the bike, and maybe 3 or 4 hours of hiking, sometimes keeping me away from home over 9 hours. Fun but alone time too, since I can't find anyone to do this with, actually their loss. I have found waterfalls, swimming holes, caves, and more, even disturbed some large wildlife (Sorry Mr. bear, sir.) which in retrospect I hope was only a deer. Anybody??? Bill Baka
Subject: Bicycle backpacking?? From: Bill Baka [email hidden] Date: 8/9/2004 6:46 PM US Eastern Standard Time Message-id: <[email hidden]>
Does anyone else around here do what I do? I ride with a school kids style backpack filled with water, food and other odds and ends and go into the mountains until I run out of rideable road or trail. I then hike with the bike until it gets rideable again and repeat as needed until I get to a spot where I have to abandon the bike and navigate rocks and things on foot. Sometimes this gets me to a spot where I could ride the bike again but since it is a ways back I now just hike, secure in the knowledge that bears don't steal bikes. I get to some amazing places like this that there is almost no other way you could get there except maybe a hiking trip with the use of a car to get to base camp. The day usually come out at about 70-80 miles on the bike, and maybe 3 or 4 hours of hiking, sometimes keeping me away from home over 9 hours. Fun but alone time too, since I can't find anyone to do this with, actually their loss. I have found waterfalls, swimming holes, caves, and more, even disturbed some large wildlife (Sorry Mr. bear, sir.) which in retrospect I hope was only a deer. Anybody??? Bill Baka
I ride with a school kids style backpack filled with water, food and other odds and ends and go into the mountains until I run out of rideable road or trail. I then hike with the bike until it gets rideable again and repeat as needed until I get to a spot where I have to abandon the bike and navigate rocks and things on foot. Sometimes this gets me to a spot where I could ride the bike again but since it is a ways back I now just hike, secure in the knowledge that bears don't steal bikes.
Take away the backpack, the water, food, and the abandoning the bike part, and you've just described a Jobst Brandt ride. -- terry morse Palo Alto, CA http://bike.terrymorse.com/
Subject: Bicycle backpacking?? From: Bill Baka [email hidden] Date: 8/9/2004 6:46 PM US Eastern Standard Time Message-id: <[email hidden]>
Does anyone else around here do what I do? I ride with a school kids style backpack filled with water, food and other odds and ends and go into the mountains until I run out of rideable road or trail. I then hike with the bike until it gets rideable again and repeat as needed until I get to a spot where I have to abandon the bike and navigate rocks and things on foot. Sometimes this gets me to a spot where I could ride the bike again but since it is a ways back I now just hike, secure in the knowledge that bears don't steal bikes. I get to some amazing places like this that there is almost no other way you could get there except maybe a hiking trip with the use of a car to get to base camp. The day usually come out at about 70-80 miles on the bike, and maybe 3 or 4 hours of hiking, sometimes keeping me away from home over 9 hours. Fun but alone time too, since I can't find anyone to do this with, actually their loss. I have found waterfalls, swimming holes, caves, and more, even disturbed some large wildlife (Sorry Mr. bear, sir.) which in retrospect I hope was only a deer. Anybody??? Bill Baka
No, but that sounds like a lot of fun.... Whereabouts are these mountains?
Northern California, about 40 miles north of Sacramento. I live on the west side of Beale AFB, which is a huge amount of real estate, and I have to put in about 15 miles to get to the paved hills north of the base, then another 10 climbing to anything like a trail. On the south side, which is where I was talking about, I go about 15 miles flat, 10 miles getting hilly on pavement, then another 10 miles of gravel and climbing, THEN I get to the good stuff. The waterfall is actually called (3 guesses)Beale falls, and is in the Spenceville wildlife area. The only person I have ever seen back there was a 20 something female type with a USAF cap on and she had driven a car as far as possible. I have seen bicycle prints but they may have been mine, since very few people seem to be ambitious enough or even know about this nature hideaway. The closest thing on a map is called Waldo junction and it is only a spot on the map as I have ridden all oround the area and there is not even the remains of a building. I take advantage of the waterfall to fill my water jug with real tasty mountain water. I carry a 1 gallon Orange Juice plastic jug sometimes with juice, sometimes water, but when I refill at the waterfall it comes home with me. I can swim there, or just sit and enjoy before the ride back, my personal get away spot. Now I am just gloating, sorry. Bill Baka
"Bill Baka" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...
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Does anyone else around here do what I do? I ride with a school kids style backpack filled with water, food and other odds and ends and go into the mountains until I run out of rideable road or trail. I then hike with the bike until it gets rideable again and repeat as needed until I get to a spot where I have to abandon the bike and navigate rocks and things on foot. Sometimes this gets me to a spot where I could ride the bike again but since it is a ways back I now just hike, secure in the knowledge that bears don't steal bikes. I get to some amazing places like this that there is almost no other way you could get there except maybe a hiking trip with the use of a car to get to base camp. The day usually come out at about 70-80 miles on the bike, and maybe 3 or 4 hours of hiking, sometimes keeping me away from home over 9 hours. Fun but alone time too, since I can't find anyone to do this with, actually their loss. I have found waterfalls, swimming holes, caves, and more, even disturbed some large wildlife (Sorry Mr. bear, sir.) which in retrospect I hope was only a deer. Anybody??? Bill Baka
i used to know some hardcore dudes who did bike/hike/ski trips off the ptarmigan in mt ranier park. come to think of it sound like a great way to get to mowich lake after they close the gate!
Bill Baka <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...
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Fx199 said:
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Subject: Bicycle backpacking?? From: Bill Baka [email hidden] Date: 8/9/2004 6:46 PM US Eastern Standard Time Message-id: <[email hidden]>
Does anyone else around here do what I do? I ride with a school kids style backpack filled with water, food and other odds and ends and go into the mountains until I run out of rideable road or trail. I then hike with the bike until it gets rideable again and repeat as needed until I get to a spot where I have to abandon the bike and navigate rocks and things on foot. Sometimes this gets me to a spot where I could ride the bike again but since it is a ways back I now just hike, secure in the knowledge that bears don't steal bikes. I get to some amazing places like this that there is almost no other way you could get there except maybe a hiking trip with the use of a car to get to base camp. The day usually come out at about 70-80 miles on the bike, and maybe 3 or 4 hours of hiking, sometimes keeping me away from home over 9 hours. Fun but alone time too, since I can't find anyone to do this with, actually their loss. I have found waterfalls, swimming holes, caves, and more, even disturbed some large wildlife (Sorry Mr. bear, sir.) which in retrospect I hope was only a deer. Anybody??? Bill Baka
No, but that sounds like a lot of fun.... Whereabouts are these mountains?
Northern California, about 40 miles north of Sacramento. I live on the west side of Beale AFB, which is a huge amount of real estate, and I have to put in about 15 miles to get to the paved hills north of the base, then another 10 climbing to anything like a trail. On the south side, which is where I was talking about, I go about 15 miles flat, 10 miles getting hilly on pavement, then another 10 miles of gravel and climbing, THEN I get to the good stuff. The waterfall is actually called (3 guesses)Beale falls, and is in the Spenceville wildlife area. The only person I have ever seen back there was a 20 something female type with a USAF cap on and she had driven a car as far as possible. I have seen bicycle prints but they may have been mine, since very few people seem to be ambitious enough or even know about this nature hideaway. The closest thing on a map is called Waldo junction and it is only a spot on the map as I have ridden all oround the area and there is not even the remains of a building. I take advantage of the waterfall to fill my water jug with real tasty mountain water. I carry a 1 gallon Orange Juice plastic jug sometimes with juice, sometimes water, but when I refill at the waterfall it comes home with me. I can swim there, or just sit and enjoy before the ride back, my personal get away spot. Now I am just gloating, sorry. Bill Baka
I can swim there, or just sit and enjoy before the ride back, my personal get away spot. Now I am just gloating, sorry. Bill Baka
I would do that if I live in your area.
It makes the whole day worth getting up for. I am still exploring the area to find more but in the middle of a 70-80 mile day there is only so much time and energy for exploring each time. I still want to hike upstream and find the source or until I run into another road where I can ride to and start again. Bill Baka
Bill Baka <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...
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Red Cloud said:
Bill Baka <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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I can swim there, or just sit and enjoy before the ride back, my personal get away spot. Now I am just gloating, sorry. Bill Baka
I would do that if I live in your area.
It makes the whole day worth getting up for. I am still exploring the area to find more but in the middle of a 70-80 mile day there is only so much time and energy for exploring each time. I still want to hike upstream and find the source or until I run into another road where I can ride to and start again. Bill Baka
Can you carry your camping equipment on your bike? If you can, you must be the ultimate biker. I'm not sure if European bike able to carry camping equipment.
Bill Baka <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...
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Red Cloud said:
Bill Baka <[email hidden]> wrote in message > I can swim there, or just sit and enjoy before the ride back, > my personal get away spot. > Now I am just gloating, sorry. > Bill Baka
I would do that if I live in your area.
It makes the whole day worth getting up for. I am still exploring the area to find more but in the middle of a 70-80 mile day there is only so much time and energy for exploring each time. I still want to hike upstream and find the source or until I run into another road where I can ride to and start again. Bill Baka
Can you carry your camping equipment on your bike? If you can, you must be the ultimate biker. I'm not sure if European bike able to carry camping equipment.]
I could maybe carry that much if I put some saddle bags/racks on the back of the bike. For now it is just what I can carry in a large back pack, and that has to include water and food. I did have the bike rigged with bags in the back and a basket in the front but it looked like some silly paper boys bike at that point. I was able to carry my Minolta 35 mm camera and all the professional grade lenses plus quite a bit of food for a 100 mile plus ride. Not exactly a purists century, since I made many stops to take pictures and hike, but I have a lot of great pictures from that time, all on film so I would have to scan. One of my favorite things was to climb to the very top of a mountain and use my 500 mm lens with a few doublers and take shots of scenery with the effective 2000 mm focal length of distant points of interest. Some shots of valleys from a 3,000' vantage point were pretty good too, almost like looking down from an airplane. The problem with the Minolta is that all the lenses take up most of the room in the saddlebags. Loaded down with the bags, basket in front, and backpack of food adds another 40 pounds or so to the bike so level riding is not bad but climbing gets a little slower. Since I have lost about 60 pounds biking in the last year I am still ahead of the game, but the bike itself weighs 48 pounds. I may get there and get healthy but I won't win any races. Camping equipment would probably mean adding a trailer. Bill Baka, the 2 wheeled outdoorsman.
