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EBK 1701 - Reunion Ride

Sunday, October 1, 2017 | Michael Kreuzmeir | North and South America

 

 

Shout-out to all Reunion-Weekend folks: If you have some pictures for me you want so see on the blog please send them to michael.kreuzmeir@edelweissbiketravel.com!

 

Sorry for the delay - picture comments will be added soon!

 

If you like the blog please share it and vote for it on the top right-hand corner! Thanks for reading!

 

 

Day 1 - Welcome to Seattle

Welcome to Seattle - the 'Emerlad City' in Washington! The Yukon Goldrush transformed this place, that started out as a pioneer outpost and quiet lumbering town, into a thriving metropolis. Seattle has become the transportation, manufacturing, commercial, and services hub for the Pacific Northwest as well as the largest urban area north of San Francisco, California. And now I already named the starting and ending points of our motorcycle adventure trip - we are riding from Seattle all the way to San Francisco!

Flying into Seattle the mountains already looked amazing through the plane window.
Seattle - the 'Emerald Cit'.
Visiting Seattle you have to go up the 'Space Needle' to enjoy this great view.
All around the city center there's water, forests, hills.
Downtown itself is very impressive.
A famous landmark in Seattle - the 'Space Needle'.
Michael painted a little map on the flipchart.

Day 2 - Seattle to Yakima

Let the adventure begin! Our first riding day we leave the city of Seattle behind us and head towards the Cascade mountains. As we approach Mount Rainier, one of the most iconic symbols of the Northwest, the landscape gets lusher and greener, we will pass lakes, rivers, enjoy breathtaking vies on the snow-covered mountains and ride plenty of curves. As we descend into the Yakima Valley in the afternoon the terrain begins to turn slightly more arid.

Jim and Paul came with their own bikes!
The morning-briefing on day one.
Paul and Jim are already waiting on their bikes....
... while the rest of us is still packing the bikes we just got!
First picture with the typical orange Edelweiss-Tour-Guide-Helmet!
Rosana is happy and ready to go!
Jim brought a suit matching the rental motorcycle! Well done!
Thomas and Stephan ready to hop on the bikes.
And finally we could start our tour!
Michael had to take pictures out of the van.
Our first coffee stop in a retired railway waggon.
A really cool idea to put a coffee place right next to the road.
Sunshine all the way out of Seatle.
Then we arrived to the Mount Rainier National Park.
And there we had some pretty scenic roads.

Day 3 - Yakima to Stevenson

Our day starts with a little loop out of Yakima, riding through a beautiful canyon, before we head south. Backcountry roads with little traffic bring us all the way to the gorge of Columbia river, which offers plenty of fun riding, great scenery, and usually an excellent view to the river and nearby Mount Hood. I say 'usually' because we barely can see to the other side of the Columbia river due to big wildfires - the smoke is so dense that we simply ride in a big cloud of smoke. We arrive safe and sound in Stevenson this evening, welcomed by our CEO Rainer Buck and plenty of other Edelweiss riders!

Day 4 - Reunion Weekend Ride in Stevenson

Today is a special riding day! With all the other Edelweiss riders that are attending the Reunion Weekend in Stevenson we will ride through rural Washington and soon get to an area of beautiful barrier lakes. From here we can already see today's highlight and steady companion: Mount St. Helens. The active volcano is very well known for its massive eruption, today it will give us great landscape and unique views. The roads going up the mountain are splendid, too. For lunch Michael will prepare a typical Edelweiss picnic at one of the beautiful lakes. In the afternoon we will enjoy a relaxed ride through the Gifford Pinchot National Forest before we return to Stevenson.

A picture sent by Mike.

Day 5 - Stevenson to Bend

This morning we will cross the mighty Columbia river on the famous Hood River Bridge and head on into the beautiful region surrounding Oregons highest peak, both the core of a nature reserve and an important skiing area. However, Mount Hood is not the only iconic mountain on our way south today. The ride will be characterised by summits like Mount Jefferson, Mount Washington or the Three Sisters, all of them of volcanic origin. The route will take us on smaller forest roads before we reach our destination for today - Bend.

Day 6 - Bend to Klamath Falls

Today is the day of Crater Lake! Soon after leaving Bend we will turn off and enjoy a short but beautiful ride up to Paulina and East Lake. We will have lunch at a lake again, this time it's Diamond Lake. And the next lake finally is Crater Lake - unfortunately the rain clouds bring us snow up there so the view is not the best. The remaining ride will take us along the western shore of upper Klamath Lake to our hotel in Klamath Falls.

Day 7 - Klamath Falls to Brookings

It's time to leave the mountains inland behind, let us head towards the ocean! In the morning on our way west we have some nice roads in the Cascade Mountains before we get to Jacksonville. The small city has gained some reputation for its nicely preserved historic district, which was desiganted a National Historic Landmark. We will enjoy a nice lunch in Cave Junction before heading up a twisty mountain road to the Oregon Caves National Monument. There we will enjoy an adventureous exploring tour through an unique cave. Afterwards we'll take on Highway 199 down into California before we reach Brookings back in Oregon right at the border to California.

Day 8 - Brookings to Fort Bragg

It's time to ride into the thrid state on the tour: California! And we will see the Californian coastline at it's best today. We will tackle a wonderful section of the Highway One and enjoy the breathtaking scenery of the northern part. The coastal road is not our only highlight though. The Humboldt Redwoods State Park is the world's largest remaining contiguous old-growth forest of coast redwoods. Many of the gigantic trees grow to over 300 feet in height. We will even be able to ride through one of them! In the afternoon we turn west back to the coast and the Pacific Coast HIghway becomes a series of glorious turns that seemingly were built just for motorcycles!

Day 9 - Fort Bragg to San Francisco

Today we will spend a lot of time on the Pacific Coast Highway. First we will ride through Mendocino before we will enjoy a really impressive section of coastal roads: from Bodega Bay to the pullout over Stinson Bay we get a real feel for the difficulty of building and maintaining a road like Highway One. Later in the afternoon we will arrive in the great city of San Francisco via one of the most iconic and famous landmarks in the world representing California and the USA in general: the 'Golden Gate Bridge'. A great tour comes to a great end!

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Mark Obert
Thursday, September 21, 2017 at 06:08

Great fotos and excellent Blog, Michael. Kathleen & I enjoyed meeting you & Stephan and meeting Rainer again during the Feschtl Weekend. It was outstanding to run into you and the tour participants during the coffee stop at the Trinidad harbor this morning! Gute fahrt!
Michael Kreuzmeir
Sunday, October 1, 2017 at 20:26

Hello Mark & Kathleen! We enjoyed meeting you too during the Feschtl as well as on the way down south! It was awesome that you rode with us for a bit and I already put your pictures in the blog! I hope to see you soon! Ride safe!

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