Sequoia/Kings Canyon Pannier Tour

May 20 - 22, 2005

Submitted by Ellie Antonio

A bear just 20 feet from the roadway watching us silently and motionless as we rode by? Egad!! A near collision with a deer as it pranced across the roadway just inches in front of a rider? Omigosh!! That was just some of the excitement on this superlative three-day tour in these two adjoining national parks. In addition to these wildlife close-ups, we enjoyed the sounds of birdsong, the tinkling of waterfalls and creeklets, and then the raging and turbulent Kings River, which the road paralleled for almost ten miles. Wildflowers were everywhere, smiling at us from the roadsides as we passed them.

We left our cars in Lemoncove on Friday morning and cycled alongside Lake Kaweah to the town of Three Rivers. Entering Sequoia Park, we climbed the ever-twisting Generals Highway to Giant Forest where we stopped to rest and visit the museum there. Our destination today was the campground at Lodgepole, where we skirted large patches of snow to our campsites, and where some brave riders bathed in the river because the showers were out of order. Brrr!! This was a 40-mile day with over 7,000 feet of elevation gain.

Saturday morning's ride was up and down, with at least two sizeable bumps at the trailheads to Little Baldy and Big Baldy. The dips were at Clover Creek, Marble Fork, Dorst Creek, and Stony Creek. We rode for miles along this cool and quiet, lightly trafficked, forested section to an overlook that gave us a panoramic view across a deep valley to the distant high Sierra peaks. After lunch at Grant Grove we climbed over Cherry Gap and then down, down, down, to the South fork of the Kings River and to our camp at Cedar Grove. Once again, any bathing that was done was in the river because the generator was down and there was no hot water. Even the beer in the village store could not be refrigerated. That was okay: the spectacular scenery today made up for these minor inconveniences. Today we cycled 56 miles and climbed almost 5,000 feet.

On Sunday we climbed out of Cedar Grove, lunched again at Grant Grove, then made our way back to the cars at Lemoncove. The long, cool downhill along highway 245 reminded us of how much we climbed on Friday; it was delicious. The descent was virtually traffic-less as newly leafing oak trees and blossoming dogwood greeted us. This last day's climb was over 4,000 feet in about 68 miles.

Sixteen riders and one non-rider made for a "lotsa laughs" and camaraderie-filled weekend. The weather could not have been better: cool, sunny, and breezy for the most part. Riders were Larry and Janice Moore, Janice's sister Mary Jane and her husband Mike who both came out from Phoenix, Bob Lloyd, Jon Faust from Sacramento, Ann Trank, Robert Treister, Jerry Tate, Shahla Hashemi, Linda Goff, Edward Gallegos, Joseph Hochleitner and John Bacon, Mike Wolfe, and Ellie Antonio. Warren Goff provided the firewood for the camps and was ready and willing to assist in any way if needed. Thank you Warren and thanks to our leaders, Larry and Mike, for orchestrating this terrific trip with its many participants.

Sequoia/Kings Canyon Pannier Tour

May 20 - 22, 2005

Submitted by Bob Lloyd

Kings Canyon WAS A BLAST!!!!! A BLAST! The first day had an early, but easy, start. We wound up gently around the reservoir and into Three Rivers for breakfast.

Afterwards we started climbing and got into the trees and into some heavy fog/clouds. We are riding along, and the rider in front of me looks left, squeaks, and keeps riding. I look to the left and there is a big bear sitting in the fog - right on the shoulder of the road - not even a full road away, as we are in the one lane. I felt as if I could have patted it on the head. It was busy with something and I guess too lazy to chase me - or bite me for that matter (some of you know about the huge "bear" that bit me on the Glass Mountain trip). We were going uphill at around a 7-8% grade and I had about 40 lbs. of gear so it probably would have caught me easily. After some more climbing we got above the fog and the views were spectacular.

We finally got into Lodgepole and had happy hour, dinner, and Warren's great fire. The space station was scheduled to pass overhead while the ground was in darkness but it would still be illuminated by sunlight. Everyone counted down the minutes. The time it was supposed to rise passed and minutes ticked by and some questioned whether simple physics had been turned on its ear, but suddenly there it was, a bright light still clearly overhead. It passed into the earth's shadow and as it did it simply dimmed out in a couple of seconds. Poof and it was gone. The rest of the trip just got better and better.