Havilah/Breckenridge Weekend Ride

May 7 - 8, 2005

Five riders enjoyed this scenic area east of Bakersfield in the Southern Sierra below Lake Isabella. Starting in Caliente, a non-town featuring only a post office and the remains of a railway station, we followed Caliente Creek, gradually climbing on a most quiet road. This became the Walker Basin Road, and after some buffeting winds in Walker Basin, we joined the Bodfish Caliente Road which led us to our turn-around at the historic town of Havilah.

There we were unexpectedly treated to a festival called "Havilah Days". Volunteers offered lunch fare which included a variety of home-baked goodies. There were tractor rides, booths with handicrafts and other interesting items for sale, and live country music featuring guitarists, a dobro, and of course, vocalists. Western outfits were de riguer. There was a display by the U. S. Forest Service complete with a fire truck and a real Smokey the Bear walking around and posing for shutterbugs. The Havilah museum was open as was the original schoolhouse that was built in 1857.

After lunch at the picnic tables, we climbed the steep pitches on what is locally called the "high road", then down a spectacular nine mile descent to our cars in Caliente for a total today of 62 superb miles.

Happy hour, dinner, a hot shower, and a good night's rest at the Kern River County Park campground near Ming Lake readied us for Sunday's ride up Breckenridge Mountain Road. It was sunny yet cool as we climbed past a few oil derricks, then cattle ranches, and up through various eco-systems: from grassland to scrub growth to oak woodlands to pine forest. The wildflower displays on the roadside and in the meadows were stunning. There were blue dicks, blooming yucca, poppies, Arthurial spears, sunflowers, clarkia, fiddlenecks, popcorn flower, phlox, owl's clover, and many, many others. After lunch at the high point, we retraced our route back to Ming Lake, for a total of 57 magnificent miles.

Participants were Leslie Gold, Philip Conmy, David Urciuoli, Mike Wolfe, and Ellie Antonio. If you missed the ride this year, be sure to watch for this or other Southern Sierra rides next spring. If you are a reader unfamiliar with the Sierra Club, you are welcome to join us on our rides: you need not be a member.