Geysers Road, Cloverdale KOA ...

[SFMCjohn]

... I've been hearing about Geysers Road for years,
and finally got a chance to ride it over this President's weekend ... :ride

... a link to the google mapz that zooms in and out ...

... we stayed two nights at the Cloverdale KOA ...
I usually avoid KOAs, but my brother-in-law said
this one was cool, and as usual, he was right ... :thumbup

... I'd imagined something near Hwy 101,
but as we started to feel lost on the way to the KOA,
and to climb up into the hills of the Alexander Valley,
I was convinced ... :laughing

... we had a nice view from the Hummingbird Cabin ($134/night, ouch) ...
this KOA must be on 50 acres and the cabins and campsites
are not right on top of each other ... they have a pond, and it
was a fun twisty ride up there ...

 

[SFMCjohn]

... getting ready for the President's Day Holiday ...
sun is about up, time to get going ... :laughing

... we started our President's Day ride by
meeting after work in Bolinas at Smiley's
to see one of our favorite guitar players,
Marty O'Reilly ...


youtu.be/k7QF7T7z8_A

... Marty's from Santa Rosa ... :thumbup

Marty plays the heck out of his Dobro guitar ...

 

[SFMCjohn]

... after checking into the KOA in Cloverdale,
we rode out to Booneville and had lunch
under the Greenwood Road bridge along
the banks of the Navarro River ... think
the same people who built some of the
bridges on Hwy 1 near Big Sur in the '30s built this bridge too ...

 

[SFMCjohn]

... on Sunday we headed out to find Geysers Road ...

... view of Geyserville from Geysers Road ...

 

[dravnx]

Next time, check out Pine Flat Rd. It an up and back road that is right next to Geysers Rd. Twisty heaven.

 

[matty]

Y'all didn't make it up to Vichy?

 

[GB500guy]

Nice John, glad you finally experienced Geysers Rd., it's a fantastic ride! And yeah, that Cloverdale KOA sure looks different from the usual Kamp-On-Asphalt versions.

-Bill

 

[SFMCjohn]

Y'all didn't make it up to Vichy?

:thumbup:laughing

... was just about to PM you to say
Cary called and got us an extension
'till June 1st because it was a voucher
that someone paid for (as opposed to
being donated by Vichy) ... we were
KOA camping this weekend with my BIL and
seven-year-old nephew ...
... never fear,
Vichy WILL be redeemed!! :ride

... pic of nephew, Charley John ... s'mores!

... was sorry to see the 911 ad go away ...
... very cool car, hope you got to drive it! arty

see you soon!
-- John A

 

[SFMCjohn]

Next time, check out Pine Flat Rd. It an up and back road that is right next to Geysers Rd. Twisty heaven.

... yes, I'm pretty unfamiliar with this side of the valley ...
usually running Hwy 128 or Scaggs Springs ...
will definitely check out Pine Flat Road ... :thumbup

Nice John, glad you finally experienced Geysers Rd., it's a fantastic ride! And yeah, that Cloverdale KOA sure looks different from the usual Kamp-On-Asphalt versions.

-Bill

"Kamping On Asphalt!" :laughing

... was thinking of you and your wonderful
pics of the road (and texture!) but was too
cold to make much of an effort ... :rolleyes

I'm about to go back and look at your
ride reports ... seem to recall Pine Mountain Road
being mentioned ...? (a right off Geysers Road
at the bottom near Cloverdale ... looks like it may
go through to Adobe Creek Road/Carder Rd./Kelsey Creek Rd?
... guess Adobe Creek is gated at Old Toll ... don't recall seeing it ... )

... I upgraded from an iPhone 4 to an iPhone 6+
but ... well, a better camera does not help much
if you look but don't see ... :teeth

edit: guess this is one of your Geysers Road reports
I remembered ... definitely remembered the frog, ha ...
check out this thread for some good pics:
http://www.bayarearidersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=517682

 

[SFMCjohn]

... we ran the loop counter-clockwise ...
you can see the KOA if you zoom in with
the map link above ...

... Geysers Road climbs up from Geyserville ...

... the pull-out at Western GeoPower ...

 

[SFMCjohn]

... we took the in-and-out toward the gate at
the geothermal plant ...

... and a (small) part of the geothermal plant ...
we (OK, Cary :laughing) asked the guard at the gate for a tour ...
he said to go through corporate HQ ... Cary asked how many
people work behind the gate and the guard guessed "maybe five people ..."

The Geysers is the world's largest geothermal field,
containing a complex of 22 geothermal power plants,
drawing steam from more than 350 wells,
located in the Mayacamas Mountains
approximately 72 miles (116 km) north
of San Francisco, California.

For about 12,000 years, Native American tribes
built steambaths at the Geysers and used the steam
and hot water for healing purposes and cooking.

When Euro/Americans first entered the area [during John Fremont's survey in 1847],
six Indian tribes inhabited the area around the Geysers,
three bands of Pomo people, two bands of Wappo people,
and the Lake Miwok people. The Wappo also collected sulfur
which they called te'ke and a Wappo village, named tekena'ntsonoma
(teke sulphur + nan well containing water + tso ground + no'ma village)
was located about 12 miles (19 km) southeast of Cloverdale
and on the present-day Sulphur Creek.

... more about The Geysers ...

... be fun to hear from someone who remembers
the area before it was developed for geothermal power
in the early 1980s, I guess ... :dunno

 

[SFMCjohn]

... the bridge ... :ride

 

[SFMCjohn]

... Cary's 2015 Yamaha FJ-09 ... paid for just recently ...
has a bunch of miles on it now ... arty

 

[SFMCjohn]

Cloverdale has a Citrus Fair every year
at this time ... always fun to have a carnival in town ... :thumbup

... we were grabbing some dinner for the evening
and got caught up in the Cloverdale Chinese New Year celebration ... arty

... see you around
the campfire,
-- SFMCjohn

 

[Junkie]

... the bridge ... :ride

It's too bad that Caltrans got the signs for those bridges so wrong. There are a couple other bridges nearly identical to that one in the area (Haupt Creek Bridge, which is on Skaggs, and Gualala Road Bridge). They were most likely built at some point in the 1870s or 1880s as railroad bridges in the Midwest. They were then replaced and moved to be used as a multi-span railroad bridge near Monte Rio in 1909, and then moved to their current locations (and converted to road use) in 1937.

Geysers Road is a bizarre road. I don't know of any other roads that repeatedly change type as often, and going from a road with a centerline straight to a gravel road is very unusual. I think it does that in a few places, with stretches of 2 lane paved road that can't be accessed without driving on gravel, multiple changes from paved to gravel and back, etc. It's a fun ride, though.

 

[dravnx]

I think the gravel sections are there because the road condition deteriorated to the point where it was better to tear out the asphalt and lay gravel. The gravel is in just a few places and not more then 50-100 yards and in good condition. No worries for a sport bike.

 

[massio]

re: up north

... after checking into the KOA in Cloverdale,
we rode out to Booneville and had lunch
under the Greenwood Road bridge along
the banks of the Navarro River...

I came over Fish Rock Rd. from the coast as part of a great ride with a couple of friends on Saturday afternoon then had a bite to eat near Cloverdale. It would have been a kick to run into you!

There is beautiful scenery and great riding all over the place in NorCal. Good for you guys on (always) getting out there. :thumbup

 

[matty]

:thumbup:laughing

... was just about to PM you to say
Cary called and got us an extension
'till June 1st because it was a voucher
that someone paid for (as opposed to
being donated by Vichy) ... we were
KOA camping this weekend with my BIL and
seven-year-old nephew ...
... never fear,
Vichy WILL be redeemed!! :ride

... pic of nephew, Charley John ... s'mores!

... was sorry to see the 911 ad go away ...
... very cool car, hope you got to drive it! arty

see you soon!
-- John A

Excellent, glad the voucher will be put to use:thumbup

I only got to drive that car once and that was like 20 years ago for maybe a total of 5 miles.. They were pretty protective of that car.:laughing

And once again, your pictures inspire me to go explore. Between you and CB-1Guy, I mean GB500guy, I reminded of all the beautiful roads right in our back yard.

happy riding

 

[MtnRider]

Great report and glad you enjoyed my town (Cloverdale), our quaint Citrus Fair as well as the surrounding roads.

If you were at the fair Sunday I was pouring beers in the Lion's Club beer booth.

 

[SFMCjohn]

It's too bad that Caltrans got the signs for those bridges so wrong. There are a couple other bridges nearly identical to that one in the area (Haupt Creek Bridge, which is on Skaggs, and Gualala Road Bridge). They were most likely built at some point in the 1870s or 1880s as railroad bridges in the Midwest. They were then replaced and moved to be used as a multi-span railroad bridge near Monte Rio in 1909, and then moved to their current locations (and converted to road use) in 1937.

Geysers Road is a bizarre road. I don't know of any other roads that repeatedly change type as often, and going from a road with a centerline straight to a gravel road is very unusual. I think it does that in a few places, with stretches of 2 lane paved road that can't be accessed without driving on gravel, multiple changes from paved to gravel and back, etc. It's a fun ride, though.

... fun info about the steel bridges I've been riding
by for so long ... didn't realize they were so much
older than 1909 ... :thumbup

Geysers Road would be a ton of fun on a super-moto WR450! :ride