Lake/Napa/Sonoma county goat road tour - route suggestion

[Gary856]

I’m not familiar with the area and would like suggestions linking them together. Starting from Lower Lake going south, what is the best route to hit all the goat roads east of Santa Rosa, West of Lake Berryessa, and north of Sonoma?

The following roads look interesting. Are they all worthy riding? Are there more good ones?

- Spruce Grove
- Big Canyon
- Ink Grade
- Spring Mountain - St Helena Rd
- Old Howell Mountain
- Trinity

 

[Orindarider]

How about Knoxville road from lake berryessa to lower lake. Then western mine and ida canyon to Kellogg

 

[DTM74]

Ink Grade and Howell Mtn are fun roads. I'd 2nd Knoxville to LL.

 

[Gary856]

Berryessa Knoxville is how I plan to go north to Lower Lake. I need help figuring out the return leg coming back south. I've been looking at Google Maps but it would be great to get help with local knowledge.

 

[boney]

Sonoma Mountain (between Bennett Valley and Warm Springs.)
Trinity Road. Or better, Cavedale Rd.
Mount Veeder Rd.
Dry Creek Rd.

 

[FoolishMortal]

All good suggestions. Also look at Atlas Peak and Lower Chiles Valley Road.

 

[GB500guy]

If you're OK with gravel I'd put Western Mine/Ida Clayton as a must-ride. Also Big Canyon has a few miles of gravel. Cavedale is a great goaty road but ugly as hell after last year's Tubbs fire.

-Bill

 

[i_am_the_koi]

Bear Valley

Reiff Road

Knoxville

Ink Grade

Ida Clayton

Mt Veeder

Cavedale

Lots of options.

 

[Gary856]

Thanks for the suggestions. I came up with this route on Google Maps: over 5 hours, 150 miles. This is plenty for a day trip from san Jose. (It doesn’t look good this weekend, though, due to the heavy smoke.)

https://goo.gl/maps/t1vtvxx45k82

From Lower Lake:
Seigler Canyon -> Big Canyon -> Western Mine -> Ida Clayton -> 128 -> Tubbs Ln -> Lake County Hwy 29 (to Middle Town) -> 29 -> Butts Canyon -> Pope Valley -> Ink Grade -> Howell Mountain, or White Cottage -> Deer Park -> Glass Mountain -> (right on) Silverado Trail N -> (left on) Bale Ln -> (right on) 128 – 29 -> (left on) Diamond Mountain -> (right on) Kortum Canyon -> (left on) 128 -> (left on) Petrified Forest – Calistoga Rd -> (left on) St Helena Rd – Spring Mountain -> (right on) 128 -> (right on) Oakville Grade -> (left on) Dry Creek -> (right on) Redwood - Mt Veeder -> (left on) Dry Creek – Trinity (to 12, reverse direction) -> (right on) Cavedale (to 12)


I’ll have to check out the following another time.

- Atlas Peak
- Lower Chiles Valley
- Sonoma Mountain
- Spruce Grove
- Old Howell Mountain
- Bear Valley
- Reiff Road

 

[boney]

Bring your highly suspended bike. I just rode a quicky on Cavedale and Trinity. It's a patchwork of filled (and unfilled) potholes. Cavedale has some gravel where the dirt driveways meet it- none of it should catch you by surprise.

 

[rudolfs001]

Check out my list at bit.ly/MotoRoads . You can ctrl+f for "single", "1 lane" or "1.5 lane" to find the goat roads.

 

[Gary856]

Check out my list at bit.ly/MotoRoads . You can ctrl+f for "single", "1 lane" or "1.5 lane" to find the goat roads.

That's an impressive list!

I suggest adding a few great goat roads in the South Bay / Santa Cruz Mountains to that list:

- (from 17 side) Glenwood Drive - Mountain Charlie
- Upper Zayante
- Eureka Canyon - Highland Way
- Alba Rd
- Redwood Retreat - Mt Madonna (a few miles of dirt/gravel)

BTW, referring back to your list, I think Sumo and ADV are the same in terms of what roads are fun for them, but I don't see how ADV and sport bikes would be grouped together.

 

[rudolfs001]

That's an impressive list!

I suggest adding a few great goat roads in the South Bay / Santa Cruz Mountains to that list:

- (from 17 side) Glenwood Drive - Mountain Charlie
- Upper Zayante
- Eureka Canyon - Highland Way
- Alba Rd
- Redwood Retreat - Mt Madonna (a few miles of dirt/gravel)

BTW, referring back to your list, I think Sumo and ADV are the same in terms of what roads are fun for them, but I don't see how ADV and sport bikes would be grouped together.

Thank you! I've been adding a few of the roads from this thread to my list, and will definitely look at those you listed.

Here's my breakdown:
Sport = smooth road with medium to long turns
Sumo = smooth or rough road with primarily tight turns and relatively lower speeds than sport
ADV = rough road, possibly with some dirt, medium to long turns
Cruiser = smooth road with longer turns and scenic views.

Sumo and ADV have a fair bit of overlap on rough roads with low and medium speed turns. ADV and sport have overlap on slightly rough roads with medium to high speed turns.