Sonora Pass to catch autumn foliage colors

RVFRick · Oct 15, 2020

Heard now is a good time to check out nature's fall colors in all its splendor. I have a 30 year old 400cc carburated bike. High temp for Saturday is forecast to be 66F. In case it's cooler, plan to wear Aerostich, Dainese airvest, down jacket and winter gloves. I have no heated gear.
From a body comfort perspective will I be okay or miserable? From my bike's perspective will it be okay or miserable? 500 mile one day ride :teeth

davidji · Oct 15, 2020

RVFRick said:
Heard now is a good time to check out nature's fall colors in all its splendor. I have a 30 year old 400cc carburated bike. High temp for Saturday is forecast to be 66F. In case it's cooler, plan to wear Aerostich, Dainese airvest, down jacket and winter gloves. I have no heated gear.
From a body comfort perspective will I be okay or miserable? From my bike's perspective will it be okay or miserable? 500 mile one day ride :teeth

I feel unprepared tackling mountain weather without heated grips. Doesn't mean it won't work. But you're right to be cautious of mountain weather, even if you see a 66F forecast.

I'm guessing bike is gonna be gutless at altitude (unless it's jetted for it). But that it will work OK for the trip.

FWIW I used no heated gear this day, and I was plenty comfortable. I did have heated grips.

HadesOmega · Oct 16, 2020

Already autumn colors in Idaho =P

ScottRNelson · Oct 16, 2020

In my unheated gear - First Gear Kilimanjaro jacket, First Gear textile pants - I'm comfortable and can ride all day down to 45 degrees. Below that, my fingers get cold after a while and usually my thighs, for some reason. I've been out riding as low as 27 degrees, and I had to stop every ten minutes or so and grab hold of my nice warm muffler to warm back up. On that particular ride, a year ago, I was headed to a long dirt road and all was fine once I got off of the pavement.

Personally, I would be more concerned about 500 miles than cold weather. :laughing

More gratuitous photos of Idaho colors. :cool

RightCoastBias · Oct 16, 2020

ScottRNelson said:
In my unheated gear - First Gear Kilimanjaro jacket, First Gear textile pants - I'm comfortable and can ride all day down to 45 degrees. Below that, my fingers get cold after a while and usually my thighs, for some reason. I've been out riding as low as 27 degrees, and I had to stop every ten minutes or so and grab hold of my nice warm muffler to warm back up. On that particular ride, a year ago, I was headed to a long dirt road and all was fine once I got off of the pavement.

Personally, I would be more concerned about 500 miles than cold weather. :laughing

More gratuitous photos of Idaho colors. :cool
https://i.imgur.com/3D9fR7H.jpg

I'm gonna need to reach out to you, if/when I make the move to the Boise area. Seems there's plenty of street/dirt riding to enjoy in ID, and I might have to go ahead and pick up something more capable in the dirt than I currently have.

I'll be visiting with the family 21-28 to get a feel for the area and see if it works for us.

ScottRNelson · Oct 16, 2020

RightCoastBias said:
I'm gonna need to reach out to you, if/when I make the move to the Boise area. Seems there's plenty of street/dirt riding to enjoy in ID, and I might have to go ahead and pick up something more capable in the dirt than I currently have.

I'll be visiting with the family 21-28 to get a feel for the area and see if it works for us.

An F800GS should be perfectly good for most of the dirt roads around here, as long as you put decent tires on it. Get in touch with me when you're in the area.

berth · Oct 16, 2020

RVFRick said:
Heard now is a good time to check out nature's fall colors in all its splendor. I have a 30 year old 400cc carburated bike. High temp for Saturday is forecast to be 66F. In case it's cooler, plan to wear Aerostich, Dainese airvest, down jacket and winter gloves. I have no heated gear.
From a body comfort perspective will I be okay or miserable? From my bike's perspective will it be okay or miserable? 500 mile one day ride :teeth

You'll be fine. Drag along an extra sweatshirt Just In Case, but that down coat should be fine.

The sun will be warm, the shade will be cool, for sure, but you're climbing in the day, and falling in the afternoon, so when it starts to get coldest you'll be heading down to warmer climes.

You 400cc bike WILL be gutless at altitude, but it will run. Just don't expect it to be particularly responsive.

On my Hawk GT, 650, it was gutless at the top of Angeles Crest, and that's 7000-7500 feet. There was no point in trying 5th gear up there. But, other than that it ran fine.

Meanwhile, at 11000 feet in Colorado (in the snow!!), my VFR had no real problems at all, so displacement helps.

ichabodnt650 · Oct 16, 2020

Temperature wise, your Aerostich alone should be warm enough in October at 9,000'

At that elevation, air density is 70% of sea level, stoichiometry may be off but who cares? You aren't trying to pass smog nor are you running wide open throttle. You'll likely be cruising along gazing at the view and stopping frequently to pose the CB-1 in front of the aspens.

norcalkid · Oct 16, 2020

I'd check the smoke?? Not sure about the fire now but I rode Monitor pass on the 6th, was nice. But when I got down to 108 and Mono lake on 395 it was super smokey. I have been outa town so not sure what the smoke is like now.

IMG_20201006_105450 by Norcalkid, on Flickr

cal scott · Oct 16, 2020

You might think about having some chemical heat packs on hand in case your hands get cold. Enjoy!

eelriver · Oct 16, 2020

I was in the area last Monday and Tuesday. It was 68 on the top of the pass but in the 70s most of the way.

As far as the smoke goes, it was clear north of Conway summit but got really smokey from Lee Vining to Bishop.

NoTraffic · Oct 16, 2020

Should be fine with the heat surging this weekend. I was at Monitor and Sonora pass in Feb last year and it was colder than a mofo (wool sweater, quilted liners). So cold you don't even want to stop and pee on the side of the road. I ran into some cruiser guys who had a half lid on, there faces were completely chapped red from the cold winds.

RVFRick · Oct 16, 2020

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. Put me at ease.

It turns out two of five riders opted out. Remaining were my CB-1, a V-strom 1000 and an R1250GS. My limited power, range and low enthusiasm for riding 30 miles in dirt made me reconsider. Instead, a few friends and I will make a run up Hwy 88 Sunday to catch the fall colors

in Hope Valley. Foliage should be about 75~100% peak color this week. :thumbup

davidji · Oct 17, 2020

RVFRick said:
My limited power, range and low enthusiasm for riding 30 miles in dirt made me reconsider.

Where was the 30 miles in dirt on your planned route?

When I think of riding passes to see fall colors, I have June Lake Loop in mind on the east side. Curious about other options.

NoTraffic said:
I was at Monitor and Sonora pass in Feb last year and it was colder than a mofo (wool sweater, quilted liners). So cold you don't even want to stop and pee on the side of the road. I ran into some cruiser guys who had a half lid on, there faces were completely chapped red from the cold winds.

Are you saying Sonora Pass was open in February last year?

Latest I've heard of it closing for the season was late January 2012. Every other year I know of it closed for the season earlier.

FWIW my Sonora Pass photo in post #2 was October 10th a few years ago.

HadesOmega · Oct 17, 2020

Try monitor pass there's a place where there's lots of trees turning, there's dirt roads but you don't need to go off into the dirt, you can see em from the road. Shot this picture a in 2016.

tzrider · Oct 18, 2020

davidji said:
Latest I've heard of it closing for the season was late January 2012. Every other year I know of it closed for the season earlier.

Same here. Most years it closes some time in November.

In 2012, a friend and I drove over the the east side of the Sierra to ice climb in Lee Vining Canyon. It didn't even occur to me that Sonora Pass might be open, so I went via 88. Coming down 365, we saw Sonora Pass open and thought, "Doh!"

On the way back, we went via Sonora, both because it was shorter and because there is a good sized waterfall at the summit. It had to be frozen and we figured access to it was never going to be easier:

NoTraffic · Oct 20, 2020

davidji said:
Where was the 30 miles in dirt on your planned route?

When I think of riding passes to see fall colors, I have June Lake Loop in mind on the east side. Curious about other options.

Are you saying Sonora Pass was open in February last year?

Latest I've heard of it closing for the season was late January 2012. Every other year I know of it closed for the season earlier.

FWIW my Sonora Pass photo in post #2 was October 10th a few years ago.

I can't recall if it was last year or the year before but there was significantly less snowfall than average. I went in late Feb/early March and only the main passes were open. 89 North from Hwy 4 was closed off. Topaz Lake had only the Chevron open for food/gas.

tzrider · Oct 20, 2020

Last year had light snowfall until March, where there were some late season storms.

RVFRick · Oct 23, 2020

UPDATE:
On Sunday I rode with four other riders up to beautiful Hope Valley south of Lake Tahoe. Master planner Ich, led us on a fantastic "fall colors ride". We rode 450 miles from dawn to dusk along slab and scenic mountain roads with lots of sweepers and sublime twisties on CA-26. It was a lot of riding but worth it.

With the un-seasonally warm weather I ditched my down jacket about an hour into the ride. In fact with my air vest and 'stich I ran hot for most of the day.

My concerns for carbureted Charro at high altitude amounted to nothing. She didn't miss a beat and performed well. While power was reduced it was easy enough to adjust and compensate my riding.

Tourists were out in force but all were courteous and sane and we experienced no significant hold ups until we returned back to the Bay Area. No sketchy moments for the whole day. Well maybe just one :teeth

If you never have, I highly recommend experiencing the aspen trees while they are showing their fall colors. This weekend should be really good. Check out https://www.californiafallcolor.com/ for the latest hot spots.

Great friends, roads, scenery and memories.

CB-1 & FZ-07 pre-dawn KSU from Mountain View