Yosemite Motorcycle Tour – Episode 1
So here we are got this new motorcycle it is awesome you got to take a look at this thing it is sweet I was actually searching through Craigslist and on the off chance I just ran across this BMW 1200 RT touring motorcycle I’ve only owned it for a
Couple weeks now but I’ve already taken it on this trip through Yus and over the Sora grade and this thing is a dream this thing is fantastic it is a beautiful ride so after Labor Day I got in contact with the guy who sold me the motorcycle
Jack and we agreed to do a multi-day trek through the Sierra Nevada mountain mountains so we started out my hometown of Nevada City California and we had it due north on a highway 49 and this road leads along the South Yuba River we passed over the South Yuba
Bridge and then made our way along the twisty road to downeyville California where we had lunch at a nice little place then continuing along Highway 49 through Sierra City and then up over the Sierra Summit going down and then following this beautiful Meadow turning right at sierraville and heading due
South into Kings Beach California inclin Village up and over the pass and onto Carson City and then following 395 all the way until we reached Bridgeport California where we would have a really nice dinner and then spend the night getting ready for our next day’s trip into yed Valley with’s my buddy
Jack and We’re Off to the Races get the thumbs up No So we’re turning right at Highway 49 we’re going to take this down to the 49 Bridge which is a popular Bridge around here in Nevada City and I’ll let Jack take a look and if we need to adjust anything on our bikes then um that’ll be an opportune time to do
So but everything’s feeling good got a full tank of gas Jack’s close behind and uh we’re going to make our way to downeyville today temperatur is looking really good it’s about 65° here in Nevada City and temperatures are supposed to top out just around 80 and we’re going to be going into river
Valleys the uh you’ll you’ll see during the ride here there’s a lot of canyons that we drop into and then come back out of so there’ll be some spots that are shady and a little bit cool but um I’ve got my um lighter vest on and Jack
Decided to bring his lighter vest so we should be good got plenty of water and we’ll be stopping several times along the Way [Applause] Here is Independence Trail and this is a very very nice Trail for folks who are a little bit elderly the trail is designed to where it’s almost perfectly flat so people who are handicapped Wheelchairs and things like that uh can actually use that trail it’s very well maintained and that trail follows the
Path that we’re going and then uh as we turn off into the parking lot it’ll will follow the right uh Hillside up here and go about 2 miles or so past the entrance to the parking lot where we’re going to be pulling off here in a second So this is the South Yuba Bridge which used to be the highway and now it’s Public Access you look down see the river below it also provides access to the trail on the north side of the river Nevada City comes from the word Nar which is snow and snow melts into beautiful water
The river is beautiful but it can also be treacherous back in 1997 there was a record flood we had a number of rains that came in called the Pineapple Express and that made the river level rise many times larger than it had ever had before we went down there in the
Experience was like going to the ocean and watching the waves crash but instead of crashing like individual waves it was a NeverEnding crash a constant wave moving over and over and over we just sat there and just contemplated on the magnificence the sheer power with we haven’t seen anything like this since Then this area provides California with the great resource of crystal clear beautiful water Okay here you go much better oh get a little freeze going through my jacket oh yeah How Need Good Here we are entering nor San Juan Here they have the Cherry Festival every year I believe in June and this is It you linked your eye you’ve gone from one end of North Sand Juan to the other there’s the General Store and they’ve got the uh Post Office right there and that is it you have seen northand one downeyville 29 should be there in about a half an Hour Slowing up here just to let Jack catch up a little bit there’s the turn off to camptonville that’s where my the engineer who worked on my house lives you imagine having to commute from there into Nevada City every day be a pleasant ride for sure sure but uh certainly timec
Consuming much like northand ju cville blank of an eye okay Jack’s back taking it easy here with Jack on the back this is all North facing we had a rain two days ago and it rained for 2 days straight and you can tell the pavement hasn’t quite dried up it gets really
Cool back here in the uh early spring this road is treacherous get this really really slick middle spot down the center where the Grime and the the sand and stuff accumulate so if you’re taking this at all this Highway 49 in the late spring make sure you stay
Away from the center of the road always work the outside track here and if you got to cross over cross over like that that’s fine but if you’re going into a turn you got to pick your got to pick your track like say I took the inside track there
You definitely don’t want to be doing this turn with that sandy stuff in the middle so if you’re not quick enough to take the inside track then stay on the outside track like this you know so or say like if I’m crossing over here I would just stay on
This outside track and never stay in the middle of this uh of this road because it’s just it’s so slippery inside there For I’m taking this really really slow for Jack normally I’m kind of rifling through here I don’t take it so fast that it’s dangerous but um I’m usually going quite a bit faster than this see where he is also you taking a hair pin like this
You may want to use your rear brake as you enter it compresses the suspension kind of gives you a little bit better turning radius like they had some repair work that’s new For And now we’re in Indian Valley so this is a Long Valley it takes us for a couple miles just shy downeyville we should be in downeyville in just a couple minutes Now [Applause] Yeah all right’s Go downeyville Mus you hungry yeah I could I could get bite te we should because there’s the camper so we may as well give ourselves a nice long break so we’re going to have to get behind him again yeah I you know for me um I enjoy the
The View cuz i’ you’ve probably been on this road a lot oh yeah I’ve been I’ve been on this road I’m just like wow look I know Isn’t that cool yeah it gets even better believe it or not yeah it gets even better we got trucky up Sierra bille yeah so Sierra
City is it’s about maybe 30 minutes from here and then um after Sierra City then we get into um bassets go past bassets Basset just flies by yet it’s not that far out um and then we go over the Sierra pass and that’s that’s really fun yeah that’s like twisties
Yeah we had lunch at the two rivers Cafe this place is a typical motorcycle hangout so if you ever decide to take this route you got to stop there food’s very good they’ve got great pizzas uh Everyone likes to hang out outside they also have a patio in the back that
Overlooks the river and of course downeyville is a super quaint place every summer there’s an event there it’s called Gold Rush days lots of gunpowder on hand shoot guns things like that and they like to blow things [Applause] up it’s a real Gas people come and they dress up in Period Garb they even have a stage coach there’s the sheriff he’s actually the sheriff there’s the town Procession and of course it wouldn’t be complete without a gunfight Reena come on I want you come on sh come on come on let’s go let’s get out to dirty no good come on let’s just go hell out here come on Gunslingers I told you
One I tell you again you a’t nothing but Ro dirty t a ride me out of my boat you don’t know nothing about pu boy wor I’m know nothing about fcker but I know what about sex gun prove it boy prove it [Applause] work I can’t and The Show Goes On all right Go so this is the bustling town of Downeyville Here we go 31 miles to satly it is about 12:30 in the afternoon had a nice lunch Pizza over at the pizza joint in downeyville now we’re on the way to Sierra City warmed up quite a bit we’re inside the restaurant there and man I was sweating things are looking really nice right
Here got some uh bit of cloud cover up there some big poofy clouds high up in the sieras doesn’t get much better than This [Applause] Oh [Applause] Oh we’re entering into Sierra City Slow up here to wait for Jack Oh [Applause] For A [Applause] Oh just want to let that guy go ahead a little bit I know it’s like which one’s which I know it’s like they’re so close and a bug look where where the bug got me H so Jack and I decided to pull over off the highway for a quick rest stop if you ever have a chance to come to the sieras you really need to see the Sierra butes This truly is the gem of the sieras there’s a location up there called Big Springs
Gardens and you can reserve a day to go there and just hang out with the fish take a walk this Pond is fed by natural springs that come from the snow melt of the crbs Above it’s truly a tranquil Place so now we’re ready to Go okay now we’re heading we’re heading into the twisties this is a really fun part looks like we got some cloud cover hopefully we won’t get any Rain White truck down Park Station And equipment in Here That was It Ah smells like pine tree freshly cut pine trees for Pretty nice huh see look over there looks like a big Valley over to the right wow yeah like like Bonanza right it’s like you know horses and cattle way down huh yeah there very much yeah and then once you can kind of almost see the road that we’re going to
Be on it’s uh just kind of hugs this the edge of the valley there bumblebees I know it’s just like I’ve been wanting to keep my visor open but isn’t that nice so 395 three yeah so I don’t know whether you have to go
Over that hill to get to 395 so when we go down we kind of cruise across here and we we Bank um to the left there you see that little Township way off in the distance that’s satly and then there we turn right on 89 but if you go straight
Then you go up over that little section there and then 395 is on the back side but but it’s it’s actually more time to do that and it’s not it’s not that great of a ride yeah so you’ve done that part of 89 okay Quincy is yeah you’re going the
Other way for Quincy but if you if you took yep yep yep but if you went from Quincy you could do 89 all the way into trucky so that’s probably how you went Sierra you go through sierraville I yeah yeah definitely to trade yeah yeah that’s pretty
Easy you may you may want to Goose it on the flat part it’s kind of Fun Look at that is that beautiful or what Epic Ride we go Quincy so this is where uh Jack said he took his uh his route from from Colorado to Quincy through Here so this is satly what a quaint little town if you didn’t know any better you would think this was Montana or Wyoming rain has cleaned everything out got a little bit of green growth starting this is like beginning of fall everything is supposed to be brown and
Dry we’ve had an amazing wet year this year this is just Awesome incredible so if we stay on this road this will take us to 395 like Jack and I were talking about at the vista point but we’re going to turn right we’re going to head south on 89 like that sign just said and uh that’s going to take us out
To that null over there and uh we’re going to go into those twisties those are more like uh those are more like sweepers so it’s not as intense as it was back there doing Sierra pass um so it’s they’re they’re definitely gentle uh gliding also uh it’s a little
Bit more populated there there’s homes and stuff like like that so uh normally if I’m out being a little bit more aggressive if I’m in that uh section there I’m taking it a lot more easy cars coming out of driveways and stuff like that and then we’ll be passing through
Trucky and then at that point we’ll go through Tahoe which would be really fun we’re making pretty decent time right now it’s uh about 1:30 yeah 135 so um everything good still uh looking fine Jack’s right on my tail so he’s keeping up with me on this um on this street Part here we’re coming in Toille Araville came and went picturesque little Town I don’t know what people do out here nice little Inn right there I guess you could be a CHP officer live out here Think I would have a short Commute okay back to work [Applause] Take the Lead yeah so we’re we’re in trucky now and then you’ve got the uh map right so we’ll take that route through Incline North Lake Taho yeah instead of going all the way around the lake on the other side let’s just just kind of skirt it on the East side yeah yeah and then go through incline and then hop over so you know that route right yeah exactly
So yeah so what you want to take the front this time and and ride in the front for a little bit I’m sure there’s a gas station right up here by eight you want to you want to fill yeah okay why you lead out then you lead out I’ll follow you I don’t see any Chevron stations nearby I think Jack thought that he was that way kind of more towards uh 80 and trucky there are some gas stations along the uh road that goes around Tahoe but man he’s going to be paying out the nose for a gallon of gas I would be
Surprised if it was like 7 Bucks a gallon anyway whatever I’m pretty good yeah I mean I got like three quarters three4 yeah wow yeah I filled it up yesterday 42 m a gallon that’s pretty good well we’re just like motoring along I I think that this kind of um it’s
Smooth at about 3,000 RPM what do you what do you usually keep your tack at 35 35 yeah that’s I think it’s any more than that it kind of gets a little rattly you know and it’s just that’s just the happy place I think So so this here is Martis it’s basically the area uh we’re just shy of the location where bananza was filmed and if you recall that 1970s series uh it looks very very similar so we’re heading into to Incline Village Lake Tahoe best time of year to be in
Tahoe is immediately following Labor Day and this is the first day after Labor Day I think we passed your Chevron what I think we passed your Chevron there we go right there Jack’s filled anyway about you okay Boy this looks so sad look at this all boarded Up nugget very very expensive homes right down there there’s this huge one look at that Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous champagne wishes and cavar dreams hey Incline Village I’m going to let Jack do the route I don’t know whether I’m supposed to be turning here or
Not nope we’re not that takes us to Reno Yeah Oh N N Jack first opportunity Let’s uh pull over like we see a restop or just some place to pull over okay cool all right yeah this is fun it’s like it’s like threading a needle That’ll do so we decided to take a rest break before the final push to 395 in the hot desert go ahead and Lead Out W Y It’s kind of interesting looking on the back side of the Sierra again that big wide open Valley down there it’s basically where we’re heading going to be going into Carson City That’s where we’ll land on 395 and on the bridge Court W W remind me to tell you the story about this Walmart up here Looks like we’ll be in Bridgeport just in time to have a beer always like that I thought today might be a late day but um we made some really good progress even though we stopped at a couple places and took our time um the route through uh Tahoe was a little bit slow
But not too bad He He Oh So we’re back in California He look at that burning man we saw our first Burning Man crazy burning man just got released it just finished and uh this year there was a big rainstorm fogged everyone down He So we arrived at our first route destination Bridgeport California at the Silver Maple Inn so this is the hotel hot we’re staying at tonight quaint little place that’s called the Silver maple so I guess all these trees which we’ll see in the morning are uh are silver Maples anyway there it is so this is Bridgeport I mean there’s nothing going on here I think it’s it’s not even 9:00 yet but um it’s a nice quiet Town though we
Had uh dinner over at the um um Bridgeport Inn which is kind of like where it says motor Motel down there and uh yeah it it was nice we had a good old time you got uh you know people from out of town hanging around here some folks saying hi maybe they
Came in it looks like they came in from burning man and there’s here’s the courthouse got the courthouse working here and we got some wild animal maybe maybe that’s a Jackalope those jackalopes from Renoo Jack so there’s one of my rooms back back window so it’s nice it’s quiet you know got uh 18 wheelers rolling by here every once in a while like this guy but for the most part it’s it’s very Qui it’s very Nice the street here don’t get run Over Ru number one get run over oh that’s definitely burning man Burning Man so I guess burning man’s to the south of here right Burning Man is to the South so they’re all traveling north hopefully we don’t get a bunch of people late at night checking in at the silver
Maple this is where we had dinner Jack and I Bridge Port in quite nice quite right the bridge poured in but the they said the the beds were very hard very stiff so uh we opted for the other place instead there you go where’s poor in that’s a lady who helped
Us nice lady nice people here there we go here we are you got the tour it’s a nice room you don’t really want more than this you know you got everything TV bathroom there’s a little closet over here you know I can spit from one side
Of the room to the other but hey we’re only staying for a night it’s very quaint we got the uh we got the courthouse next door which you get some fresh air in here that’s nice all is good so we’re going to uh call it a night and we will see you Tomorrow
This is an epic motorcycle tour through the Sierra Nevada Mountains with a BMW RT1200RT motorcycle, starting in Nevada City, Califoirnia, and traveling through North San Juan, Downieville, Sierra City, Bassetts, Sattley, Sierraville, Truckee, King’s Beach, Lake Tahoe, Highway 50, Carson City, Highway 395, Lake Topaz, Bridgeport, and Lone Pine, through Yosemite National Park. The tour continues with an overnight in Sonora, California, then through the Sonora Pass, back along Highway 395, through Lake Tahoe West Shore, through South Lake Tahoe, and back to Nevada City, California.
During this three-day motorcycle tour, we stay overnight in Bridgeport, California on the first episode starting in Nevada City. The second episode lands in Sonora, California after the day’s ride through Yosemite Valley. The third episode through the Sonora pass ends back home in Nevada City, California.
This fully-narrated multi-day motorcycle tour documentary was filmed using several cameras, including the Insta 360 x3, GoPro Hero4, Nikon D3400, and iPhone8.
I wanted to take full advantage of the Insta 360 x3 performance. I will follow-up with a forthcoming video on how the Insta 360 was mounted, and how I utilized the Insta Studio software to render several camera angles using keyframes with timecode. This rendering/editing technique provides a very smooth “shake free” multi-angled approach that is pleasing to the eye, especially as we travel via motorcycle through the incredible vistas of Yosemite National Park.
Musical Attributions (in order of presentation):
“Adrift” by ELPHNT
“Winter” by Liborio Conti
“Amazing” by Liborio Conti
“Billy in the Lowground” by Nat Keefe & Hot Buttered Rum
“Spanish Moss” by Chris Haugen
“Jindupe” by Lauren Duski
“Alyssa” by The Mini Vandals
“Tropic Fuse” by French Fuse
“Reggae” by Liborio Conti
“Vacation Vibe” by Liborio Conti