R1200GS in Yosemite

The weekend of May 8th, 2004, I rode my new BMW R1200GS to Sheepranch, California to hang out with the euro-moto crowd at the old old Pioneer Hotel. This was the 10th year that the group has gotten together for a weekend of riding, converstation, dining and drinking.

The hotel was built around 1900 or just before, but is no longer "in business". We have friends, so we get to use it once a year. The bike-of-choice this year seemed to be the BMW GS series -- all but mine were the old R100 "Airhead" model.

By pure luck, the town of Sheepranch is a checkpoint for the RoadKill Safari, so I bagged it with this photo.

The stretch of Highway 49 between Sonora and Mariposa has long stretches of twisty stuff like this, with excellent road surface and very little traffic. Coming around one corner, I encountered some EMTs and emergency workers halting traffic. There was a sportbike laying on its side near the edge of the bank, and an ambulance with a rider standing near the open rear doors. They motioned me to pass in the oncoming lane, which they also had blocked, so I don't know the story. But I can imagine a likely one.

Immediately after entering Yosemite N.P. from the southern entrance, the one-lane, one-way road goes between these two huge granite boulders. I wanted a photo of the new bike in the gap, but there was a large motorhome and a string of cars right behind me when I paid the entrance fee.

Almost every direction you look in Yosemite is a great photo op...

This is the view you'd get coming out of a long tunnel when entering Yosemite from the N.W. I came up the road which follows the river up the valley below, and cuts back through the slash in the trees in the upper left of the photo above.

Early morning near Carson Pass, on Hwy 88 the next morning on the way back to Spokane. The astute viewer will note that the bike is pointed towards California, not Nevada. Yes, I staged the photo.