This year for Thanksgiving my folks decided to rent a house near Joshua Tree so we could all spend the holidays together and try to work off some calories hiking the in the park. That last part is kinda hard when we have a walking toddler in tow (except for my brother who often carried said toddler). I took this as an opportunity to make the trip on my MT09 and ride some fun roads in between the SF Bay and Socal. Since I wanted to enjoy my time on those fun bits of road I turned the trip into 2 days each way.

Day 1: SF to Santa Clarita
Rating: 1.5 stars

Not much to say about this trip as its all highway. The 152 is kinda fun but there is always traffic, often is windy, and this time around I was fully loaded on the bike. Surprisingly little traffic on i5 though I realized too late there is no way to escape the smell of the big cow farms while riding a motorcycle and it started drizzling when I got near the LA region. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t charged for my drink at dinner because a breakfast burrito and .5L Mexican coke for $12 is cheap as fuck! They are also open 8 days a week so maybe they’ve figured out something I haven’t.

Day 2: Santa Clarita to Joshua Tree

Rating: 4 stars

I wanted to ride through the Angeles National Forest but sadly the roads through it are all closed until 2026. This meant more highways with first the 14 followed by 138. Started the morning dry but that quickly turned to some noticeable rain. Thankfully my gear kept me and my stuff dry! The rain mostly kept to the 14 and thankfully the 138 was fairly dry for the fun parts around Silverwood Lake and up the mountain. Soon after I found myself in the tail end of a “Winter storm” as I made my way towards Big Bear Lake. The “Rim of the World” 18 was wonderful even given the snowy conditions. I’ve heard the views of the LA valley are amazing but I cant say I saw much between the clouds pealing down the mountain and the fact I was very focused on making sure I avoided the icy spots and numerous cars. Once again my gear did its job and kept me nice and dry and mostly warm. I stayed on the 18 all the way north to the 247. At this point it is basically highway so I just blasted my way to the Airbnb. I was a bit surprised when I my GPS direction told me to head down a dirty sandy road. I did pull over to confirm this was indeed the way so I puckered my butt and went for it. Took me a while to do the nearly mile stretch but made it in one piece!

Day Thanksgiving week: Joshua Tree Park

Rating: 3.5 stars

On one of the days we went to the park we ended up in a situation where we had 1 more person coming than comfortable seats in the car(s). This meant I could take my bike and meet up at the hike start location, and then ride through the park afterwards while the rest of the family hung out while my brother rock climbs. Park Boulevard was fairly fun and has some really good views but the (kinda understandable) low speed limits and numerous amounts of touristy drivers keeps it from being truly amazing. I then took Pinto Basin Road down to the south “entrance” (there’s no ranger station) before turning around and heading home. Pinto Basin Road also mirrors Park with the goods and bads, though I was a bit more conservative with my throttle as I realized I had less than half a tank left at the halfway point of my ride and not really sure exactly how many miles before I made it out of the park and at a gas station. I took the remainder of Park Boulevard to the East entrance both because I hadn’t done it earlier and because it meant finding a gas station sooner.

On another day we had nothing planned in the morning so I went ahead and did the same route as above, minus going to the East entrance. I started it more at 9am so there were fewer cars, but that speed limit to save the animals (and watch out for the few sandy spots) was still there and a bit of a bummer. I had also looked up gas stations near the south entrance while I was at home so this time the return trip was way less stressful. As I left the West Entrance around noon the line of cars waiting to enter the park was a mile long!

The dirt road bit by the Airbnb sucked every time but I didnt drop the bike and barely had one or 2 squirrely moments.

Day 3: Joshua Tree to Morro Bay

Rating: 2 stars

This day sucked because it was almost all highways and a bit chilly though dry. The only fun part was the 33 north of Ojai. It was nice for the weather to warm up just a little and for there to be surprisingly few cars. The road was often nestled in “canyons” but when it opened up the views of the mountains were amazing. I then took the 166 to the 101. The twisty bits of 166 were almost fun but at this point my leg started hurting and the chill came back hard as the sun set and I was getting nearer to the coast. The views were pretty nice before the sun set.

Day 4: Morro bay to SF

Rating: 4 stars

The beginning sucked. More highways north until I broke off to ride the 198 to Coalinga which was recommended by a friend. I can confirm this road is super fun even with the chilliness and low clouds , which made for some spectacular views! Basically the entire section between the 25 and Coalinga is nonstop twisties with a mix of fast bank turns and more technical tight corners. My original plan for the day was to turn back, redo the 198 back to the 101 to go more north then break off to ride in the mountains towards Carmel Valley, but by the time I reached Coalinga I got a bit cranky due to the cold. I decided to instead take the 25 which was an amazing decision. I once again found myself with few cars ahead of me and spectacular views of rolling green hills. I took this opportunity to blast my way up to Hollister, at which point I headed west to the 1. I ended the day with one of my favorite roads, the 17, which had its usual amount of cars, especially in the San Jose side decent.

I only took this photo for these 2 days because it was cold, I didnt want to unbundle to get the phone out, and just wanted to get home (or the hotel) as soon as possible. Enjoy the view from the top of the 33.