Oak Flat Lookout and the Road to the Sequoias

So it was a Monday morning. We all met in Bakersfield. It was shaping up to be a fairly warm day. Scheduled to meet for the ride was me, the BakoKid, GPSbilly, McNut and Trailtrick. It was cool because we all met on ADVrider and nobody knew anybody. I was running late so I let everybody know that I may Have to meet them up on the trail. They were kind enough to wait at the meeting spot so we could ride together. Absent from the crowd was TrailTrick, who was to be our guide for the day. Apparently he had a flat tire early in the day so he couldn't make it. Not to worry though, I was riding with two guys that had GPS and I was confident in the crew.

It really was getting warm fast so we were in a hurry to make our way to the mountains. McNut said that he would like to hit Oak Flat Lookout. I was unfamiliar with this particular stop on Rancheria Rd. As we rode up the hill we jockeyed for position here and there but we were quickly slowed buy a road hogging rancher. This guy did not even move to the side a bit to let us by. We rolled by anyways and fought the urge to roost his hood. It wasn't long until we hit the turnoff we were looking for. McNut was always quick with the camera. At times too quick as I will discuss later. Here I am with GPSbilly in the yellow.

The trail leading to The Oak Flat Lookout was a sweet single track with rolling hills, a little boulder crawling and some steep drops. This trail was great.

You can get an idea here of our first destination and where we are headed. Just above Billy and myself you can catch a view of the lookout.

Billy coming out of the first section of the singletrack.

We wound around the mountain with lots of switchbacks and what not's to finally make our way to 4920 feet.

This place had an amazing view from all directions. This place was used by the forest service to spot fires in the surrounding mountains.

I hear that you can rent this place for the night.
Here is Billy and McNut (Bruce) rappin about bikes.
This would be a great spot to camp for the night. Not tonight though. I have to be at work by 3PM.

Well it was time for us to move on. We had a lot of exploring to do. Once we arrived in the Sequoia Nat'l Forest, we decided to take a break at a camp ground under the massive trees and the cool shade. After our break, we decided to take a route that headed out of the south side of the camp grounds. Bruce mentioned that this was a good route out but had some pretty steep stuff. I knew I had come up this trail into the campground once before and I could not remember the trail being that steep. I am always interested into a new adventure. The trail was really dusty but tight in the trees. The trail will be awesome once we get a little rain or morning dew to keep the dust down. We came to the first section of downhill and it was pretty slick but not to bad. I am still on the stock deathwings so I didn't expect much traction anyway. We came to the second section of about four down hills. This one was decent too. Slick but not bad. Now comes the best part. It was probably the steepest part and nothing I could do to keep that rear wheel behind me. The front wheel now in a rut and the back end picks up speed. Yep you guessed it. Face down in the dirt. Unfortunate for Billy, I am in his direct line so he goes down too. There is no dusting off from this one. I have a pound of dirt in each pocket. Just get up and lift that bike up. Its steeper than it looks. Okay, I better reassess how I am gonna get this thing back on its wheels. And its up!!!! All in all this was a great day. The bike got a few more well deserved scratches but no injuries for anybody. We got a little lost but hey, its not an adventure unless we get lost sometimes. We ended up taking another ATV trail out which was a great trail. It was definitely a great ride. These guys here were a blast to hang out with. They smile a lot. In fact we joked that many of the ride reports don't have guys smiling enough and we couldn't figure out why. After all, this is the greatest sport in the world. I have to give credit to McNut (Bruce) for the great pictures. Although they should not have been so focused on your truly rolling aRs over tea kettle down the dusty hills. Great fun! WE MUST RIDE AGAIN soon! Thanks again. Leave me some feedback on the comment section below. I love to read the comments. Also, if you haven't already done so, go to www.nichelob.com and read his ride report on the Trans American Trail. You will be blown away by this master story teller. The link is on this page, up near the top right.