We spent a day driving from Santa Rosa over to Angel Camp at the western base of the Sierras.  This is the heart of the 19th century gold rush country and Angel Camp was one of those towns full of miners and fortune seekers.  Today it is a sad town with some awful modern commercial development and a charming old town center that is almost abandoned.  For us it was a place to sleep and eat.

The next morning we drove up to Bear Valley and rode up Ebbetts Pass.  Bear Valley is a small ski area about an hours drive east of Angel Camp.  Lenny had left Angel Camp very early so he could ride longer and over more passes.  Chris and I rode together up the road to the Pacific Grade climb, down into the valley and then up Ebbetts Pass.  This is a tiny but very well paved road with almost no traffic east of Bear Valley.  It is one of the most beautiful rides I have done.  The weather was perfect and Chris and I met up at the top and decided not to descend into Markleeville which would add another huge climb back up to Ebbetts.  We thought we might run into Lenny somewhere along the way, but he never appeared.  We had a super fun descent back down to Bear Valley and I even enjoyed the tough winding climb up the east side of the Pacific Grade.

Summit of Ebbetts Pass

I highly recommend this ride, it is beautiful, great road conditions and very light traffic.

The next day all three of us drove together up to Bear Valley again and rode to Spicer Reservoir and up to the Bear Valley Ski Area base station.  It was an easier day, but great fun and great riding and great companionship.  The reservoir was disturbingly low after 3 years of drought in California.

Chris and I at Spicer Reservoir