Yesterday, Jello and I took a ride through some of the most picturesque scenery in Riverside County's portion of the Cleveland National Forest, in Southern California.

What I've dubbed "Tenaja Trail Ride", it takes you through the hills and canyons following San Mateo Creek, with a distant view of Tenaja Falls, and many breathtaking vistas.

Moreover, it's perhaps one of the few loops you can ride on a street bike in Southern California with very little traffic to contend with. In fact, when we rode it, we encountered only a few cars coming the opposite direction across the entire 40 mile stretch.

To start, take Interstate 15 into the City of Murrieta, and exit off Clinton Keith Road, and then head west into the Santa Ana Mountains. You'll ascend into the mountains to the top of the Santa Rosa Plateau. Follow the road until you reach Tenaja Road, and then turn right.

Tenaja Road runs through the community of Tenaja, filled with large million dollar ranch homes, each on several acres of land. The riding through here is actually great, with enough twisties and great views to keep in you 2nd and 3rd gears.

Keep your eyes open until you see Cleveland Forest Road, you'll easily miss it if you don't pay attention. Turn right (it's the only direction you can turn), and it'll take you into the Cleveland National Forest. The road narrows into a single lane serving both directions.

It's on this road where all the fun begins. The road gets narrow and twisty enough that you'll never get out of 2nd gear. In fact, for much of the road you'll stay in 1st gear, just because the scenery is so great, you won't want to miss it. Jello and I pretty much rode it at 10-15mph with our heads turning and left and right trying to see all there was to see.

While still in the Spring season, both sides of the road were filled with a variety of native flora in full bloom casting colors of yellow, white, purple, red, and orange. On either side, we enjoyed fields of green grass with hills and mountains in the distance. It was common to hear birds chirping against the sound of our V-Twins, and an occasional chipmunk trying to get out the way.

As the road winds its way into the canyons, it gets bumpy and sandy. Many of the turns are so tight and so sandy, you're moving along at 5mph. If you have any loose nuts and bolts on your bike, now's when you'll start hearing them.

About six miles into the ride, you'll eventually come to the Tenaja Falls Trailhead. If you have a Forest Adventure Pass, you can park here and hike the trail up to Tenaja Falls. There actually is water falling here, but only during and after the rains. The hike is about 7/10 of mile. Once there, you'll find a swimming hole and usually a few people taking a dip.

Continuing another few miles down the road, it widens and straightens out a bit, allowing you to ride comfortably in 2nd gear, but not yet for 3rd. There are couple places where the road is covered with loose river rock. The first of such places takes you by surprise while you're riding about 30mph; don't slow down, just roll right over it in a straight line.

The road finally enters into a small community, and widens up into a two-lane road allowing you to get back into 5th gear. Here it changes names to Killen Trail, and it'll take you along the ridge of the Santa Ana Mountains offering a sky-high view of Lake Elsinore.

Eventually it ends at Ortega Highway (Highway 74), and you can either turn left with a mile to go to Hells Kitchen for a beer and a burger, or you can turn right and take the highway down into the City of Lake Elsinore, and get back on Interstate 15.

The entire ride, from Clinton Keith Road to Highway 74 takes about 1 1/2 hours if you make no stops. But you'll probably want to stop in a few places just to enjoy the views and hear the silence of nature.

Labels: California Motorcycle Rides, Cleveland National Forest

The ride down to Pine Valley, located in south-eastern San Diego County, California, offers some breath taking views of the mountains and desert. And once you get into town, be sure to visit El Rancho Grande, a biker friendly bar and mexican restaurant.

Yesterday, some friends and I from the Temecula Motorcycle Riders, we headed south along Highway 79 and rode all the way to Santa Ysabel. If you've never been to Santa Ysabel, be sure to stop in at Dudley's Bakery for some delicious bread and coffee.

From there we gased up, and headed south along highway 78 into Julian. In Julian, we turned down Highway 79 South again, and rode it to County Road S1. The S1 takes you through rolling hills and then leads you into a forest of Pine Trees, offering you a scent fresh Pine. There is a rest stop here where you can get an awesome view of the Colorado Desert floor.

The road continues on through lots of twisties, more trees, and fog! There were some places where the fog bank was just above your head, and it was almost like you could hold your arm up and scrape it. When we rode down from the mountains, we pulled into another rest stop that offered a view of Pine Valley, and a glimpse of Interstate 8 in the distance.

The town of Pine Valley was only few miles from here. Once in town, we stopped at El Rancho Grande. The bartender and owner is a very nice guy and welcomed us all. I ordered the Carne Asada French Fries, which was a plate of cheese fries, but with chunks of carne asada beef and green onions, and dollops of guacamole and sour cream. Very good!

From there, we continued through town along Old Highway 80, until we found Highway 79 and took it back up north. This part of the highway offers a lot of tight turns with a small brook running along side of it. There was water running in the brook as it had just rained in the days before. The highway takes you into the town of Cuyamaca, which was totally burned down during the "Cedar Fire" of 2003. But it also takes you past gorgeous views of Lake Cuyamaca.

Eventually, we came back to the town of Julian, and turned back on to Highway 78 and rode it down to Santa Ysabel. We gassed up, and backtracked on Highway 79 until it met up with Highway 76. We took the 76 west until we reach the Pala Indian Reservation, and rode through town to Pala Road. We took Pala Road north into Temecula, headed into Old Town, and stopped in at Texas Lil's for some beer.

All in all, a great day's worth of riding, about 176 miles I believe.

Labels: California Motorcycle Rides, Cleveland National Forest