California Gold

12-2-07

A bit brisk I must say, 45 degrees at 9am, first frost last night here in sunny SoCal. Off to Tehachapi to see me Mum and the women folk, and my nephew Troy who are moving her up north to live.
I arrived before breakfast and sought out the family. Carrying my dad's J.C. Higgins pump to hand off to another nephew.
I caught a scathing eye from the local constible while cruising the main drag.

Me Mum


Wimmens


Brood...oops, the GS was in the pic!


The weather turned perfect, right around 65 degrees and sunny. The back way out of Tehachapi runs through the windmills, there's a great downhill straight where you can test your top speed..but I didn't...no.


Another Beemer bro, what are the chances?


Heading due east the road makes a hard right south past the gold mines between Rosamond and Mojave, Backus Rd cuts across to Hwy14.
I've always wanted to explore around that area...then I remembered I was riding an adventure bike, and I had all day.

The first road I found was a trucking road with a locked gate. remnants of the old mining is everywhere.
All the soil and rock has a yellow hue.

They've been working this mountain for gold ore for years...they use a cynaide washing process that has been said leaches into the ground water. Land and housing in the area is not that expensive...i.e., don't drink the water.


I could'nt cut in towards the mining area because it all was fenced off. It skirted the perimeter for miles. Perfect GS roads.
Freshly rained-on and professionally graded....ahh!


...perfect!

Heading East again there 's more buttes and more abandoned mines, still everywhere I went there were "No Trespassing" signs.
I trespassed anyhow.
You can see the windmills northwest back in Tehachapi.


This old mine looked small from the road, the yellow rock is everywhere....or maybe it was just my amber shades...

I threw a few gold rock samples in my saddlebag and cut outta there before I got shot at by desert hillbillies.
Headed south on some pole-line road that cut through the desert and and caught a nice paved locals-only road. Ended up doing battle with a recluse in a pickup that thought he was all Nascar and shit...something in the water for sure.
Surprise, surprise! The road ended up in Rosamond right at the old Tropico Gold mine...a movie of course...I remember coming up here when they had the World Chili Cook-Off...lots of beer and sun...and a headache.


More roads cutting across the desert hardpan out of Rosamond proved to be posted with "KEEP OUT-PRIVATE ROAD" signs....people guarding their 100-year junk collections and/or crack shacks I suppose.
I trespassed anyhow.

It was good to leave. I crossed back over to my side of the hill by taking Godde Hill to Lake Elizabeth to Bouquet Canyon.Bouquet smelled of smoke form the fires that crossed through there last month. The fire swept across some 17000 acres from Agua Dulce to Newhall in about 2 hours...in the end burned over 37000 acres.


This right at the Vasquez Canyon turn-off where the forest starts.

...why is that motorcycle in all the shots!


I gotta say I'm just lovin' this bike. It's a do-all, perfect for out where I live. Oh, did I say, after I got through Bouquet/Vasquez I found out I had a flat rear tire...
For once I didn't bring my handy-dandy electric airpump with me...so I limped back the Agua Dulce Hardware just in time before they closed and got a can of some fix-flat stuff.
..then I dogged some Harley-dude all the way home.