The Feather River Canyon Ride

The Feather River Canyon Ride (10/30/2009)

One of my favorite sections of road is usually fairly invigorating to the visual senses this time of year. The dogwood and oaks are all turning colors as are the Aspen and other non-evergreens that line the banks of the Feather River as it winds it’s way to the Sacramento Valley. The stretch of highway betweeen Indian Valley and Jarbo Gap was one of my favorite stretches of road to ride. Here’s some good video that shows quite a few nice sections as you wind yourself up from Oroville Lake up through the Feather River canyon into Plumas County, aka God’s Country.
 

Where the Sierra Nevada range makes way for the Cascade range heading north. Indian Valley is just one of the gems found in Plumas County with the Chester-Canyon Dam area lying just NE of IV and then Quincy with the Mohawk and American Valleys making way on the east side for the Sierra Valley to empty into the desert country towards Nevada.

I have some very fond memories of numerous trips up and down the Feather River Canyon. In the summer it’s a great fun and twisty adventure for about an hour straight of “twist it to fix it” enjoyment with your right hand. That’s if you don’t stop to take in any of the enchanting views along the river and canyon. Here’s some videos from a two wheeled perspective of the canyon. The first is from the bridge near the turnoff for Pulga to the “top of the hill” at Jarbo Gap, east to west.
 

This next video shows from the same bridge near Pulga east towards Storrie, etc. to a few miles east of the Tunnels and the rest area. The tunnels that you see were mostly hand dug by chinese laborers many years ago.
 

One of the things that I love about the road through the canyon is that it has many positive camber corners that allow you to carry much better corner stability, allowing for better speeds while still maintaining good control. There are both some sweet fairly long sweepers in the canyon as well as a number shorter and sharper cousins. It all depends on what section you happen to be traversing. My favorite section is the run between Twain and Keddie, although taking the left on 89 to Indian Valley has it’s rewards as well.

Be careful if it’s early Spring or late Fall as the waterfalls from the runoff may be splashing on the road, sand from winter storms, leaves, etc. When mid-summer comes and the weahter leaves the road alone, it’s a ribbon of tarmac that will soothe your soul and your need to “twist it to fix it”.

Welcome to God’s Country!