About 2/3s the way down Cherokee is a right turn to Oregon City & its restored, 1849 covered wooden bridge.  After finishing the rest of Cherokee, we turned east on Hwy-70 up the Feather River Canyon. This is one of the best in California. The pavement is smooth & well maintained. Its mostly 60-90mph sweepers along a beautiful river & a thick pine forest as it climbs in elevation from 200 to ~3200ft. You should always stop at the resort in Belden for a drink or lunch. It has a wonderful deck right over the river. Naturally, on this trip it had just changed ownership & hadn't quite re-opened yet.

At Hwy-89, we turned north to Greenville for a great lunch & then back-tracked to road A-22. This becomes Genesee Rd., then Beckwourth-Genesee, & then Indian Creek roads to Antelope Lake at 5000ft. Great twisty backroads that 99.9% of the bay-area poseurs will never know exists. It was in this general area that the sierra clouds caught us and we had intermittent drizzles & wet roads for an hour or so. From the lake, we took Janesville grade & Beckwourth Rd. to Beckwourth. This is a road with a 4-mile section of hard-packed dirt & sand. It was a bit exciting on Saturday with it wet & slimy.   Last was Hwy-70 & 49 to Loyalton.
(Editor's Note: The guck deposited on my SuperHawk from this mud section was the worst stuff I've ever had to clean from a motorcycle; even my dirtbikes!  Thanks Pat!)

The Golden West Saloon was our destination for the evening.  Friendly folks, clean motel rooms, a full bar, and some seriously great BEEF on the menu.  Several pounds of prime rib & ribeyes were consumed by the hungry hoard of adventurers!  Did I mention the full bar?

Sunday morning, the Country Kitchen provided a hearty breakfast for the group.   Hwy-49 over Yuba Pass & down through Downieville is a fun road along the Yuba river.  Not as smooth & clean as 70, but a little tighter & more challenging.   We met a huge herd of Harleys, I'd guess well over a hundred; and sticking out like a sore thumb was an FJ1100 right in the middle of 'em.

We turned southwest on Pleasant Valley Rd. as it looked like a good route to bypass Nevada City & Grass Valley on 49.  What a nice little road!  At the bottom of the canyon this road led us to the south fork of the Yuba river and the longest covered wooden bridge I have ever seen. It musta been 120-150 feet long.  It was old and only open to foot traffic. Then we headed up the other side of the canyon.  The first blind, right-handed curve looked harmless enough, but as I turned in I could see its dark side.  It initially looked like it would be 45-60 degrees, but it was actually 100-110 degrees with a decreasing radius.   It took the best of my skills, rapid braking, & leaning WAY over at the same time, to react fast enough & stay in my lane at the exit of this corner.  After a few more curves I pulled over to see where my entourage had disappeared to & was surprised to see the tail gunner arrive alone. John pulled up & said he had just passed Steve on the side of the road & asked "Where's Angela?" Uh-Oh. We turned around & arrived to find Steve & Angela walking around, but no Zeek.

A gigantic 14-foot tall rodent with hooves, antlers, and huge, nasty FANGS had appeared out of no where!  It bit a chunk out of Zeek's front tire and flung Zeek & Angela over the cliff! Then it chased Steve up the road til it found a car to attack... or, so it was all described to me.  I guess Steve watched the event transpire in his rear-view mirror & immediately pulled off the road to help. John was just far enough back that he didn't see any of it, except that Steve had pulled off the road for some reason.