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Southward Bound
  • Holly and Karl
Aug 2015 – Apr 2016

Southward Bound

A 264-day adventure by Holly Read more
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  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Pine Flat Reservoir

    November 10, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    Fuelled by the generosity of the Owens family we rode nearly 100 kms on some steep hilly roads recommended by our Sierra Cascades ACA map. This route took us along Pine Flat Lake - yet another shocking display of the effects of the multi-year drought California has been experiencing. The reservoir still shows up as a lake on most maps, but in actuality it has nearly returned to its original state as a river with the current water level some 50 metres below the old high water mark of the lake. Seeing the progression of boat launches down the "shores" of lakes like these really put the scale of the problem into perspective for us. It is hard to imagine the changes that will come in the next 10 years if these lakes fail to recharge and the demand for water in the coastal cities and arid farmland of the Central Valley continues to increase.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Warm Fire and Wild Fire

    November 11, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 3 °C

    At the end of our long day we climbed up to Pinehurst, where Warmshowers host Linn provided a warm fire on a very chilly night. We became even more thankful that she took us into her home as we learned about the crazy hours she had been putting in to help protect archealogical sites during the Rough Fire that burned 151,000 acres in the Sequoia National Forest and Kings Canyon National Park for over 70 days (one of the biggest and longest burning wildfires in California). The next morning we pre-warmed our shoes by the fire and said goodbye to Linn and her dog Seebeck before continuing the ~7000 ft climb we had started the day before.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Snow and Sequoias

    November 11, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 5 °C

    Not long after leaving Linn's house at ~4000 ft in elevation, we saw the first skiff of snow, and soon we were riding in a proper winter wonderland. We had a nice surprise when we arrived at the Kings Canyon park entrance and found that the entrance fee was waived for Veterans' Day. The warm sun made for a beautiful setting to see some of the biggest (by mass) trees in the world. The two biggest Giant Sequoias in the park are named after Generals Grant and Sherman, and are humbling to say the least. We knew there was a chance we would have to camp in the snow and sure enough, with all the beautiful sights to take in, the climb to 7592 ft (our highest on the trip so far), and the icy sections of road we had to navigate later in the day, we didn't have enough daylight to get down below snowline before dark - good thing we kept all those warm clothes!Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Moro Rock Vistas

    November 12, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 0 °C

    The temperature didn't drop off too badly during our night camping in the snow, and we were really glad we didn't rush down out of the park the previous day, as we decided to hike our breakfast up to the top of Moro Rock the next morning. The view from the top of the 350 step climb was amazing and we had the place to ourselves at 8 am, so we appreciated the beauty of the High Sierras and sequoia forests from our peaceful perch even more. We also really enjoyed our visit to the Giant Forest Museum where they had some great interpretive displays, as well as a fireplace to warm up infront of before we started the long descent down the hairpin turns of the Generals Highway.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Down down down!

    November 12, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    The first 1000 ft of the descent from the Giant Forest were still in the shade and potentially icy so we proceeded slowly. The ride down the rest of the crazy switchbacks below Moro Rock was a lot of fun and we had lunch on green grass against a warm rock to celebrate our return to warmer climes. We continued to decend gradually all the way through Three Rivers and past Lake Kaweah (yet another depleted man made reservoir) to Lemon Cove, where we were once again riding through groves of citrus trees just 50 km from the snow that keeps them watered.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Optional Climbs? Yes, Please!

    November 13, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    We could have taken a straight, flat path to our next Warmshowers host's place in Porterville, but we decided to stick to the mountainous ACA route, so turned up Yokohl Drive as the sun was setting. With all the ranchland we had a hard time finding a place to put up the tent for the night, but eventually, well after the last light of the day had faded, we found a dry water reservoir in which to discreetly spend the night - one of our more interesting free camp spots. The next morning we climbed over a mere 2700 ft pass on a rough narrow road (certainly a low traffic route) before descending to Springville for lunch. On the way into Porterville we passed Success Lake - the sign on a bridge that used to cross an arm of the "lake" doesn't seem necessary any more...Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Hank's House

    November 15, 2015 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 9 °C

    After quite a few days on the road in the mountains (i.e. with lots of climbing!) we were really looking forward to taking a rest day and restocking on energy and provisions. And with the snow and ice on the roads in Sequoia and more snow in the forecast, we also needed to figure out a new lower elevation plan going forward. We were lucky to spend our time at Hank's. Hank is a Warmshowers and Couchsurfing host (i.e. Super Host), and we enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere at his place with the opportunity to have full run of the kitchen for cooking and baking, and spread out all of our maps attempting to assess our various options for the road ahead. We left cleaned up, well fed and enroute back to the coast.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Citrus Galore

    November 16, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C

    The thing about cycling through the Central Valley is that you can spend hours biking by the same crop. When we first headed from Coalinga to Fresno it was almonds, then pistachios, then grapes. In the southern part of the valley it was a lot citrus trees - laden with oranges, lemons or limes - and grape vines that lined the road almost our entire ride from Porterville to Bakersfield. Despite the monotony, we do enjoy seeing how crops are grown and harvested at this scale, providing an insight into the fruit we take for granted in our northern grocery stores at home.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Bakersfield

    November 17, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    No one we talked to recommended Bakersfield ("the armpit of California") as a destination, but we had decided we were done with the mountain pass route and there isn't really anywhere to camp in the Central Valley so we found another gracious Warmshowers host to put us up for the night in the booming metropolis. Mick and Emily were in the midst of a major renovation, but welcomed us into their home and provided us with enlightening conversations about health care and education in the US.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Reroutes and Gushers

    November 17, 2015 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

    The ride southwest from Bakersfield was a challenging one. We did enjoy the Kern River Bike Trail, but from there we tried to follow the Google Maps suggested bike route and were led to many dead ends because it kept trying to route us onto gated gravel roads along water canals. In addition, Karl's old back tire kicked the bucket a little sooner than he expected so we lost some time dealing with flats and changing to our spare tire. We eventually settled on riding main roads with small shoulders through Taft and soon after started to see oil wells multiplying around us. We learned of the history of the oil boom in the area at an information panel about the #1 Gusher, then arrived in the oil town of Maricopa as the sun set with no idea where we were going to camp. We eventually deeked off the highway and dropped into a dry creek to set up our tent in the dark, and spent the evening questioning ourselves on whether we needed a "holiday from our holiday".Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Pistachios and Pines

    November 18, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    Having not made the distance we intended to the day before, we were not sure if we could pull off the big day that would get us over the hill back to the coast, but we decided to get up early and give it a go. Within an hour we had climbed well above Maricopa and enjoyed the view back over the moonscape of the oilfields in the desert. Things started to shift in our favour as a tailwind helped push us gradually higher and higher up the valley past pistachio orchards and carrot harvests, and eventually back into the Los Padres National Forest for our final climb up to Pine Mountain Summit.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Weeeeee!

    November 18, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    After cresting the Pine Mountain Summit at 1pm, we had 60 km to go, and 1500 m of potential energy to use. With a 6% grade and wide radius corners we were able to go ~40-50 km/hr for about 20 minutes straight, which certainly puts a perma-grin on your face. We were winding down a creek valley past interesting rock formations, desert vegetation and then canyon walls. After a tiny bit of uphill pedalling we dropped into the next drainage and again just soared down the hills, even catching up to a truck through some tunnel sections. Just over an hour and a half later we were down in Ojai, grinning from ear to ear.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Ojai, pronounced Oh-hi

    November 19, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    We were lucky in Ojai to be hosted by Peter - we were actually his first Wamshowers guests since Ojai is a bit off the beaten Pacific Coast path. He suggested we hit up Ojai Ice Cream in town, and we weren't disappointed. While there (in the ice cream shop), we learned that Ojai is not pronounced Oh-J as we had though, but Oh-hi - good to know. Peter made us a delicous dinner and we chatted with him and his parents about bike touring trips (Peter had cycled in NZ and down the Cali coast as well), the local fauna and flora, and agriculture, including the many different varieties of avocados grown in the area. We were treated to a Reed and a Hass avocado, both delicious. We convinced Peter to join us for a photo in the morning with his trusty steed Ruby, before we headed down a great bike path to Ventura, bound for Malibu and LA.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Ad-Ventura

    November 19, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    We made our return to the Pacific Coast at Ventura and it felt tropical with the warmth (a general return to good weather apparently occurred concurrently with our return to the coast, but to us it felt like there must have always been beautiful weather on the coast), the palm trees and the buildings with white plaster walls and tile roofs. We headed to the beach and then joyfully resumed our daily diet of ice cream before pedalling southward back onto the Pacific Coast Highway.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Back on 1

    November 19, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    We pedalled past more fields and fruit stands, then the Missile Park at the Point Mugu Naval Base (only in the US?!?) and then we were back on highway 1, the Pacific Coast Highway, that we had left back at Big Sur. We made sure to suit up and head to the beach when we got to Leo Carillo State Park, where we were camping for the night, and the water was noticeably warmer. yet still refreshing!We met a few more cyclists at the hiker biker site, all who were also heading down the Baja, and revelled at how warm it was now that we had 'arrived' in southern California.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Malibu

    November 20, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    When we saw that Malibu was on our route into Los Angeles, we were excited to go through such an iconic place on California's coast, but we honestly didn't quite know what to expect. The scenery didn't disappoint - the sweeping coastline and the constrasting colours of the land meeting the water were stunning. As a place, however, it wasn't quite what we had expected with no 'town' feel, just many extravagant houses lining the water's edge and the hillsides and the odd store or restaurant here or there. One thing that did stand out for us, though, was some delicous ice cream (maybe my favourite of the trip so far?!?), and that always makes us like a place more!Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    UVic Outdoors Club LA Reunion

    November 20, 2015 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 23 °C

    When we decided we were going to brave the megatropolis of Los Angeles, we got in touch with our friend Aaron who we know through the University of Victoria Outdoors Club (ODC). As with many of our friends from the ODC spread across western North America, Aaron found his way to LA because of his love of outdoor activities - as a paragliding pilot and a climber, LA offered the opportunity to play in the mountains (and above them!) year round. We showed up when Aaron and his partner Laura were boarding two dogs above and beyond their two German Shepards. These guys are dog whisperers - we have never seen dogs so well behaved! We also got a kick out of the extra exercise they had their dog Kaden do on a day when he'd had less exercise than normal - which is several walks and a dog hike as part of Laura's business, lucky guy. We had some great chats with Aaron and Laura, and really appreciated Aaron showing us around the local mountains and the city (shown in the next couple posts) - these guys really helped to make our time in LA one of the highlights of the trip so far.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Mount Wilson

    November 21, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Our first outing with Aaron was in the Angeles National Forest, above Pasadena. We were very jazzed to get into the mountains above the city without the grunt work of riding up all the hills. The steep winding road up to Mount Wilson was a bit hard on our stomachs, though, as we really haven't spent any time in cars over the last few months. We went for a walk with Aaron and the dogs, and learned about the progression of optics at the Mount Wilson Observatory. The views were amazing and it was a pleasure to hike with 4 very well behaved dogs.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    I'm Like a Bird...

    November 22, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    We had a lazy morning the next day after a late night touring the streets of Hollywood and LA, but when Aaron checked the weather we quickly shifted gears and were soon driving to Santa Barbara to do some flying. There wasn't much for thermals, but we were stoked to both get our first tandem paragliding experience, as you can see by the big smiles on our faces, and what views! Many thanks to Aaron for sharing his love of paragliding with us.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Road Trip!

    November 23, 2015 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 11 °C

    Our good friend Eva Holland had mentioned a plan to road trip into the States and meet up with us when we were just starting our journey, but it seemed like we were going to miss seeing her as we were already in Southern California when she finished a writing seminar in Banff. Apparently driving over 3200 kms in 2 days wasn't a big deal for Eva, though, so she rolled into Canoga Park at 9 pm on Monday night and we quickly repacked her trusty 4-Runner and drove another 270 kms to Joshua Tree that night. The next morning we woke up in the desert and walked an interpretive loop in Indian Cove learning about the plants and animals that call this harsh high desert home.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Wonderland of Rocks

    November 24, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    After our late night drive, we were lucky the next day to snag the last tent site in the Jumbo Rocks campground - apparently parks are pretty busy the week before American Thanksgiving! With our camp established, we set off to hike into the Wonderland of Rocks. We were excited to do some scrambling/bouldering but were quickly humbled by the size of the boulders, so settled for taking pictures of the rocks and wacky Joshua Trees in the beautiful evening light.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Ryan Mountain Hike

    November 25, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 8 °C

    To get a bit of perspective we hiked up Ryan Mountain to see the desert and jumbles of rocks from afar. Strangely, we found this landscape more striking at the micro rather than the macro level, but still enjoyed getting some views and seeing more Joshua trees.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    American Thanksgiving!

    November 26, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    Back in 2013 we hosted Ilan when he rode his bike from Whitehorse to Anchorage, so we thought of contacting him on this trip, but weren't quite sure we were brave enough to cycle through Los Angeles. However, in a demonstration of how small the cycling world is, Robert, a British cyclist we met along the coast, got hosted by Ilan and so Ilan, realizing we may be heading through LA, emailed us to offer to return the hosting favour if we did end up in his neck of the woods. That invitation tipped the scales, convincing us to visit LA. Ilan, however, one-upped us, and invited us to his family Thanksgiving, so we cycled back toward Malibu and into the Pacific Palisades neighborhood after we returned from Joshua Tree. And what a great thanksgiving dinner it was: Ilan and his girlfriend Emma were the bartenders, Tito, his brother, the chef of the deep-friend turkey, Ilan's mother the chef of the roasted turkey and many delicous other dishes, with siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents as sous-chefs and providers of energetic and interesting conversations. At the end of the night we crammed Ilan, Emma, us, their two dogs Mama and Spooky, our bikes and our many panniers into Ilan's little car and drove to their place in the city.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Reciprocal Hosting

    November 27, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    It was really fun getting hosted by Ilan, and seeing his world in LA after sharing our little home in Whitehorse with him. We cruised down to the beach with him along the canal trails, getting to see the mountains and surfers from the pier at Venice Beach, strolling by Muscle Beach, and playing on the rings and slacklines by the Santa Monica Pier. We went out to a delicious Mexican restaurant, and Ilan and Emma gave us day by day pointers about the sights and food not to miss on the Baja. We grabbed one last shot of the four of us before we pedaled out of the city - now within just a few days ride of the US-Mexican border.Read more

  • Holly and KarlSouthward BoundHolly and Karl

    Donuts by the Beach

    November 28, 2015 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    We pedalled through nearly empty streets as we left LA, then rode along the Los Angeles River Trail for close to 30 kms to Long Beach. There wasn't much of a river flowing through the concrete conveyance channel, but the smooth ride away from traffic was amazing. We continued along the beach trails to Huntington Beach where we were lucky to have coordinated a meet-up with Branden and Aquila who were down in Orange County from Bellingham for Thanksgiving. These guys were our first hosts in the US and so it was neat to see them so close to the end of the US leg of our journey. They brought us the tastiest donuts - including a Holly hit of a creme brulee dulce de leche filled donut, yum! We yaked away about the 3 months that had passed, then got excellent ice cream suggestions from Branden for the road ahead. As we were leaving Huntington Beach we started chatting with a local, Tom, who asked us about our trip and reminisced about a cycling trip he had done along the coast when he was a teenager. The exchange was very touching and he even gave us $20 to buy us dinner - what a kind gesture!Read more

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