Highway 180 ends where the glaciers stopped. At Road's End, a few kilometres past Cedar Grove, the tarmac gives up at the foot of sheer granite walls, and from here on the only way forward is on foot or horseback into the backcountry of the Sierra. Turning a motorcycle around at the end of a road this good feels wrong, but the canyon floor is reason enough to linger.
Cedar Grove sits on the flat, U-shaped floor of the valley at around 1,400 metres, a classic glacier-carved trough with meadows, cottonwoods, incense cedar and ponderosa pine, and the South Fork running fast and clear beside the road. To the north, North Dome rises in a smooth wall of rock, and to the south, the Grand Sentinel stands guard. The parallels with Yosemite Valley are obvious, but this place has no traffic jams, no shuttle buses and far fewer people.
Zumwalt Meadow is the walk to do, a flat loop of a couple of kilometres through grass and along the river under the cliffs, with a section that crosses a jumble of rocks from an old rockfall. Roaring River Falls, a short paved path from the road, is a powerful little waterfall squeezed through a granite chute. In early summer, with snowmelt at its peak, both are loud enough to drown out conversation.
Riding here is about the quality of the light rather than the corners. The road along the valley floor is gentle, with long straights and soft bends, perfect for a slow cruise with the visor up. Mornings are cool and golden, while midday can be very hot in July. Watch out for deer, which are almost tame here, and for black bears, which wander through campgrounds looking for unattended food. Bear-proof food lockers are everywhere, and you should use them.
Cedar Grove has a small seasonal lodge, a snack bar, a market and campgrounds, but services are basic and fuel is not sold, so the ride back up to Grant Grove and down to the valley needs to be in your tank already. The road into the canyon is closed in winter, usually from mid-November until late April, and even in early May some facilities may not be open. Check before you go, and leave time to ride back out before dark.