Idyllwild Mountain Loop
A 376 km loop
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Why this ride
Scenery first, traffic last, with checkpoints that make sense on a bike. A 377 km loop that starts and ends near Los Angeles, about 6 h 51 of riding. It goes by way of Home Gardens and Idyllwild. The highest point is about 1,300 m. Much of it runs through woodland.
Roadbook
- Los Angeles
start
Route 66 does not end in a blaze of glory. After more than three thousand kilometres from Chicago, the old highway frays into the boulevards of Los Angeles, and its last stretch is a patchwork of Foothill Boulevard, Colorado Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard, ending officially at the pier in Santa Monica, with the Pacific beyond. The point on the map here is the old centre, where the city began in 1781 as a Spanish pueblo, and a few blocks of adobe buildings and a Mexican market street, Olvera Street, are still standing, near the grand Spanish-style Union Station, which opened in 1939.
The city is a sprawl of neighbourhoods more than a single place, joined by freeways that carry some of the heaviest traffic in the United States. Hollywood, Griffith Park and its observatory, the beaches of Santa Monica and Venice, and the downtown skyscrapers are all within an hour or so of one another, depending on the hour. The Arroyo Seco Parkway to Pasadena, opened in 1940, was the first freeway in the western United States, and its tight curves and short ramps look quaint beside later designs.
For a motorcyclist, LA has a particular pleasure and a particular hazard. California allows lane splitting, riding between lines of slow traffic, under guidance from the highway patrol that advises doing so at a modest speed difference, and it turns an hour of gridlock into a manageable commute. It also means drivers are used to bikes appearing between cars, though not all are careful. Rush hours are long and heavy, with mornings and late afternoons the worst, so plan to arrive and leave at off-peak times. Fuel is available everywhere, though prices are higher than in most states.
The weather is warm and mostly dry, with a marine layer of cloud on the coast in late spring and early summer, locals call it May Gray and June Gloom, and the hot, dry Santa Ana winds in autumn. Smog can be heavy in summer. The best way to end the Route 66 journey is a slow cruise west along Santa Monica Boulevard to the pier, watching the light turn orange, and then a late dinner by the water.
- Home Gardens
fuel
Home Gardens is a small unincorporated community squeezed between Corona and Riverside, on the edge of the Santa Ana River valley, and it is a place most people pass through without noticing. It has about eleven thousand people, a mix of houses, small businesses and shopping centres, and it sits close to the Route 91 freeway, one of the busiest and most congested roads in Southern California.
Corona, right next door, has a surprisingly interesting history. In the early twentieth century it was known as the lemon capital of the world, with groves of citrus covering the valley and packing houses along the railway. Its main street, Grand Boulevard, was built as a perfect circle around the town centre, and between 1913 and 1916 it hosted road races that drew famous drivers and huge crowds, with cars roaring around the circle at what were then astonishing speeds. The circle is still there, and you can ride it today, though rather more slowly.
As a fuel stop, it is easy. There are stations along the main roads and near the freeway, along with fast food, supermarkets and convenience stores. If you are heading to Idyllwild, this is a good place to fill up before the climb into the mountains, where there is less choice and prices are often higher.
The ride from here to Idyllwild takes you east through the Inland Empire and then up into the San Jacinto Mountains, either on the Pines to Palms Highway, Route 74, from Hemet, or on Route 243 from Banning. Both climb through chaparral and then into pine forest, with tight bends, steep grades and big views over the valleys and the desert. On a hot day, the temperature drops dramatically as you climb, and the smell of pine replaces the dust of the valley.
The local riding is mostly urban, with traffic, lights and freeways, but the Santa Ana River trail and the hills around Corona offer some escape. The Prado Basin, to the west, is a large flood control area with wetlands and wildlife, and Chino Hills State Park has trails and views. Fill up here, grab a cold drink and get ready for the mountains.
- Idyllwild
food
Idyllwild is a mountain village in the San Jacinto range, high above the hot desert of Palm Springs and the sprawling valleys of the Inland Empire, set among tall pines, cedars and oaks at about 1,600 metres. It has a population of a few thousand, a village centre of wooden buildings, cafés and art galleries, and the cool, clean smell of pine that greets you as soon as you arrive.
The rocks above the village are famous among climbers. Tahquitz Rock and Suicide Rock, two great granite domes, rise above the forest, and in the 1950s climbers here developed the grading system that later became the Yosemite Decimal System, still used across North America today. On a sunny weekend you will see climbers on the walls, small as ants against the granite. Behind them, the San Jacinto peak rises to over three thousand metres, and trails lead up into the wilderness.
Idyllwild also has a quirky side. For many years the town has had an honorary mayor who is a dog, a golden retriever named Max, followed by successors with the same name, and they have become local celebrities. The village is also known for its arts, with an arts academy and many galleries, and it hosts music and arts festivals in summer.
The riding is the main reason to come. The Pines to Palms Highway, Route 74, climbs from the desert near Palm Desert in a series of switchbacks, with spectacular views over the Coachella Valley, and then winds through the mountains to join Route 243, which runs north through Idyllwild and down to Banning with tight curves and steep drops. Both roads are great motorcycle roads, with good surfaces and little traffic on weekdays. Watch for gravel, deer and snow in winter, when the roads can be icy or closed.
Idyllwild has a fuel station, cafés, restaurants and shops in the village centre, and Valle Vista, about sixteen kilometres away by road, is the nearest larger community. Fire is a real risk in these mountains, and the village has been threatened several times, so check conditions in the dry season. Find a slice of pie, sit on a bench in the sun and listen to the wind in the pines.
- Los Angeles finish