Biking to Nobleman Gorge: America’s Steepest

We’d just capped out in the 6800-feet elevation and started our long descent into the greatest gorge in The United States. We understood our knobby tires could be groaning lower some steep stretches of asphalt. Bob desired to take your time heading lower, so he sitting up to obtain the most resistance to the wind. Ron, however, entered a downhill skier’s tuck.

Initially, though it was steep, the street lightly curved through moving hillsides of shady coniferous forest. Only then do we hit a ridgeline and dropped to the left side emerging from the forest and onto open semi-arid terrain. A wall of rock to 1 side and merely the tops of timber to another hinted in the dropoff past the road’s shoulder. The street steepened and tightened its curves.

Knobby tires were humming. Grip the brakes hard and lean right. Hope no cars were coming. A fast glance behind. Grip Them again and lean left. Curve after curve. Our legs were not pumping, but our adrenaline sure was.

We started this screamer in the Grant Grove section of Nobleman Gorge Park. Forty miles of challenging Highway 180 lay in front of us. We’d go through Sierra National Forest land, re-entering Nobleman Gorge Park at Cedar plank Grove, and ending in the aptly named Roads Finish. On a lark, we’d backpacked the majority of this road before. It had been throughout the winter several weeks once the road is closed to traffic due, to not snow, but to rockslides. Rocks crash lower around the roadway in the push of freezing water. This time around, however, we’d be competing for space with automotive monsters.

After backpacking and mix country skiing for around 2 decades, we (Robert, an independent author/professional photographer from Sacramento, and Richard, an instructor and author from Fresno) desired to expand within our outside adventuring and can include bike-packing. It happened that people had just come back to Richard’s abode in Fresno from the unsuccessful attempt to mix country skiing the Sierra High Route across Sequoia Park. I was sore and a bit blistered, so naturally, for all of us, the thought of on-going and biking the greatest gorge in The United States sprang into our heads. We’d desired to bike Nobleman Gorge for a long time for that physical challenge from it, and also, since Robert had been in Fresno with Ron, we required the hours’ drive to the beginning point at Grant Grove.

After telling the rangers our vehicle could be there overnight, we began in the Grant Grove customer center. Following a steady 300-feet climb, we arrived at the greatest point at Cherry Gap, at 6800′ elevation. Soon after beginning downhill from Cherry Gap, we had a really loaded biker venturing out. He yelled at us within the noise of oncoming cars, “I managed to get! Inch

The majority of the journey could be outdoors the nation’s Park within the Sierra National Forest. The various components of Nobleman Gorge Park were come up with on different occasions. The Grant Grove area using its towering Sequoia trees sticks out just like a sore thumb into the spotlight from all of that other park. Making the ride in the “thumb” towards the “body” from the Park outdoors the park limitations.

From Cherry Gap towards the South Fork from the Nobleman River, the highway drops a high 4000 ft with simply periodic upslopes to allow our brakes awesomely. The majority of the way has little if any shoulder, therefore we needed to be careful. Our first stop was the Junction Point of view, where we peered in the junction from the south fork and middle fork from the Nobleman River. From the top of the Spanish Mountain towards the bed from the Nobleman River, maybe the finest vertical relief within the U . s. States-about 8200 ft.

You may also look lower around the only accessible lodging along the way that isn’t within the park, Nobleman Gorge Lodge. It’s alongside Ten Mile Creek on Barton Flat, the only real large bit of flat land found about this steep stretch.

In the Junction Point of view, we rode lower more curves including some hairpins before crossing Ten Mile Creek and reaching the Nobleman Gorge Lodge. We rested briefly before we saddled up again and paralleled the creek for some time. Beyond the Yucca Point Trailhead, we switched from the creek and started a stretch after some more as much as it, but nonetheless mostly lower. Finally, we rounded an extensive left curve and joined a narrow, V-formed gorge created through the South Fork from the Nobleman River.

In the cheapest reason for the street, Highway 180 crosses this river. Our trip came following the 1994-1995 wet season, the wettest in greater than a decade. The Nobleman River along with other streams were churning away by having an unusual rage for June. Forecasters were predicting the peak runoff would really come later, possibly This summer. This is extremely unusual for California but designed for exciting views from the waterfalls, including waterfalls that most likely seldom exist this late inside a typical summertime.