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Pictures: Panoche and Mercey Hot Springs, March 2006
April 23, 2006
http://tinyurl.com/qwnj6 Ron Bobb and I started from Paicines at the junction of Panoche Rd. and CA25 south of Hollister, CA. We rode east up Tres Pinos Creek, over Panoche Pass and down into Panoche Valley. We continued past the bar and veered left where New Idria Rd. veers right. We continued for another couple of miles until the pavement turned to dirt and a sign indicated that the road was closed ahead. Some other day after inquiring locally about the road condition we might try to ride through to I-5. The unpaved section of Panoche Rd. appears to run along the drainage (Silver Creek) from the New Idria mine, the source of most of the mercury now found in San Francisco Bay. Ron and I rode up to the New Idria mine back in December, 2004. (http://tinyurl.com/nyanh) We turned around and returned up the valley to Little Panoche Rd. that we rode north over Glaucophane Ridge into Little Panoche Valley. We had been anticipating a nice, sit-down lunch at one of the food concessions at I-5 and Little Panoche Rd. Unfortunately, when we arrived at I-5 we saw only a patch of dirt, a couple of lonely portapotties and an overpass. We were so disappointed. It was then I remembered that the food concessions were at Panoche Rd. and I-5, twelve miles to the south. That gave us another reason to explore the unpaved length of Panoche Rd. at some future date. We would have to settle for Clif Bars for lunch. Fortunately the day was relatively cool, and we had enough water to get back to Mercey Hot Springs, tucked into the far western corner of Fresno County some 12 miles back up the road. We stopped at Mercey Hot Springs while Ron inquired about camping at some future time. We refilled our water but discovered that the local water supply, while potable, was quite salty, much like diluted seawater. Given that we were exercising, this was probably not harmful. Still I noticed at the end of the ride that I did not crave salty food as I normally do after a long ride. (108 miles; 4500 feet climbing; 3250 Calories) -- Bill Bushnell http://pobox.com/~bushnell/ |
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