What a great day for a ride!  Near perfect weather (a bit warm at times) accompanied us all day as we rode some 280 miles around Southern California's spectacular mountain roads.  Starting out in Newhall as planned (joined by Mark Drake on his VTR1000 Super Hawk) we headed to Sunland via Little Tujunga Canyon Road.  Despite sand and oil across lanes in several tight turns (apparently someone holed their oil pan and had to keep stopping to hemorrhage on the road) we made it to Sunland without any mishap -- happy to have that spectacular little road all to ourselves.  At the Starbucks in Sunland we picked up fellow HSTA members Mike Sleeman (VFR800), Lon Larsen and Pam DeBoer (ST1300), and Wayne Brenner (ST1300).  Despite "all brands welcome," it was a Honda day...

Heading out of Sunland we went up Big Tujunga Canyon Road to Angeles Forest Highway.  Mark heard that Newcomb's Ranch was hosting some sort of Ducati event (Hypermotard demos, etc.), so we decided to skip Newcomb's Ranch (and all the accompanying traffic and law enforcement presence) and simply loop around Angeles Crest Highway to Upper Big Tujunga and back down to Angeles Forest Highway again to head to Mt. Emma Road.  Given the Sheriff and CHP units we saw along the way, it was probably wise to skip the extra leg to Newcomb's.  There was very little traffic on Mt. Emma heading to Ft. Tejon Road, so we got to stretch our legs a bit, passing through Valyermo and into the Wrightwood area via Big Pines Highway.  It was along Big Pines that we saw some "big game."  At one point we were followed, at speed, by a couple ostriches -- luckily they were behind their fence. Further along, a 4-point buck bounded across the highway right in front of us -- hard on the binders.  What he was doing out at 11:30 in the morning, we don't know.  We took Big Pines Highway through Wrightwood to Highway 138 and plodded along with the rest of the heavy traffic to Cajon Junction (at I-15) where we stopped to stretch and fill the Super Hawk's skimpy tank.

From Cajon Junction we headed up into the mountains to get to Arrowhead Lake from the "back side."  We pretty much had the road to ourselves as we headed up 138 past/around Silverwood lake and up into Crestline.  We picked up Highway 189 through Twin Peaks and Blue Jay (lots of traffic though) and into Lake Arrowhead for lunch.  We loaded up on Subway goodies and headed over to McDonald's to enjoy their raised deck and view of the lake.

Bellies full, we geared back up and headed down the "front side" of the mountain via Highway 18.  It started out a bit slow where it's only two lanes, but picked up nicely as Highway 18 turns to four lanes and opens up through to San Bernardino.  We "lost" Wayne when we got on I-15 heading North again (the lure of a more direct route home was too strong for him) and stopped in Cajon Junction to fill the Super Hawk (again) and VFR.  The ST's, of course, were happy to continue on without gassing up...

Heading back to Big Pines highway we detoured via Lone Pine Canyon to Wrightwood. From there we re-traced much our our route, following Big Pines Highway (no more deer) to Ft. Tejon Road to Mt. Emma.  At Cheseboro Road the group split in half with Mike and Mark heading back to Angeles Forest Highway and Angeles Crest to points south and west, while the remaining two bikes headed up to Barrel Springs Road into Palmdale, then over to Elizabeth Lake Road and down Bouquet Canyon into Santa Clarita (after being trapped for a bit behind a Corvette doing 30-35 in a 55 mph zone!  Argh!).  As we got into town we went separate ways, so the Starbucks "finishing cup" went unclaimed -- save the money for next time...

Great ride, fun riders, fantastic weather and nobody went down or got hurt (well, on his way home Mike came across one guy who went down, but that's another story).    Thanks to everyone who showed up and we'll look forward to the next ride.