Last fall we rode Sonora Pass a day prior to its closing and yesterday we rode the same pass on the second day of its opening. Amazing how different the same ride could be.

It seemed like the perfect plan since we rarely get the opportunity to ride together, so we packed up the bikes, but not perfectly, since somehow I stole away from the homestead without my trusty camera!! Horrors!!! I realized about 10 miles from home. When I fessed up in Carson City, Gary suggested that he shoot Ebbetts and I shoot Sonora as a Girly Ride preview. In agreement, we rode southwest.

Our ride last year brandished us in cold weather and snow flurries in the higher elevations and wet road at the lower. I, never having ridden this pass sought refuge following Gary’s lines, when I could see him in front of me which was rare. He had ridden it several times, and flew over the roadway having the time of his life. I, on the other hand was particularly cautious fearing sliding on the wet roadway as I negotiated the tight curves, decreasing radius curves that lost or gained elevation and the switch backs. I was exhausted only riding half way and turning around to head home. I felt out of all the passes I had ridden, this one was the most technical. Ebbetts on the other hand was probably more dangerous being narrower with more blind corners. So…..yesterday.

Gary, my husband’s addition to this entry.

Wait, wait! Back up a day, m’dear!

Mid-day Friday, thinking about weekend riding, I popped onto the Cal-DOT Road Conditions web site to have a look at a couple of little roads that close for the winter. I’d heard Hwy 4 over Ebbetts Pass was scheduled to open next Friday, May 16. Sure enough, Hwy 4 showed closed. And Hwy 108, it’s neighbor over Sonora Pass? OPEN!!

Oh my, well, that settled the weekend destination. And a couple of hours later, mid-afternoon on an unremarkable Friday, the status for Hwy 4 cleared out… no restrictions! If you haven’t ridden these two Sierra roads, they are among the best in the state. Because they are parallel, separated by a couple of dozen miles, the make for a perfect day-ride loop, done in a circle, criss-crossing the best pavement in the Sierras over two of the most-loved passes.

Amazingly, neither Donna nor I had any of the usual plans this weekend, wherein we are typically out riding separately, in opposite sections of the riding playground around the Sierras. As Donna said, she’s only been over Sonora Pass once, the day before the road was closed for the season last year, a gloomy, cold, drizzly afternoon that eventually turned us back around Kennedy Meadows when the rain began freezing into snow. I knew she’d love the road and love the scenery on a gorgeous sunny spring afternoon.

To second Kevin/Snowbounds observations, the two roads have opened in excellent shape. The snow in the hills had melted off, below 6,000 feet. But climbing higher, the layers of snow plowed away from the road, rising higher with the road’s elevation formed a chain of white crash barriers at the road’s margins.

Donna on the chicanes after climbing the initial switchbacks up Hwy 4

Not a great amount of snow at the lower section of Hwy 4, riding west