Motorcycle-Intelligence.com

Interested in a little bovine accompaniment on your mountainous road trip? I, for one, prefer to view cows that are corralled away from roads. Nevertheless, on this motorcycle excursion, plenty consider the road as theirs. (Moreover, I don’t like to argue with critters that weigh more than my bike, gear and self combined).

In brief, this little ride is a loop from Bakersfield, CA, northeast along Route 178 to Lake Isabella, picking up Route 155 north which then turns back west over the mountains and finally heading south via Woody Road/South Granite Road which lands one back in Bakersfield. The trip is about 111 miles for local riders, and if you are from LA, it’s over 300 miles up and back. Of course, if you’re the kind who also takes delight in impromptu off-pavement adventure riding, then it’s easy to make this into an overnight motorcycle camping trip enjoying the mountains and scenery of Sequoia National Forest.

So what’s this about plenty of cows in the road?

Well, I didn’t see any in the middle of Bakersfield. And I sure am glad they weren’t in the middle of Route 178 (aka Kern Canyon Road) while rollicking northeast to Lake Isabella between various mountains at arms length on the right and the cascading Kern River on the left. And even though you don’t need to watch out for wayward cows on this section, be sure to keep your spider sense active as the meandering chain of blind and near-blind turns keep you unaware of what caged-critters may be floating over the double yellow to greet you “Hello!”

A side note regarding local dangers is that the water itself is sometimes referred to as the “Killer Kern” and there are posted signs tabulating the amount of lives the River has consumed since 1968.

Rt. 178 is primarily a two-lane highway that turns into a divided, limited-access freeway approaching Lake Isabella. It’s really a fun ride, snaking up from about 400 feet elevation in Bakersfield to approximately 2500 feet at the lake surface. In addition, if you can enjoy the road during off-peak recreational times, all the better. The Kern River is famous for its white-water rafting, kayaking and fishing and you will likely see picnickers and hikers along the road, too: so there are plenty of others who like to travel through here.

(Read Part II)