Yosemite and California Coast Motorcycle Tour

Some of California’s best riding sits within a week of Los Angeles, and this self-guided loop finds it. Seven nights, around 1,010 miles, and a route that runs up the coast to Monterey, turns inland for Yosemite and Sequoia, then crosses the Mojave on the way home.

The first few days are easy and beautiful. Highway 101 leads to Santa Barbara, then Solvang and San Luis Obispo, before Highway 1 takes over for the Big Sur run into Monterey with Hearst Castle on the way. Daily distances stay modest here, between 95 and 135 miles, which leaves plenty of the afternoon free for Solvang’s Danish main street or an hour above the water at Big Sur.

Then the route turns its back on the ocean. The Sierra Nevada foothills climb towards Oakhurst and into Yosemite Valley, where Half Dome, El Capitan and Glacier Point need no explanation. Sequoia National Park follows with its groves of giant trees, and the last full day drops down the Kern River canyon and crosses the Mojave Desert, a long 205 miles with the landscape changing the whole way.

EAGLERIDER supplies the bike, with Harley-Davidson touring models alongside Triumph and BMW sport machines, and books each night’s accommodation. Fuel, meals and insurance are left to the rider, which keeps the trip adaptable. Coast, mountains, giant trees and desert inside a single week, ridden without a group and without a fixed daily schedule. For riders with limited time and a long list, it is an efficient way to see a great deal of California.