Three is a good number. In Numerology, it can symbolize creativity, curiosity, joy, and living life to it’s fullest. This pretty much fits the feeling of riding HWY 3 up here in NorCal.

Last summer, I decided I wanted to get out and ride it, and see some sights along the way. There’s a way to make it a big loop, so the night before I planned my route, packed my bike and got rolling early due to the extreme heat.

It was around 260 miles RT, so I knew I had to get started early. I took the first leg down to Redding on the super slab just to get to my starting point quickly. At 8 am it was already 85 degrees (29.4 for my Celcius friends).

After getting out of Redding I headed West off the freeway, my first stop was Shasta. Not to be confused with the city of Mount Shasta. Shasta is the remnants of a ghost town that thrived in the mid 1800’s during the gold rush. Once the railroad decided to stop in Redding instead of Shasta, the little city met its demise.

The town had a blacksmiths shop, a brewery, a school, bank and some store fronts on a main street boardwalk. Some of these buildings are still standing, and the state has tried to preserve them for people to enjoy.

The funny thing is, I never even knew this little ghost town existed. My ghost-hunter sister from Iowa told me about it and asked if I had seen it yet. So, I added it to the list. Thanks sis!

Just beyond this was a little Asian-owned Cafe that had the best food! I originally came in just for water, it was so hot! But then I smelled the food and had to try it out. I definitely will come back and it’s a popular place for motorcyclists on their way to ride the curvy roads ahead.

After I downed my whole bottle of water, and poured another cold one into my CamelBack, got back on the bike and headed West, excited to be getting closer to hitting HWY 3. It was hot, but it did not stop me from enjoying the sweeping turns of HWY 299.

It took me past Whiskey Lake, which is a popular resort for campers, RV’ers and boaters. Sadly, a lot of this area was burned by the Carr fire in 2018, but the forests are slowly showing some green again.

I continued on and then came to my point of turning North on HWY 3, taking me into the town of Weaverville. The last real town I’d see for the next 100 miles or so.

Weaverville is a cute little town with lots of interesting little shops and some cute places to eat. I’d like to come here and spend more time, but since this day was all about riding, I just stopped to top off my gas tank , refill water and continue on.

After Weaverville, any site of cars kind of just drops off. I did see another motorcyclist, and it didn’t surprise me since this is the type of road we would seek out. Unfortunately, because there are so many twists and turns, it was hard to find a spot to pull over for a photo of it.

This is a road you need to pay attention to. As I was gliding though all the turns, I came up on one corner that was a complete 180 turn, on a steep uphill and off camber to boot. For a minute there, I thought I might scrape my peg (or my knee!) but it definitely caught my attention!

I continued on climbing in elevation, it started to cool considerably and it was a nice break from the heat. I rode on, winding my way through the beautiful Trinity Nat’l forest. I stopped off at Trinity Lake for a quick photo.

While HWY 3 continues on, I was getting close to my turn off to head home. Before turning off, I pulled off one last time for a snack. I happened to choose a spot that was a trailhead for the Pacific Crest Trail and saw a hiker there who had been hiking for over 3 weeks already and still had another 6 weeks to go. Pretty cool!

I arrived home in the late afternoon feeling pretty hot, as temps had reached to just over 100 degrees (37.7 C) that day but had a big grin on my face and was already thinking about the next ride.

Next one on the list might be HWY 96 to the coast to say hello to the giant Redwoods and to visit the Bigfoot museum of course.

Coming up in just a couple weeks is the Touratech Rally West up in Washington and I am going! My first time attending so I’m super excited. I’ll also be taking a skills class from SheADV which I’m really stoked about.

Stay tuned and thanks for reading!