Out in the sticks

This summer I am traveling south to north along the west coast, splitting time between the scenic Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) on 4 wheels, the rugged California Backcountry Discovery Route (CBDR) on 2 wheels (enduro dirt bike) and the even more scenic but waaaay slower Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) on foot. I have a running bet with my college classmate on how far north I'll have travelled before I encounter a fellow black person on the CBDR or the PCT. I said within 1000 miles and he said 2000 miles. I have to say, as I now conclude the southern CBDR and engage the northern portion,I'm beginning to think I'll loose that bet. Granted, I'm kind of an outlier given how much time I spend out in the sticks far from civilization, but damn, I would have thought that in multi-cultural California there would be some black folks venturing into the outdoors. Perhaps being on a dirt bike on rugged terrain with no cell reception is too high on the sketchiness index for sensible folks? I think that theory has legs. In the 15 years of riding on dirt, I have yet to encounter an asian or black person on backcountry trails, yet I know in cities like Baltimore and a bunch others, there's lots of black kids riding dirt bikes and atvs. Perhaps there was a memo sent out about avoiding the sticks that I didn't receive, lol.

 

ur summer is gonna be super fun! what kind of bike do you have? when I graduate pt school an adventure bike is going to be one of the first things I buy. I used to ride an drz125 and it was the best thing ever. I can't wait to get back into it. I also did part of the Appalachian trail last summer with classmates and it was so much fun. I'm not the type to be "in the sticks" without company but I definitely enjoy it when I have people to go with!