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!

 

I love the Everglades and the Caribbean countryside, but I'm not crazy about being in the backwoods in the US, admittedly due to the type of people of attitudes that are typical of the region.