Over the course of the last year the Magellan team have been exploring America doing recces for our USA tours. In the Pacific Northwest and along the Pacific Coast highway we have covered some incredible ground in the national parks. This experiential blog post will guide you through a few of those national parks, and the amazing things you can do in them, both for riders and pillions! If you fancy visiting any of these national parks, there are still spots on our 2019 USA tours…
Exploring the national parks on a US motorcycle tour
Exploring the national parks on a US motorcycle tour.
Yellowstone
Yellowstone National park is the oldest National park in the world. It’s filled with hot springs, geysers, mudpots, forests and lakes, and some of the most beautiful scenery we’ve ever had the privilege of exploring here at Magellan. There’s also a huge variety of wildlife “Yellowstone’s abundant and diverse wildlife are as famous as its geysers. There are nearly 300 species of birds, 16 species of fish, five species of amphibians, six species of reptiles, and 67 species of mammals—including seven native ungulate species and two bear species”.
We have a rideout/rest day in Yellowstone itself on our Pacific Northwest tour where you can ride a loop visiting the Canyon, Old faithful, Mammoth hot springs and the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody. Alternatively you could choose to go hiking in the park, horse riding, fishing and more.
Joshua Tree National Park
Joshua tree is a vast protected area characterised by rugged rock formations and stark desert landscapes. Named for the region’s twisted, bristled Joshua trees, the park straddles the cactus-dotted Colorado Desert and the Mojave Desert. You’ll ride through this park and then finish your day by riding Highway route 74 one of the most infamous roads in California, a real hidden biker’s paradise.
Joshua tree has two distinct desert ecosystems, the Mojave and the Colorado. The National park is home to a huge variety of plants and animals and while you’re there you can hike, rock-climb and explore- it’s incredible.
Redwood National Park
On our Pacific Coast highway tour we stay in log cabins in the Redwood National park right on the Avenue of the Giants itself and you have plenty of time to go and explore, go hiking through the trails or get your picture taken at the ride through tree in Leggett before we continue our journey southwards.
This National park is the home of the giant redwood trees, a close relative of the Sequoia tree. After an amazing day riding the tree line roads from Stinson Beach to Miranda we stayed in a log cabin in the national park, which felt very ‘little house on the prairie’.
To be able to sleep in the national park itself was a really magical experience, and something that will appeal to riders and pillions alike, so we’re really happy that this is something we’re able to offer on this Pacific Coast Highway Tour.
One of the highlights of this amazing ride was the Chandelier Tree in Leggett, California. This redwood tree is 276ft tall and 16ft wide, and has a 6ft x 6.9ft hole cut into it to allow it to be driven through- which is an amazingly surreal experience. This hole in the tree is believed to have been carved in the 1930s by Charlie Underwood.
This ride is mandatory as an amazing photo opportunity- we can almost guarantee its going to be your Facebook profile photo when you get home! Who can say they have ridden THROUGH one of the tallest and widest trees in the USA?
