Typing at the same time Rack was, merged now.
Water Hazards or" How to submarine a KTM"
Went with KTMRACK, his son Patrick, ONELUGNUT and his son Mitchell, Carl and my ride bud Nat. Went to Bass lake area and hit the trail called "007". It was all good and everyone doing OK. We got to the last leg and the stream crossing.
There had been local weather high water warnings for the streams and rivers in the Sierras. This crossing Ive done lots of times in the past. It has a flat spot one tire wide, but the solid granite bottom is covered with green slime. Perfectly smooth, no traction, so you have to idle across with your clutch in and barely moving or it will slip the wheels down stream.
I eased into it and got about half way across. The front slipped, but I caught it. Here is where it goes bad. Since I have done it so many times before in 6" of water I thot 12" was no huge difference. I eased it out another two feet and now the full force of the water was on me, the tire slipped and I tipped over to the left, the uphill side. The bike started to go down steam so KTMRACK jumped in and we held it there on the flat rock. All good for now. Guys started getting a tie down out to hook on and help.
We got it around the handle bar. I was told to crawl out from under it and get to shore. My left foot was wedged under the motor area. I finally got it out. It gets real bad now. Apparently my boot was giving traction to the metal of the bike like a conduit to the rock. When my boot came out the bike was on rock and started to slip down stream with the force of the water. Not much traction steel to rock. I grabbed the tie down to try and pull myself out, but no traction on my knees in the slime and current. It slipped more, Nat started to get pulled in too and he had to let go. Down I went.
This area has about a 30' fairly flat solid granite rock area. A gentle slop down stream. It then gets steeper and steeper til it drops off in steps at 5' or so drops until it then goes vertical in a 5' drop and then an 8-10' drop. WHITE WATER. FULL FORCE. I tumble backwards end over end. I had my gear on so it didnt hurt when I hit my head on the rocks.
I grabbed a breath and went under again. I grabbed another breath as I rolled up. I then went over the drop still tumbling backwards. Time compression, as I thot about the upcoming water fall I knew was there. I thot what if I break my neck then thot about having my helmet on. I bounced and then was in deep. It took about 5 seconds for me to come up. I was at the bottom of the falls. I got another breath. I saw a bush at the bank and got to it and then pulled up on the down stream side of a rock and stood up. I was safe for now.
I looked over and saw that KTMRACK had come down too. He was right at the base of the falls at the far side. He too had a hold of a large bush, but he was still in danger due to the white water all around him. He hung on. Nat ran around and got down the rock face and into the water in an eddy and went upstream 15' to help him. Meanwhile he got his helmet off and threw it in the bush. I then saw his eyes from 20' away. They were BIG!!!! Nat got him and out of the bad spot he came. Nat got the helmet and then saw a breakfast bar floating and "what it that?" His GPS floating in its cordura case in the eddy.
We got out of the water. Nat thot he felt the handle bar right next to where Rack had been. That is when I learned the bike had come down with us. No rope or way to get it out of there. Now what? Couldnt see it either.
After a half hour or so Carl, RACK and Patrick rode out to get cell phone reception and Carl to the trucks to get rope and such. Rack n son came back in half an hour and had called a neighbor with a quad, rope, block n tackle, etc. We dried out like lizards. Carl kept going and when Rack went out to the road to meet the neighbor Scott, Carl's truck was gone. Where did he go. Damn!! He has my truck keys. Hope he left them where I can find them. He talked about going home and getting rope n such and only lives half hour away so maybe thats it.
We dried, looked for the bike, drank water and snacked. We lost our shade and started to get burned so we got dressed again. Rack and Scott showed up. No Carl. We got together and crossed the stream to get the bike out.
Nat went in with a rope around him. He fished around with his feet, looked under water, dove in, swam back n forth across several times and never found the bike. We could smell gas once in a while, kinda like an outboard motor smell. It was deep and white water in the middle and it must be in there. Nat had been in for 45min now and came out hypothermic. Shaking, couldnt talk right, skin real red, etc. We talked about leaving it there til the late summer or fall til the water slowed. Nat said we couldnt leave the bike. After all I was riding my wife's 07 250XCFW with 300 kit and she would kill us if it doesnt come home with us. I was thinking a grappling hook is what we need.
We thot about it, looked over the edge, etc. Earlier while we waited we had seen a dry, 6' deep hole 3' across, straight down that water had carved out of the solid granite. We now saw that there looked to be the same kind of hole right where the falls were the steepest and the water the fastest. Mitchell being young, strong and a little light headed, said to lower him over the straight drop off and into the hole.
We tied him off, he got down there and found he could stand. He stood there for a few minutes and saw nothing. There was a hole in the center of where he stood. He felt somethng hitting his foot or leg. He saw a flash of yellow. The tie down we put on the bike earlier was yellow. He went down into the hole and felt a stick or something. It was springy. He stuck his head under and saw orange. It was the front fender. The bike was vertical in a hole, front wheel straight up.
Extraction and pics later. Im too sore to type moer for now.
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. There was no way in hell my kid was going over the side and into the water!
Scott fed him a line that he could get around the front tire.
