Jawbone escaping winter snow

[brian]

Well last weekend we had a big trip planned for a few months to camp out and ride Stonyford in the Mendocino NF. With snow being reported in the staging area the day (Thur.) we were scheduled to leave not to mention a whole weeks worth of wet weather and an already deep snow pack higher up,we thought the whole trip was off. I decided I was going to stay at work and get stuff done since I wasn't going out of town now. About 8-8:30 rolls around and the emails, txts, phone calls, IM's..just about any form of communication there was, was used. The natives were restless and we wanted to ride! We decided that we needed head South, so Jawbone was selected cause there was a place with maps and no research was needed.

I tear outta work and head home to finish packing and 3 of us staying in the trailer meet at the rally point. The loading begins and we are on the road about 11:30pm. We decided we would go as long as we could and drive the rest in the AM. The rest of the crew pushed on and arrived about 6 am. We stopped south of Coalinga about 3:30 am for some shuteye. Hit the road again at 8 am and arrive at camp about Noon.

We put in about 130 miles over the weekend. I ended the first loop with about a cup of gas left in my tank after only 50 miles. I guess holding it wide open in top gear across the sand and some of the hills climbs really drank some fuel. All and all interesting first trip for the desert, way different kind of riding. Next trip down south we will go somewhere with more technical riding but it was a good intro for sure. I really enjoyed blasting across some of the whoops and lofting the front end over them.


Day 1 Pics:

 

[brian]

Day 2 Pics:

First regroup, a bit outside the open area. Ya know where the trash starts to cover the landscape.

Windy on the ridges. It would blow you around if you didn't have good footing while we scrambled around on the rocks.

Had her topped out along this stretch.

High high above camp. Unbelievably windy. Had to be on the gas going down hill in order not to be blown into that rut you were trying to avoid.

So windy we let the bikes take a nap. Seriously though we had to shout to understand each other and sit/lay down to not get blown around to much.

I'll work on the helmet cam footage tomorrow hopefully. Not sure if I got anything good really.

 

[CDA]

Looks like a good time even though the wind was blowing.

 

[Naturaledge]

Great pics Brian - thanks for sharing

 

[SRAD97750]

Awesome. Looks like a great time! Roost to you. -BIG DAN

 

[nbeze]

Don't be fooled, there is all the tech riding you can stand in J-Bone if you like to explore.

Here's a fun little tight section in the valley that we passed through just last Saturday...

 

[brian]

Cool didn't find that one. Found some other narrow washes like that though. Short but sweet still not that technical.
I am told Spangler is the place to go.

 

[rezrider]

Nice R&R and video...I remember way back when..my 1 and only visit to J-bone we had gone down into a wash which started getting narrower and narrower as we went not thinking too much about it until we got to the end...DEAD END...walls on both sides, no trails going up...screwed...we had to push the bikes backwards a little ways until we could turn them around. Once we did that, we went up on top, rode the wash and found it continued on the other side...wierd I tell ya!

 

[ridr4evrjess]

awesome pics i miss riding in jawbone, but everytime we go there its always crowded so we ride in dove springs now.Still store our trailer behind the jawbone canyon store.when we do go t jawbone we always try to camp at the big tree

 

[Sun]

I dont ride out there much. I've only been a few times. Your pics are really nice. I love the one with the bikes on the ground napping in a row. Looks like you didnt let the wind stop you from getting out and exploring. Nice!