Kennedy Meadows Trail Clearing RR

HammeredFlat4

HammeredFlat4

So I left my house 4:15 Saturday morning to join Carl (Cleonard) and Tim (Timoyz) up at Kennedy Meadows for some riding and trail clearing, we were supposed to be on the trail at 8 am sharp so I didnt want to be late. I made good time on the way up and arrived at the bottom of nine mile caynon at 6 so I pulled over to take a leak and damn near got stuck on the side of the road. :lol:

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Thats a soft shoulder! :shocked:
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I took my time driving up the canyon and arrived at Blackrock Ranger Station at 7am sharp to find Ranger Bob was the only one awake everyone else was still asleep. So I unloaded my bike and started to get ready and by that time the guys were rolling out of thier bunks and Carl arrived from his camp in the forest.

There is Tim hiding behind the door of his truck and Landers with his brand new 10' KTM 530
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Carl setting up camp
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Chris from Stewards of the Sequoia unloading his KTM, this guy is a machine he hauls ass all day with a bunch of tools straped to his bike :hail:
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Tim and Landers watching the FS guys trying to start their worn out XR's, I think its time to upgrade to bikes with a button :smirk:
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Ranger Bob warming up his saw.
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About this time pretty much everyone had shown up and we split into groups. My group which included Tim, Chris from SOS, Landers, another guy on a KTM, our FS Ranger(im horrible with names) and Carl who will be joinin us a little later would be hitting rattlesnake.
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Our first tree of the day, we are on a hiking trail working our way down to Rattlesnake :devil:
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Chris
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HammeredFlat4

HammeredFlat4

Some more trail clearing....
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Tim going fishing for a log
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I dont have many pictures of the middle of our ride, our FS ranger fell over in one of the river crossings and was pinned under his XR and I had to jump in to get the bike off of him. After we got him and the bike out of the river Tim ditched me to go let the rest of the group know what happened while I stayed and helped him try to get the bike started. :moon: We lifted the front of the bike up and dumped about a gallon of water out of the exhaust but we still couldnt get it to start and niether of us had a plug wrench so I rode up to the group to find out if anyone else had one, no luck. I rode back to let him know and at that point he got on his radio and Carl was coming to the rescue so I once again took off to join the rest of the group, we would meet up later.

So the rest of the group continued on to the end of Rattlesnake, we turned around to head back and Chris and I stoped to take a dip in the river while the rest of the group continued on. After hanging out for a few minutes we geared up and continued on to meet up with the rest of the guys. It didnt take us long before we ran into them, Carl got the XR started but they werent having much luck with the chainsaw, so chris whipped his out took care of buisness and we were once again on our way. We soon met back up with Carl who was trying to repair a broken foot peg with no luck, and his luck got even worse when he tried to cross back over the river and fell over to get stuck under his bike in the same crossing that our ranger went swimming in, luckily Carls bike started right back up.

These are towards the end of the day.

Tim
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Chris
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Our friend on the KTM missed the turn by about a foot :shocked:
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Chris going at it
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The conga line
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I had a blast and cant wait to do it again next year! :thumb:
 
Buckrun

Buckrun

Holy sheeeit! That is the first evidence I've ever seen of the government doing something right! They ride XR's!! :prof: :banana: :ride:

Looked like some fun for a work day!:thumb:
 
Sun

Sun

Thanks for all that work on the trail in advance :thumb: Because ONE DAY I WILL ride KM. I still cant believe I havent yet. Perhaps this year it will happen.
Nice pics and report.

BTW...I have an 02 XR 200 for sale...come on you know you want it.
 
Rack

Rack

Sun:
Thanks for all that work on the trail in advance :thumb: Because ONE DAY I WILL ride KM. I still cant believe I havent yet. Perhaps this year it will happen.
Nice pics and report.

BTW...I have an 02 XR 200 for sale...come on you know you want it.
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Put the bike in the classified section! :prof: How much :noidea:
 
cleonard

cleonard

Sun:
Thanks for all that work on the trail in advance :thumb: Because ONE DAY I WILL ride KM. I still cant believe I havent yet. Perhaps this year it will happen.
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It really is a great destination. It high enough that it doesn't get too hot even when it's 110+ in Ridgecrest. It's beautiful enough that it's cool to hang out even if you don't ride. I went up there for more than five years before I ever started riding dirt bikes. I get the real forest experience and camp out in the middle of nowhere where a singletrack crosses a road at a decent camp spot.

I can't wait to go back.
 
timoyz

timoyz

Buckrun:
Holy sheeeit! That is the first evidence I've ever seen of the government doing something right! They ride XR's!! :prof: :banana: :ride:

Looked like some fun for a work day!:thumb:
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Those XR's are worn out. I think they will be up on the auction block soon though, the FS was fully funded this year, and the rumor going around, is that they are looking to go blue.:devil:
 
cleonard

cleonard

The key issue for them is street legal. They converted those XR's pre 04, but they can't do that any more because they still have to follow California law. As far as I can tell the KTM's are still the best bet. The dual sport WR is a heavy beast. Other than that it's the really heave DRZ, XRL or other wimpier 250's. When you have a saw hanging off the bike handling is not exactly high priority. Besides I'm sure a WR250 is still an upgrade from the XR. Power is not much of an issue on the singletrack.
 
timoyz

timoyz

cleonard:
The key issue for them is street legal. They converted those XR's pre 04, but they can't do that any more because they still have to follow California law. As far as I can tell the KTM's are still the best bet. The dual sport WR is a heavy beast. Other than that it's the really heave DRZ, XRL or other wimpier 250's. When you have a saw hanging off the bike handling is not exactly high priority. Besides I'm sure a WR250 is still an upgrade from the XR. Power is not much of an issue on the singletrack.
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I think the maintenance costs would be lower on a WR also, saving money for other things.
 
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