Three of us went on a forest adventure last weekend. Tent camping, 3 tech rides, flat tire, clutch failures, bow hunter encounters, bear scare … The Tubinator even put on 30-minute tie-down clinic for us, twice.
We leave the valley at O-dark-thirty. Tubinator was threatening to bring his banjo and re-create Deliverance so I made sure to bring the bow & arrows. I might play Burt Reynolds but I’m not playin’ Ned Beatty … I don’t squeal for no one. On the road and a few hours later, we get to base camp at 7k feet and find just one other group there, non-riders. Apparently, there was a glitch in the tie-down clinic because one of mine broke and one of Tubinator's released on the final stretch up the mountain. Tent erection time.
Ride #1 … destination Dark Canyon. Had to burn-in the trails down into the canyon since no one had in a while. Passed two bow hunters and all I can here is banjo playing in my head ... butt pucker time. Touch the 357 for self-assurance that I won’t be the one squealing. Straight down hill and launch into the infamous shale section … looking forward to topping the fall I performed the last time I was here. A couple turns later … accomplished my goal. Nice. With my buddy’s help, we bulldog the WR up onto the trail again. More good news … Tubinator has a flat! A couple of us did the walk-of-shame on a difficult section (no names) but a KTM and a Honda were in the pics. Violating the cardinal rule of “never go down anything you can’t go up”, again we find ourselves at the bottom of a serious section. Next task … find what’s left of the Dark Canyon trail. Apparently it’s gone … nothing but a debris field of giant dead-fall, rocks and boulders after the fire and subsequent run-off. CRAP! Logs everywhere, trail gone, miles to go. At one point, tried to escape up a ridge but lost momentum with fresh dead-fall blocking the climb … back to the canyon floor. Played “Where’s Waldo” trying to blaze a trail and just McGivered it until we got to the escape route at the top … thank God! Did I mention that the KTM’s … sorry, I mean ATM’s clutch was failing too? Time to head straight back so the flat-man-clutcher can re-group … end of ride #1.
Tubinator searching for CO2...
Shale downhill...
Descent...
In descent...
More down...
Trails gone, nothing but debris and dead-fall ahead...
Tubinator uses the fire pit as a bike stand. I thought it was about time to start a fire but my buddy thought that might be a bit rude. After a flat-fix and simple clutch-screw adjustment, off on ride #2. Everyone voted that they had enough adventure for the day so we headed-out on a big loop of trails south of a main road to keep out of the dead-fall areas. From camp, we connected to several trails until dumping out on the bottom of Twisty. Looped back to camp and decided to beer-up before checking the pulse at a friend’s cabin. No one there so we stopped at his neighbor’s but he was busy turning a Seatrain container into a combo shower/crapper for his guests. Decided it was time to relax so back to camp to rewind the good, the bad and the ugly of the day.
Time to burn it...
Nicer tire change station that I have at home...
Ride #2 - loop south of main road...
Back at camp...
Pyro...
to be continued...
We leave the valley at O-dark-thirty. Tubinator was threatening to bring his banjo and re-create Deliverance so I made sure to bring the bow & arrows. I might play Burt Reynolds but I’m not playin’ Ned Beatty … I don’t squeal for no one. On the road and a few hours later, we get to base camp at 7k feet and find just one other group there, non-riders. Apparently, there was a glitch in the tie-down clinic because one of mine broke and one of Tubinator's released on the final stretch up the mountain. Tent erection time.
Ride #1 … destination Dark Canyon. Had to burn-in the trails down into the canyon since no one had in a while. Passed two bow hunters and all I can here is banjo playing in my head ... butt pucker time. Touch the 357 for self-assurance that I won’t be the one squealing. Straight down hill and launch into the infamous shale section … looking forward to topping the fall I performed the last time I was here. A couple turns later … accomplished my goal. Nice. With my buddy’s help, we bulldog the WR up onto the trail again. More good news … Tubinator has a flat! A couple of us did the walk-of-shame on a difficult section (no names) but a KTM and a Honda were in the pics. Violating the cardinal rule of “never go down anything you can’t go up”, again we find ourselves at the bottom of a serious section. Next task … find what’s left of the Dark Canyon trail. Apparently it’s gone … nothing but a debris field of giant dead-fall, rocks and boulders after the fire and subsequent run-off. CRAP! Logs everywhere, trail gone, miles to go. At one point, tried to escape up a ridge but lost momentum with fresh dead-fall blocking the climb … back to the canyon floor. Played “Where’s Waldo” trying to blaze a trail and just McGivered it until we got to the escape route at the top … thank God! Did I mention that the KTM’s … sorry, I mean ATM’s clutch was failing too? Time to head straight back so the flat-man-clutcher can re-group … end of ride #1.
Tubinator searching for CO2...
Shale downhill...
Descent...
In descent...
More down...
Trails gone, nothing but debris and dead-fall ahead...
Tubinator uses the fire pit as a bike stand. I thought it was about time to start a fire but my buddy thought that might be a bit rude. After a flat-fix and simple clutch-screw adjustment, off on ride #2. Everyone voted that they had enough adventure for the day so we headed-out on a big loop of trails south of a main road to keep out of the dead-fall areas. From camp, we connected to several trails until dumping out on the bottom of Twisty. Looped back to camp and decided to beer-up before checking the pulse at a friend’s cabin. No one there so we stopped at his neighbor’s but he was busy turning a Seatrain container into a combo shower/crapper for his guests. Decided it was time to relax so back to camp to rewind the good, the bad and the ugly of the day.
Time to burn it...
Nicer tire change station that I have at home...
Ride #2 - loop south of main road...
Back at camp...
Pyro...
to be continued...
I wonder how long ago someone placed the 1st thing on that tree? And how long ago was the fire up there? And just where exacty is there? Near the Paiutes? 
awesome report... where are these trails at?
in an area I have NEVER seen hikers. It's amazing to me why some are adament about keeping us out. 
That's what PM's are for. It's in Cali. 
