Santa's 2011 Mojave Ride
Dec.26, 2010 to
Jan.2,
2011
By Catfish
Photos in this report were shamelessly borrowed from
... Coming SOON!
Hans drove all three kids (Sam, Chloe, & Grace) from Portland-OR down to
Tracy-CA for Christmas, and on to Cal.City on the 26th. With 4 dirtbikes in
the trailer. Attaboy Dad! They all rode together on the 27th. Rumors of
Chloe (riding the XR200) upending the vendor tables of helmets & gear at
Borax Bill Park and chasing the vendors into the desert might be true.
Airon rode the Big Bear area on the 26th. Airon, Earl, & I arrived at the
Mojave campsite on the 27th. I stopped at the Ace Hardware in Cal.City and
bought 1/4-cord of almond firewood. It was a little green, but nothing some
gasoline couldn't fix.
Santa Claus had Aftershocks Suspension rebuild my WR450F forks & shock with
2 inches less suspension travel. YEAAA!!! Apparently EVERYONE (but me) got
an iPhone in 2010, but none of them worked at our campsite or up on the
water-tank hill. Mutinous whining could be heard all week!
Tuesday, Dec.28 - Mmmm... Monkey Brains! Mmmm... Hans had plans to ride
with the girls this morning, but the girls were being grrrls. So he elected
to ride with Sam, Airon, & me. We rode cross country to the krag hill and
the sand spot. Next was some great-flowing singletrack through the hills to
the bunker. Rode cross-country to the Group B campsite hills, the mine with
the large wood frame, and then the ridge-line trails into Randsburg.
The Whitehorse Saloon was closed, so the Country Store was packed with
dirtbike riders. Met former-Northstar Tony Tugwell out front and later
talked to Ray Roy & friends. Little Ray was along also on his XR75. All
the way from Ridgecrest! Next we rode many trails through the Rand
Mountains and worked our way back to camp. The rand trails had been bladed.
Smooth and FAST! 59 miles.
Hans took the girls for a short, late-afternoon ride. Libations, dinner, &
a big campfire were the order of the evening. Oh, and LARGE piles of FUDGE
from the FudgeMaster! Mmmm... One of the large campsites to the south
fired off a couple of BIG fireworks. Just warming up for Friday night.
Wednesday, Dec.29 - Mmmm... Monkey Brains! Mmmm... It rained last night and
was drizzily until mid-morning. Hans & Sam wanted a morning ride and then
pack up for the drive home. Hans, Sam, Airon, & I rode to the bunker again.
Hans & Sam returned, while Airon & I continued on to the Fremont Mountains
to the east. Some of the best desert ridge-line singletrack anywhere!
As we were about to drop into the last sandy wash on my gps track, Airon
noted some single track he could see on the face of next set of hills to the
south. Hmmm... We circled around and found where the new-to-us trail left
the main wash. Cool trail running over the peaks & along the ridge line.
The downhills were steep, deep SOFT sand, rocky, & technical. Dropped the
WR once, but didn't seem to hurt myself or the bike.
The wind was getting COLD. We rode back to camp before hypothermia set in.
66 miles today. Earl had started a nice fire in camp. After dinner the wind
picked up and we adjourned to Casa Julio for fudge, Herradura Anejo, Whalers
Dark Rum with limeade, and some card playing. We snuck a Northstars meeting
in there when Airon wasn't looking. The only real meeting outcome was a
unanimous vote to submit the firewood receipt to the treasury for
reimbursement. YEAA!!!
Thursday, Dec.30 - Cold, but clear morning. Everything frozen. Airon & I
had discussed going to Jawbone & Dove Springs today, but 100 miles in this
cold didn't sound fun. So, we loaded the bikes into his van and drove over
to Jawbone. It was cold & windy in the canyon. We layered up and took
SC176 north out of the canyon.
As we climbed into the hills, we encountered small amounts of snow and
several frozen water puddles. The weird part was the water-saturated sand
was frozen near the tops of the hills. It looked like moist sand, but it
was HARD & rutted. We turned north on SC124, and then west again on SC103
(Dove Springs Canyon Rd.) to the top of trail SC102.
While riding hard (standing on the pegs, wheelie-ing over the water bars &
whoops) it was easy to keep my core temp up and enjoyed the riding. Over
SC103, it was smooth enough to sit & ride faster. And colder. We stopped
at the SC102 entrance and looked for a wind-free place to eat some lunch
before heading over the exposed ridgeline. We wasted a fair bit of
time looking for shelter along Kelso Valley Rd. We then ducked into the
canyon SC037 went up and found a fair spot to stop. As we ate lunch at
4100ft. elevation, it got COLDER. The sun was getting low to the west. We
rode back to SC102, but it was too late in the afternoon & COLD to run this
exposed ridgeline trail. Maybe on a warmer day.
We rode back over SC103 down to Dove Springs. In the 10-15 minutes it took
to get there, the water in my camelbak hose had almost frozen! <blink-blink>
YIKES!!! We then took the fast route of SC103, 099, & 175 back to Jawbone &
the van. 53 miles. Van heater GOOD!
Airon & I discussed Friday while driving back to camp, and decided to leave
the bikes in the van and go back up to the Dove Springs Campground. We
could either tackle more stuff above Dove Springs, or go into the west
section of the El Pasos.
Everyone was back after dark Thursday evening, so Casa Julio was the warm
place to be again.
Friday, Dec.31 - Just after breakfast a Nissan pickup pulled into camp. Jim
Cairnes, former-Northstar John Lewis, and a friend Mike climbed out. Only
two dirtbikes in the back of the truck, and a strange story of
trailer-wiring gremlins and Mike's R6 still in Marin County?!? Jim's KTM
didn't have a rear shock installed, but it was in the truck. We helped get
the shock installed & adjusted as best it could be. John had some WR250
issues, but they loaded everything back in the truck. Mike took a truck
ride with Earl.
I decided we'd try the west El Pasos and run Countdown's A-Loop DS routes
from Dove Springs CG. We unloaded and warmed up on the local sand hills.
John's WR250 sounded rough. The pilot jet was plugged. While he tackled
that, we rode into the canyon and checked-out the camping areas. This would
definitely be a better place to stage with kids than Jawbone. John needed a
second try at the carb, but was finally successful. We ate lunch and hit
the trail!
We took a "close gate" road into Red Rock State Park, and worked our way
east & then south, and then west again to enter Nightmare Gulch about 2/3s
the way up the canyon. What a cool area! This must be the place Earl was
talking about when he said the desert looked like it was melting. We rode
down into the gulch for a quick look. It was definitely technical and a
trials bike would have been best. Jim has starting issues with the KTM, but
we got out of the gulch and headed east for Burro Schmidt Tunnel.
The next set of trails over the ridgelines were HEAVEN! These will be on
future routes! We dropped into the B.S. Tunnel area on steep trails that
were marked as CLOSED at the bottom, but not at the top? OOPS! There was a
large group of young riders at the tunnel watching our illegal arrival.
We ate a snack and watched the sun drop behind the tall hills to the west.
The temperature dropped 10 degrees quickly. We saddled up and rode back to
the staging area. 40 miles. Loaded the bikes and back to camp.
We enjoyed a good dinner and watched the early firework shows by the fire.
A strange truck pulled into camp and out popped two guys looking for Mike.
I couldn't tell who they were in the dark, so I asked, "Which Mike?" Then
Anders said Catfish and I recognized his accent. He is an advrider friend
who did Moab with us and is usually at Cal.City with his kids during the
holidays. We party-ed and talked. The midnight fireworks show was GREAT!
There were 7 large campsites in every direction to watch.
Saturday, Jan.1 - Airon & Earl were packing up for the drive home today.
Jim, John, & Mike arrived and were interested in the Fremonts and the Husky
Moto Memorial. We got Jim's KTM starting issues resolved while John put a
diaper on his leaking fork tube. Then John got his starting problems
resolved and we were ready to ride!
Cross-country to the Krag hill & sand spot, then singletrack to the bunker.
Next we rode north & east to the Fremonts. My singletrack loop was fun
again, but it was the first time here for Jim and John. I think they liked
the place! We stopped for a lunch break at the Monarch-Rand Mine, after
placing on the BIG hillclimb. Finished the Fremonts, and then headed
towards the Husky.
The wash that leads to Bird Spring was amazingly soft considering the amount
of rain that had been in the area. It was giving all of us fits. You
needed to haul ass to stay on top. There were two groups at the Husky with
chase trucks filled with gas cans and warm beverages. We got more pictures
as the sun disappear behind some clouds. It got cold again, so we bundled
up and took the easy roads back to camp. 76 miles.
Mike was hiking around camp and doing some reading. With a rainy forecast
for Sunday, they loaded the bikes up and drove home.
I stayed one more night, and took the truck out after dinner looking for a
new campsite. With AT&T cell service. I found a spot just south of Borax
Bill Park in the dark. I packed up Sunday morning and drove by the new site
again. No rain in Cal.City, but it did snow a little while I was loading
the dirtbike. The new site looked even better in the day. Marked the spot
with a gps waypoint. Got home by 7PM.
Another GREAT Mojave ride!
Catfish ...
Back to S.F. Northstars M.C. Home
...
|