HadesOmega Socal BDR ADV
- Thread starter HadesOmega
- Start date
SFMCjohn
13
ha, well cool, glad to hear it's do-able without snow ... :thumbup
sounds like you'd have hit snow over Hunter Mountain, too, so a good thing you took Lippincott ...
arty+1! :ride
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HadesOmega
Well-known member
Next stop Salton Sea. So last year on my Socal OHV Quadventure I actually stopped by the western part of the Salton Sea to get supplies and stuff before I headed to Ocotillo Wells. This time I was going to head on the eastern side. The western part of the Salton sea is kind of like a ghost town type of place. Riding down the eastern side you see lots of these palm trees. I didn't realize why they were growing so many of these until later on in the trip when I stopped by the China Ranch Date Farm. There was lots of other stuff growing out here. Also if you don't know way the Salton Sea was made was the water from the Colorado River was diverted here and made the Salton Sea. Then they plugged it up I think and now there is just a kind of giant lake here now. Also I asked the ranger if I just wanted to look around real quick I didn't need to pay the entrance fee. Like 15-20 minutes is fine. I think had it been later in the day I would probably have camped here seems like a good place to camp.
Eventually I pass by the Salton Sea State Park. It is a park that spans quite a large section of the Salton Sea. You can camp here too! These are picture of the northern most section of the Salton Sea State Park. The northern section has the most facilities also.
The beach is really strange at the Salton Sea. It's like a bunch of kinda grinded up shell fish. Like you're walking on a lot of small sea shells.
Check out the elevation here. That's why there's a sea here all the water collected at the lower elevations.
They had a little cactus garden here.
Across they had this kinda hut here
Picnic Areas haha tempted to go ride on the beach looks like a great place for a picnic. Oh yeah I didn't notice before you can see mountains on the other side of the sea, that is probably the Anza Borrego mountains near San Diego. I rode through there one time!
Eventually I pass by the Salton Sea State Park. It is a park that spans quite a large section of the Salton Sea. You can camp here too! These are picture of the northern most section of the Salton Sea State Park. The northern section has the most facilities also.
The beach is really strange at the Salton Sea. It's like a bunch of kinda grinded up shell fish. Like you're walking on a lot of small sea shells.
Check out the elevation here. That's why there's a sea here all the water collected at the lower elevations.
They had a little cactus garden here.
Across they had this kinda hut here
Picnic Areas haha tempted to go ride on the beach looks like a great place for a picnic. Oh yeah I didn't notice before you can see mountains on the other side of the sea, that is probably the Anza Borrego mountains near San Diego. I rode through there one time!
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HadesOmega
Well-known member
If you further down the highway there are camping area with less facilities. I think they said it was only like $10 or $15 to camp here. Dry camping
Another spot down the highway
The water at the Salton Sea is kinda gross looking I don't know if I'd wanna swim in that. It's kind of eerie also the water is so STILL. It's like a giant pond. If you go to Lake Tahoe and go to the beach the water actually moves almost like your near the ocean. The Salton Sea so calm.
Sea Creature sand as far at the eye can see
Evidence of dead fish remains the Salton Sea can't sustain life anymore
Kinda spooky out here time to hit the road next stop SLAB CITY!
Another spot down the highway
The water at the Salton Sea is kinda gross looking I don't know if I'd wanna swim in that. It's kind of eerie also the water is so STILL. It's like a giant pond. If you go to Lake Tahoe and go to the beach the water actually moves almost like your near the ocean. The Salton Sea so calm.
Sea Creature sand as far at the eye can see
Evidence of dead fish remains the Salton Sea can't sustain life anymore
Kinda spooky out here time to hit the road next stop SLAB CITY!
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HadesOmega
Well-known member
asdf
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HadesOmega
Well-known member
Day 7 - Slab City to Glamis to Yuma
I camped at Slab City the night before. Interesting little town, I kind of went to the back of the town near the canal and found a spot where not many people were camping. I get out of the tent around about 0800 and feel the sun beating down on me. Last night it was a little cloudy but it's clear skies today. Being -100ft elevation made it warm. I guess I can't complain because it has been a really cold adventure everyday till about now. I should have woke up earlier because I was sweatin.
I manage to get camp packed up by 0830. The plan today is to see if I can ride the canal road/trail all the way to Glamis/Imperial Sand Dunes. I kinda know the area because I rode Glamis last year on my quad. So I'm already behind because I should have been in Yuma by now but yesterdays festivities took too long and I camped in Slab City because it was late, I didn't really plan to.
So I start to ride down Coachella Canal. Literally right by the canal, so close you could fall in if you go off the road haha. The road was pretty easy to ride you could totally rip it at 50+ mph but... there is a section where the canal stops and goes under a bridge. You need to exit the road, go down a wash of some sorts then up and get back on the road on the other side. I did this more than a handful of time. Then I saw an orchard and wanted to ride next to it. So there are like 2 berms the left berm there is a the canal road that is right next to the canal, in between them is another road that is flat and sandy. Then I chose to ride on the right berm next to the orchard. Little did I know it they never cross paths again. THe one you picked the on your stay on unless you want to ride up or down the bern that like 2 or 3 stories high. Anyway I wanted to get some shots riding next to the orchard and got stuck on the right side. This road was MESSED UP. Not well maintained. Parts of the road were missing and you had to go around. You couldn't really go fast because a piece of the road could suddenly be missing. It wasn't flat either there were whoops, sand, ruts, etcc.. so this was the oen in the worse condition. I think it would habe been better if I took the sandy road and just ripped it.
Watch out for broken road!
Anyway I'm pickin my way through it and then at one point almost the whole road was gone a 4wheeler wouldn't have made it so there was an alternate road cut that went down and back up onto the other side of the road. THat's where I had my first drop. I went to around and there was HELLA sand it was like riding up a dune probably worse. I motor up it and get stuck at the top and drop the bike. Not too hard to pick up though. I come upon the same situation again but this time I just ride straight through instead of going around it, I just go around where the road is missing, it's pretty much a singletrack'
I camped at Slab City the night before. Interesting little town, I kind of went to the back of the town near the canal and found a spot where not many people were camping. I get out of the tent around about 0800 and feel the sun beating down on me. Last night it was a little cloudy but it's clear skies today. Being -100ft elevation made it warm. I guess I can't complain because it has been a really cold adventure everyday till about now. I should have woke up earlier because I was sweatin.
I manage to get camp packed up by 0830. The plan today is to see if I can ride the canal road/trail all the way to Glamis/Imperial Sand Dunes. I kinda know the area because I rode Glamis last year on my quad. So I'm already behind because I should have been in Yuma by now but yesterdays festivities took too long and I camped in Slab City because it was late, I didn't really plan to.
So I start to ride down Coachella Canal. Literally right by the canal, so close you could fall in if you go off the road haha. The road was pretty easy to ride you could totally rip it at 50+ mph but... there is a section where the canal stops and goes under a bridge. You need to exit the road, go down a wash of some sorts then up and get back on the road on the other side. I did this more than a handful of time. Then I saw an orchard and wanted to ride next to it. So there are like 2 berms the left berm there is a the canal road that is right next to the canal, in between them is another road that is flat and sandy. Then I chose to ride on the right berm next to the orchard. Little did I know it they never cross paths again. THe one you picked the on your stay on unless you want to ride up or down the bern that like 2 or 3 stories high. Anyway I wanted to get some shots riding next to the orchard and got stuck on the right side. This road was MESSED UP. Not well maintained. Parts of the road were missing and you had to go around. You couldn't really go fast because a piece of the road could suddenly be missing. It wasn't flat either there were whoops, sand, ruts, etcc.. so this was the oen in the worse condition. I think it would habe been better if I took the sandy road and just ripped it.
Watch out for broken road!
Anyway I'm pickin my way through it and then at one point almost the whole road was gone a 4wheeler wouldn't have made it so there was an alternate road cut that went down and back up onto the other side of the road. THat's where I had my first drop. I went to around and there was HELLA sand it was like riding up a dune probably worse. I motor up it and get stuck at the top and drop the bike. Not too hard to pick up though. I come upon the same situation again but this time I just ride straight through instead of going around it, I just go around where the road is missing, it's pretty much a singletrack
'
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HadesOmega
Well-known member
Then I'm motoring right along and I see these signs DANGER BOMBING RANGE. I'm like OH SHIT that doesn't sound good this is a military impact zone. Anyway what I"m thnking it's saying don't go offroad or else you'll get your ass blown up. I continue on and no problem if you see a UXO don't touch it I now that much from what I remember in the army haha. Call EOD!
Anyway I get to the freeway and it literally spits you out at next to the Cahuila Ranger station at Imperial sand dunes. Woohoo HadesOmega take the Cactuspuncher on the dunes. I have a lot of dune riding experience but no on the DR650 on a quad that's a totally different animal it's like made for the dunes. The DR does ok I play on the flat dunes and whoops. The DR sucks on the whoops the backend goes flying and I lose traction. To make a turn ato 30 MPH I have to make this big arch haha. But I had fun farting around on the dunes not too often you get to play on the dunes. I go to the little store there and get a drink and take a break it's been a long morning. The weather is warm in the 80s now but as long as your moving your cool.
Can't leave the dunes without doing donuts. I made a smiley face. I turned the handle bar too much and it was just plowing the front and spinning the rear haha, made a nice round circle though=P
I talk to the dude at the store and he said if you are going to Yuma you should take Ted Kipf Road. It's a dirt road that cuts like 20 miles off your trip. So that's what I decided to do. The original plan was to head back the other way and head south to I10, then head to Yuma.
So haha I have a little dune mishap. I decided hey let's go ride the dunes some of the way to Osborne overlook. So I'm riding along the dunes at 30 mph and I'm searching for a place to get back onto the highway. So I find one but I didn't have enough speed to get up it so I turn around and it hard to turn around on the dunes with a heavy bike. I ride up the dune and not enough traction and power and I'm nearly redlining it and paddling to get to the top and I make it and the bike suddenly dies. Then I can't get it started. The battery starts to die so I bust out the jump-started still won't start. I'm not sure what happened but the carb flooded or vapor locked because the engine was working real hard to swim through the dunes. So I'm WOT and cranking and it kinda wanting to start and finally it starts up whew. So then I just take the highway the rest of the way to Osborne Overlook.
Anyway I get to the freeway and it literally spits you out at next to the Cahuila Ranger station at Imperial sand dunes. Woohoo HadesOmega take the Cactuspuncher on the dunes. I have a lot of dune riding experience but no on the DR650 on a quad that's a totally different animal it's like made for the dunes. The DR does ok I play on the flat dunes and whoops. The DR sucks on the whoops the backend goes flying and I lose traction. To make a turn ato 30 MPH I have to make this big arch haha. But I had fun farting around on the dunes not too often you get to play on the dunes. I go to the little store there and get a drink and take a break it's been a long morning. The weather is warm in the 80s now but as long as your moving your cool.
Can't leave the dunes without doing donuts. I made a smiley face. I turned the handle bar too much and it was just plowing the front and spinning the rear haha, made a nice round circle though=P
I talk to the dude at the store and he said if you are going to Yuma you should take Ted Kipf Road. It's a dirt road that cuts like 20 miles off your trip. So that's what I decided to do. The original plan was to head back the other way and head south to I10, then head to Yuma.
So haha I have a little dune mishap. I decided hey let's go ride the dunes some of the way to Osborne overlook. So I'm riding along the dunes at 30 mph and I'm searching for a place to get back onto the highway. So I find one but I didn't have enough speed to get up it so I turn around and it hard to turn around on the dunes with a heavy bike. I ride up the dune and not enough traction and power and I'm nearly redlining it and paddling to get to the top and I make it and the bike suddenly dies. Then I can't get it started. The battery starts to die so I bust out the jump-started still won't start. I'm not sure what happened but the carb flooded or vapor locked because the engine was working real hard to swim through the dunes. So I'm WOT and cranking and it kinda wanting to start and finally it starts up whew. So then I just take the highway the rest of the way to Osborne Overlook.
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HadesOmega
Well-known member
So I make it to Osborne Overlook. From here you can see a lot of the Glamis Dunes for miles. Well today they were filming a movie here. I think someone said The Rock was going to be in it. BTW Glamis Dunes are like the biggest dunes in all of America. I hang out for about an hour taking pictures and I chatted with this dude from Australia that has a DR650 also. They were driving these dune buggies around. They also told me to take Ted Kipf road also. They also told me the story about that road that this dude named Ted Kipf rode across the desert to get to the other highway and they name that road after hm. I also talked to this one Vietnam veteran from Wyoming its always nice to talk to other travellers and tell them your story. You can bet anyone that see's my bike wants to know about where I'm going haha, happens all the time. So yah break time is over time to find this Ted Kampf road..
Osborne Overlook from the bottom of the road.
The movie crew
So we're just riding riding riding down the highway and sure enough a few miles from Osborne overlook I spot Ted Kipf road after crossing the railroad tracks. Got lucky too the train came right after I passed em. I ride down Ted Kipf road and it is like a graded dirt road. I guess it's like an asphalt road that's been burried in dirt. It was in great shape and super straight. You could rip down it at 70+mph if you wanted too I kept it around 55.
But I did play "How fast can Merlin get CactusPuncher to go on this road?" The answer is 80MPH gives you an idea how nice this dirt road was. We made quick work of it. Maybe like half and hour and we are at the I10 freeway.
I actually passed by a little town called Boardmanvile on this road, you made a left and it took you there so I checked it out. THe sign said population 4! It was someone home and it looked like some kind of pub was there but it wasn't open. So just turned around and went back on the the Kipf road.
We made it to the Buttercup Dunes. The Buttercup dunes is the southernmost section of the Glamis Dunes. Here the sand is even softer I found that out last year. The Buttercup dunes was actually one exit the other direction but I wanted to check out the plank road. I also played on the dunes a little bit here. I was able to get up a decent size dune and surf it. Rode to the plank road and took some picture with it. The plank road is actually remnants of an of the old highway. It was a wooden road that ran through the desert that is now replaced by I10.
I'm ready to go and I'm kinda riding around a bit and I see a old Triumph Tiger so I go and say hello to they. I chat with the guy for a while and tell him what I'm doing and all and he said he's on ADVRider and goes by the SN of Eronneous Monk. He was from British Columbia. He said he used to have a KLR650. They were going to head to Mexico to get something to eat. BTW the mexican border is literally right here. You can cross the next couple exits over. You can also see from the dunes a metal wall/fence in the distance that's a border wall. There are US border patrol all over this area. I told him I needed to go to Yuma to get ready for the BDR.
Shoot down the road for for like 10 miles and we're in Yuma. When I was at the Buttercup dunes I reserved a hotel room with booking.com on my phone. I crossed the CA/AZ border riding over the Colorado River. Time moves forward an hour also. The good thing is the BDR starts not far from where my hotel is. I see a bunch of marines staying here and am thinking this has to be a crappy hotel because the military wouldn't pay a lot for lodging hah. The hotel is ok I've seen worse I suppose.
So we made it to the start of the BDR Yuma Arizona. Tomorrow starts the journey homeward! I've ridden a little more than 1000 miles so far. Boy do I know how to put together a BDR route hah! It's a shame I couldn't ride some sections of it. You can call it HadesOmega Bay Bay Area to Socal BDR!
The bike is still running, I feel I've beat the crap out of it and more to come. I've adjust the chain twice so far. I think this chains and sprockets are going to be done after the trip. There is still plenty of adjustment though, so I think I'll be fine. Iit's the same chain as the LAB2V chain' The offroad lights and heated grips don't work. At least the weather is warm now like 80's. Better enjoy it while you can! I lost the bolt that holds the mid section of the exhaust pipe on yesterday and replaced it with a spare. Front pads still have some meat on it I"ve been using more rear brake, the rear caliper looks like crap though. I'm not sure but I think the air filter is fine still. Tire pressure is rocksolid it's exactly how I set it when we first rolled out. 24 in the rear and 22 in the front. Never had to add air. Kept it 24 in the rear for the pavement sections. I never touch he air pressure just gotta deal with lack of traction. Got me through the sand fine
So far the Giant Loop is doing okay. So I did what Cabrito suggested and wore the backpack instead. It's a small one and I think it's better that way because I can actually use the top section to pull stuff in and out quickly. The drawback is it kills my shoulders after a day of riding I should find someway to strap the backpack to the top of the giant loop. But guess it helps the bikes handling because the weight is on the rider and not on the luggage. I tried to lighten the backpack as much as possible.
I'm healthy so far. Finally got to shower and did laundry at the hotel and recharge all my electric gadgets. Seems that I have lost one of portable battery chargers that sucks. Hopefully it turn up probably just misplaced it somewhere but haven't been able to find it. I lost a boonie cap 2 days ago on the freeway it just got sucked out of my pocket I keep on going through boonie caps Now I got nothing to wear in the sun when I take my helmet off I think I dehydrated myself today I've been drinking water and I ate a large Carne Asada Burrito Mojado at the Mexican restaurant across the street. I bought 4 liters of water at the gas station near the hotel and gas is like less than $3.00 a gallon here CA be ripping us off with taxes So I got a lotta water on the bike again. I've managed to eat most of my foot. Just have trail snacks. i shoudl probably get some camping food.
BDR DAY 1 tomorrow I've already reviewed the first section looks easy there will be a SANDY section tomorrow I wonder how sandy though since I"ve ridden dunes and washes already =P. Planning to finish section 1 tomorrow and maybe start section 2 if time permits. I will try to just take all the easy routes since I am alone we'll see. Would like to camp at the lower section of the route, I know it's going to get cold again as I go up and maybe wet =/ Weather has been great other than the cold so far.
Osborne Overlook from the bottom of the road.
The movie crew
So we're just riding riding riding down the highway and sure enough a few miles from Osborne overlook I spot Ted Kipf road after crossing the railroad tracks. Got lucky too the train came right after I passed em. I ride down Ted Kipf road and it is like a graded dirt road. I guess it's like an asphalt road that's been burried in dirt. It was in great shape and super straight. You could rip down it at 70+mph if you wanted too I kept it around 55.
But I did play "How fast can Merlin get CactusPuncher to go on this road?" The answer is 80MPH gives you an idea how nice this dirt road was. We made quick work of it. Maybe like half and hour and we are at the I10 freeway.
I actually passed by a little town called Boardmanvile on this road, you made a left and it took you there so I checked it out. THe sign said population 4! It was someone home and it looked like some kind of pub was there but it wasn't open. So just turned around and went back on the the Kipf road.
We made it to the Buttercup Dunes. The Buttercup dunes is the southernmost section of the Glamis Dunes. Here the sand is even softer I found that out last year. The Buttercup dunes was actually one exit the other direction but I wanted to check out the plank road. I also played on the dunes a little bit here. I was able to get up a decent size dune and surf it. Rode to the plank road and took some picture with it. The plank road is actually remnants of an of the old highway. It was a wooden road that ran through the desert that is now replaced by I10.
I'm ready to go and I'm kinda riding around a bit and I see a old Triumph Tiger so I go and say hello to they. I chat with the guy for a while and tell him what I'm doing and all and he said he's on ADVRider and goes by the SN of Eronneous Monk. He was from British Columbia. He said he used to have a KLR650. They were going to head to Mexico to get something to eat. BTW the mexican border is literally right here. You can cross the next couple exits over. You can also see from the dunes a metal wall/fence in the distance that's a border wall. There are US border patrol all over this area. I told him I needed to go to Yuma to get ready for the BDR.
Shoot down the road for for like 10 miles and we're in Yuma. When I was at the Buttercup dunes I reserved a hotel room with booking.com on my phone. I crossed the CA/AZ border riding over the Colorado River. Time moves forward an hour also. The good thing is the BDR starts not far from where my hotel is. I see a bunch of marines staying here and am thinking this has to be a crappy hotel because the military wouldn't pay a lot for lodging hah. The hotel is ok I've seen worse I suppose.
So we made it to the start of the BDR Yuma Arizona. Tomorrow starts the journey homeward! I've ridden a little more than 1000 miles so far. Boy do I know how to put together a BDR route hah! It's a shame I couldn't ride some sections of it. You can call it HadesOmega Bay Bay Area to Socal BDR!
The bike is still running, I feel I've beat the crap out of it and more to come. I've adjust the chain twice so far. I think this chains and sprockets are going to be done after the trip. There is still plenty of adjustment though, so I think I'll be fine. Iit's the same chain as the LAB2V chain
' The offroad lights and heated grips don't work. At least the weather is warm now like 80's. Better enjoy it while you can! I lost the bolt that holds the mid section of the exhaust pipe on yesterday and replaced it with a spare. Front pads still have some meat on it I"ve been using more rear brake, the rear caliper looks like crap though. I'm not sure but I think the air filter is fine still. Tire pressure is rocksolid it's exactly how I set it when we first rolled out. 24 in the rear and 22 in the front. Never had to add air. Kept it 24 in the rear for the pavement sections. I never touch he air pressure just gotta deal with lack of traction. Got me through the sand fine So far the Giant Loop is doing okay. So I did what Cabrito suggested and wore the backpack instead. It's a small one and I think it's better that way because I can actually use the top section to pull stuff in and out quickly. The drawback is it kills my shoulders after a day of riding
I should find someway to strap the backpack to the top of the giant loop. But guess it helps the bikes handling because the weight is on the rider and not on the luggage. I tried to lighten the backpack as much as possible.I'm healthy so far. Finally got to shower and did laundry at the hotel and recharge all my electric gadgets. Seems that I have lost one of portable battery chargers that sucks. Hopefully it turn up probably just misplaced it somewhere but haven't been able to find it. I lost a boonie cap 2 days ago on the freeway it just got sucked out of my pocket
I keep on going through boonie caps Now I got nothing to wear in the sun when I take my helmet off I think I dehydrated myself today I've been drinking water and I ate a large Carne Asada Burrito Mojado at the Mexican restaurant across the street. I bought 4 liters of water at the gas station near the hotel and gas is like less than $3.00 a gallon here CA be ripping us off with taxes So I got a lotta water on the bike again. I've managed to eat most of my foot. Just have trail snacks. i shoudl probably get some camping food.BDR DAY 1 tomorrow I've already reviewed the first section looks easy there will be a SANDY section tomorrow I wonder how sandy though since I"ve ridden dunes and washes already =P. Planning to finish section 1 tomorrow and maybe start section 2 if time permits. I will try to just take all the easy routes since I am alone we'll see. Would like to camp at the lower section of the route, I know it's going to get cold again as I go up and maybe wet =/ Weather has been great other than the cold so far.
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HadesOmega
Well-known member
Section 1 CLEAR going to ride an hour or two of section 2 it was a lotta fun very scenic never been to these places before =) some challenging sections. Its a little warm though 80's with full dirt gear still a bit warm if i don't keep moving. Guess i should be thankful could be freezing, some clouds and wind would be nice.
ZOMG I made a big navigation error in the first dirt section of section 2. It's one of those dirt section that goes off into the dirt a few miles then gets back on the highway. It was really rocky road but epic views. Lots of those sharp rocks too. I get to this steep downhill section go down it then continue on the trail or so I thought. It went from rocky to rockgarden boulder stuff. I'm looking at the tracks and see it slightly to the left but thinkin the track is not pefectly accurate. So I'm riding down this boulder wash and I'm thinking man his is not an adventure bike route tgis doesn't seem right my spider sense is tingling type of thing. You could seriously messed up here there were boulders blocking your path if your not careful some sections had soft sand too. We were pickibg out way so slow me and the bike were over heating. All I can say is the cactuspuncher has some excellent ground clearance! So I'm super hot and stop look at the track again and it nearly off the map so that must mean there is a road. I tried to hike up the boulder wash but it was too steep so I continue a little further and find a place that is low enough for me to climb. Then I hike proabably 100feet and there it is the freakin trail! I don't know where I missed a turn but I did and got stuck down there.
So I'm like noway I'm riding this outta this wash so I do some recon and I found a BAILOUT! It was a little bit of a steep climb but it was lile 100feet from where the bike was parked right now. So I recon a route to get to the bailout. I play it safe a turn it around a bit and I had a really hard time getting the bike to stage at the climb I had a small runway covered with rocks and sand =/. I take off and I'm having a hard time getting the bike going but once I get my feet up on the pegs and standing the DR climbs out and we easily make it to the trail.
Whew from there it took you straight back to the freeway but it was still a bit rocky. I riding along and I suddenly see 2 tall orange cones. I'm like hmm DANGER! So I stop and the trail is a huge crack in it and is missing. There is barely enough room to get a 4wheeler through and there is crown in thr center and the side go downward. So I go left around the crack and worried the bike will slide down and off thr trail but I cleared it =) so that was the first dirt section gotta be careful with navigation don't know what I missed but it could have been game over.
Now I head up the highway and cool me amd the bike down =) and I'm camping at some BLM ohv area right now that is near the next BDR dirt section. Finish section 2 tomorrow and start 3 =)
Finished Section 2!
Woke up packed up camp last night was great too wasn't cold at all got a great nights sleep for once. Camped at the start of the 2nd dirt section. It was pretty rough. You couod go faster than like 35mph lots of rocks and sudden drop offs. Great warm up for the morning hah. Eventually you get to a power or telephone lines and it flattens out and you can rip it! Then you make a right turn and ride through this kind of bush road with some little bumps. You could still go loke 40 though =)
Eventually you hit the highway and you hang a left and go down the freeway for like 15 miles. Then you go onto more BLM roads, this ones folows a railroad track. First section really wide graded road you can really rip on it proabably at 65mph!
Then you get close to some mountains and start riding around them still next to the tracks. Annoying thing is the trail has these drop off where the washes are you can see where they are if you see a lottle bridge under the tracks. Just have to slow down look vefore you leap type thing.
Eventually you get to cross the tracks on to skeleton pass road. Typical desert road some rocks and bumps every now and then. Can't go too fast because you come up on small washes and some big ones sometimes. Then you grt to a rsilroad tracks and follow them. Road is pretty nice because vehicles drive up and down them often to service the tracks. Then it spits you out on route66 at the town or ghost town of Essex. Then you take Route66 to the Oasis gas ststion and section 2 done!
Grabbed a wild burger and something to eat at camp tonight in Mojave National Preserve. Hopefully not as windy as the last time I camped in Mojave =/ Going to ride maybe half of Section 3 to the Hole in the Wall Campground. Kinda tired but it 1321 so still got lots of riding to do. So far rode like 100 miles today. Also bought a gallon of gas its $5 a gallon at the Oasis' that should get me to Primm the end of section 3. Living the dream! =)
FINISHED SECTION 3!
I'll start from tge beginning. You take route66 into the park. Turn left on lanfair road at Goffs you now enter Mojave National Preserve. There's the Goffs school house there too. eventually it turns into whats called 2wd unpaved road. It means you can rip on it. I think I hit my max speed on 81.1mph! Eventually it becomes a 4wd unpaved road. Its just a little more bumpy. I also ridden tgis road before I used this road to bail out of the Mojave Road because there was closed off section. I even pass the Mojave Road hah.
Eventually you get to a turn and you off on New York Mountain Road. Its a 4wd road typical desert road you'll find in Mojave. Not flat but bumpy, sandy, slippery, and the trees and bushes block your view of turns so you can't go fast unless there is a straight. Proabably 40mph road.
Eventually you start curving down to cedar canyon you actually ride a bit of the Mojave Road the easy stuff =P. It's really beautiful pla e to ride. I've never ridden these roads in Mojave before and they didn't disappoint. LOTS of sand though real slippery littered through the roads.
Eventually I get to Black Canyon road and got south on it to find a campground for the night. Not too far about 5 miles from the intersection I find Mid Hills Campground. $12 to camp with fire pit, tables, and toilets. Also you sorta have a windbreak from the hills if pick the right camping spot and trees help block it too. I learned my lesson camping mojave last time the wind is fierce here. Ate cup ramen and vienna sausage for dinner and started up a fire, found lots of wood here. There were 3 campsites occupied with a bunch of 4x4 peeps. I love to be driving a 4x4 right not because early next morning...
Next morning around 0500 I wake up to the sound or rain. I knew it was a good idea to bring everything in the tent! Rain! That's crazy because at some point last night the wind died dowb and the sky was clear I was gazing at the stars! Anyway I scramble out the tent and get the fly out of the giant loop and on it goes. i'm shivering from the cold and rain oh btw this campground is 5400ft too! I see hail before I hope backbin the tent shivering.
Went back to sleep and woke up around 7 still raining. Not hard kind of off and on. I just chill in the tent till about 8 and waiting for the rain to stop. It stops and half an hour later stsrts afain. At 900 it stops and I get my gear on and start packing up. Around 930 luckily no rain or just sone sprinkles bike it packed. Roads are wet. The black canyon road I ripped the day before terrifying. There were patches of mud everytime I hit one the bike would get all crazy flashback to NVBDR. Luckily I make it back to Crdar Canyon and it gets a little better. Back onto the BDR!
Ride down till we have to turn in some where the sand is almost a blessing because its boy slick mud. Also I stick to the rocks as much as possible because I know from riding the forest sections on the tat the most traction isbon the rocks. Great desert roads great views. Hero dirt and some mud. Still super slippery wish I had real knobbies but I doubt kbobby tires wouls have survived tgis far. Still have to be careful for oncoming traffic slow down if you can't see its clear.
Evevtually I make it to Cima a train stop places and a train is blocking the crossing. I try to ride down the road in each direction and couldn't find any kind of crossing. I decide to wait it out. Train doesn't move for 30 minutes! But I had signal so phone time! Even a 2nd train comes the other direction!
After 30 mins its clear head down Cima Road for like 10 miles. Back onto the dirt. This time it pretty rocky in places but rocks give you traction. Beautifuk views entire time and tons of joshua trees! I missed a turn at on point but some how made it back on track I wasn't paying attention. So I go back to do the section I missed it had a kinda steep stair stepping section I had to go up since I did it in reverse. It was fun though, really rocky this little section tge put in. Ride it till I get bacj to that straight part I blew past it and get bacj on track.
Keep on riding and you go around mountains some muddy sections luckily not much. Really soft sand also. After maybe an hour you get to the park boundary and out to the I15 to Primm and the end point takes you to Whiskey Pete's casino. SECTION 3 FINISHED. It took way longer than I expected because waiting for the rain to stop and the train stop. Now at Taco Bell charging laptop and typing tgis on my phone. I wanted to get to Death Valley today but doesn't look like it it's almost 1500 so I might camp at Tecopa woohoo hot spring time! Hopefully no more rai. Supposedly it rained in DV today tomorrow no rain but after that will rain. =/ Have to resupply fuel, food, and water. There is a steep rocky climb section in the beginning of 4 wondering if I should do itbor take the bailout route =/
I was blazing the CABDR then today I dragged ass. Hopefully can pick up the pace tomorrow should be at DV that's familiar territory for me =) its also hella windy right now I see the birds flying sideways =P
Here at Stovepipe Wells in Death Valley things not going according to planned. Rewind to yesterday at the start of Section 4!
So I decided we're going to do the STEEP ROCKY section at the beginning of Section 4 simply because I was curious to see if it was really steep and rocky and I wanted to see the Ivanpah Solar Power plants upclose and check out the Colosseum Mine. So down the I15 back to California one exit and you head to the Ivanpah Solar Power plant thing is so cool it reminds me of the Laser Tower from Command and Conquer. Unfortunately the sun was hiding behind a lot of clouds that we were riding in to' Go to see it upclose. This thing is pretty cool supposedly it uses mirrors to reflects the sunlight to a tower and it uses that to boil water and turn turbines to make power. It kind of like how a nuclear reactor works sorta.
So after passing the Solar Power Plant you come up on Colosseum Road. Not too bad at first just your typical sorta rocky desert road. The fun comes when you start to climb. You start to go up and yeehaw it's rocky as hell steep too! It didn't disappoint. I was worried if the DR650 wouldn't be able to get up this but it didn't have a problem. I remember my arms were getting tired from pulling up on the handlebars when going up the steep climb.
Eventually you it starts to level off a little but occasionally it will go up and be rocky again. I don't know why but whenever you were climbing there were rocks =P Then you see the Colosseum Gorge on the GPS and I actually missed the turn to stay on the BDR and just went straight to the Colosseum because you needed to make a really tight left turn to stay on the BDR I just followed the right turn that was easier to make. I was going to see the mine anyway. So continuing up it's steep and rocky. You get to the mine not too far up. I was in a hurry trying to beat daylight but you look down at the mine and it's really only a half mile ride to the bottom. It was so cool it just kind of spiral down like several hundreds of feet. I wasn't the only one there there were a bunch of Toyota 4x4s at the bottom and they were going up. After taking pictures at the top I rode on down and took pictures at the bottom. It was steep and a little hard to turn around at the bottom. There's a lake at the bottom also.
After taking pictures I ride back up and rip up the spiral and head back down and back onto the BDR. Still more rocky stuff. Eventually it levels off and becomes less rocky. Then you get to a powerline road. This is the powerline road you would be riding if you took the alternative route by the way just further down it, you can rip down it. It's not totally flat but you can get freeway speed on it. Eventually there is a part where it goes up and down like a roller coaster, its like you're constantly doing hillclimbs and descents.
After about like 8 miles you get to a straight section that just slowly goes down. That's where you can really twist it I think I hit 70+mph on this section. Then you get to a paved section.
You ride the paved road up Tecopa Pass. This road is how should I say no maintained, it was very rough. But you can ride on it very fast still and there's like nobody out here. Suns coming down fast I blast through it. My plans to make it to the Tecopa Hotspring Campground doesn't look good. There are some really big pot holes in the road and some of them are filled with water. I was able to dodge all of them except one VERY big on. It too up like 80% of the road and I was going like 65mph didn't have time to go around or slow down and just brace for impact. Fortunately I musty have been going fast enough to skim over it a little and I just got my legs really wet. I totally thought I was going to go over the handlebars. So continue ripping up the road and I come upon the Horse Thief Campground, it's like 1730 suns setting fast. So I decide we should camp here.
The Horse Thief Campground was actually very nice and it was free. Apparently Sandy Valley is not far from here also. It had like 5 or 6 campground with firepits and tables. There was a pit toilet also very clean with lots of toilet paper. The campground is surrounded by mountains also so you get a little bit of a windbreak. But like I was worried about the wind and I was right it was quite windy most of the night. I used the motorcycle to block the wind. I leaned it away from the tent and made sure to dig a little hole so it would lean a little extra just to make sure it doesn't fall on my tent if the wind blows it hard.
It was a decent night of camping It was windy but not too windy. You can hear it howl like something was coming and then it would blow the tent around a bit. I heard some of kind of dog, wolf, or coyote at night growling outside the tent I just yelled at it and it went away. I also put the fly on the tent just in case it rained because there were lots of dark clouds everywhere.
End Day 10, CABDR DAY 3
Day 11 CABDR Day 4
So I wake up, at some point last night it cleared up and there was no wind. It was pretty cold though like 40's. No rain fortunately but everything was wet with dew so had to wait for the sun to come up and dry everything before packing up. Woke up a little early like 0730 and started packing stuff and letting the tent dry out.
Time to finish section 4! Head up Tecopa pass and I took the shortcut route because I was behind on time. It a dirt road nothing too difficult that goes through a mining area. Then it heads down and meets up with the longer route track.
I run into a guy with a KTM bike and he looked kinda lost so I stopped and asked if he was ok. He said he was looking for his buddy. I told him I hadn't seen anyone and I'll let him know I saw him if I did see anyone up the way. He was some Australian dude.
Eventually you get close to Tecopa and you pass right by the China Ranch Date Farm, so I stopped by. The road in is pretty cool, it about a mile from the BDR but it goes down this twisty dirt road that is in this canyon. Never been her before and I heard the date shakes are awesome. Bought a couple souvenirs and looked around and tried the date shake and it is awesome :thumbup . I rode next to the orchard and saw the tree with the dates growin on them pretty cool. Now I know why there are so many palm trees near the Salton Sea they're probably growin them for dates!
So hop back on the BDR and ride through the town of Tecopa. I didn't stop by though I was planning to camp here but didn't make it. Had to hurry it up. Rode down the hwy127 a bit and you get to a dirt road called Saratoga Springs. There was also an option to go to Shoshone to get gas and supplies but I passed on it. I was a little excited because the Butler map said something about dune sand riding. The road is pretty nice desert road, dirty and sandy sections. It kind weaves left and right was fun to ride. Then you get to a sign that says deep sand in 1.5 miles. Then you ride about 1.5 and yeah I guess its deep sand but it for like 50 or 100feet and that's it. Wasn't that hard to ride in' I saw worse during LAB2V. Anyway you also ride along (well very far away) the Ibex dunes so you can really play on those dunes because your can't go "off road". Eventually I get to Saratoga Springs and was surprised to see buncha people camping out there like they were having a bbq. I wave at them and ride on. I didn't check out the spring. Road down the rest of the road a very flat dirt road rip it at 70mph until I get to a water crossing. It was very short and shallow though. I believe this is the Amagrossa River and that means there would be more water crossing ahead!
So I get to the end of Saratoga Road and make a right onto Harry Wade Road. I have ridden this road before when I rode to the NVBDR. I remember the last section was HELLA sandy but it wasn't sandy at all the whole way. It was a LONG ride, a lot longer than I remember. I was was going hella fast too up to 70mph and it was still a long ride. The "speed limit" was 35mph btw =P. The terrain changes a lot to dirt, sand, rocks, hard packed dirt, etc... Maybe 3/4 of the way through you get to the watercrossing. You'll know because there will be a yellow sign that says it could be flooded. This was Amagrossa River. Well it wasn't that bad. There were 2 water crossing also as in 2 streams. It was maybe 10 feet wide the other one a little smaller. It was deep where the road was where people were crossing. The first one I decided to go around a little to the shallower parts better safe than sorry. Looked kinda muddy. Then I easily crossed the second one. So my worries about he watercrossing were for nothing =)
Rip down the road maybe 10 more miles and you get to the Badwater Road. You ride it down like 5 miles and then head on to West Side Road. I've never ridden this road so I was excited. It was kinda boring really high speed dirt road kind of similar to Harry Wade Road I guess. There are a lot of roads that split off of it and go towards the mountains or canyons. There were a couple things to see along the way like Bennet's Long Camp and Eagle Borax Works. They weren't that spectacular. The view was pretty cool. Also I go off my bike maybe a few miles into West Side Road and I notice my off road lights are pointing the wrong way. One of the bolt fell out and only one bolt was holding the JNS Engineering light bracket in place. So I shut the bike off and go through my bolts and manage to find one that fits. I tighten the other bolt also. That off road light bracket is so floppy. But I'm surprised it's stayed on so long. Will have to put some locktite on em when I get home I guess. I almost wish to just take the dumb bracket off and offroad lights off because they stopped working Anyway it take a good hour to get through West Side Road. It taking way longer than I thought to finish these dirt sections. I always underestimate how long the roads are in Death Valley they are so long. The last part is pretty cool. You ride on this really hard packed dirt along side this devil's golf course stuff. You can see it for miles. There's some salt sections also.
So you exit West Side Road after the golf course section and back onto Badwater Road then head towards Furnace Creek the end point for Section 4!
Section 5 START!
So my goal was to try and at least ride through Titus Canyon. WEEELLLLL TITUS CANYON IS CLOSED! Arrrghhh :thumbdown So disappointed. There was a board in the Visitors Center that gave the status of roads and passed and Titus Canyon was on the board as closed. I asked the lady at the fee counter after I paid for the fee (btw I didn't know but if you bought a park pass at another nation park and showed it to them before it expired they can give you some credit on it, but mine expired from Joshua Tree already ) and she said yes it closed. I was so disappointed I've ridden Titus Canyon at night and wanted to ride it in the daytime. I'm sure it's way more spectacular in the day light!
So now I hard to figure out where to camp also. I head out on section 5 that takes you to Titus Canyon. I had to resupply in Beatty anyway, the gas is cheaper there and I could get lunch. Follow the BDR which by the way is literally slabbig it up to Titus Canyon. I was going to head to Beatty and go to Titus Canyon but since they said it closed I decided to go ride and see for myself. So I can say I tried. I get to the Titus Canyon entrance from the highway after the state crossing and sure enough a little bit down the road it mentions Titus Canyon is closed in 1.5 miles. I ride down the road 1.5 miles and sure enough there is a large metal gate that says road closed. Well I tried Actually I saw the barbed wire was missing from one side of the fence and people were riding around the fence. I wasn't going to do that though if it's closed then it's closed. It would suck to get busted by a park ranger in there and it could be dangerous. It also might ruin it for other people. So I turn around and head to Beaty.
At Beatty I fill up the gas tank with like 5.6 gallons of gas. The Acerbis tank has been a really help on this trip. Knowing that you can easily reach your destination gives you peace of mind I stretched it out to 250miles one day and didn't even hit reserve yet! So gas is full I get a sandwich at Subway and buy some candy because that seems to be all they have. I kinda hangout and use for my phone for a while. I know we ain't going to Titus Canyon now so I loligag for a bit.
So I decide to camp at Stovepipe wells. Mesquite springs is closed. There is a cammpground at the racetrack but I'm pretty sure we are not going to make the racetrack before the sun comes down. So I decide Stovepipe wells and it's much warmer here too and I can use the computer I am typing this on to post this
So that's it for Section 5. It's like half done I guess. Just gotta get to Racetrack tomorrow should be able to do that by noon tomorrow. The bike is ok. I tightened those fender bolts a bit more. The felt pad that keeps the oil cooler from rubbing the gas tank has disappeared so I stuck a piece of webbing between the tank and oil cooler. I'll have to figure something out, it worked goo for while. Maybe just carry those felt pads with me I didn't bring any with me btw. The chain seems to need adjust more and more. I think I adjusted it last night 2 clicks. Tonight I checked and it is at the loose spec. Tomorrow night will check it and I bet I'll need to adjust it 2 clicks again. There is still plenty of adjustment left though. I'm sure that chain and sprocket are going to be trash when I get home, looks like it'll make it though. Seems like the bike is falling apart at this point, old bike but we're almost at the end! Therear tire aren't looking so hot also I'd say they are around 75%. They'll definitely be down when I make it home. Filter looks a little dirty. I will probably pull the filter skin tomorrow and run it naked till I get home.
Tomorrow's plan is complete Section 5 by getting to the Racetrack. I'm looking at sectin's 6-8 and they are really short so I might make it within my 14 day timeframe Or 7 Day CABDR! Hopefully get to halfway point of 6 tomorrow we'll see how it plays out. So far I'm pretty happy with the CABDR. The Death Valley portion feels kind of disappointing but I've never ridden past Racetrack before so should be fun .
Thanks for following along John :thumbup
I had to BAILOUT of Cerro Gordo. I was getting confident after conpleting all the "expert" sections I looked at the map and and it did mention the possibility of snow. I got complacent with snow because it was so nice in the south haha. I climbing Cerro Gordo and it no joke it steep, rocky, and deep gravel. It was actually a lot of fun until I hit snow hah. I see a little snow patches, then streams, then more snow! It was like riding on ice the rear tire did not want to hookup. This snow was like snow thats been sitting around for awhile so it was really hard. BTW I'm around 6k or 7k feet elevation and the bike has like no power hah. I'm chugging right along and I hit a patch of snow and start veering to th left of the trail at like 25mph and I lowside it and sliding on the snow headibg towards this big box looking rock and BAM the bottom of the bike slams into it. If there was no skidplate I'm sure the end would have got windowed! I pick the bike up, it was hard to get up thr way it fell. Then I fire it up decide I will try again and ride down a bit turn around and ride up maube 1/8 mile and there's more snow. I hike up the trail a little bit and there are no more dry patches it was all snow =( I'm maybe a 1/4 of the way through the. cerro Gordo and decide that's it turn around. I didn't listen to the sbow advice from the map haha. So I turn around and ride all the way back to Saline Valley Road. I did rip it down the flat section at 75mph though I made quick work of it. Its easier going down than up also because of the power. Whew what a ride! For what its worth that was a fun trail but I think I'm going to take all the easier routes from here on out the bit is getting beat up pretty bad. =/ I woukd totally ride that trail again if it was dry.
Ah mah gawd it's raining and I made it to Big Pine. We're so close to the finish but it's like 2x worse riding conditions now. Just had a smothered burrito at the country diner time to push on almost there! I'm sad I passed up Reward Mine I didn't know where it was I wanted to ride ina mine =(
Update looks like the rain is getting worse I may camp or get a hotel in Big Pine =(
Nah I wound up camping at Big Pine supposedly rain will stop late morning will try and finish it tomorrow so close yet so far. Sad thing is it stopped raining after I put the tent up its already kinda late anyway I spent some time at Manzanar and was crawling through some of the muddy sections as my finger tips lost their feeling wish my heated grips worked. Its ok gives me time to update this thread and instagram.
HadesOmega BDR DAY 12 CABDR DAY 5
I wake up at Stovepipe Wells campground got some good rest love camping here because of the warm weather. I saw bunch of dualsports at the campground and there was a French dude riding a F800gs. I tried chatting with him but I can't speak french should have paid better attention in highschool, he spoke some english. He is a RTW traveler, he has French plates. I saw stickers for the Tail of the Dragon on his bike! That's in North Carolina BTW. He told me he is riding to San Francisco then when the weather gets better to Yellowstone. I tried to tell him what I was doing but I don't think he understood too well. Its always fun to meet other travelers. Took a couple pix of his bike will post when I get home.
So fire the bike up after packing uo camp and vlogging about the days festivities. Top of at the gas station cause I'm going to need every last drop. Take off to get back to the BDR were Titus Canyon spits you out. I stop by Mesquite Sand Dunes, Devil's Cornfield, and Stovepipe Wells (the actual stovepipe) for pictures since they're on the way. Ride to Titus Canyon and up to the butthole? where you come out of it. I hike in a bit and take some pictures. Tis the best I could do! Haha I should have just ridden in a bit, but there was a park ranger as I was heading out so probably a bad idea =P
Hop back on the slab and head up north bout 40 miles to Ubehebe Crater and took some pics. Then I look at the Race Track Road and buncha jeeps and suvs are starting to go down it damn looks like trailsplitting will be happening =P
Its been a LONG time since I rode to the Racetrack it was the first time I went to DV and I was desert riding noob so it was hella hard for me. Well this time it didn't seem hard but its a lot longer ride than I remember. Reminds me of riding in Baja a lot actually. Literally all the 4x4 roads in DV sgake the crap oit of you and the bike. The rocks were still plentiful and sharp, I seem to remember it being really bumpy maybe they smoothened it out a bit. But I remember the first part being the worst. First you start off riding in Volcanic sand. Then it transitions to rocky wash bardy road. Then it gets maybe a little less rocky just a little. I passed like 7 SUVs also =P. They're SOOOO slow like it takes them like 2 hours to get to the racetrack slow bwahaha. Some sections you can just rip it like after Tea Kettle Junction 70+ mph most of the time average 40mph still have to be careful of traffic around turns.
Eventually I get to the racetrack and I shit you not there was a dude there in a Mazda 3 sedan! I couldn't believe it everyone was driving trucks/suvs and this dude does it in a car! More power to him! I would have at least taken a SUV a softroader one. Anyway I take a picture in the middle with the info plaque and head down to the end and stsrt looking for moving rocks. I find the rocks, haha funny story about this is that the first time I went here I had no idea where to find the moving rocks until I rode back and talked to someone in a Hyundai SUV and he told me it all the way at the end of the playa haha so I wound up riding all the way back and to the end. Anyway I take a buncha pix of the rocks and leave.
There were people there too a couple was at the moving rocks before me. Another dude taking pictures showed up later. I chat with a group that was driving a rent a jeep and I told them my story I love telling people my story and blowing their minds, they always ask if I was alone also. One dude tells me a story about when he was younger he rode CB750 all over the country. He said he crashed in Florida when it was raining he. Rashed into the back of a car and broke his leg. Its always great swapping stories I told them about all about my adventures on the TAT and BDR. I also ran into them at Tea Kettle Junction and they helped me take a picture =)
SECTION 5 FINISHED!
SECTION 6 START!
At the Racetrack done searching for moving rocks time to start sextion 6. There are 2 route after race track Lippincott pass and Hunter Mountain. I decide to take Lippincott pass since I hear all about it, I wanted to see what all the fuss is about. I was a bit bervous. I ride to that camoground area after the turn to Lippincott pass and take a snack break. Then I had down Lippincott pass. It's defibitly steep and rocky. The views are amazing. I just took it slowly. Important part is to choose a good line through the rocks. I will admit there were like two nasty sections that I stopped and scouted a line through. The rest wasn't too bad. One you get to the bottom it gets easier and you ride straight to Saline Valley road on this trail that has boulders along the side. Whew cleared the "Expert" section! :thumbup
Then the next section is Saline Valley Road long dirty road that twists and turns through the mountain. Was a lot of fun sliding the bike around the corners have to be careful of traffic though many blind turns. I was by this jeep on one corner we were both going around 35mph good thing I stuck right! Saw 5 other riders pass ny also. You start going down eventually and there are tons of Joshua Trees. Another group of riders come by and they ask me if the road was and and I said yes I came from Racetrack. They were riding quite the assortment of Japanese dualsports XR400, WR250R, CRF250L, and DRZ400. I bid them farewell and get to the intersection to go to White Talc Mountain Road.
So I was getting confident clearing all the hard sections so I figured I'd go for Cerro Gordo. At the intersection you hang a right on White Talc Mountain Road. It's nice wide flat graded road that goes straight fir a few miles you can just get on it and you see Joshua Trees flying by at 65mph. Then gradually as you get farther down the road it becones more curvy and bumpy so gotta slow it down a bit. Then as you go on it it gets more and more rocky. Then you get to Cerro Gordo Pass...
And I'll just copy what happened and paste it right here:
I had to BAILOUT of Cerro Gordo. I was getting confident after conpleting all the "expert" sections I looked at the map and and it did mention the possibility of snow. I got complacent with snow because it was so nice in the south haha. I climbing Cerro Gordo and it no joke it steep, rocky, and deep gravel. It was actually a lot of fun until I hit snow hah. I see a little snow patches, then streams, then more snow! It was like riding on ice the rear tire did not want to hookup. This snow was like snow thats been sitting around for awhile so it was really hard. BTW I'm around 6k or 7k feet elevation and the bike has like no power hah. I'm chugging right along and I hit a patch of snow and start veering to th left of the trail at like 25mph and I lowside it and sliding on the snow headibg towards this big box looking rock and BAM the bottom of the bike slams into it. If there was no skidplate I'm sure the end would have got windowed! I pick the bike up, it was hard to get up thr way it fell. Then I fire it up decide I will try again and ride down a bit turn around and ride up maube 1/8 mile and there's more snow. I hike up the trail a little bit and there are no more dry patches it was all snow =( I'm maybe a 1/4 of the way through the. cerro Gordo and decide that's it turn around. I didn't listen to the sbow advice from the map haha. So I turn around and ride all the way back to Saline Valley Road. I did rip it down the flat section at 75mph though I made quick work of it. Its easier going down than up also because of the power. Whew what a ride! For what its worth that was a fun trail but I think I'm going to take all the easier routes from here on out the bit is getting beat up pretty bad. =/ I woukd totally ride that trail again if it was dry.
Quick update still on section 7, camped at big pine and it was pouring rain all night hard to sleep. Wake up and the Sierras are covered with snow. Its about 0940 right now and the rain seemes to have stopped supposedly its not going to rain till tonight so time to head to Benton! Looms like my chance of taking SR88 back disappearee also chains required now few days ago was no restrictions =(
Have to get oil for the DR in bishop and had to adjust chain 3 clicks last night hope it lasts the ride home =/ gotta take it easy. Gonna be slimy out there.
ZOMG I made a big navigation error in the first dirt section of section 2. It's one of those dirt section that goes off into the dirt a few miles then gets back on the highway. It was really rocky road but epic views. Lots of those sharp rocks too. I get to this steep downhill section go down it then continue on the trail or so I thought. It went from rocky to rockgarden boulder stuff. I'm looking at the tracks and see it slightly to the left but thinkin the track is not pefectly accurate. So I'm riding down this boulder wash and I'm thinking man his is not an adventure bike route tgis doesn't seem right my spider sense is tingling type of thing. You could seriously messed up here there were boulders blocking your path if your not careful some sections had soft sand too. We were pickibg out way so slow me and the bike were over heating. All I can say is the cactuspuncher has some excellent ground clearance! So I'm super hot and stop look at the track again and it nearly off the map so that must mean there is a road. I tried to hike up the boulder wash but it was too steep so I continue a little further and find a place that is low enough for me to climb. Then I hike proabably 100feet and there it is the freakin trail! I don't know where I missed a turn but I did and got stuck down there.
So I'm like noway I'm riding this outta this wash so I do some recon and I found a BAILOUT! It was a little bit of a steep climb but it was lile 100feet from where the bike was parked right now. So I recon a route to get to the bailout. I play it safe a turn it around a bit and I had a really hard time getting the bike to stage at the climb I had a small runway covered with rocks and sand =/. I take off and I'm having a hard time getting the bike going but once I get my feet up on the pegs and standing the DR climbs out and we easily make it to the trail.
Whew from there it took you straight back to the freeway but it was still a bit rocky. I riding along and I suddenly see 2 tall orange cones. I'm like hmm DANGER! So I stop and the trail is a huge crack in it and is missing. There is barely enough room to get a 4wheeler through and there is crown in thr center and the side go downward. So I go left around the crack and worried the bike will slide down and off thr trail but I cleared it =) so that was the first dirt section gotta be careful with navigation don't know what I missed but it could have been game over.
Now I head up the highway and cool me amd the bike down =) and I'm camping at some BLM ohv area right now that is near the next BDR dirt section. Finish section 2 tomorrow and start 3 =)
Finished Section 2!
Woke up packed up camp last night was great too wasn't cold at all got a great nights sleep for once. Camped at the start of the 2nd dirt section. It was pretty rough. You couod go faster than like 35mph lots of rocks and sudden drop offs. Great warm up for the morning hah. Eventually you get to a power or telephone lines and it flattens out and you can rip it! Then you make a right turn and ride through this kind of bush road with some little bumps. You could still go loke 40 though =)
Eventually you hit the highway and you hang a left and go down the freeway for like 15 miles. Then you go onto more BLM roads, this ones folows a railroad track. First section really wide graded road you can really rip on it proabably at 65mph!
Then you get close to some mountains and start riding around them still next to the tracks. Annoying thing is the trail has these drop off where the washes are you can see where they are if you see a lottle bridge under the tracks. Just have to slow down look vefore you leap type thing.
Eventually you get to cross the tracks on to skeleton pass road. Typical desert road some rocks and bumps every now and then. Can't go too fast because you come up on small washes and some big ones sometimes. Then you grt to a rsilroad tracks and follow them. Road is pretty nice because vehicles drive up and down them often to service the tracks. Then it spits you out on route66 at the town or ghost town of Essex. Then you take Route66 to the Oasis gas ststion and section 2 done!
Grabbed a wild burger and something to eat at camp tonight in Mojave National Preserve. Hopefully not as windy as the last time I camped in Mojave =/ Going to ride maybe half of Section 3 to the Hole in the Wall Campground. Kinda tired but it 1321 so still got lots of riding to do. So far rode like 100 miles today. Also bought a gallon of gas its $5 a gallon at the Oasis
' that should get me to Primm the end of section 3. Living the dream! =)FINISHED SECTION 3!
I'll start from tge beginning. You take route66 into the park. Turn left on lanfair road at Goffs you now enter Mojave National Preserve. There's the Goffs school house there too. eventually it turns into whats called 2wd unpaved road. It means you can rip on it. I think I hit my max speed on 81.1mph! Eventually it becomes a 4wd unpaved road. Its just a little more bumpy. I also ridden tgis road before I used this road to bail out of the Mojave Road because there was closed off section. I even pass the Mojave Road hah.
Eventually you get to a turn and you off on New York Mountain Road. Its a 4wd road typical desert road you'll find in Mojave. Not flat but bumpy, sandy, slippery, and the trees and bushes block your view of turns so you can't go fast unless there is a straight. Proabably 40mph road.
Eventually you start curving down to cedar canyon you actually ride a bit of the Mojave Road the easy stuff =P. It's really beautiful pla e to ride. I've never ridden these roads in Mojave before and they didn't disappoint. LOTS of sand though real slippery littered through the roads.
Eventually I get to Black Canyon road and got south on it to find a campground for the night. Not too far about 5 miles from the intersection I find Mid Hills Campground. $12 to camp with fire pit, tables, and toilets. Also you sorta have a windbreak from the hills if pick the right camping spot and trees help block it too. I learned my lesson camping mojave last time the wind is fierce here. Ate cup ramen and vienna sausage for dinner and started up a fire, found lots of wood here. There were 3 campsites occupied with a bunch of 4x4 peeps. I love to be driving a 4x4 right not because early next morning...
Next morning around 0500 I wake up to the sound or rain. I knew it was a good idea to bring everything in the tent! Rain! That's crazy because at some point last night the wind died dowb and the sky was clear I was gazing at the stars! Anyway I scramble out the tent and get the fly out of the giant loop and on it goes. i'm shivering from the cold and rain oh btw this campground is 5400ft too! I see hail before I hope backbin the tent shivering.
Went back to sleep and woke up around 7 still raining. Not hard kind of off and on. I just chill in the tent till about 8 and waiting for the rain to stop. It stops and half an hour later stsrts afain. At 900 it stops and I get my gear on and start packing up. Around 930 luckily no rain or just sone sprinkles bike it packed. Roads are wet. The black canyon road I ripped the day before terrifying. There were patches of mud everytime I hit one the bike would get all crazy flashback to NVBDR. Luckily I make it back to Crdar Canyon and it gets a little better. Back onto the BDR!
Ride down till we have to turn in some where the sand is almost a blessing because its boy slick mud. Also I stick to the rocks as much as possible because I know from riding the forest sections on the tat the most traction isbon the rocks. Great desert roads great views. Hero dirt and some mud. Still super slippery wish I had real knobbies but I doubt kbobby tires wouls have survived tgis far. Still have to be careful for oncoming traffic slow down if you can't see its clear.
Evevtually I make it to Cima a train stop places and a train is blocking the crossing. I try to ride down the road in each direction and couldn't find any kind of crossing. I decide to wait it out. Train doesn't move for 30 minutes! But I had signal so phone time! Even a 2nd train comes the other direction!
After 30 mins its clear head down Cima Road for like 10 miles. Back onto the dirt. This time it pretty rocky in places but rocks give you traction. Beautifuk views entire time and tons of joshua trees! I missed a turn at on point but some how made it back on track I wasn't paying attention. So I go back to do the section I missed it had a kinda steep stair stepping section I had to go up since I did it in reverse. It was fun though, really rocky this little section tge put in. Ride it till I get bacj to that straight part I blew past it and get bacj on track.
Keep on riding and you go around mountains some muddy sections luckily not much. Really soft sand also. After maybe an hour you get to the park boundary and out to the I15 to Primm and the end point takes you to Whiskey Pete's casino. SECTION 3 FINISHED. It took way longer than I expected because waiting for the rain to stop and the train stop. Now at Taco Bell charging laptop and typing tgis on my phone. I wanted to get to Death Valley today but doesn't look like it it's almost 1500 so I might camp at Tecopa woohoo hot spring time! Hopefully no more rai. Supposedly it rained in DV today tomorrow no rain but after that will rain. =/ Have to resupply fuel, food, and water. There is a steep rocky climb section in the beginning of 4 wondering if I should do itbor take the bailout route =/
I was blazing the CABDR then today I dragged ass. Hopefully can pick up the pace tomorrow should be at DV that's familiar territory for me =) its also hella windy right now I see the birds flying sideways =P
Here at Stovepipe Wells in Death Valley things not going according to planned. Rewind to yesterday at the start of Section 4!
So I decided we're going to do the STEEP ROCKY section at the beginning of Section 4 simply because I was curious to see if it was really steep and rocky and I wanted to see the Ivanpah Solar Power plants upclose and check out the Colosseum Mine. So down the I15 back to California one exit and you head to the Ivanpah Solar Power plant thing is so cool it reminds me of the Laser Tower from Command and Conquer. Unfortunately the sun was hiding behind a lot of clouds that we were riding in to
' Go to see it upclose. This thing is pretty cool supposedly it uses mirrors to reflects the sunlight to a tower and it uses that to boil water and turn turbines to make power. It kind of like how a nuclear reactor works sorta.So after passing the Solar Power Plant you come up on Colosseum Road. Not too bad at first just your typical sorta rocky desert road. The fun comes when you start to climb. You start to go up and yeehaw it's rocky as hell steep too! It didn't disappoint. I was worried if the DR650 wouldn't be able to get up this but it didn't have a problem. I remember my arms were getting tired from pulling up on the handlebars when going up the steep climb.
Eventually you it starts to level off a little but occasionally it will go up and be rocky again. I don't know why but whenever you were climbing there were rocks =P Then you see the Colosseum Gorge on the GPS and I actually missed the turn to stay on the BDR and just went straight to the Colosseum because you needed to make a really tight left turn to stay on the BDR I just followed the right turn that was easier to make. I was going to see the mine anyway. So continuing up it's steep and rocky. You get to the mine not too far up. I was in a hurry trying to beat daylight but you look down at the mine and it's really only a half mile ride to the bottom. It was so cool it just kind of spiral down like several hundreds of feet. I wasn't the only one there there were a bunch of Toyota 4x4s at the bottom and they were going up. After taking pictures at the top I rode on down and took pictures at the bottom. It was steep and a little hard to turn around at the bottom. There's a lake at the bottom also.
After taking pictures I ride back up and rip up the spiral and head back down and back onto the BDR. Still more rocky stuff. Eventually it levels off and becomes less rocky. Then you get to a powerline road. This is the powerline road you would be riding if you took the alternative route by the way just further down it, you can rip down it. It's not totally flat but you can get freeway speed on it. Eventually there is a part where it goes up and down like a roller coaster, its like you're constantly doing hillclimbs and descents.
After about like 8 miles you get to a straight section that just slowly goes down. That's where you can really twist it I think I hit 70+mph on this section. Then you get to a paved section.
You ride the paved road up Tecopa Pass. This road is how should I say no maintained, it was very rough. But you can ride on it very fast still and there's like nobody out here. Suns coming down fast I blast through it. My plans to make it to the Tecopa Hotspring Campground doesn't look good. There are some really big pot holes in the road and some of them are filled with water. I was able to dodge all of them except one VERY big on. It too up like 80% of the road and I was going like 65mph didn't have time to go around or slow down and just brace for impact. Fortunately I musty have been going fast enough to skim over it a little and I just got my legs really wet. I totally thought I was going to go over the handlebars. So continue ripping up the road and I come upon the Horse Thief Campground, it's like 1730 suns setting fast. So I decide we should camp here.
The Horse Thief Campground was actually very nice and it was free. Apparently Sandy Valley is not far from here also. It had like 5 or 6 campground with firepits and tables. There was a pit toilet also very clean with lots of toilet paper. The campground is surrounded by mountains also so you get a little bit of a windbreak. But like I was worried about the wind and I was right it was quite windy most of the night. I used the motorcycle to block the wind. I leaned it away from the tent and made sure to dig a little hole so it would lean a little extra just to make sure it doesn't fall on my tent if the wind blows it hard.
It was a decent night of camping It was windy but not too windy. You can hear it howl like something was coming and then it would blow the tent around a bit. I heard some of kind of dog, wolf, or coyote at night growling outside the tent I just yelled at it and it went away. I also put the fly on the tent just in case it rained because there were lots of dark clouds everywhere.
End Day 10, CABDR DAY 3
Day 11 CABDR Day 4
So I wake up, at some point last night it cleared up and there was no wind. It was pretty cold though like 40's. No rain fortunately but everything was wet with dew so had to wait for the sun to come up and dry everything before packing up. Woke up a little early like 0730 and started packing stuff and letting the tent dry out.
Time to finish section 4! Head up Tecopa pass and I took the shortcut route because I was behind on time. It a dirt road nothing too difficult that goes through a mining area. Then it heads down and meets up with the longer route track.
I run into a guy with a KTM bike and he looked kinda lost so I stopped and asked if he was ok. He said he was looking for his buddy. I told him I hadn't seen anyone and I'll let him know I saw him if I did see anyone up the way. He was some Australian dude.
Eventually you get close to Tecopa and you pass right by the China Ranch Date Farm, so I stopped by. The road in is pretty cool, it about a mile from the BDR but it goes down this twisty dirt road that is in this canyon. Never been her before and I heard the date shakes are awesome. Bought a couple souvenirs and looked around and tried the date shake and it is awesome :thumbup . I rode next to the orchard and saw the tree with the dates growin on them pretty cool. Now I know why there are so many palm trees near the Salton Sea they're probably growin them for dates!
So hop back on the BDR and ride through the town of Tecopa. I didn't stop by though I was planning to camp here but didn't make it. Had to hurry it up. Rode down the hwy127 a bit and you get to a dirt road called Saratoga Springs. There was also an option to go to Shoshone to get gas and supplies but I passed on it. I was a little excited because the Butler map said something about dune sand riding. The road is pretty nice desert road, dirty and sandy sections. It kind weaves left and right was fun to ride. Then you get to a sign that says deep sand in 1.5 miles. Then you ride about 1.5 and yeah I guess its deep sand but it for like 50 or 100feet and that's it. Wasn't that hard to ride in
' I saw worse during LAB2V. Anyway you also ride along (well very far away) the Ibex dunes so you can really play on those dunes because your can't go "off road". Eventually I get to Saratoga Springs and was surprised to see buncha people camping out there like they were having a bbq. I wave at them and ride on. I didn't check out the spring. Road down the rest of the road a very flat dirt road rip it at 70mph until I get to a water crossing. It was very short and shallow though. I believe this is the Amagrossa River and that means there would be more water crossing ahead!So I get to the end of Saratoga Road and make a right onto Harry Wade Road. I have ridden this road before when I rode to the NVBDR. I remember the last section was HELLA sandy but it wasn't sandy at all the whole way. It was a LONG ride, a lot longer than I remember. I was was going hella fast too up to 70mph and it was still a long ride. The "speed limit" was 35mph btw =P. The terrain changes a lot to dirt, sand, rocks, hard packed dirt, etc... Maybe 3/4 of the way through you get to the watercrossing. You'll know because there will be a yellow sign that says it could be flooded. This was Amagrossa River. Well it wasn't that bad. There were 2 water crossing also as in 2 streams. It was maybe 10 feet wide the other one a little smaller. It was deep where the road was where people were crossing. The first one I decided to go around a little to the shallower parts better safe than sorry. Looked kinda muddy. Then I easily crossed the second one. So my worries about he watercrossing were for nothing =)
Rip down the road maybe 10 more miles and you get to the Badwater Road. You ride it down like 5 miles and then head on to West Side Road. I've never ridden this road so I was excited. It was kinda boring really high speed dirt road kind of similar to Harry Wade Road I guess. There are a lot of roads that split off of it and go towards the mountains or canyons. There were a couple things to see along the way like Bennet's Long Camp and Eagle Borax Works. They weren't that spectacular. The view was pretty cool. Also I go off my bike maybe a few miles into West Side Road and I notice my off road lights are pointing the wrong way. One of the bolt fell out and only one bolt was holding the JNS Engineering light bracket in place. So I shut the bike off and go through my bolts and manage to find one that fits. I tighten the other bolt also. That off road light bracket is so floppy. But I'm surprised it's stayed on so long. Will have to put some locktite on em when I get home I guess. I almost wish to just take the dumb bracket off and offroad lights off because they stopped working
Anyway it take a good hour to get through West Side Road. It taking way longer than I thought to finish these dirt sections. I always underestimate how long the roads are in Death Valley they are so long. The last part is pretty cool. You ride on this really hard packed dirt along side this devil's golf course stuff. You can see it for miles. There's some salt sections also.So you exit West Side Road after the golf course section and back onto Badwater Road then head towards Furnace Creek the end point for Section 4!
Section 5 START!
So my goal was to try and at least ride through Titus Canyon. WEEELLLLL TITUS CANYON IS CLOSED! Arrrghhh :thumbdown So disappointed. There was a board in the Visitors Center that gave the status of roads and passed and Titus Canyon was on the board as closed. I asked the lady at the fee counter after I paid for the fee (btw I didn't know but if you bought a park pass at another nation park and showed it to them before it expired they can give you some credit on it, but mine expired from Joshua Tree already
) and she said yes it closed. I was so disappointed I've ridden Titus Canyon at night and wanted to ride it in the daytime. I'm sure it's way more spectacular in the day light!So now I hard to figure out where to camp also. I head out on section 5 that takes you to Titus Canyon. I had to resupply in Beatty anyway, the gas is cheaper there and I could get lunch. Follow the BDR which by the way is literally slabbig it up to Titus Canyon. I was going to head to Beatty and go to Titus Canyon but since they said it closed I decided to go ride and see for myself. So I can say I tried. I get to the Titus Canyon entrance from the highway after the state crossing and sure enough a little bit down the road it mentions Titus Canyon is closed in 1.5 miles. I ride down the road 1.5 miles and sure enough there is a large metal gate that says road closed. Well I tried
Actually I saw the barbed wire was missing from one side of the fence and people were riding around the fence. I wasn't going to do that though if it's closed then it's closed. It would suck to get busted by a park ranger in there and it could be dangerous. It also might ruin it for other people. So I turn around and head to Beaty.At Beatty I fill up the gas tank with like 5.6 gallons of gas. The Acerbis tank has been a really help on this trip. Knowing that you can easily reach your destination gives you peace of mind
I stretched it out to 250miles one day and didn't even hit reserve yet! So gas is full I get a sandwich at Subway and buy some candy because that seems to be all they have. I kinda hangout and use for my phone for a while. I know we ain't going to Titus Canyon now so I loligag for a bit. So I decide to camp at Stovepipe wells. Mesquite springs is closed. There is a cammpground at the racetrack but I'm pretty sure we are not going to make the racetrack before the sun comes down. So I decide Stovepipe wells and it's much warmer here too and I can use the computer I am typing this on to post this
So that's it for Section 5. It's like half done I guess. Just gotta get to Racetrack tomorrow should be able to do that by noon tomorrow. The bike is ok. I tightened those fender bolts a bit more. The felt pad that keeps the oil cooler from rubbing the gas tank has disappeared so I stuck a piece of webbing between the tank and oil cooler. I'll have to figure something out, it worked goo for while. Maybe just carry those felt pads with me I didn't bring any with me btw. The chain seems to need adjust more and more. I think I adjusted it last night 2 clicks. Tonight I checked and it is at the loose spec. Tomorrow night will check it and I bet I'll need to adjust it 2 clicks again. There is still plenty of adjustment left though. I'm sure that chain and sprocket are going to be trash when I get home, looks like it'll make it though. Seems like the bike is falling apart at this point, old bike but we're almost at the end! Therear tire aren't looking so hot also I'd say they are around 75%. They'll definitely be down when I make it home. Filter looks a little dirty. I will probably pull the filter skin tomorrow and run it naked till I get home.
Tomorrow's plan is complete Section 5 by getting to the Racetrack. I'm looking at sectin's 6-8 and they are really short so I might make it within my 14 day timeframe
Or 7 Day CABDR! Hopefully get to halfway point of 6 tomorrow we'll see how it plays out. So far I'm pretty happy with the CABDR. The Death Valley portion feels kind of disappointing but I've never ridden past Racetrack before so should be fun .Thanks for following along John :thumbup
I had to BAILOUT of Cerro Gordo. I was getting confident after conpleting all the "expert" sections I looked at the map and and it did mention the possibility of snow. I got complacent with snow because it was so nice in the south haha. I climbing Cerro Gordo and it no joke it steep, rocky, and deep gravel. It was actually a lot of fun until I hit snow hah. I see a little snow patches, then streams, then more snow! It was like riding on ice the rear tire did not want to hookup. This snow was like snow thats been sitting around for awhile so it was really hard. BTW I'm around 6k or 7k feet elevation and the bike has like no power hah. I'm chugging right along and I hit a patch of snow and start veering to th left of the trail at like 25mph and I lowside it and sliding on the snow headibg towards this big box looking rock and BAM the bottom of the bike slams into it. If there was no skidplate I'm sure the end would have got windowed! I pick the bike up, it was hard to get up thr way it fell. Then I fire it up decide I will try again and ride down a bit turn around and ride up maube 1/8 mile and there's more snow. I hike up the trail a little bit and there are no more dry patches it was all snow =( I'm maybe a 1/4 of the way through the. cerro Gordo and decide that's it turn around. I didn't listen to the sbow advice from the map haha. So I turn around and ride all the way back to Saline Valley Road. I did rip it down the flat section at 75mph though I made quick work of it. Its easier going down than up also because of the power. Whew what a ride! For what its worth that was a fun trail but I think I'm going to take all the easier routes from here on out the bit is getting beat up pretty bad. =/ I woukd totally ride that trail again if it was dry.
see you're looking at the back side of Cerro Gordo,
aka the HARD way ... :thumbup
edit: well, you're a better man than me ... I wouldn't have
gotten so far up, and really would never have even gone to look at the hard way ... :laughing:ride
actually a little surprised they included that back-route-to-Cerro-Gordo as part of the SoCALBDR ... :dunno
Lippincott and Date Shakes, ftw!
Ah mah gawd it's raining and I made it to Big Pine. We're so close to the finish but it's like 2x worse riding conditions now. Just had a smothered burrito at the country diner time to push on almost there! I'm sad I passed up Reward Mine I didn't know where it was I wanted to ride ina mine =(
Update looks like the rain is getting worse I may camp or get a hotel in Big Pine =(
Nah I wound up camping at Big Pine supposedly rain will stop late morning will try and finish it tomorrow so close yet so far. Sad thing is it stopped raining after I put the tent up its already kinda late anyway I spent some time at Manzanar and was crawling through some of the muddy sections as my finger tips lost their feeling wish my heated grips worked. Its ok gives me time to update this thread and instagram.
HadesOmega BDR DAY 12 CABDR DAY 5
I wake up at Stovepipe Wells campground got some good rest love camping here because of the warm weather. I saw bunch of dualsports at the campground and there was a French dude riding a F800gs. I tried chatting with him but I can't speak french should have paid better attention in highschool, he spoke some english. He is a RTW traveler, he has French plates. I saw stickers for the Tail of the Dragon on his bike! That's in North Carolina BTW. He told me he is riding to San Francisco then when the weather gets better to Yellowstone. I tried to tell him what I was doing but I don't think he understood too well. Its always fun to meet other travelers. Took a couple pix of his bike will post when I get home.
So fire the bike up after packing uo camp and vlogging about the days festivities. Top of at the gas station cause I'm going to need every last drop. Take off to get back to the BDR were Titus Canyon spits you out. I stop by Mesquite Sand Dunes, Devil's Cornfield, and Stovepipe Wells (the actual stovepipe) for pictures since they're on the way. Ride to Titus Canyon and up to the butthole? where you come out of it. I hike in a bit and take some pictures. Tis the best I could do! Haha I should have just ridden in a bit, but there was a park ranger as I was heading out so probably a bad idea =P
Hop back on the slab and head up north bout 40 miles to Ubehebe Crater and took some pics. Then I look at the Race Track Road and buncha jeeps and suvs are starting to go down it damn looks like trailsplitting will be happening =P
Its been a LONG time since I rode to the Racetrack it was the first time I went to DV and I was desert riding noob so it was hella hard for me. Well this time it didn't seem hard but its a lot longer ride than I remember. Reminds me of riding in Baja a lot actually. Literally all the 4x4 roads in DV sgake the crap oit of you and the bike. The rocks were still plentiful and sharp, I seem to remember it being really bumpy maybe they smoothened it out a bit. But I remember the first part being the worst. First you start off riding in Volcanic sand. Then it transitions to rocky wash bardy road. Then it gets maybe a little less rocky just a little. I passed like 7 SUVs also =P. They're SOOOO slow like it takes them like 2 hours to get to the racetrack slow bwahaha. Some sections you can just rip it like after Tea Kettle Junction 70+ mph most of the time average 40mph still have to be careful of traffic around turns.
Eventually I get to the racetrack and I shit you not there was a dude there in a Mazda 3 sedan! I couldn't believe it everyone was driving trucks/suvs and this dude does it in a car! More power to him! I would have at least taken a SUV a softroader one. Anyway I take a picture in the middle with the info plaque and head down to the end and stsrt looking for moving rocks. I find the rocks, haha funny story about this is that the first time I went here I had no idea where to find the moving rocks until I rode back and talked to someone in a Hyundai SUV and he told me it all the way at the end of the playa haha so I wound up riding all the way back and to the end. Anyway I take a buncha pix of the rocks and leave.
There were people there too a couple was at the moving rocks before me. Another dude taking pictures showed up later. I chat with a group that was driving a rent a jeep and I told them my story I love telling people my story and blowing their minds, they always ask if I was alone also. One dude tells me a story about when he was younger he rode CB750 all over the country. He said he crashed in Florida when it was raining he. Rashed into the back of a car and broke his leg. Its always great swapping stories I told them about all about my adventures on the TAT and BDR. I also ran into them at Tea Kettle Junction and they helped me take a picture =)
SECTION 5 FINISHED!
SECTION 6 START!
At the Racetrack done searching for moving rocks time to start sextion 6. There are 2 route after race track Lippincott pass and Hunter Mountain. I decide to take Lippincott pass since I hear all about it, I wanted to see what all the fuss is about. I was a bit bervous. I ride to that camoground area after the turn to Lippincott pass and take a snack break. Then I had down Lippincott pass. It's defibitly steep and rocky. The views are amazing. I just took it slowly. Important part is to choose a good line through the rocks. I will admit there were like two nasty sections that I stopped and scouted a line through. The rest wasn't too bad. One you get to the bottom it gets easier and you ride straight to Saline Valley road on this trail that has boulders along the side. Whew cleared the "Expert" section! :thumbup
Then the next section is Saline Valley Road long dirty road that twists and turns through the mountain. Was a lot of fun sliding the bike around the corners have to be careful of traffic though many blind turns. I was by this jeep on one corner we were both going around 35mph good thing I stuck right! Saw 5 other riders pass ny also. You start going down eventually and there are tons of Joshua Trees. Another group of riders come by and they ask me if the road was and and I said yes I came from Racetrack. They were riding quite the assortment of Japanese dualsports XR400, WR250R, CRF250L, and DRZ400. I bid them farewell and get to the intersection to go to White Talc Mountain Road.
So I was getting confident clearing all the hard sections so I figured I'd go for Cerro Gordo. At the intersection you hang a right on White Talc Mountain Road. It's nice wide flat graded road that goes straight fir a few miles you can just get on it and you see Joshua Trees flying by at 65mph. Then gradually as you get farther down the road it becones more curvy and bumpy so gotta slow it down a bit. Then as you go on it it gets more and more rocky. Then you get to Cerro Gordo Pass...
And I'll just copy what happened and paste it right here:
I had to BAILOUT of Cerro Gordo. I was getting confident after conpleting all the "expert" sections I looked at the map and and it did mention the possibility of snow. I got complacent with snow because it was so nice in the south haha. I climbing Cerro Gordo and it no joke it steep, rocky, and deep gravel. It was actually a lot of fun until I hit snow hah. I see a little snow patches, then streams, then more snow! It was like riding on ice the rear tire did not want to hookup. This snow was like snow thats been sitting around for awhile so it was really hard. BTW I'm around 6k or 7k feet elevation and the bike has like no power hah. I'm chugging right along and I hit a patch of snow and start veering to th left of the trail at like 25mph and I lowside it and sliding on the snow headibg towards this big box looking rock and BAM the bottom of the bike slams into it. If there was no skidplate I'm sure the end would have got windowed! I pick the bike up, it was hard to get up thr way it fell. Then I fire it up decide I will try again and ride down a bit turn around and ride up maube 1/8 mile and there's more snow. I hike up the trail a little bit and there are no more dry patches it was all snow =( I'm maybe a 1/4 of the way through the. cerro Gordo and decide that's it turn around. I didn't listen to the sbow advice from the map haha. So I turn around and ride all the way back to Saline Valley Road. I did rip it down the flat section at 75mph though I made quick work of it. Its easier going down than up also because of the power. Whew what a ride! For what its worth that was a fun trail but I think I'm going to take all the easier routes from here on out the bit is getting beat up pretty bad. =/ I woukd totally ride that trail again if it was dry.
Quick update still on section 7, camped at big pine and it was pouring rain all night hard to sleep. Wake up and the Sierras are covered with snow. Its about 0940 right now and the rain seemes to have stopped supposedly its not going to rain till tonight so time to head to Benton! Looms like my chance of taking SR88 back disappearee also chains required now few days ago was no restrictions =(
Have to get oil for the DR in bishop and had to adjust chain 3 clicks last night hope it lasts the ride home =/ gotta take it easy. Gonna be slimy out there.
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HadesOmega
Well-known member
MADE IT TO BISHOP! SECTION 7 COMPLETE! NO BAILOUTD BUT CLOSE!
It was a bunch of backcountry and OHV dirt roads to Bishop. LOYS OF WATER! There were huge mud puddles that I had to go around slow going in the beginning. Passed by a cool satelite dish array also. Had to bushwack to get around sone puddles. The road improved layer on though. I'm gettung got at reading terrain again =) The rocky and sandy roads are much better to ride when wet compared to tge dirt roads thag turn to mud.
Fun easy cruise along the mountains sierras packed with snow! It was longer than I thought I think it was a good idea to camp last,night I wouldn't jave made it to Bishop by nightfall.
Bought a quart of oil at NAPA and more chain lube. Ran out at the right time could have used oil a while ago though. I remember I needed to buy oil on the NVBDR so I think this is normal. Almost 2000 miles total trip and almost 1000 mileds CABDR! This BDR is no joke! Wish my bike were younger! =)
I saw a sign chains required on US395 17miles ahead and. Ice on US 6 where I just rode. So looks like the BDR route is the way to go the finish is in sight! Last section is suppose to be easy I'll take my time and there suppose to be lots of Petroglyohs along the way =)
SECTION 8 COMPLETE SOUTHERN CA BDR COMPLETE!
After 975 miles on the CABDR and 46.2 miles on Section 8, and 1979 Total HadesOmega BDR miles HadesOmega and CactusPuncher have completed the CABDR! :thumbuparty
Ahh what an ordeal it was getting to the finish point. It hasn't quite sunk in that I have accomplished something awesome, I really just been hammering out these routes like playing a sheet of music, but now it's over and time to go home and that in itself will be another adventure!
Ok rewind to the start of Section 8 start in Bishop after a little bit of maintenance and refueling the body and motorcycle. I wish I had not of put fuel in the bike because it would have been good to have it as light as possible. We ride back to the start point at the other side of town where US6 is and where the endpoint is and hop back on US6 north. Ride it up for a few miles and then you make a left onto 5 Bridges Road that has all this mining or quarry equipment like for making cement. You ride down that road for about half mile and then you come up to FIsh Slough Road.
FIsh Slough Road is a dirt road that goes through the mountains. BTW we are at over 4k feet right now which will become important in a bit. So riding down this wide dirt road it's the muddy type of dirtroad again and it's the puddly kind like the section we first rode this morning. There were HUGE puddles err lakes. I had to bushwhack again to get around the lakes. One of them was like 50 feet long the whole road flooded! Noway I'm riding through that and its muddy underneath. I'm getting that feeling as I go along the conditions will get worse as I go along.
Yeah that's the road it's a lake now
Sorry I know they want you to stay on the road but kinda have to do this.
Muddy Conditions
Luckily after a couple bushwhackings the road got better it was the more sandy type of road that holds the water better. It's beautiful rolling hills out here.
Beautiful out here
It gradually goes up and down but it gradual just go up more though. So we're going up and we're almos 5k feet, I'm like nah we need to go down please.
It was a bunch of backcountry and OHV dirt roads to Bishop. LOYS OF WATER! There were huge mud puddles that I had to go around slow going in the beginning. Passed by a cool satelite dish array also. Had to bushwack to get around sone puddles. The road improved layer on though. I'm gettung got at reading terrain again =) The rocky and sandy roads are much better to ride when wet compared to tge dirt roads thag turn to mud.
Fun easy cruise along the mountains sierras packed with snow! It was longer than I thought I think it was a good idea to camp last,night I wouldn't jave made it to Bishop by nightfall.
Bought a quart of oil at NAPA and more chain lube. Ran out at the right time could have used oil a while ago though. I remember I needed to buy oil on the NVBDR so I think this is normal. Almost 2000 miles total trip and almost 1000 mileds CABDR! This BDR is no joke! Wish my bike were younger! =)
I saw a sign chains required on US395 17miles ahead and. Ice on US 6 where I just rode. So looks like the BDR route is the way to go the finish is in sight! Last section is suppose to be easy I'll take my time and there suppose to be lots of Petroglyohs along the way =)
SECTION 8 COMPLETE SOUTHERN CA BDR COMPLETE!
After 975 miles on the CABDR and 46.2 miles on Section 8, and 1979 Total HadesOmega BDR miles HadesOmega and CactusPuncher have completed the CABDR! :thumbup
artyAhh what an ordeal it was getting to the finish point. It hasn't quite sunk in that I have accomplished something awesome, I really just been hammering out these routes like playing a sheet of music, but now it's over and time to go home and that in itself will be another adventure!
Ok rewind to the start of Section 8 start in Bishop after a little bit of maintenance and refueling the body and motorcycle. I wish I had not of put fuel in the bike because it would have been good to have it as light as possible. We ride back to the start point at the other side of town where US6 is and where the endpoint is and hop back on US6 north. Ride it up for a few miles and then you make a left onto 5 Bridges Road that has all this mining or quarry equipment like for making cement. You ride down that road for about half mile and then you come up to FIsh Slough Road.
FIsh Slough Road is a dirt road that goes through the mountains. BTW we are at over 4k feet right now which will become important in a bit. So riding down this wide dirt road it's the muddy type of dirtroad again and it's the puddly kind like the section we first rode this morning. There were HUGE puddles err lakes. I had to bushwhack again to get around the lakes. One of them was like 50 feet long the whole road flooded! Noway I'm riding through that and its muddy underneath. I'm getting that feeling as I go along the conditions will get worse as I go along.
Yeah that's the road it's a lake now
Sorry I know they want you to stay on the road but kinda have to do this.
Muddy Conditions
Luckily after a couple bushwhackings the road got better it was the more sandy type of road that holds the water better. It's beautiful rolling hills out here.
Beautiful out here
It gradually goes up and down but it gradual just go up more though. So we're going up and we're almos 5k feet, I'm like nah we need to go down please.
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HadesOmega
Well-known member
Then we come upon the Fish Slough Petroglyphs pretty cool. Then I look around a bit and I see a weee bit of snow around me.
Continue on and I see we are pretty much the same level and the snow in the surrounding hills. I ride along and gradually more snow.
I'm like WTF not again don't do this to me again BDR it's going to be a repeat of the NVBDR again! I'm chugging right along and it just gets snowier and snowier until I'm just following these 2track left by a truck. I think it was two trucks following each other because sometimes I see 4 tracks. I am so lucky these trucks came rolling through here with all the crappy road conditions they literally plowed the road for me just enough to no have to ride through the snow. So I'm threading the needle on this track. I'm starting to panic because there is snow everywhere. Luckily this snow is not like the snow at Cerro Gordo it wasn't snow ice it was fresh powdery snow sorta. The road was actually not that wet underneath the snow also because it freezes first. The road was in good conditions too. But there are section it's really squirrely so I slow down a lot to like around 30mph and just slowly make my way. Had the bike get all crazy sometimes but I managed to keep it in check. I think having the weight distrobution in the center of the bike due to the Giant Loop is paying off.
So determined we push on and then the 2tracks turn right where I needed to turn left. Damn I lost my tracks and it's just up a hille where I'm going. I'm like shit this is can't follow the BDR anymore there was like a foot of snow covering the road. It was hard to even see where the road was. So I'm thinking and thinking and these 2 guys must've bailed out to US6 from here. Because the GPS map says the road that went left will take you to US6. So I think that is my only option unless I attempt to ride in the snow. I've never really ridden in the snow before so I practice a little I ride between the truck track in the snow and it looks like I can do it, it almost like riding in sand. EXCEPT you can't see what's under the snow. But we know there is a nice dirt road underneath. So I decide if I can make it to the top of that hill we'll continue on the BDR. So I turn around and try to go up the hill and no bueno flat snow is one thing but snowy hillclimb is another and the rear tire just want to spin and I can't see the road because of all the snow. I could barely make out a ditch on the side of the road and barely make out a bush. So that's it game over I turn around and follow the 2track...
That's the direction I'm suppose to go no more tracks =(
Continue on and I see we are pretty much the same level and the snow in the surrounding hills. I ride along and gradually more snow.
I'm like WTF not again don't do this to me again BDR it's going to be a repeat of the NVBDR again! I'm chugging right along and it just gets snowier and snowier until I'm just following these 2track left by a truck. I think it was two trucks following each other because sometimes I see 4 tracks. I am so lucky these trucks came rolling through here with all the crappy road conditions they literally plowed the road for me just enough to no have to ride through the snow. So I'm threading the needle on this track. I'm starting to panic because there is snow everywhere. Luckily this snow is not like the snow at Cerro Gordo it wasn't snow ice it was fresh powdery snow sorta. The road was actually not that wet underneath the snow also because it freezes first. The road was in good conditions too. But there are section it's really squirrely so I slow down a lot to like around 30mph and just slowly make my way. Had the bike get all crazy sometimes but I managed to keep it in check. I think having the weight distrobution in the center of the bike due to the Giant Loop is paying off.
So determined we push on and then the 2tracks turn right where I needed to turn left. Damn I lost my tracks and it's just up a hille where I'm going. I'm like shit this is can't follow the BDR anymore there was like a foot of snow covering the road. It was hard to even see where the road was. So I'm thinking and thinking and these 2 guys must've bailed out to US6 from here. Because the GPS map says the road that went left will take you to US6. So I think that is my only option unless I attempt to ride in the snow. I've never really ridden in the snow before so I practice a little I ride between the truck track in the snow and it looks like I can do it, it almost like riding in sand. EXCEPT you can't see what's under the snow. But we know there is a nice dirt road underneath. So I decide if I can make it to the top of that hill we'll continue on the BDR. So I turn around and try to go up the hill and no bueno flat snow is one thing but snowy hillclimb is another and the rear tire just want to spin and I can't see the road because of all the snow. I could barely make out a ditch on the side of the road and barely make out a bush. So that's it game over I turn around and follow the 2track...
That's the direction I'm suppose to go no more tracks =(
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HadesOmega
Well-known member
Might as well get a cool snow riding shot before I turn around
This is the snow practice I was doing
Saddened that we cannot follow the BDR up that snowy road we bailout. I follow the track out to a paved road! The paved road has no snow on it also! So I can either go right to US6 or go left.
I check my GPS map out and it looks like this road will actually link backup with the BDR! So I decide let's go! I follow the paved road which btw I believe had been plowed. I think these are residential road for people that live out here on the ranches. I even see a lady driving a big pickup turn gong the opposite from me. So we follow this paved road and eventually it branches off and we need to take a dirt road to get to the BDR. THen ride just a little bit and I look down and see a road going across look at the GPS and that's the BDR! We did it we successfully made a detour and can ride the rest of the BDR woohoo!arty
Where this road intersects with the BDR, you can see the BDR straight ahead
Back on track!
So ride down the dirt road a bit and link back up with the BDR. The road is a little muddy but great. This road must have been plowed also.
This is the snow practice I was doing
Saddened that we cannot follow the BDR up that snowy road we bailout. I follow the track out to a paved road! The paved road has no snow on it also! So I can either go right to US6 or go left.
I check my GPS map out and it looks like this road will actually link backup with the BDR! So I decide let's go! I follow the paved road which btw I believe had been plowed. I think these are residential road for people that live out here on the ranches. I even see a lady driving a big pickup turn gong the opposite from me. So we follow this paved road and eventually it branches off and we need to take a dirt road to get to the BDR. THen ride just a little bit and I look down and see a road going across look at the GPS and that's the BDR! We did it we successfully made a detour and can ride the rest of the BDR woohoo!
arty
Where this road intersects with the BDR, you can see the BDR straight ahead
Back on track!
So ride down the dirt road a bit and link back up with the BDR. The road is a little muddy but great. This road must have been plowed also.
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HadesOmega
Well-known member
On the right side you will occasionally see some slush so I try to stay on the left side as much as possible. We pass by a small ranch and continue on the BDR. We ride for a few more miles and we come up to this little town roll by it and the dirt road ends.
Then a few more miles and we come up to another very little town and I see steam rising from the ground THIS IS IT! BENTON HOT SPRINGS! I take a picture next to a hot spring behind the a fence.
Then we make a right turn on the BDR and pass by the Benton Hot Springs! Woohoo we did it but not really the end point is not here it is a few miles down the road which is US120 BTW (takes you to Tioga Pass). Take the 120 in the cold and a little bit of rain and we reach the town of Benton and the endpoint for Section 8 of the CABDR and the finish for CABDR we did it! Took some pictures next to the Benton sign. Whew what an adventure and what an adventure today was specifically with the snow. At one point I want to quite and bailout but as luck would have it we only needed to make a detour!
1979 Miles from home, 975 miles from Yuma, Arizona to Benton, CA, and like 42 miles through Section 8 we made i! At last I completed one of there long adventure ride in it entirety!arty
So now what? Well time for a HOT SPRING CELEBRATION! The last time I got any kind of hotel was in Yuma at the start of the BDR. The rest of the time has been camping. The camping is fantastic on this route if the weather is good that is. It's a pain to have to put up camp and take it down every morning but I'm poor can't go to hotel all the time but it's time to splurge!
So I road up and down US6 in Benton and there is like nothing out here. Can't even get phone signal. I stop at Benton Station the gas station in town and I get coffee and strawberry rhubarb pie to warm me up. It's literally freezing!
Then a few more miles and we come up to another very little town and I see steam rising from the ground THIS IS IT! BENTON HOT SPRINGS! I take a picture next to a hot spring behind the a fence.
Then we make a right turn on the BDR and pass by the Benton Hot Springs! Woohoo we did it but not really the end point is not here it is a few miles down the road which is US120 BTW (takes you to Tioga Pass). Take the 120 in the cold and a little bit of rain and we reach the town of Benton and the endpoint for Section 8 of the CABDR and the finish for CABDR we did it! Took some pictures next to the Benton sign. Whew what an adventure and what an adventure today was specifically with the snow. At one point I want to quite and bailout but as luck would have it we only needed to make a detour!
1979 Miles from home, 975 miles from Yuma, Arizona to Benton, CA, and like 42 miles through Section 8 we made i! At last I completed one of there long adventure ride in it entirety!
arty
So now what? Well time for a HOT SPRING CELEBRATION! The last time I got any kind of hotel was in Yuma at the start of the BDR. The rest of the time has been camping. The camping is fantastic on this route if the weather is good that is. It's a pain to have to put up camp and take it down every morning but I'm poor can't go to hotel all the time but it's time to splurge!
So I road up and down US6 in Benton and there is like nothing out here. Can't even get phone signal. I stop at Benton Station the gas station in town and I get coffee and strawberry rhubarb pie to warm me up. It's literally freezing!
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HadesOmega
Well-known member
Then it's time to head to the hot spring! We head back up 120 to Benton Hot Springs and its freezing raining a bit. I see the innkeeper dude and pull in to the lot and ask if they have room available. I thought about camping but it would be miserable camping right now especially with the rain and snow. They said that it's pretty slow this time of year so it was just me another couple that were here. I got a room for $119, it's really nice it kind of reminds me of the rooms at the Horsepower Ranch in Ensenada actually. Everything is old fashioned. Then he shows me the hotsprings awesome there are 3 hotsprings we can soak in. They have hot spring tubs at the campground area also I checked them out but it started snowing pretty hard.
Snowing right when I arrived
Pull the bags off the DR, sorry buddy you gotta stay out in the cold while I get to stay in a nice warm room.
Nice warm room and bed to sleep in tonight! Also all the hot water here comes from the hotspring. So once you turn the hot water on hot water immediately comes out. If you wanted to you could fill the bath up with water and just soak in the tube. Also the rooms share the bathroom but there was no one staying in the other room so I had it hall to myself.
Snowing right when I arrived
Pull the bags off the DR, sorry buddy you gotta stay out in the cold while I get to stay in a nice warm room.
Nice warm room and bed to sleep in tonight! Also all the hot water here comes from the hotspring. So once you turn the hot water on hot water immediately comes out. If you wanted to you could fill the bath up with water and just soak in the tube. Also the rooms share the bathroom but there was no one staying in the other room so I had it hall to myself.
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HadesOmega
Well-known member
Fancy bathroom toiletries
Some pictures of the Benton Hotsprings. This is the bathhouse for I guess if you are camping here. Can just hop into the hotspring all filthy.
A little building
Snow covered mountains
The main building
The entrance
A little pond and yes it has hotspring water in it
That was it relax pull all the bags off the DR and take em into the room because its soppy wet outside and nice and warm in the room. Then finally get to take a shower after so long and then hop into the hot spring woohoo! BTW the smallest is superhot! It's a little different than a Japanese hotspring. The onsens I have been to have the hotspring inside the hotel/ryokan. These ones are outside. I thought it would kinda strange to be in a hot spring and there was snow everywhere, like you would freeze once you get out but that didn't seem to be the case you stay warm for a while until you can get back to your room and you have a bathrobe. The bathrobe reminded me of the kimono or yukata at a Japanese hot spring hah. Also the hotspring water is different than Japanese hotsprings. The Japanese ones seems kinda greenish and they have a strong sulfur smell. The Benton hotspring seemed pretty clear and smells less of sulfur. I soaked in all of them and late at night I went one more time to watch the stars. It was great the skies cleared up and I said I'd stay till I saw a shooting star. The stars are great to view here!
Fancy bathroom toiletries
Some pictures of the Benton Hotsprings. This is the bathhouse for I guess if you are camping here. Can just hop into the hotspring all filthy.
A little building
Snow covered mountains
The main building
The entrance
A little pond and yes it has hotspring water in it
Yep it's cold
Some pictures of the Benton Hotsprings. This is the bathhouse for I guess if you are camping here. Can just hop into the hotspring all filthy.
A little building
Snow covered mountains
The main building
The entrance
A little pond and yes it has hotspring water in it
That was it relax pull all the bags off the DR and take em into the room because its soppy wet outside and nice and warm in the room. Then finally get to take a shower after so long and then hop into the hot spring woohoo! BTW the smallest is superhot! It's a little different than a Japanese hotspring. The onsens I have been to have the hotspring inside the hotel/ryokan. These ones are outside. I thought it would kinda strange to be in a hot spring and there was snow everywhere, like you would freeze once you get out but that didn't seem to be the case you stay warm for a while until you can get back to your room and you have a bathrobe. The bathrobe reminded me of the kimono or yukata at a Japanese hot spring hah. Also the hotspring water is different than Japanese hotsprings. The Japanese ones seems kinda greenish and they have a strong sulfur smell. The Benton hotspring seemed pretty clear and smells less of sulfur. I soaked in all of them and late at night I went one more time to watch the stars. It was great the skies cleared up and I said I'd stay till I saw a shooting star. The stars are great to view here!
Fancy bathroom toiletries
Some pictures of the Benton Hotsprings. This is the bathhouse for I guess if you are camping here. Can just hop into the hotspring all filthy.
A little building
Snow covered mountains
The main building
The entrance
A little pond and yes it has hotspring water in it
Yep it's cold
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HadesOmega
Well-known member
So I brought this with me in my wallet. It's the CA (South) sticker from the BDR sticker pack. Time for a ceremony!
Here is the map after Day 14
SO now what? Time to figure how to get home. SR88 was open when I was in Death Valley but now it is not. We can't go west because 120 is closed few miles from here. We can't take 395 north because you need chains. I checked the forecast for Tahoe and it say SNOW SNOW SNOW haha. So there's only one thing to do GO SOUTH!
Some more pictures of Benton Hot Springs before we depart, you can walk around the little town and see stuff. They let you rent houses or cabins also.
Yep freezing
The parking lot
The corner this is on 120 btw
Mountains still covered in snow
You will see the hotspring running through the town. There is steam rising from it. Reminds me of the hotspring towns in Japan
Here is the map after Day 14
SO now what? Time to figure how to get home. SR88 was open when I was in Death Valley but now it is not. We can't go west because 120 is closed few miles from here. We can't take 395 north because you need chains. I checked the forecast for Tahoe and it say SNOW SNOW SNOW haha. So there's only one thing to do GO SOUTH!
Some more pictures of Benton Hot Springs before we depart, you can walk around the little town and see stuff. They let you rent houses or cabins also.
Yep freezing
The parking lot
The corner this is on 120 btw
Mountains still covered in snow
You will see the hotspring running through the town. There is steam rising from it. Reminds me of the hotspring towns in Japan
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SFMCjohn
13
looks like you'll be home in a few hours ... :ride
went to the SoCABDR premier last night in San Francisco and was shocked at how many people were there ... place was packed! Lots of interest in the CABDR ...
Was pretty impressed with how difficult the route in the movie appeared. Think I'd be pretty afraid by myself on a loaded KLR ... :thumbup
went to the SoCABDR premier last night in San Francisco and was shocked at how many people were there ... place was packed! Lots of interest in the CABDR ...
Was pretty impressed with how difficult the route in the movie appeared. Think I'd be pretty afraid by myself on a loaded KLR ... :thumbup
HadesOmega
Well-known member
The Benton Jail
Sign
Old hotel
Old auto repair building
There's two buffaloes in this picture
Bottles
Breakfast
Friendly cat
Here's a picture of one of the room attached to mine, took a peep inside.
Sign
Old hotel
Old auto repair building
There's two buffaloes in this picture
Bottles
Breakfast
Friendly cat
Here's a picture of one of the room attached to mine, took a peep inside.
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