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Crawdaddy

Patton's Cabin to Bullhead City - ~180 mile wandering

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I've wanted to ride out to my place at the river for years but even I know that wouldn't be a smart "solo" ride........the timing worked out last week for Chris and Tracy to join me......

My wife dropped us off at the intersection of Palen Pass Rd. and Hwy 177 on Thursday afternoon and then drove on to our river house in Bullhead City........off we went towards Patton's Cabin......Tracy and I were impressed by CID's lean approach on camping gear as we rode off........we soon learned why he was so lean on gear.....

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We rode up the trail about ~11 miles and saw a jeep parked near the remains of some stone buildings.......we stopped to chat/make sure everything was Ok.......CID came out with the line, "Hey old timer, do you have any beer you can spare from that cooler"........Tracy and I thought that was a bold request until we realized CID's buddy, Jim, was the owner of the jeep.   Unbeknownst  to us, CID/Jim cooked up a scheme where Jim would drive out well ahead of us.......hence the reason CID was packed so light on camping gear.....

We had a good laugh and settled in for the night.......Patton's cabin is only ~11 miles up from Hwy 177 so it was a pretty damn quick opening day ride.......I was surprised to see it was so close since City Navigator had it hard pegged at 23.3 miles in from Hwy 177......pretty significant mapping error by Garmin!

Anyway, out came the chairs/booze/fire logs and we settled in for the night

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The next morning we headed off towards Midland Road/Hwy 62........we were over there in no time........easy dirt trails/major dirt roads

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The terrain and pace changed considerably after we crossed Hwy 62.    I laid out a path north on seldom used BLM roads......but I didn't realize just how seldom they were used. We were basically riding open desert for the next ~80(?) miles........the roads were there if you really focused.......sometimes we wandered then veered back........lot's of erosion ruts/washouts/etc.....I was VERY happy that I was able to off load all my camping gear with Jim that morning.......a duffle on the back would've made that ride much less enjoyable given the terrain......

I did my best to lead the boys......I forgot to transfer my radio headset over to my new lid so I'm sure the boys were talkin' smack as we bumped our way across the desert for hours.......luckily the temps weren't too bad.....

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Once we reached Turtle Mountain Road we swung a right and headed over towards Hwy 95.......it was there that we came across a mailbox in the middle of nowhere.......obviously a good place for a Kug sticker......

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CID hanging out

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We rolled across Turtle Mountain Rd. for a ways then came up to another Crawdaddy left turn that put us out in BFE for another ~30(?) miles........at times this long ago abandoned road was great......smooth sand wash running tight between cactus........but the majority was similar to the earlier roads(?) I led us on north of 62.......eventually we reached a pole line road that cut over towards Pirates Cove along the CO. river........we knocked out that ~20 mile stretch on a mixture of "legit" trails and rolled into Pirates for lunch........I think I drank about 3 large waters and 3 large lemonades....we were parched...

Tracy out in front of Pirates Cove:

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Then we hugged the river on dirt roads to the greatest extent possible as we headed ~30 miles north to Fort Mojave/Bullhead City.......std picture in front of the AVI once we reached Fort Mojave

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We laid around most of Sat.......speaking of "laid"........you never know where you'll find the Kug......some patrons at Lazy Harry's bar will only know him as "super studded premium temptation"

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Yesterday we rode over to Oatman for Breakfast and Lisa followed in the truck......many of us have had to suffer the wrath of CID when we change out a flat.......he typically sits there and snaps a picture of his boots while "supervising"......it was nice to turn the tables on that scenario yesterday morning:

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After breakfast in Oatman we rode up to Topock on slab.......we said our goodbyes to CID who was Havasu bound and loaded up the truck with my bike/Tracy's bike........a quick beer and we were on our way....

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:D

Thanks for tagging along boys........I'm already thinking about the next ride to the river house........don't worry, plotting out a different path north between Hwy 62 & Pirates......;)

 

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1 minute ago, Wierdrider said:

Great right up. ??

X2

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Awesome trip and big time Thanks to C-daddy for leading the ride and the hospitality at the river!  Tons of great riding out there for sure!  I'll post some pics when I get a chance

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     " Don't Worry. "    B)            Like the Second kick stand.

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Nice ride !!

Sure is a nice surprise when those "mysterious" support vehicles show up in the dry, thirsty desert.

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3 hours ago, amgems said:

Nice ride !!

Sure is a nice surprise when those "mysterious" support vehicles show up in the dry, thirsty desert.

"Rigger-like"

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Nicely done boys!

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That looks like a fun trip.  Did you save your tracks?

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2 hours ago, Mikey777 said:

That looks like a fun trip.  Did you save your tracks?

oh oh oh, let me answer that....of course he did rookie

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12 hours ago, Oracle said:

oh oh oh, let me answer that....of course he did rookie

The planned tracks and my active tracks are virtually identical........the path from 177 over to the intersection of Midland Rd. & Hwy 62 is easy/graded.......the only issue there is the incorrect location of my waypoint for Patton's Cabin......easily fixed.

The terrain is a bit sketchy north of Hwy 62........legit BLM roads but VERY lightly traveled/easy to veer off track in open desert......lots of erosion washouts....and therefore hard to maintain a decent pace and no fun if loaded down with gear (luckily we weren't loaded down thanks to CID's friend, Jim)

Some of the path north of Turtle Mountain Rd. is designated wilderness (now)......didn't realize that until we came out the other end.......once we reached a power line line road ~10 miles west of Lobecks Pass the roads/trails were legit/established all the way to Pirates Cove......the plan/path from Pirates up to AVI was simply staying on dirt roads/close to the river to the greatest extent possible......easily done

I'll likely stick with the path from 177 to 62 but I need to cook up some other options from there to Pirates......may head over towards Vidal and swing north or skip a stop at Pirates, go even further west, and loop around to the 40/Mojave Rd. and come into the AVI that way......

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Well done Crawdaddy, and fellas.  Driving west from Flagstaff yesterday, I was impressed with the terrain near Kingman as I was looking for riding areas all down the 95 as well as I went through Havasu, Parker, Blythe, and even a little of Bradshaw trail...  etc.   Didn't rent a rzr, so looked for 2 wheel routes.  Looks like you know them all!  No surprise!

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