DigDug

I think I'm catching on... Like a big table - riders -vs- trails. Maybe a scale of 1-10 with 1 being easiest 10 being most difficult would be a little more descriptive and give us a better perspective. So if you're going on a ride (on a new to you trail) with DigDug and he says he rates the new trail as a 5, you can go look at the table, find a familiar trail that DigDug has also rated as a 5, then see how you rated the familiar trail from the table... say a 3 (since you're so much more studly than DigDug). You now have a trail to compare it to. Is that kind of what you were getting at? I like it... Could be massive project depending on the number of trails and riders - but I'd say it's worth a shot. I'm kind of an Excel geek, so I could compile the data if nobody else wants to.

I'd be great to have you along!!! I'd do Jacumba with you, but can't ride both days either. Also, my son hasn't ridden since the beginning of July and Green Stickers wont do any good up at Jacumba. That kid's gotta hurry up and get old enough to get his motorcycle permit

I was eyeing that trip and trying my best to go. That stuff looks amazing! But with my son's birthday and being unsure if his green sticker would be best up there, I figured a local ride would be better. Also, Mom wants to spend some time with her kids (me and jr) this weekend too... It'd be great to have you along!!!

Hey Crawdaddy, Have you ridden up there before? Any details on what the trails are like? Are they all dual-sport or is green sticker ok? This weekend is my son's birthday so my chances of a hall pass are slim, but I might be able to swing it if he goes along and we call it a father and son birthday celebration. I'm going to have to bookmark those sites for future use in any case!!! :dance3:

Welcome to the board. Keep posting those rides and you'll almost always have someone join you. This place seems to have a great variety of rides going on. From mild tours to hardcore tecnical. Great to have you on board!!!

Great ride carguy!!! Thanks for the open invite. Good scenery, good riding, good group. Nice way to spend a few hours on a Saturday morning. Like others have said, there are all sorts of trails out there, just begging to be explored. Gotta go back. Here are a few of my pictures from the ride. (sorry for stopping so much to take them, I hope I didn't slow everyone down too much). Zipping off from the Valero, along the border road: Hill climb, up to the mines. This was a fun little section: Ride-Orange showing off a little: Resting at the top before walking a bit to get a tour of the mines from carguy: Fun little hillclimb. I think this was part of what carguy called KLR canyon: papaalex finessing his way up one of the climbs: section of loose sand: Ride-Orange showing off again, although I don't think this one was intentional and it didn't turn out as well (see this thread and carguy's video midway down the first post: http://www.dualsport-sd.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1428 ) papaalex looking over a techincal downhill before committing to it: Once again, thanks carguy for a great tour of the area. Thanks everyone else for making good company. Let me know when you're going back to explore a bit more!!!

This ride sounds like a blast. Put me in the "possible maybe" category. (ie- don't wait if I'm not there at showtime). I still have manuver the family schedule to get a "hall pass" for 1/2 day Saturday.

Well, I paid a visit to my dad over the 4th of July week and weekend. He lives in Mapleton, UT at the foothills of the Unita National Forest. I figure that if I was going to be up there, I might as well bring the bikes. I jumped on the nat'l forest website and downloaded all the OHV maps for the area, loaded the KTM and DigDugJr's KLX in to the truck (I threw in JR's old KLX-125 in case my brother-in-law wanted to tag along), and headed out. What we found when we got up into the mountains was INCREDIBLE!!!! That place is a single track paradise. There's a very strong pro-OHV presence and they maintain some of the greatest single-track trails I've ridden on. Here's a few shots to make you jealous: First day, we headed out up Hobble Creek Canyon. We decided to ride a forest road that wound it's way behind the mountains that overlook the valley. Great views, mostly easy road. Here's DigDugJr heading up to the overlook side trail we found: And the view from the lookout: The bikes at the top of the canyon - looking out towards the valley: Having taken in some of the sights, we decided it was time to hit the singletrack. We turned off on this trail, thinking "is this really a trail?". Yes it was... and it was AWESOME (even if it was a little overgrown). No quads up this one: Here's DigDugJr getting his money's worth out of those barkbusters: The trail opened up into a bowl. Beautiful! We were the only ones up here. Here the trail climbs the side of the bowl towards that ridgeline you can see in the background. Don't go too far left. The altimeter on my GPS was showing 9700' elevation - we tried to avoid bulldogging if could help it! We crested the ridgeline, and dropped down the other side. This trail was rough!!! Since it had been sooo dry, the powdery dirt made it SLICK. Here's a shot on the way down: Getting close to the parking area at the bottom of this trail. Cool little bridges to keep the knobbies out of the soft streambed: We hit the parking lot at the bottom of the hill, tired, out of water and late in the day. We decided that we'd had enough and didn't want to fight the trail back uphill. I used the "dual-sport" part if the EXC to get the truck and come back and pick up Jr. Great day!!! Great trails... To Be Continued... Stand by for day 2.......

That's interesting... How do you go about doing that? Register it at your base there? Have any links to the laws that allow it? Might open up some options... Thanks

iTS PLATED Excellent!!!! That IS quite a find. Don't let the Big Red Pig (650) get lonely by not riding it... Post up some pics...

Great bike and a great find. Hopefully you got a good deal on it. Those things will run forever, just like their big brothers. Wouldn't happen to have a plate, would it?

Great map Steve!!! Where'd you find that if you don't mind me asking? EDIT - I should have googled before I posted. Here's the link for those intersted: http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/sanbernardino/recreation/ohv/

That's a bit closer too. My son really wants to go and ride the Paiute Trail. Here's a link about it: http://www.utah.com/offroad/paiute_trail.htm It seems to me that it's mostly easy, but scenic and long. I think the real reason he wants to do it is because you can ride a "dirt-bike" or atv on the streets of the towns the trail runs through. I think it'd be a blast to do a 3 or 4 day loop of the area, spending the nights in motels around the trail. Although, sometimes you just gotta hit some of that rough, technical stuff too...

Just thought I'd share some of my experience My son didn't mention any problems with the KLX (he may have been too busy hanging on to notice), but I did notice the altitude on the KTM. Most rides started out around 5000' and went up to close to 10,000'. I noticed more of a throttle response lag the higher I got, rough idle (fixed by turning up the idle speed manually), etc. I also noticed more symptoms each day (plug beginning to foul I guess). I tried a fiddling a little with the idle mixture screw which helped a little, but the real solution should be swapping the jets. When I got home and did the service, I noticed the plug was pretty sooty from the richness. I've since got the JD Jetting kit that comes with a good selection of jets and needles to accomodate differing altitudes and even cold temperatures - A little expensive for what you get ($70 or so), but you're if you consider that you're paying for more than just the jets/needles (you're really paying for the research, tests, trials, instructions, etc) it's not too bad. The KTM is VERY easy to rejet (10 maybe 15 minutes at the most if I do the needle too), so I'll probably swap the jets out for every major change in riding conditions I go on. MUCH easier than the XR - you don't even have to pull the carb off the bike.

Aww.. come on... lots of great riding around here! Even if it is a little on the desert side. One thing this trip DID do for me was tell me that I need to get a Friday off and head up to the Sierra's for some camping/riding here. If it's anything like the Uinta's I'll be in heaven!!! As far as bikes go for the Unita's - at least up there, you don't have to deal with the whole Green/Red sticker mess. I've also heard that plating is still possible (and even quite easy) in Utah. I may have to "sell" my son's KLX to my dad to get a plate on it...

Day 3 - This was Saturday, so my brother-in-law was off work. We offered to let him tag along on my son's old 125 which he readily accepted. He used to ride an old XL200, so he's a little out of practice. The 125 is perfect for that type of rider though. Geared low, extremely low seat height (although absolutely no suspension or power). We all had a blast!!! For day 3, we headed up American Fork Canyon. According to my online research, this was the local Mecca for single-track. I'd have to agree. Here's a few shots: Here we take a break after a log crossing to wait for the lil 125 to catch up: Jr negotiating a loose, rocky climb: More sweet woods riding along the ridgeline: KTM poses on one of the steeper, looser climbs along the ridge: AWESOME views of the mountains to go along with the riding! There were quite a few loose, rocky climbs to negotiate. Here, Jr and the in-law discuss the plan of attack - all the while I'm saying "shut up and ride!" Taking a break in the shade. Check out that dirt mustache!!! More ridgeline running. Check out that view!!! EXCELLENT technical single-track. Don't turn left! Heck, don't even look left!!! More of that lovely technical stuff!!! A good example of trail maintenance. If you can't move the log, cut out a piece just wide enough for the bikes to get through: At the end of the ridgeline, we rode this double-black-diamond down the the canyon floor. Not much trouble going down, other than the TIGHT switchbacks. Not one of the three bikes could make the turns on the switchbacks, so we had to do a little "manuvering" on the edge. I think DigDugJr rode most of this trail with the motor off (a pretty good plan if you ask me). I think I rode most of this trail without breathing: Down in the main canyon (still at over 8000' elevation) we head up to the top. Here we're at the top of a rocky climb, taking a rest: And at the top. Acutally, the trail keeps going on, but Jr and the in-law were pretty beat by then and we were all out of water. Okay, so Sr was a little beat too. The elevation here is just under 10,000'. From where my KTM is parked, you can see the trail cut hard up the hillside away from the camera. It was very loose and powdery (probably 3-4 inches of loose dirt). We ran into a couple other riders that were headed up and they said the trail was pretty much "unridable" since it was so dry and loose. These were guys that had ridden to the top a few times - so we didn't feel to bad since the locals only went this far. Don't you think the orange looks good in this setting?? From there, having conquered the mountain, we zipped back down the main forest road back to the truck to pack up and head back home. In all, we had a great time!!! I'd have to say this is some of the funnest, most scenic riding I've ever done. I'm definately going to go back!!! It was well worth the 9 hour drive to get there - even DigDugJr says so and he HATES being stuck in the car. THE END SDAR road trip anyone????

Day 2 - we decided to hit a local canyon - Maple Canyon. It was no more than 5 miles from my dad's house. It's a good thing I don't live there, I'd be up this thing every day and never get anything else done. This is another "no quads" sized trail. Hikers, horses, mountain bikes, and luckily dirt-bikes only. The trail winds its way up the sides a nice shady canyon, crossing the stream a few times before dropping into the streambed itself. You have to ride up the streambed (with running water) for about 1 mile before the trail climbs the side of the canyon up the ridgeline. Here, DigDugJr leads the way up the rocky streambed... This is awesome stuff: More rough streambed. Yup, you CAN ride up this stuff (it's good fun too!!!) The rocks like to reach out and pull the bike over once in a while. By the way, I found a good way to help Jr pick up his bike quicker - all without sweating myself - Pull out the camera and try and get a shot of it on the ground. Here I was a little quicker on the shutter than he was lifting (I'm such a mean dad) The trail leaves the tight canyon and winds its way through some great mountain meadows and rocky climbs: At the top of the climb, checking out the view and the trail in the distance as it winds its way along the ridgelines: A little "log hopping" along the shady portion of the trail: We decided to make it a short day. Went back to the truck, loaded up and headed back for some well deserved rest. Another great single-track day!!! To be continued... Stand by for Day 3....

Sorry, no pics. I had taken the battery out of my camera to charge it, and guess what? I forgot it. No wonder the power wouldn't come on... Well, Dirt Dame, No Shift, and I met up at the trailhead mentioned in the post. We quickly got ready in the 90 degree heat and started moving to get the airflow. Nice brisk pace along some very scenic fire roads up towards the antennas at Santiago Peak. About 2/3rds the way to the towers, we stopped to take a break in a shady ravine when we hear coming up behind us another bike. Up pulls tntmo. He had gotten caught in traffic and arrived late - good thing we stopped for a break. As a group of 4, we continued up to the antennas to check out the view. Great view!!! There was a haze hanging low over the valley (which we were fortuntately above), and we could see the tops of the mountains of both Santa Catalina and San Clemente Islands. We continued along until time started getting short - pretty much returning the way we came. This area is pretty neat. Mostly easy forest roads. Friendly to both big bikes and newbies, although the more adventurous can take the short "side trails" for more of a challenge. I'm not saying that we did that - I mean left the main road or anything - but IF someone were to - I bet it'd be a blast on some of the single track sections. I was able to find an official trail - single-track type road, a nice little shortcut that moved me from sweep to ahead of lead... I think the phrase I heard used was "the road that never ends". This thing went on for probably 40 miles. One of these days, it'd be a good trip to go all the way to Corona for gas and lunch, then head back to the trucks. I had a great time everyone!!! thanks for keeping me company...

We had a great ride on a warm Friday afternoon... Thanks everyone... writeup here: http://www.dualsport-sd.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1364

The boss is out of the office!!! In other words, my wife is planning on going to Catalina this Friday with some friends, leaving me all alone( -I mean- :clapping: ). I'm toying with the idea of getting off work early and doing a little exploring in the Cleveland National Forest off hwy 74. I've ridden a little up there - towards Santiago Peak, and would like to poke around some more and see what else is up there. I figured this was a good spot, because I have to pick my wife up at the Dana Point Harbor at 8:00pm. I'm trying to get up there by 1:00-2:00pm, ride for 4 or 5 hours and be back at the truck by 6:00-6:30 for the 1 hr drive to the harbor. Everything I've seen up there is relatively easy forest roads - all bigger bike/newbie friendly (those more familiar with the area can probably elaborate). Although, if there is more challenging stuff there and the group wants to, I'd be up for some of that too. I'm thinking of staging off hwy 74 near the top of the ridgeline overlooking Lake Elsinore and riding up to the antennas - maybe explore a few of the side canyons or further along the ridgeline - depending on the time. I'm pretty sure the boss has my weekend schedule full, so this might be my only chance for a dirt fix for this weekend... All of this is flexible - I'm open to suggestions... If I wind up going, does anyone want to tag along? Okay... here's the latest plan. Due to work, I'm not going to be able to get to the trailhead until 2:00pm. So that's my rally time. I'm hoping to be turning knobbies by 2:30 at the latest. Rally point is at the dirt turnoff/gate (which I hope is open) of the Main Divide trail, which is off of Highway 74. Here's a satellite image of the area: If you're coming from the Elsinore side, I BELIEVE it's the first turnoff once you reach the top of the grade (I THINK it is). It's labeled "Main Divide Road". You turn Right (North) there and according to google maps, it's 4.1 miles. There's a dirt turnoff on the right (if you come in from the way I mentioned) and the dirt road continues south/southwest. Last time I was up there, the gate was open (a month or two ago) and the forest service website shows the road open. If the gate is closed, we can still stage there, ride some pavement to the south side of 74 and some dirt trails down in there. Maybe hit the Wildomar OHV area and work our way up the back side of the mountain. I'm going to try and be back at the trucks by 7:00pm at the latest. This parking area is inside the national forest and you'll need an adventure pass to park here. My cell phone number is on the image (I don't like to post it as text on the internet) if you run into any problems. I'll be in the black diesel Silverado with the 450 EXC. It'd be great to see some of you up there!!!

One thing I forgot to mention - don't forget your National Forest adventure pass if you're trucking/trailering up there. We'll be "stopping to recreate"

If the poll is which of those three - I'd vote for #2. A smaller sticker would be easier to find a place to apply. Number plate, car window, toolbox, whatever.

Thanks rad... sometimes I do bonehead things like that!!

I posted a map/directions to the staging area as an edit to the first post of this thread (rather than bury it down further). I don't think you'll need much tread for these roads. I've read reports of guys doing these fire roads on very street oriented tires. Hopefully you and SCHWINN can get the work done. If not, how bald is your front knobbie? These are relatively easy fire roads from what I've heard, seen, and can remember - you might be ok. Although good knobs are always more fun to ride on... I've still got a patched tube in my front from last weekend's Big Bear rally. I'm going to try and get it swapped out for a fresh heavy duty tube this afternoon myself...

Hi Mimi