dirt dame

Not sure. I just know that they were laying around long enough for critters to gnaw on them.

I guess y'all had some pretty hot weather last week. Well, we got some of that too, but a milder version. Perfect for another out of season trail ride on the high desert of Wyoming. Kim and I moseyed down towards Utah, to explore some trails near Flaming Gorge, staging not far from Minnie's Gap and the Glades. I have fished near there, but have never poked around with my trail bike on the UTV trails through the hills. It turned out to be pretty fun day, and the temperature was just under 80 degrees. The trails were dry and dusty, and sometimes really rocky and steep in places. We didn't make it to our target destination to the north, which was Little Mountain, which we have ridden up from the opposite side. Kim has this app on her phone that shows all the secondary dirt routes....whether they actually exist or not, and we spent a little too much time chasing "ghost" trails that we had to turn around on. I much prefer to check Google Earth, because I can actually see where routes poop out, and avoid them. So far, I haven't been wrong about this, but will entertain Kim's misplaced trust for the sake of a little extra adventure from time to time.

Yes.

Taking advantage of all this nice weather up here. It snowed early in the week, but most of it blew away and the rest melted. Drove up to Kim's place, about 13 miles out of town, and we went for an afternoon ride up to the top of Aspen mountain and then down its spine. Weather was around 50 degrees and partly cloudy. We encountered a bit of snow, ice, mud and water while riding up a northern slope trail through some aspen trees, but that was the only spot with that much wintery terrain. We slithered through it pretty well and continued to the peak, then headed east, down the spine of the mountain. When we reached the valley floor again, we prepared to circle back to the ranch via two track and some cross country, but my TE 501 had other ideas and stopped running rather abruptly. It did sound like anything mechanical, and the dash didn't throw any codes, so I was initially stumped. Kim offered to shortcut back to the ranch and get her truck, and it seemed like the best plan...so off she went. Having nothing to do while I was waiting, I opened up my waist pack to see what tools I might tinker with on the bike, thus killing some time and maybe fixing the problem. I spied a little plastic container with 3 tiny fuel filters nestled inside and the lightbulb lit up in my head. My cell phone rang right then. It was Kim and she was ready to head out with the truck. I told her that I was going to try swapping out the old fuel filter for a fresh one and see what that might do. She said okay, if I got the bike running, just ride it back up the trail to Sweeny Canyon road and she would meet me there. I said okie dokie, and proceeded to change out the filter, Sure enough, the machine roared to life the instant I hit the starter button. I wasted no time donning my gear and heading back to the road. I had totally forgotten about the fuel filter problem and that I had been carrying the filters for just such an occasion. I always change the filter out every time I do a valve adjust, but I may have forgotten to on the last service. It isn't the same living up here in an apartment with my bikes locked up in a shed a few miles away. I always did maintenance pretty much right on time back in the good old days of having a garage attached to a house....sigh..... Yeah, the ride was cut short, but all's well that ends well. Hoping for more good weather coming up this month, and very excited for the summer months when I can once again head up into the green Uinta mountains.

Not a replaceable or repairable part unfortunately. A lot of synthetic materials don't hold up very well over time, and will tend to oxidize and lose their elasticity. Washing and using cleaners like The Tannery will help keep boots in good shape, along with storing them where dust and wide temperature changes don't occur also helps.

For the last 3 winters up here in prairieland, it's been too cold and snowy to even think about hitting the trails on a motorcycle. The snow hides ravines and gullies that could swallow a rider up if they weren't careful. Usually, I just go fishing in the winter. This year has been exceptionally dry, and somewhat warmer than usual, making for a few opportunities to get out on the northern desert, so my buddy Kim and I chose last weekend to stretch our bike's legs and gather up some sunshine and fresh air. We picked the area that I rode at on Christmas, and made a nice 50 mile loop out there, revisiting an old homestead that we rode to back in the summer of 22. There were a few patches of snow and ice here and there, and the creeks were especially daunting, as they were frozen over and had some snow on top of them, making for slippery and uncertain crossings. But for the most part, it was pretty dry and dusty. We had a blast, for sure. Looks like more warm, dry weather for this weekend, so I'll probably head out while the "gettin' is good".

I hadn't been out for a few weeks (other than to go fishing) and wanted to get one last ride in for the year. For somebody who used to ride 2 or 3 time a week, but can't do that anymore because of the rugged climate and also having to work full time, this ride meant a lot to me. I managed to get 16 rides in this last year, and that was a few more than the year before. I'd like to get a few more rides than 16 in for 2026, so hopefully there will be some mild weather in the next few months, although we really need some decent snowpack this winter. Anyway, the weather looked as though it might be dicey on Christmas day, so I was still lounging around in my tiny apartment at 11 a.m.. But the sun was still out and the temperature was above 40 degrees, so on a whim I threw on some riding duds, (including some brand new boots that I got myself for Christmas) and headed over to the storage shed to pick up Mr. 501, who was sporting a new set of sprockets and drive chain. Then I drove about 20 miles out of town and unloaded the bike. I didn't have more than about two hours to ride, as I was supposed to join friends for a nice prime rib supper, later in the afternoon. I had the whole countryside to myself and rode about 40 miles of two track, getting back to the staging area just before the weather broke. It was the best Christmas that I have had in Wyoming, so far.

Merry Christmas!🌲 Managed to squeeze one more ride in today, up on the prairie since the weather has been mild so far this winter.

I carry a light balaclava in my pack, along with insulated waterproof gloves. The lake in the background is Flaming Gorge reservoir.

I was hoping to get a ride or two after this ride, but fate said "no". I got busy and tired and this and that, and then on Thanksgiving weekend, the weather began to get wintery. So....11/09 was probably the last time for me to get a ride in for the rest of the year. It started out pretty chilly that morning....17 degrees when I went to the storage unit to pick up the 501. It warmed up to the low 40s by the time I reached my staging spot in the mountains, so that wasn't too bad. I had a short warm up loop in the forest area and then headed down to what I like to call the Utah moors....just a rocky plateau of shallow rolling hills. I had been there before, but wanted to explore further. I found a nice little pocket of sparsely spaced forest that had a good loop running through it, and a couple of other interesting trails. I was also going to hit a little pavement and head over to Dowd mountain and run the scenic loop there, but tarmac speeds were a little too chilly-willy for me, so I turned back and headed in early. Good thing too, because I hadn't been paying attention to just how worn out my drive components were getting. I bought sprockets and chain last year actually, but then forgot about doing the maintenance. Things are different when your bikes live somewhere else besides at your home. Out of sight-out of mind. Anyway, I did the work and changed out the parts the following weekend. So all is good, except for the weather.

I stay logged onto the forum, but when I tried to go to the home page, I got this warning. So I went directly to Paypal instead.

There are a lot of big wide road routes up in the Uintas, but a lot of the stuff I was riding is for vehicles that are 50 inches wide or less. And I know that there is a lot of smooth areas showing in the shots I took, but there are also a lot of steep hills, rocks and hairpin turns (sometimes all combined). There's something for everyone, except single track. I haven't found any real single track routes up there, but the two track ATV stuff is just as good. I have never encountered an ATV on any of it.

I figured that that last weekend may be the height of the full fall colors up in the Uinta mountains, so I packed up Bugz Beta and headed south for a day of frenzied shutter clicking. The mountains did not disappoint, and the weather was perfect, with a mixture of sun and storm clouds and balmy temperatures.