dirt dame

Any off road motor vehicle of any size is required to be registered to be operated on public land in the state of California.

Kim texted me that she had intel on another old ranch site and it wasn't too far out,so perfect for another afternoon ride. I loaded the Beta up late in the morning and headed for Kolman ranch to start our jaunt. We took a small trail out to the familiar jeep track that went up through a stand of quaking aspen, it the main route towards the top of Aspen mountain, then split off the the south. By and by, we were running down a finger of the plateau, stopping to peer over the edges from time to time, to see cattle browsing around in the bottom land. As we rode downslope towards a valley, there was a track to our right which we followed down to the ruins of an old cattle operation. There was a spring creek down there and we stopped and took pictures. From there, we were heading back up another hill, when Kim stopped to look down into another draw her was a faint jeep track in the bottom that eventually piddled out into a cow single track. Kim also spotted what looked to be an old rusty car down there, but it was too far away to be sure of what we were looking at. So we turned around, went back towards the valley, found the jeep track and headed up the draw. By an by, we reached the vehicle and were surprised to find that it was disappointingly modern. If the expired 2014 registration tags were any indicator, it meant that the car had been there for 9 years. The interior was rotting out, as some windows were open, but the paint looked really good, so maybe the car hadn't been there quite that long. We looked through the car....not much in it but a "greaser" bag with a company logo on it, and a hard hat. Not one to waste anything, Kim took the greaser bag with her as we left the area. We saw the same band of wild horses that we had seen last time, and lots of antelope on our return route. We stopped near a sheep camp to watch antelope run. I looked behind us and there were two muttly sheep dogs eyeballing us. They were quiet, but not friendly, and came right over to pee on the tires of both our bikes, before heading back to the sheep wagon. We returned via the route we came up, stopping at Three Patches picnic ground to eat a snack and watch the weather start to roll in. Just another day on the plains, on bikes.

Hi, Spaugh! Ironically,I'm still here,but I'm no longer there.

It was some sort of a cattle operation camp. The wall is part of four that formed an enclosure and a small wooden shack once stood in the upper right corner.

Local fishing is pretty ho hum, but if you drive 80 miles south into Utah and up the Uinta mountains, fishing is pretty exciting and the scenery is beautiful.

Went for another afternoon trail jaunt across the prairie, last Tuesday. Rolling open hills and a bit of canyon riding through Sally Draw. Lots of places are named after women up here I suppose these places were named by love lorn cowboys of the day, who couldn't find any female companionship (other than dance hall girls). Anyway, we followed some backcountry dirt highways, some faint cross country two tracks, etc. and found ourselves on a cow trail on the backside of somebody's ranch at one point. Had a gnarly climb out of that canyon. It was the first time that I noticed the gas tank on my FE 501 actually start to boil. A 15 minute rest stop took care of that. We came across a quite large band of wild horses on the way back. They were somewhat scattered, but we estimated that there were over 40 of them meandering about. On the last stretch heading back to the staging area at Kolman Ranch, my front tire went flat. All in all though, it was a good day, as the afternoon wrapped up with some rain storms coming through.

I have very little interest in snowmobiles. I don't know anybody up here who owns one. Snowmobiles are expensive, large and heavy. I would have trouble transporting it, paying for the extra storage area it would need, and it would have to be transported pretty far to find enough snow to use. It gets cold here, but most of the snow blows away as soon as it hits the ground. Just a lot of extra trouble and money for something that I would consider a lot less practical and safe than a motorcycle. It would seem like a poor return on money invested.

Summer has been pretty good to us up here on the high plains. Lots more rain this summer, than last. Temperatures have been cooler this year too. My riding partner had her grand kids visit for a couple of weeks up at the ranch, so I hadn't seen her and her bike lately. We got out on the local trails on a couple of different days with an afternoon ride on Wednesday and a slightly longer route on Saturday, with the latter ride being the most interesting and fun in terms of the route and some dicey afternoon storm action. It was time to ride the Xtrainer again, since we were riding less than 50 miles on both days. Wednesday's route found us on the west side of Flaming Gorge, and Saturday's ride found us on the east side and just south of town. The weather on Saturday chased us back to the staging area a little early, and because of this, I also had to wash the gooey mud off my bike afterwards. But the temps were quite nice during the storm and there wasn't a lot of thunder and lightning, so all was well with the world. We will have about a month and a half to two months left for riding before winter weather sets in, and hopefully it won't be like last winter, so we can get some rides in between the beginning of autumn and spring.

Southern Wyoming, Sweetwater county.

The picture was taken at an abandoned USFS cabin on top of Little Mountain in southwest Wyoming, just a short jaunt from Flaming gorge and Three Corners (Wyoming, Colorado, Utah boundries).

You're welcome!

No. I generally run 8-12 front and 10-14 rear. I think the angle of the shot and the dirt makes the tire look less inflated than it actually is. On the other hand, it's probably all that fat that I put on over the winter that is causing the problem.😂

The weather was fixing to heat up a bit, since we are now in the middle of July. Kim and I had planned another Monday ride, but bumped it up to Saturday after checking the upcoming weather for the week. It was pretty warm on Saturday, but nice and breezy at 9400 feet on top of Little Mountain. We trailered out to Sage Creek road, some 30-40 miles south of town, and proceeded down into valley to begin our odyssey towards the mountain top. Mountains are very different here in southern Wyoming from what we have in California. To me, they are big plateaus with bluffs on one side rather than crinkled peaks sticking up into the sky. So we may have a few switchbacks here and there, but we seldom traverse the mountainsides following the familiar points and cuts that are found on Southern California ranges. The first side trip we made was up Cherokee trail. We wanted to see Trout creek. Sadly, Trout creek had no trout in it because it hadn't been stocked in recent drought years. But it did have flowing water, so that was nice. On top of Little Mountain, we rode in and out of the stands of trees and found an old USFS cabin. We had also passed a couple of historic homesteads on the way out, one of which, we could not get near due to a washed out bridge and deep, brush clogged gully. From Little Mountain, we followed a long ridge trail west, that dropped us onto a county road near the Currant Creek ranch. It was all dirt routes back to our staging area. Very warm on the way back, but we could move pretty fast on the wide roads. 72 miles altogether, and a very scenic ride.

Just imagine a fifty mile horseback or wagon ride to get into town for supplies or business.

The prairie rolls on endlessly in all directions, or so it would seem. Any direction out of town will take you further on the dirt than your gas tank will get you. That's why we usually get about 50 miles out, then think about making a return trip, since most routes won't take you anywhere near a gas station. Other times, we will have to trailer the bikes out to an area we want to explore,to cut down on overall mileage. But last Monday, we rode from the ranch to find yet another historic homestead and some pretty side trails. No rain to speak of on that day, but the clouds were certainly welcomed when they gathered in the early afternoon. 91.5 miles later, we found ourselves rolling back through the ranch gates, ready to call it a day. Anyway, enjoy the scenery with Kim and me, as we ride close to Three Corners (Wyoming, Colorado, Utah boundaries).

the rain storms have let up....a little tiny bit anyway, so we have been trying to get some rides in where we will have less of a chance of getting stuck in the high desert gumbo or get struck by lightning. Wednesday turned out to be a nice sunny day, so i drove up to the ranch that Kim lives at, and we rode out from there. I had a brand new Beta Factory/Sachs shock absorber for Bugz Beta that i had installed when there was still plenty of snow on the ground, so I was chomping at the bit so to speak, to trail test the bike with the fresh rear boinger on it. We saw a herd of elk on our way up to Aspen mountain, visiting Three Patches picnic ground on the way, and had fun following some pretty steep two track along the mountain range spine. From on top, we could see the remnants of an old homestead at the base of a bluff. So we wended our way down and zigzagged across the abandoned highway, now covered in dirt and rocks, most of the bridges washed out, the blacktop long gone for the most part. Then we headed west on some more two track until we found the old cabin tucked up in a canyon. From there, it was back to ranch before the afternoon turned to evening. The new shock absorber performed very well, and I may have to invest in the matching factory front fork kit as well. Yeah, it's blurry shot, I know. But we were so far away, and the elk were on the move, so I had very little time to whip out my old P&S A590 and get the telephoto shot with no place to steady the camera. So it is what it is.

Friday found us ready for a dualsport ride. We were originally going to trailer the bikes south and ride at Little Mountain, but the weather looked like storms might come up down that way, so Kim and i met up down in town and rode from there up to the top of White Mountain and Pilot Butte. Then we rode a stretch of county road (unpaved) to a two track that meandered through a drainage valley of Alkali Creek. We popped out the west end onto another dirt highway that ran along the Green River. We ended up in the town of Green River, where we took a much needed lunch break at Don Pedro's Family Mexican restaurant. From there, we would take another dirt route south of town, eastward back to Rock Springs. That road was not a well groomed highway, but rather a curvy, hilly, rocky jeep trail that was washed out in several places, though this was no problem for two European enduro bikes. On this leg of the journey, the storms that we had been speculating about were pressing their way northward, and we were watchful of them as we motored along. The storm front never covered us, but came close enough to offer some cooling breezes and cover from the sun. As it was, we managed to stay just out of the rain clouds reach as we wended our way homeward. We could not have asked for a better summer day of dual sport riding. It was about 78 unhurried miles of mostly dirt.

I hope you are getting to spend this day doing the things that you love most, in the places you love most and with the people you love most.

Didn't he also have a column in Offroader in the late 80s? Fud's Crud.

It seemed like winter was never going to go away up here in Wyoming. It started to snow two weeks before Halloween and never got above freezing until the end of April. So around the first warm day at the end of April, I met up with Kim just east of town to head out for our first dualsport rid of the season. I was out of shape and pretty stiff from lack of activity over the snowy months, so I was looking forward to stretching out and unwinding for a change. The first half of the ride went nicely as we covered two track and county routes. But somewhere in the middle, while climbing some switchbacks, on our way to some panoramic views, I tried to climb a rocky steep line up a righthand turn, and when I backed off the throttle for a second, the mighty 501 flamed out and stalled. That's what I get for running the old gas that was still in the tank, and not bumping the idle up. I tipped to the downhill side, and my foot couldn't reach anything, so over I went, with the weight of the machine slamming me into the rocky surface. My right forearm was the first thing to contact the rocks, and I was sure that I broke that. The rest of my right side just hurt from the impact. I pulled my trapped right leg out from under the machine and got up, carefully checking my arm as I stood there. Kim had no idea that I crashed, and was up top, taking pictures As I stood there, I realized that my right leg was feeling worse and worse as the minutes ticked by. I had no idea of what happened to it, so when Kim returned and picked up my bike, I tried to resume the ride. A couple miles later, and I realized that the right knee had gone non-op, so I could neither ride, or even walk properly. So we turned around and went back to the staging area. It turned out that I had somehow managed to get my knee bent in some direction other than what it was designed to bend, and pulled a bunch of ligaments and tendons in the process. And I knew that would be a long time in healing....maybe up to six months or so. (the arm bone healed up with just a little bump in it.) Fast forward six weeks to last Saturday. Knee still a long way from healing, but the weather had been so nice, and I was tired of being cooped up in a little apartment, so I was determined to go for a ride. Mr. 501 had fresh gas, and I bumped the idle up (to where it was supposed to be anyway), and we were off for another ride. It had been raining every single day for the last couple of weeks, and the prairie was awash in green and flowers were blooming. This time we headed south of town, staged just off a somewhat paved road. where we headed east on easy smooth dirt. Then the road got muddy as we wound our way up into the mountains, and we reached our morning objective, Pine Butte. Great scenery up there, and we had passed an abandoned ranch on the way up so we stopped to inspect and explore that on our way down. There was also a faint jeep trail leading our from there, so we followed that and Kim's online map to hook enough of these abandoned tracks together to make our way back to the truck. It was a beautiful day, with temperatures in the low to mid 60s, breezy to windy and partly cloudy....but luckily the clouds never piled up into any thunderstorms. We had a little bit of everything, smooth dirt roads, muddy climbs, mud and water crossings, rocky meandering faint trails. No knees were injured during the ride, although my right knee was pretty sore for the next couple of days from suddenly getting trail use for a few hours. We are already planning our next scoot, so stay tuned.

But wait, there's more!

Yep, went there years ago with Joliet and Papa Alex.