Eagle Mountain Ride

[isde97 29]

A more full report will have to wait, so here is the short version.

Got a later start than desired, 9:30 out of Carlsbad

Returned 12:30 this morning, 440 miles, 4 tubes, different rear tire and headlight bulb later.

[kkug 146]

At least you made it home ,LOL

[KTMrad 508]

4 tubes.....dammmmm ! All one bike ???

[Bagstr 287]

Four Tubes,,,Where you following a Crawdaddy Track??

That rear is fun to changel

[isde97 29]

All one bike. The first was one of those things, just picked up a nail. The rest were just part of a downward spiral....

Pics to come later. I am usually not one for writing big ride reports, but will probably make an exception this time.

[isde97 29]

Cool, rainy and drizzly leaving Carlsbad. Part of the reason for the late start was waiting for the weather to improve.

By Lake Henshaw, I have left the clouds behind. It is still kind of chilly.

Descending into Borrego Springs from Ranchita, the temperature goes up about 30 degrees in 10 minutes.

The theme/excuse/motivation for this ride was to follow the route of the Eagle Mountain Railroad from it's interchange with the Southern Pacific to the Eagle Mountain Mine and the town of Eagle Mountain. Most of this is culled from the Wikipedia entries, if you want to go read the source material.

Kaiser Steel purchased the Eagle Mountain mining claim in 1948 to feed it's mill in Fontana, and built the railroad to get the ore to the SP for continued shipment to Fontana. From the 1960s through the early 1970s, two 100 car trains left Eagle Mountain daily. This traffic slowed down as the business realities of international competition and California environmental concerns made operating a steel mill and an open pit mine in Southern California unviable. The mine closed in 1983, but there was still enough processed ore on site to continue low level rail operations until 1986. After a couple of uses for movies in 1986, there hasn't been any operations.

The interchange at Ferrum:

You can see the other half of the Wye at Ferrum in the distance. They would use the wye to turn the locomotives around and connect to the other end for the return trip.

Note: coming up with a rough route and figuring you will find a way through is not good planning (I kinda ran out of time, though). If it isn't on Google maps, and your GPS indicates that the route doesn't go through, you have a much higher chance of doing a lot of backtracking.

In some spots, the track is in fairly good shape:

Others, not so much:

The picture doesn't show it too well, but the track is dangling about 4 feet above the wash here.

At one point, I took a spur to see if I could find the track. I ran into one of the "unexploded ordnance" signs and chose to observe it. Checking my GPS, it indicated I had already gone over the tracks. I backtracked to this spot, where you can see the cut if you know what you are looking for. The tracks are under the sand here.

When I got to this spot, I thought this was as close as I was going to get to Eagle Mountain, about 5 miles away. A bit of exploring got me around the DWP station and the rest of the way.

Within sight of Eagle Mountain, I get my first flat;

I have trouble getting the tube out:

I only have a front tube, and 4 CO2 cartridges. That gets me 22 psi in the rear. I figure the first trip up to 100 mph will seat the bead. I also note that I have a patch kit, but the vulcanizing fluid tube has been punctured by rattling around in the case for months. Oh well, I don't get flats that often. I also seem to have an extra rim protector- am I actually carrying 4? Nope, I only have three.

Actually, I just dawdled up the road to Eagle Mountain and it was seated when I got there.

What remains of a community that was once 4000. Eagle Mountain was a company town, and the birthplace of Kaiser Permanente. The last graduating class from Eagle Mountain High School was 1983. I seem to recall graduating around that time as well.

It is now 5 pm, and I am out of time for contemplating and reflecting on 20th century industrial history. I need to beserk it home to get there at a late but reasonable time.

South of Mecca, the expansion joints on the freeway seem pretty bad. After a while, they are getting worse. I pull on to the asphalt shoulder. Not the expansion joints. I stop and look, and the rear is down quite a bit. I figure I can keep airing up until I get some vulcanizing fluid and patch my first tube.

Turns out, there are not many places to air up. This station looked OK when I passed, but I am not sure it is even a going concern now. The compressed air hadn't been functional for a long time.

There is a casino with gas station mini mart a couple of miles later, and the tire is feeling pretty bad. With nothing to lose, I buy a can of fix a flat, and it looks pretty good.

About a half mile from the AM/PM in Salton City, the tire goes down very quickly. I nurse it to the AM/PM, but they don't have a patch kit, and suggest the hardware store across the highway, "if they are still open". I find a market while looking for the hardware store, and they have a patch kit with the needed vulcanizing fluid. I return to the AM/PM, patch the original tube, remove the replacement tube, a bunch of rubber spooge/ fix-a-flat remmant, and a smooshed rim protector. Guess I was carrying 4 rim protectors. I don't know that that caused the flat, but certainly didn't help. From what I can see, the tire isn't looking too good on the inside.

While I am putting the patched tube in, "Jose" pulls up and seems pretty determined to help. He helps keep the bead in place, we get the tire on and go to put air in it. Not holding air. I pull the tube back out, and the nail I collected originally went all the way through and put a hole on the rim side as well. The patch kit vulcanizing fluid was pretty minimal, and I think I used up most of it on the first patch. Jose says he has a friend that has tubes and tire changing equipment ( a dirt bike repair service on the side), and gives "Greg" a call. About the time I have identified the second hole in the tube, Greg pulls up and says he has tubes. He takes the wheel and returns 40 minutes later with a new tube installed, another spare tube, and says the inside of the tire looks pretty bad, but he taped up the inside and thinks it will be OK. He charges me $40 for 2 tubes and service at 8:30 on a Monday night. This entire time, Jose is hanging out (with GF waiting), even though I tell him he doesn't need to. I think he just genuinely wanted to be helpful. That, and talk dirt bikes. He refuses several offers to buy him a beer.

So, I get it together and hit the road. About 2 miles down the road, the headlight goes out, and it is really dark. Both high and low beams. I have altered the headlight circuit, so the OEM circuit just controls relays for the headlight, and high and low beams are fused seperately. I am mystified, as the circuit lights are still on, and I can't imagine blowing both fuses at the same time. My driving lights work somewhat intermittently, and weren't working when the headlight went out. I fiddle with the switch, get them on, and return to the AM/PM. I take a look and find this:

The bulb exploded, and I have a bad idea of why and can prevent it from here. AM/PM have a lot of bulbs, but no H4s. I am thinking I am pretty screwed. I go out to the lot and see the back tire is down again. I call Greg (now about 9:15) and report the flat and the bulb situation. He has an H4, and pokes around and finds a 130 section 18" tire that will be close enough. He comes back out, drops off the bulb, collects the wheel, and returns about 45 minutes later. He says cords on the inside of the tire punctured the tube. There was a new ding in the rim since the time of the first flat (I think), and he says the tire was cut at this point. This is all believeable. $50 for bulb, used rear tire, another tube (which he says he is not charging me for) and mounting at 10pm on a Monday night. I am pretty beat and hope I can get a hotel room in Borrego Springs, in spite of the hour.

11 pm is not a good time to find a room in Borrego Springs. The first is really dark. The second has an after hours number. I call, wake some woman up, and inquire about the availability of a room. I am curtly informed that "no more rooms are available tonight". So I continue home. It is really foggy through Ranchita and Santa Ysabel, and chilly, but I make it home without further drama.

Sure glad it is "Adventure riders" and not "Idiot riders".

[Sneeker 29]

WOW.

Cool trip, excellent write up!

[Zenosan 2]

Thanks for the write up and photos. Enjoyed it. Sounds like one for the cool trip and Sh#t Happens file. That's why it is called Adventure Riding.

Can you give a little more info on where those RR track were?

[kkug 146]

Their are lot of North County Boys that have bought houses out at Salton Sea. They have escaped from the hustle and bustle and are kicking back riding their side X sides to Captain Jim's. I guess you have met some of them.

I think the hardware store has bike parts . Greg's Parents,s own it. ??

Glad they could helped you out.

[isde97 29]

If you have done the Bradshaw Trail (I haven't yet), these are the tracks. The rails run from the East side of the Salton Sea over across I-10 to Eagle Mountain, near Desert Center. They are identified in Google Maps, And if you turn on enough of the rail settings in Google Earth, they are highlighted as well. My Delorme GPS identifies it as 'abandoned railway', but is is not technically abandoned, as it is still owned by Kaiser Ventures, one of the descendents of Kaiser Steel. They apparently maintained the track through the 1990s, and at one point one of the pits was proposed as a landfill for LA when their landfill situation was getting dire, with the garbage getting there via the railroad. Apparently, recycling and green waste programs (I suspect the dominating factor) have significantly reduced the need for landfills, which is one of those interesting factoids that receives no attention. Also, opening a landfill isn't a whole lot easier than operating a mine, I guess, and there isn't the political and economic motivation there once was.

[isde97 29]

I stopped looking for the hardware store once I had the patch kit. Greg is just some random guy that some other random guy called to help out a total stranger.

[dsfox 0]

wow....some guys have all the luck... a trip to remember no doubt....thanks for sharing..always lessons to learn and cool that a random guy helped so much

[paulmbowers 236]

Can you give a little more info on where those RR track were?

[Zenosan 2]

UMMM...stopped to smell the flowers Paul?

I think I found the tracks on Google. I just looked for the yellow flowers.

Guess I have not done enough riding east of Salton Sea.

[paulmbowers 236]

UMMM...stopped to smell the flowers Paul?

Yes- it's quite fashionable, you know.

[Strega 0]

What an adventure, thanks for sharing it with us. 4 flats? UGGGGG

[LucidMayhem 0]

That is an amazing story. Great write up. I would like to check that place out sometime. it looks like a great ride.. well, without all the mishaps.

[bikeslut 1]

Sounds like a trip to remember! Thanks for the pictures and write-up... just goes to prove that ship hattens, and people are generally good

[Bagstr 287]

Luckily, there are more Greg's out there than one would think.

[650ben 0]

Great story. Too bad about the flats. Glad you made it home safe. Would love to do that ride sometime.