Sat, April 28th Hixon Trail

[Joliet 0]

I was kind of waiting for Alex to post, but I will start it. STE63, DIRTDAME, DIG DUG, PAPALEX, and myself met at the Hixon trailhead, here is a picture just before PAPALEX got there.

While I was waiting for the others to arrive, 3 other riders showed up and went up the trail, one came down 1/2 hr. later the other came down in another 15 minutes. One asked us if we were going up there, we said yes and he said take lots of water. I don't know if they made it up or not.

Going up Hixon was harder than I had expected. Lots of loose stuff, ruts, and steep sections.

Ste63 led the way on his XR400, he makes it look easy the way he rides that thing. Dirt dame was the only one familier with the area and kept herding us in the right direction. It was a pretty good workout, by the time we got to the top I was quite hot and needed to cool down and rehydrate so we took a well deserved rest. Then we rode down to the trailhead of Allesandro. We split into 2 groups to meet back at the trucks. Ste63, Dig Dug and I went down Allesandro, dirt dame and Alex went back to go down Hixon.

We met at the trucks around noon and took a break. Ste63 had to get back, the rest of us wanted to ride some more. We went south on Bautista road a few miles and then cut up the mountain on a forrest service road that dropped us down into Hemet at the Cranston forrest service station. It was a good ride, better in cooler weather. We went 61.4 miles and our elevation ranged from 1809" to 5350'.

The he man award goes to Dig Dug's son, perhaps he will elaborate. Thanks to all for the great company and ride. Now lets hear your version and see your pics. :aggressive: Ken

I want to add a special thanks to Crawdaddy for pointing out these trails, hooking us up with the Dually's ride and sending me the gps tracks.

[Crawdaddy 96]

One asked us if we were going up there, we said yes and he said take lots of water. I don't know if they made it up or not.

Glad you folks were able to make it over there this weekend while I was slaving in my yard

What a difference a couple of weeks makes in terms of the weather......we froze our butts off in snow and rain two weeks in a row :acute: ......then this past weekend it's ~90+ degrees and bring lot's of water?!?!! ......that's one of the reasons the Dualies pushed the organized ride back a month.....heat seemed like a better alternative than rain & snow .....especially since those trails will get choked up enough with riders on game day without adding rain and snow to the equation.....too bad you weren't able to squeeze in the single track up by Idyllwild......you MUST ride that section (Section 10 hard way) on game day - May 19th..... :aggressive:

[sandiegoland 0]

I dunno Joliet. Your photos so far make it look kind of easy... :aggressive:

Seriously though, look forward to hearing from everyone. Sounds like it was a workout!

[Joliet 0]

I dunno Joliet. Your photos so far make it look kind of easy... :aggressive:

Seriously though, look forward to hearing from everyone. Sounds like it was a workout!

It might not have been a workout for the other guys (and gal), but it was for me. I origionally had wanted to go back

up Allesandro after I had checked it out by comming down it. No way I was up for that by then. If I was fresh and it was cooler I would give it a shot going up Allesandro. A bike 50 lbs. lighter would sure be nice though. Ken

[papaalex 5]

Thanks everybody who joined Hixon ride last Saturday. The area was new to me and others, except Dirt Dame...big thanks to her for leading us through. It was very hot, I think, 90 plus. The begining of Hixon was rocky and loose, later becoming true moderate. Everybody did well, even me, but It was a different story for me at Allesandro...after checking out first challenging section on feet, I decided to do it next time :aggressive: . So I and Dirt Dame went back the way we came, and again, that section of Hixon close to the bottom gave me a plenty of challenge going down. Three other riders completed the loop going down Allesandro and we regrouped at our cars.

The second part of the ride was Bautista-5S15-Bautista 40 miles fire road loop. Not much happend there...Dirt Dame let me ride her KLX300 and what a difference those minus 100 pbs make...now I do not care about power any more give me a lighter bike demit:D We were back to our stationary by 3:00PM with 60+ miles on.

Another great ride...see you all next time.

Papa

THE END

[DigDug 0]

The he man award goes to Dig Dug's son, perhaps he will elaborate. Thanks to all for the great company and ride. Now lets hear your version and see your pics. :acute: Ken

Okay - I'll elaborate. First of all, I was kind of looking forward to getting out and doing some "grown-up" riding. 90% of my riding lately has been with my 13 year old son - who rides a mean KLX300, but not street legal. Well, this weekend, my son was grounded from his dirt bike - so I joined up with the gang to ride the Bautista canyon trails. My son didn't want to be left at home, so he asked if he could bring his BMX bike and ride the fire roads and meet us at the truck. I said sure (knowing that seeing everyone on their motorcycles would be a good motivation to get his act in gear so he could get back on his). Our agreement was that he would stick to the main road and meet us back at the truck in a couple hours. Well, we did our 2 hour ride - no son. We spent about 45 minutes resting/eating - no kid. We went for our second ride (in the direction he took off in, I was looking left and right the whole way)and I gave him a call on his cell. Well, that few hour ride turned into a 26 mile trek on his BMX bike - He was at the Dairy Queen in Anza - could I come pick him up? When I arrived, sure enough - he was sitting inside an air-conditioned Dairy Queen, eating icecream and watching TV :aggressive: Grrr.. Kids...

Anyways, my version of the trails - Loads of fun. Hixon was loads of fun - the beginning loose and rutted like mentioned - forcing you to pick your lines carefully. Allesandro was a little different - only one line to pick, you just hang on. Both were a blast!!! The afternoon ride had some great views in all directions. This area is great - roads in all directions to explore. I'm definately going to go back!!!

Here are a few pictures I snapped: (just these three - I was too busy riding to stop and take pictures!!!)

I just wanted to thank everyone for letting me tag along!!!! I had a great time and it was good meeting you.

[dirt dame 559]

I dunno Joliet. Your photos so far make it look kind of easy... :aggressive:

Seriously though, look forward to hearing from everyone. Sounds like it was a workout!

It might not have been a workout for the other guys (and gal), but it was for me. I origionally had wanted to go back

up Allesandro after I had checked it out by comming down it. No way I was up for that by then. If I was fresh and it was cooler I would give it a shot going up Allesandro. A bike 50 lbs. lighter would sure be nice though. Ken

I hadn't ridden on Hixon trail for almost a year, so I was kind of nervous about going up it because in the rainy winter of 2005, some huge ugly ruts (canyons really) got carved into the steep part of the trail and I wasn't looking forward to them by any means. I am happy to say that they got mashed and worn away into some more rideable surfaces, so the going was pretty good. When we got to Alessandro however, I decided that I should count my blessings and and head back down Hixon. I have ridden down Alessandro three times, all of them in cool, rainy weather. But today was unexpectedly hot and I knew things would be slick and dusty. I recommended to Alex not to take his giant bike down it on such a day. He waivered a bit, took a look at the first yucky section and decided to accompany me back down Hixon.

After a brief break at the truck and our Honda riding friend departing for the day, the rest of us took an easy ride up Cahuilla truck trail and then on down Rouse Hill trail to Cranston station in Hemet. I was tired and managed to turn the KLXs front end under in a turn and uncerimoniously hop off into the inside berm. No damage to anything other than everyones kicking leg, as we all took turns trying to start the notoriously (after a dumping)poor starting mini-pig. Once the bike was restarted, Alex asked to ride it, so I slid onto his 650 and we continued. Shortly, the rest of us lost sight of him. "one of three things" I said, "He went over a clff, was abducted by space aliens or just stole my bike." Finally we caught up to where he was waiting for us, all grinning from ear to ear and I jumped off the sled and onto my bike which now felt like I was riding a credit card. The rest of the ride went by without event, and we got back to the vehicles just shy of seventy miles on our odometers. It was a great day with great riding buddies.

[Ste63 0]

Like the rest of the group said it was a good ride with good people. The beginning of Hixon trail was the hardest part of that trail loose rocks big and small. We stopped at the top before taking the fire road across and over to the Allesandro Trail. I guess these 2 trail are green sticker but to get between the two you need to ride the fire trail at the top of Hixon or the paved road at the bottom. The group was undecided about going down Allesandro and stopped at the top, I decided to ride down a little ways and check it out about 100 yards down their was a little challenging section a little ways after that section out of the corner of eye I see what appeared to be a stick get kicked up by my front tire. No stick, Mr Rattler took a stab at me as I went by. After stopping and relizing that I need to go back up to the rest of the group and past Mr Rattler again I walked back about 20 yards and found him all curled up and waiting. A couple of well placed rocks and he was off the road. As the other said Joilet, Dig Dug and myself went down Allesandro nice trail. Every rock and stick looked like a snake....

After lunch the group was talking about riding some fire roads, fun but not worth the wrath of my wife for being home late. Now if somebody else was willing to go up Allesandro I would have told the wife SORRY.... I really wanted to try going up Allesandro, but would suggest an early morning because of the heat and the trail would require putting your foot down alot. That terrain just looks like SNAKE country.

Doug I was also looking out for your son as I left, not seeing him at the truck had me alittle worried too.

You may need to put him back on his motorcycle so you can keep a eye on him.

Thanks and Ride On

[Joliet 0]

Ste63, do you have any way to post some of the pics you took? Ken

[husky4me 0]

I have no idea where these trails you guys are talking about are?? :aggressive: But, there was a time I rode around this time in Corral Canyon and I encountered about 6 rattlers some being very big.. One time I saw this large one in a single trail over at Corral and tried to stop, ending up just there... I was lucky the thing just moved away.. On one occasion, a rattler tried to get my boot while riding slow, uphill rocky area with other SDAR at Otay area, it was rocky and did not even see the thing... I usually don't care much while I'm riding at speed, but my nightmare would be falling on top of one... that would not be fun!! :acute: Anyway, this is the time of year the snakes are out, and I believe our County has a lot of them.. so we just have to be watchful and hope for the best while having fun!!