Relaxing weekend campNride 10/14 through 10/16/11

[dirt dame 561]

I'm still tired and still cleaning up from the big camping weekend with Tlking6, DSfox, Maniac and a different cast of day riders for each day of the three day weekend. Also Wannabe and her hubby Jeff camped with us on Saturday night to join Sunday's ride. I will post my report and pictures later on today. If anybody else wants to get started on this or make comments before I do, knock yerself out.

[Beezzz 6]

Tell us about your trailer. photos please.

[dirt dame 561]

Tell us about your trailer. photos please.

Oh, you'll hear and see plenty about the trailer.

[mctrails 38]

Looks like a Happy Camper!

[dirt dame 561]

Looks like a Happy Camper!

You know me. I'm always a happy camper when I'm camping in relative luxury and comfort.

[dirt dame 561]

As some of you may know, I managed to miss out on my own 4th Annual Troy Meadows ride this past summer. Due in large part to this and that and life getting in the way, I will have to wait until next summer, and I was so looking forward to trying out my new toy hauler up there. Soooo....my report might be a tad toyhauler heavy.

Well, my good friend DSfox decided that there was no reason that I shouldn't enjoy using my new trailer for the first time right now, even if it wasn't up in the eastern Sierras. So, she posted up a weekend campNride, and coordinated with my other two good friends,Tlking6 and Maniac to make sure that I would get to have a maiden voyage with the rolling camp cabin at a more local venue. Thus it would be assured that I would be a more agreeable riding companion than if I had to camp in a tent. There is nothing worse than a grumpy trailer princess without her castle (or in this case, shower). And really, it was a better idea to check out the hauler for the first time on a short trip, rather than tow it 260 miles only to find out that something wasn't working right on it.

Here's day one:

So Friday morning, Tlking6 and DSfox showed up at my place with Maniac's brand spanking new pickup truck to load up all the bikes and stuff, and then off we went. We arrived around mid morning and got our campsite at Oak Grove Campground set up in time to go for ice cream and do a nice loop.

The trailer holds a TE450 and a bunch of camping gear very nicely.

Yes, it's very big for such a small trailer. Plenty of headroom there.

DS and TL before all the unloading begins. We got a really big campsite with lots of trees. The campground was sparsely occupied by fellow campers and would remain so throughout the weekend.

Woo hoo! We are near the bathrooms, and they have flush toilets, so no smell there. There was also a threaded water spigot nearby.

Yes, there's the happy camper.

After getting all the gear out of the trailer it was time to set up a sofa and a bed.

Home sweet home....look at those little tents back there behind the castle. Bwahaha, peasants! Just kidding.

We geared up and headed up the highway for some ice cream at DQ....

....then set off to do the Secret Legit loop through Enchanted canyon.

DS found this creekbed here less than enchanting when her bike stalled rolling down into it. I had to post up a crash picture of her and expect that she would do the same for me.

Luckily TL was right behind her. I watched as he helped upright the KTM.

Meanwhile, the sound of cow bells filtered through the forest, getting closer and closer. I guess that the bovines were curious about what was going on and came to investigate.

After all, by now we were cow trailing.

A view of Garner Valley on our way out.

We finished off by slabbing it to Cooper Cienega and then a short hop down 79 to the camp ground. I really enjoyed the hot shower I got to take upon my return. Nothing like being squeaky clean with a freshly shampooed head of hair for the evening. As the sun went down, the kitchen activity came up.

Stir fryin' fools.....or just stir crazy?

After a delicious stir fried shrimp supper, there was a camp fire to be enjoyed.

Maniac had to work late, so arrived some time after supper. We all sat around the fire chatting for a bit before turning in.

More to come.

[dsfox 0]

Thanks to everyone who came out for some dual sport adventures….It was a fun weekend of camping, 3 good days of riding. Perfect weather, and fun times with my good friends. Met some new friends and many trails new to me, so great weekend. I'm Happy mimi got to enjoy her nice new toyhauler, the rest of us still had fun tenting, and when I camp, I like for the group to enjoy awesome meals that make trips more memorable. Tracy did dinners, I did breakfasts…

Fridays group: dirt dame,dsfox, tlking2: Rode dirt Oak Grove to anza, mimi's cow paths in the enchanted canyon…great fun (except stalling right in the mud crossing…duh!!!! oh well, nice soft landing..)...…fun loops and scenery before taking the dirt back to camp just before dark (80 miles) great dinner and evening with friends...

Saturdays Group: dirt dame, dsfox, tlking6, maniac, and day riders: mr. Moto & gdabb : Rode dirt from Oak Grove to Anza, tried to ride over table top mt, but locked gate prevented that…..Headed Up and down Thomas Mt., Lunch in Idyllwild at Aroma Café (highly recommended) , Indian Mt. Trails (scenic & steeeep) then down through Bee Canyon & back to Oak Grove ( 150 miles) . We were joined at camp by wannabe and jeff.

THOMAS MT...great views and nice pines up top...would be fun to camp up there...bike pack trip????

INDIAN MT, DOWN TO BEE CANYON ( didn't stop for pics of the steeep parts....but they will get your attention!!!) not recommended for the faint of heart....

[dsfox 0]

Sundays Group: dirt dame,dsfox, tlking2, maniac, wanna be and jeff and day riders: tsr, unhuskyman & steve s…big group but lots of dirt and Fun to and around anza, over to hixon single track….few of the guys rode alessandro and we all enjoyed a break at dairy queen before dirt back to oak grove (90 miles)

RED MT. AT TOP OF HIXON MOTO TRAIL...

You can see the road we had traveled to the top

HIXON SINGLE TRACK....FUN!!!!

JOYES

THE GROUP ENJOYS A COOL TREAT....especially appreciated by unhuskyman, maniac, and tlking6 who tackled the black diamond alessandro trail...

CHIHUAHUA VALLEY ON THE WAY BACK TO CAMP

GREAT WEEKEND IN OUR LOCAL NORTH COUNTY COUNTRYSIDE!!!!

[dirt dame 561]

Day two....dawned with a clear sky. The night had not been particularly cold, but I thought that I might as well fire up the heater furnace and take the edge off the slight chill just for general practice. The furnace fan fired right up, followed shortly by the heat and right after that the smoke alarm went off. I kept resetting it, but finally realized that it would go off every time I lit off the heater, so down it came, and out went the battery. After a short while, the trailer was pleasantly warm so I shut the heater off. For some reason the water pump was running, although I hadn't run any water since showering the night before. I summoned Tracy over and he had a look at the pump. Something looked goofy with a fitting. He decided we should make sure that the fresh water tank was absolutely full and then began troubleshooting. I hopped in Ian's truck and drove three miles down the road to the Sunshine Summit general store to see if I could buy a garden hose from them. Unfortunately, it wasn't garden hose season out that way anymore and their last hose was gone out of the gardening section. On the way back in to the campground, I stopped at the camp host's trailer and asked if I could borrow the hose that was coiled under the edge of the his trailer.

You know the morning isn't starting off right if you are already hosed.

We drug the trailer over near the faucet and filled 'er up. Then Tracy concluded that the fitting had been hastily fitted when the trailer was being assembled and had gotten cross threaded. Oh noes! How would I get my evening shower? Well, no time to fix it right then. We had a ride to go on. There were two day trippers that had just arrived, ready for a day's adventure.

Lots of fire roads on this day. Anza and Thomas Mountain. I didn't really break out the camera on Saturday till we reached the restaurant in Idy. I found Cafe Aroma to be an eclectic style of Italian bistro, complete with a cat port in the restroom door. Inside was a little box and a kitty bed. The tenant was nowhere to be found. Back in the dining room,the meals were reasonably priced and the food was artfully prepared and presented. It tasted as good as it looked.

A leisurely paced return trip down 243, Indian Mtn, Bee Canyon, et al. brought us rolling into camp early enough for Tracy to correctly reattach the messed up fitting on the water pump in time for me to have my daily luxury of a hot shower before suppertime. The chefs cooked up the chicken chipotle sandwiches for everybody. By now Wannabe and Jeff had arrived and set up their travel trailer just across the way from our camp. They spent the evening at the campfire with the rest of us.

During the night, it sounded like some coyotes had set up their orchestral practice right next to the trailer a couple of times. The second time they did their song dog thing, I decided to make a moonlight potty run. On the way back, something white seemed to be gliding through the campground at tree level. It was eery and beautiful. I'm guessing that it was a large owl with the moonlight reflecting off it's back and wings.

More to come....

[dirt dame 561]

Day three...started off better than day two as far as trailer functions were concerned. The previous morning Deb had made a Mexican scramble or omelet, and in keeping with the southwest theme, she started to whip up the fixings for some huevos rancheros this morning.

I had one item left to test in the trailer for the weekend, so I took a couple of eggs and some cheese and repaired to the castle to prepare a simple omelet on the gas range in my kitchenette Once that was out of the way, everything on the trailer had been been put through its performance paces. It was all good.

We had time after breakfast to start packing for our afternoon departure for home, so that's exactly what we did. Our three day trippers showed up right around then.

Whee, another Husky.

Jeff and Sharon converse with Ian as he prepares for the day's ride.

The morning was more organized and leisure on Sunday (since nobody was having some sort of trailer malfunction), so we got a group shot before the ride.

A relaxed ride brought us to the top starting point of Hixon trail.

The rest of the gang went on up to the fire lookout to check out the panoramic view from over there while I stayed at the trailhead. Some other riders came along. Turned out that a friend of mine (who is local to the area) that goes by the name of Patrick was out enjoying some singletrack on his KX. We chatted for a while. Small world.

After the others returned from the fire tower, we headed down Hixon. I was curious to see how that big KLR would do on the trail. Steve S. skillfully managed to avoid any major mishaps with it and the rest of the group fared well. So well, that Ian wanted to ride up Allesandro. Two people were foolish....I mean lucky enough to decide to go with him. The rest of us headed to DQ for some recovery foods. We would have plenty of time to finish our treats before the black diamond riders would be joining us.

Banana splits so good, that you'd better hang onto your hat.

When the others got there, they looked like they had done a bit of work.

You'll have this expression too if you just wrestled a three hundred plus pound enduro bike up a black diamond singletrack like Allesandro.

After we were all sufficiently fed and rested, it was time to hit CC trail back to camp and finish packing. I got to drive the tow vehicle home and with coaching squeezed the trailer backwards at a 90 degree angle off the easement, through the gate into place on the driveway. Just another reason to have a short trailer.

It was a wonderful weekend. Exciting for me to play with my new toyhauler and experience it's many benefits for the first time. It's always fun to ride that area, as well as meet new people and just chill in camp with friends. So thanks to everyone who was a part of the weekend, and special thanks to Deb, Ian and Tracy for making it possible for me to have a great first trailer adventure.

[tlking6 0]

Great writeup and pictures! I dont have much to add except what has already been said. Fun times around camp and although the riding had a bit more slab then I would prefer the singletrack, cowtrailing and views more than made up for it. Fun stuff. Lets put together a Moto-Camping trip up there before it gets too cold!

[Drabnor 0]

wish i could have made it!

next time there a ride on the Secret Legit loop through Enchanted canyon I would really like to tag along!

[unhuskyman 0]

Im hoping ian will put up the pictures of allesandro.

[dirt dame 561]

Im hoping ian will put up the pictures of allesandro.

I hope so, too.

[Maniac 0]

Im hoping ian will put up the pictures of allesandro.

I hope so, too.

I am working on it... too bad I am so busy at work, and other things... will try to get them up tonight

It was a great time! Thanks everyone! Pics soon.

[Maniac 0]

I had a great time! I am so lucky to have such great friends to do these awesome things with. It was nice to hang with old friends, and make new ones. Although I think Tracy and Ian are possibly no longer my friends after I took them up a singletrack late on Sunday... LOL (or at least, they won't trust me when I tell them "the trail is not too bad")

I saw this guy out there. I didn't know Brad Pitt rode dual sports.

We ate VERY well (thank you Deb and Tracy!!)

This was the last ride on my DRZ. It's going to a happy new owner tomorrow.

Tracy

Mimi

Deb riding one of those orange bikes. 45 HP, 6 speeds, 250 lbs. Whatever. Who needs that.

Deb enjoying the singletrack

It's so weird, Brad Pitt showed up again! Who could have known?

Two of the most awesome people I've ever known (try not to get misty eyed, you two...)

And this is where Ian started to plan out my murder. Somewhere between crash #1 and #2.

Negotiating one of the last tricky switchbacks on the trail. At this point, Tracy was also planning to kill me once the trail was over.

We didn't go up this part. We took a detour, which led at least one of us to tip over and invert the bike on some rocks. So, yeah, they really were ready to kill me! And to add insult to injury, Ian overheated his bike and his clutch was gone at the end of the ride.

If there is anyone left who is still willing to ride with me, I'll see you next time.

[dirt dame 561]

If there is anyone left who is still willing to ride with me, I'll see you next time.

I have taken many a picture at that last shot's spot. Lots of crash pix and also the infamous picture of Rob holding a rare racer Joliet action figure (action Husqvarna not included).

[tlking6 0]

Haha Ian! No murder plans but just know revenge is sweet! I'm planning a Gorman trip soon!

[unhuskyman 0]

Hey ian I will ride with you again anytime, I just wont try to pass you on the first hard corner again hoping some throttle will get me up the rocks.

It definitely doesn't look anything like it did in person....

[dsfox 0]

It definitely doesn't look anything like it did in person....

Don't you Hate that?....the images of knarly spots always look so unintimidating in photos!!.....and make us look like a bunch of whimps...like "where's the hard part?"......I'm actually glad I skipped allesandro this time...

(wisdom has taught me to not tackle such things on sunday afternoons when pretty exhausted after 3 days of riding, and a couple nights in my tent and mummy bag on the tiny air pad I DO love camping - but not so restful] )

Also, When a route is sufficient to tire out the 20 something year olds, I think twice...way to go tracy for tackling it with the kids....

[Maniac 0]

It definitely doesn't look anything like it did in person....

Don't you Hate that?....the images of knarly spots always look so unintimidating in photos!!.....and make us look like a bunch of whimps...like "where's the hard part?"......I'm actually glad I skipped allesandro this time...

(wisdom has taught me to not tackle such things on sunday afternoons when pretty exhausted after 3 days of riding, and a couple nights in my tent and mummy bag on the tiny air pad I DO love camping - but not so restful] )

Also, When a route is sufficient to tire out the 20 something year olds, I think twice...way to go tracy for tackling it with the kids....

Now I know why you get tired, not because of tent camping, but because of browsing sdar at 2:15 AM in the morning! Haha.

[dsfox 0]

Now I know why you get tired, not because of tent camping, but because of browsing sdar at 2:15 AM in the morning! Haha.

not a usual thing...dogs woke me up, then I was up for a couple hours....

[unhuskyman 0]

Hey ian I will ride with you anytime. Even if its up that trail again. Twas lots of fun.

[Guest Crusty]

I miss Alesandro. My 370 pound XR680L loves that trail.

BRAP,BRAP. Get out of my way!!!!!!!

Just hold the throttle wide open, it's easy.

When do you guys want to ride it again.

I am IN.

Thanks for the pics.

[KTMrad 512]

I love the Alessandro Trail. I rode Mike Miani's R100GS Airhead up it one year....that was a challenge, but made it up, even after the cylinder guards where dragging in the deep rutts, that was the only spot we needed a push.