Arrowhead / Big Bear Mountains - Saturday, May 26, 2007

[KTMrad 513]

Thanks to DigDug and his son Mickey (hope I got his name right) for putting on an awesome, challenging....sometimes difficult ride. We had a group of 10 riders.

I must hand it to Ken (Joliet), Alex (Papaalex), and John (Rex Everything), for attacking the difficult trails and never giving up, being they never really rode trails like these before. I was also impressed with Dug's and Rob's sons riding with us, and Dirt Dame chugged along on her little CRF 150. Everybody rode well and we had a great group. Had a few issues here and there, no mechanicals or flats, just difficult sections......all in all, everyone had a good time.

Papaalex - only his 3rd ride on his new KTM 450

Rex Everything - only his 2nd ride on his DRZ 400

I have 82 photos and some GREAT action shots to be posted over this weekend. Check back soon.......and I"m sure everyone else has some great shots also..........

Been a long time since I've done some difficult trails like that, it was AWESOME !!

[Brett 0]

I second that ... a great group and a great ride!

After a morning warm-up we split the group, most continuing on to the most difficult section. We met a group of quaders who kept saying we were on the most difficult trail in the area. Of course, they also kept saying, "this is the last really gnarly hill-climb". NOT!

I love that technical challenging stuff anyway, so it was all good. We had an uphill section and a water crossing that each took about a half hour to get through. Lots of bull-dogging and pushing going on. Left at 10 am and back around 5, so a 7 hour outing. Including the fire roads we only did a total of 50 miles for the day. So there was some slooow going ...

Considering the terrain, I too was impressed with those riding new machines ... nice job!

Thanks to Doug for the trail snacks, and to Rob for the beer upon return, and to Ken for that life-saving sandwich ... and more beers

[papaalex 5]

Thanks DD for putting together this rocky adventure, thanks Randy on difficult section, thanks Rob for diving in to the creek to save my bike, thanks others for helping around and a great company.

We had some fire roads, jeep trais, black diamonds loose rocky trail (particularly challenging to me) and a really narrow single truck with stream crossing at the end. I pushed my limits on this one and certanly finished the ride as a better rider, I also appreciated having KTM on this ride, it would be kind of harder to do some sections on DR 560. All was fun, I had great time and new experiance.

See you guys on the trails

Alex.

[Joliet 0]

Doug , thanks for inviting us on this ride. These are the best trails I have ever ridden. The little yellow rat (DRZ400) didn't let me down once (Idid let it down a couple of times though ). I enjoyed every ones company, what a great group we had.

Special thanks to rex everything (John) for hauling the Rat and me up there and putting up with my music on the way home. I think he should get the iron man award for doing the hard way on a stock DRZ on only his second time in the dirt on it. He borrowed a skid plate from TNTMO and bolted it on Friday afternoon just so he could ride this ride.

It was great fun, great exercise, great company and I can't wait to do it again. Ken

Who has all the pictures, lets see them. Ken

[dirt dame 561]

Fun in the mountains As usual, it was a dust ball, but the weather was fair and breezy and there was good scenery. Alot of fire road in the morning, but with a couple of technical spots. Then around noon the group decided to hit a black diamond trail. I'd brought along my mini bike just for the single track riding, but decided to opt out of this one, seeing as how the ride was starting to look like it was going to go alot longer than originally anticipated. Besides, there was going to be another single track later in the day, so I wanted to save my bike and energy for that one. That being said, a small group of us took the easy way to the other end of the black diamond trail and waited, then took a scenic ride and waited, then went part way up the B.D. trail, came back down and waited some more. "Wow", I thought to myself, "That must be one heck of a trail they went on." I calculated that they were making progress at somewhat less than 3 miles per hour, which is pretty darn grueling in my book. Finally around 2:30, we heard the sound of thumpers coming over the ridge and one by one, all appeared. If any of them didn't have a ripped jersey or broken turn signal or other bike part before the start of that trail, they probably did now

After tanking up on water from the local camp ground, the group booked down a fire road to our next wide trail that went for a few miles and abruptly turned into a single track that went over hill and dale and finally along a very steep canyon. I am not sure of the scenery at this point, as I am afraid of heights and never took my eyes of the thin ribbon of decomposed granite in front of my spindly front tire. One lapse or misstep and....around the corner I came and the riders ahead of me were stopped. It turned out that Joliet hit a soft spot on the low side of the trail, and over he went. Quick thinking and an aversion to sliding to the bottom of canyons made him dig his handle bar into the hillside, so he did't go far. Riders were on it to help push the bike back up and take pictures, of course. Not long after that we were at Devils Hole, a creek crossing (more of a non-crossing) littered with boulders of all shapes and sizes and water that was about a couple inches above my knees. Digdug and Ride Orange, being among the biggest riders out there, helped everybody get their machines across safely. A big thankyou for that. I sat on rock on the other side, drank the rest of the water in my canteen and poured all the water out of my boots while the group assembled for our last leg back to the trucks. By the time we got back, it was after 5:00 pm. It was quite a day

[rex_everything 0]

That was super fun and challenging!!!!

Special thanks to Ken (Joliet) for lending me boots, a helmet, and a skid plate. I am glad he did because without these items I most likely would have had a broken bike and body.

Also thanks to everyone else that helped me through some of the more difficult sections.

I am glad I found this site, seems like a great group of people and some good adventures!! I hope I did not slow the group down too much. I need to get out and practice more so I can make it a bit quicker next time.

When is the next ride?!!

[KTMrad 513]

Here we go......

At the Pinnacles Staging Area...Rex Everything and Joliet getting ready

My Black/Silver KTM 640, Brett's orange KTM 525

DigDug holding the map, explaining the route

The Dry Waterfall, first obstacle of the day, on the other side of Deep Creek.....there was an easy line around it on the left.....here, DigDug takes the left line, as most did....

DigDug continuing on up to the top

Ride Orange, on his KTM 625, veers to the right from the easier line to hit a more challenging line up the middle

Ride Orange thinking...."was this a good idea"?....but, it was no problem

Papaalex unknowingly follows R-O's line through the tougher part

Papa has a little trouble, but he makes it through OK without any help

Rob's son (name ?) on another orange machine

DigDug's son Mickey on the green machine, and Rex Everything on the DRZ 400

Dirt Dame (Mimi) on her mighty, little CRF 150

Rex Everything getting through unscathed

Brett and I rode sweep most of the day because we can let the group get ahead and we ride our own pace, with less dust...if we catch up with the last rider, we take another quick break to let them get ahead and we ride dustless again for awhile.

Brett bringing up the rear....

That's it for now.....will add more from the difficult section later.........

[Brett 0]

That's it for now.....will add more from the difficult section later.........

Looking great Randy ... keep'm coming!

[Ride-Orange 2]

All RIGHTY Then...!

Thanks to DigDug and Mickey for a great time, possibly the most fun I've had with too many clothes on for a long time Thanks also to everyone who came along and made this another SDAR epic ride

Here we are at the Rally Point just North of Escondido. I learned that I can get from Jamul to Deer Springs in just about 48 minutes Our group for the day included DigDug, Mickey, Joliet, rex everything, dirt dame, papaalex, Mrs. R-O (Debbie), R-O Jr. (Tommy), baby R-O (Courtney) and yours truly. Oh yeah, Rad and Brett were with us too, but they were LATE so they're not in the picture yet...

Rad and Brett joined up just shortly after we got on the 15 Northbound and I was sweeping the road crew for a while. I got bored with that and decided everyone needed their morning SDAR salute, so I blasted up front somewhere near Temecula and let them all know I thought they were Number 1 (papaalex seemed the most surprised by my friendly gesture). Then up the mountain and a quick stop to check the view of San Berdoo below (but you couldn't see San Berdoo, so here's this pic instead)

Clear as a bell and no wind at the Pinnacles staging area, but more people than I expected (you can't see 'em though because the're all behind me)

This proves not only that I was there, but that we stopped when we realized that SOMEBODY forgot to wait at one of the turns for the rider behind them. We waited for a couple of minutes before I backtracked to find Rad, Brett, and Mimi waiting in the shade for some guidance. They made it clear when we got back to the group that NOBODY GETS LEFT BEHIND!

Then it was down the hill to check-out the proposed stream crossing that would come at the end of the day

Here we caught up to the rest of the group enroute to the first little hillclimb

Here's Brett making his way up the "easy" line. I didn't get too many pics of this section and shortly after this our group split into the hard way and easy way teams...

Here's Alex getting his turn signal back from John at the start of the hard way. He lost it just before this on a little switch-back when the Mighty 450EXC decided it was just too new for this ride and needed some battle scars.

Just before arriving at Heart Attack Hill North, we were treated to this beautiful view of Lake Arrowhead

Half way up this hill is NOT the place to discover that your mal-adjusted float level (at least that's what I've narrowed it down to) will cause you engine to flood-out at higher elevations and kill the motor when you open the throttle . Right after Alex got out of the way (the 450 decided more battle scars were in order), I did some testing in this area. The Mighty 625 and I proved that pushing a 300+ pound motorcuycle up a hill like this is a great way to start the dehydration process.

Here's Brett sweeping our extended stop over at Heart Attack Hill North

After we got up, we decided to take a short break and watch these three quads come up. They made it with little problem (thanks to the training wheels as one of them put it), then mosied along in front of us (I guess they'd waited long enough at the bottom of HAHN) A little further up we ran across them again. At first I was pretty bent that someone would block the trail like this...

This one proves Ken was getting hot waiting for them to clear the trail

...but they were actually really cool and helped push a couple of people through the tricky rocks, then they let us go ahead again. Thanks Quad Guys!

A little further along we found the next tricky section (that wasn't supposed to be there). Here's Brett coming through the rocky step-ups

A well deserved break after we reunited with the "Easy" Riders

View of the canyon where we rode the narrow goat trail (you can see some of it on the far hillside)

View of Mimi and John waiting for Ken to stop messing around and blocking the goat trail

This is the only pic I got of the stream crossing because I wound up helping push, pull, lift, and carry a couple of people through the rocks . Kudos to Rad for making it across using only his stubborn Slavik will and the power of the Mighty KTM 620!

If you made it this far, I'm sure you've heard enough of MY babbling . I hope Rad got some pics of the water roosts, those were REALLY cool!

Can't wait to go back and show Heart Attack Hill North what the Might 625 can do when the fuel flow is properly adjusted!

Happy Trails All!

[KTMrad 513]

I spent over an hour last night and did my complete final ride report, with over 60 photos last night at about 10:00pm, then hit the button for Post Preview and....boom....no preview, lost the connection to the site. Explanation of that situation and why the site was down will be posted later in the Website Info Category.

Ride Orange....great photos, can't wait to see more from the others.

I will redo my report and photos, hopefully tonight...gotta go hit happy hour now at the Brig.

[Brett 0]

hit the button for Post Preview and....boom....no preview, lost the connection to the site

Yep, that's the #1 reason to copy your text, not relying on site connection to save and transmit for you. Since our SDAR site has no spell checker (which would be rea cool), I usually paste the text here for safe-keeping: http://spellcheck.net/

We've all had that happen and it's REAL dissapointing ...

[DigDug 0]

Hey everyone!!! Thanks for tagging along. The great company always makes the ride.

Well, it seems as though the posts so far do a pretty good job of describing the day and the ride. I’ll just get to the pictures:

A couple of the guys, ripping up the forest road enroute to the first technical challenge:

Riders working their way up Dispan Springs:

 

 

 

Riders taking a break and filling up the water at Crab Flats campground after negotiating the Deep Creek black-diamond trail

 

Redonda Ridge trail – one of my favorite black-diamond trails out there (sorry papa, I had truly forgotten how hard it really was. You’re riding in style in this shot though!

Papa taking a spill on the newly named “heart attack hill”. I don’t think that’s it’s official name, but it surely was that on Saturday. Come to think of it, I’m pretty sure that’s where I spent 15 minutes kicking DigDug Jr's KLX300 a few months ago when he dumped and flooded it. (I gotta get a hot-start for that thing…)

More than one rider got up the hill like this:

 

Another dirt snack:

A pretty cool little obstacle – easy to thread the needle on a bike. The quad guys ahead of us had to work a little harder.

 

Joliet taking a spill almost over the edge, on the single-track down into Devil’s Hole:

I thought about turning around to help, but figured I’d better not press my luck. It’s a LONG way down off that narrow trail!

 

My camera batteries were dying and the card was full (too many photo ops), but here’s one of the Devil’s Hole crossing. Great teamwork to get the group across!!!

 

Just when the riders thought the crossing was over – they had to negotiate this boulder field to get up to the jeep trail out of Devil’s Hole.

 

I had a great time out there. Thanks for the great turnout. What I want to know is when is everyone ready to go back and attempt the entire loop without the shortcuts??? I know I am!!!

See everyone next time around

Edited November 19, 2022 by dirt dame

[KTMrad 513]

This looks like the only action shot of me....Waaaaaahhhh

[Crawdaddy 96]

Great pics guys & gal......wow, I now have a serious case of "trail envy". I'm looking forward to the Big Bear Run in a few weeks......also look forward to another informal "SDAR Session" up in that area sometime in the future.....hopefully I'll be able to join you next time...

[Ride-Orange 2]

This looks like the only action shot of me....Waaaaaahhhh

Au contraire, mon frair! (They're just not close-ups)

But for some reason the coolest action shots I have are Brett

[jerzag 0]

Let me know when the next one of those is planned...it looks like a blast.

[KTMrad 513]

OK, here's the continuation of my write-up....we'll give it another shot.

Here's the first uphill on the difficult Redonda Ridge Trail

Joliet and Rex in the shade, waiting for everyone to make it up the hill

Papaalex on his new 450 EXC

Dig Dug

Ride Orange

Brett

Quick break in the shade

Great views from the hilltop

Brett...."I'm cool, even though I don't have a cool screen name"

One of the crew says, "C'mon, Shut Up and Let's Ride" !!

Papaalex demonstrating the proper New Bike break-in technique, on the next challenging uphill section

Joliet helps out

The hill was challenging because it was steep, with loose DCG (decomposed granite), mixed in with rocks and rock steps

Some teamwork and dulldogging goin' on

Ride Orange gives it a go

R-O was having some carburetor issues at elevation, so his bike was sputtering & stalling, sometimes at the worst moment....

Here comes Brett

Oops....stall

Yesss....go go go !!

OH, Not again....Brett thinks, "Shoulda got the EXC instead of an MXC"

Here comes Rex Everything on the move with a good head of steam

Roh Roh !!

Here, I stopped 2/3 of the way up the hill to help Papaalex when he tipped over, but I couldn't set the centerstand down because it was too steep and loose, so I stayed there and took photos of everyone coming up the hill. Then, when Rex tipped over on his DRZ, I had Joliet hold my bike so I could go down to help him, since they already worked hard getting a few of the others up the hill....it was my turn to help bulldog up the hill....

We got everyone up the hill with some teamwork. Stopped in the middle ended up being a mistake for me, since now I wouldn't have the momentum needed as if I would've started up from the bottom. I ended up dropping it on the last section of this hill also

[KTMrad 513]

The next difficult hill....lots of rocks.

Rex nails the boulder....I walked down to help him and saw he was getting a bit tired, so I offered to ride his DRZ up the next short rocky section.....he felt bad, but took me up on the offer

Brett in action

Everyone made it through the ridge trail to the bottom where we met the others who opted for the easy route. We then continued on towards Devil's Hole...........

(to be continued)

[Brett 0]

Brett...."I'm cool, even though I don't have a cool screen name"

I thought Brett WAS a cool screen name, no?

Yep, that super tall 1st gear gave me grief all day

OH, Not again....Brett thinks, "Shoulda got the EXC instead of an MXC"

[KTMrad 513]

I thought we were riding fire roads the rest of the way back to the trucks, with just a stream crossing to contend with, but was happy to see we had a narrow single track trail to ride for a few miles on the edge of a canyon to get to Devil's Hole.

Here's where Joliet lost it on the steep hillside trail, where a washout had been filled in with soft dirt. Luckily he saved himself and the bike from sliding down the long, steep incline.

Joliet preparing to ride again, after making sure he and his bike are OK.

Good view of the trail to the right on the hillside

Mount Up !!

Dig Dug's son Mickey demonstrates how to get around one of many rocks that jutted out into the trail. Sometimes a bit unnerving with the dropoffs to the right.

Looking down the canyon with the lead riders on the trail

Here, Brett and I park the bikes at Devil's Hole, anticipating the need to help riders get across the rocky creek crossing...

Papaalex stands and waits, with an uncertain look on his face

Dirt Dame (Mimi) poses before getting wet....

Rex Everything at the boulders

Rex dismounts

Bulldoggin' across the creek

Approaching the other side

As if there weren't enough boulders and rocks in the creek...

there were more to deal with on the other side

Rob's son Tommy getting ready for the attempt

Tommy looking for a line through the boulders

Rob helping Tommy at the difficult spot through the boulders

Tommy rides it to the other side

Dirt Dame's little CRF 150 was a lot easier to lift around the boulders

Dirt Dame thinks, "I hope I don't have to get off the bike"

She tries to remember, "Did I buy waterproof boots" ?

We heard her yell out, "Dang....this waters cold" !!

This puppy dog came down to check out the excitement and see if he could help

Brett's turn now....

This spot was tricky weaving through the first big boulders, with slimey, wet rocks underneath

Wait....what's that I see....could it be a Rooster ??

Oh yeah....it's a good one !!

Brett makes it to the other side, after hitting a submerged rock and almost falling over

Ride Orange starts his attack

R-O always has to be different Here, he tries a different line OVER the boulder

We all made it across with nobody falling over in the creek.

A great ride, some riders had their skills put to the test, while others had never ridden these types of trails before and found their limitations and where they need to practice. We had no mechanical issues or flats and everyone got back to their trucks with a smile on their face, even if they're bikes and bodies might've been abused !!

Awesome ride....I hadn't ridden difficult trails like that in a long time....when are we going back ?!!

[Ride-Orange 2]

...when are we going back ?!!

SOON! I'm really gonna miss the Big Bear run, but take notes fellows! I'd like to connect Arrowhead to Green Valley Lake To Big Bear next time out

Great write-up and pics Rad Brings back a flood of memories from our ride

[dirt dame 561]

Wow not only did we have an awsome ride, but we might just have the most awsome photo-journal write up, too! What a bunch of great photos Thanks to all who took the time to click all the wonderful pics.

As for me, it was a good day on a minibike It's hard to beat for chugging up anything and getting your feet on the ground and handles tight single tracks like nobodys business, but that short wheel base and miserable suspension isn't the ticket for fire roads or whoop-de-does The next time we go, I think I will take my TE 450, but I am going to spend alot more time preparing to ride technical stuff with it, not that I haven't ridden any yet, I have, but I need to do alot more. I noticed that it was mostly uh...well...the shorter people on the full sized bikes that had most of the crash shots and guys with long legs didn't seem to be in any of those I get the idea that I probably would have beat everybody in crash pics if I had been on the tall Italian machine and maybe a snorkeling shot at the creek Anyway, thanks to all the great guys for having me along

[pyro 1]

WOW, AWESOME ! You all tackled some serious stuff out there. Great teamwork, write-up and photos. When I get rich and famous I'm gonna have a truck and a nice light and fast dirtbike so I can come out with ya'll and embarrass myself, if you don't mind me tagging along that is. Well done, Adventure Riders!

[Guest Hammerin Hammon]

Wow not only did we have an awsome ride, but we might just have the most awsome photo-journal write up, too! What a bunch of great photos :clapping: Thanks to all who took the time to click all the wonderful pics.

As for me, it was a good day on a minibike It's hard to beat for chugging up anything and getting your feet on the ground and handles tight single tracks like nobodys business, but that short wheel base and miserable suspension isn't the ticket for fire roads or whoop-de-does The next time we go, I think I will take my TE 450, but I am going to spend alot more time preparing to ride technical stuff with it, not that I haven't ridden any yet, I have, but I need to do alot more. I noticed that it was mostly uh...well...the shorter people on the full sized bikes that had most of the crash shots and guys with long legs didn't seem to be in any of those I get the idea that I probably would have beat everybody in crash pics if I had been on the tall Italian machine and maybe a snorkeling shot at the creek Anyway, thanks to all the great guys for having me along :declare:

I wish I would have gone on this ride with my wifes crf 150.Its not getting ridden enough.

[dirt dame 561]

I have never met Hamster, but can anybody here picture the guy riding a CRF 150? :clapping: