Death Valley Daze

[Covered in Dust 162]

It had been a killing journey, over mountains with no passes and rivers with no names, and ordinary men would have long fallen and the birds would have picked their bones white. Even we were tired and sick and we were lost. Around us, as far as the eye could see, there was nothing but wild hills and bad bush through which only the buffalo could pass. Wilbur Smith, Men of Men.

Yes we were lost in Death Valley and low on gas, then Eddie decided to try a short cut off a cliff which delayed us close to an hour getting his bike back on the road. But it was a great trip and quite an adventure. I don't think I'll ever venture into unknown country again without a good paper map.

We started the day with a larger group let by Ian. The pace was a little slow because of the size of the group so we decided to go do some exploring and then catch up with the group later. Well the tracks let us to a long ago gated and grown over trail. We were not sure how to get to where we were supposed to be so after about an hour of scouting around decided to make our way over the mountains to Pannamint springs.

I called Eddie on the radio and didn't get an answer so I turned around. When I got back to Eddie I asked him where his bike was and he pointed over the cliff.

It took us some time and a little effort but we managed to get Eddie's bike back on the trail. Eddie was a little worn down at this point.

By now it was getting late and very cold and we still needed to ride over the mountains in the distance and gas was getting to be a concern. David ran out about 1/2 mile before Pannamint Springs. I had given Eddie some gas already out of my bike and we limped in on fumes and then Eddie took some gas back to David while I warmed up in the store. We gassed up and I asked the lady behind the counter for some trash bags to try and cut the wind for a 60 mile street run in the dark back to our hotel. You never know how crappy your headlight is until you really need it. Eddie and I will both be upgrading our lights before another big ride.

Covered in Dust

[Covered in Dust 162]

Day 2

No drama today, just a great little loop thru some beautiful desert.

Covered in Dust

[Crawdaddy 96]

You never know how crappy your headlight is until you really need it. Eddie and I will both be upgrading our lights before another big ride.

Bummer about Eddie's side trip but looks like a good time overall....thanks for posting....

The X2 Eclipse HID worked GREAT on The Smoker this past weekend when we took an "unplanned" night ride from 6:30-9pm

http://trailtech.net/x2.html

You'll probably want a Trail Tech Stator as well if you go HID

http://www.trailtech.net/electrical_systems_ktm_4strokes.html

[kkug 146]

Death Valley gets its name for a reason.The most scared I ever was on a bike ride was in Death Valley .Snow!

[KTMrad 508]

Cool pix......

Chris, I don't see the 990 out there !

[hobiee 28]

You never know how crappy your headlight is until you really need it. Eddie and I will both be upgrading our lights before another big ride.

Bummer about Eddie's side trip but looks like a good time overall....thanks for posting....

The X2 Eclipse HID worked GREAT on The Smoker this past weekend when we took an "unplanned" night ride from 6:30-9pm

http://trailtech.net/x2.html

You'll probably want a Trail Tech Stator as well if you go HID

http://www.trailtech.net/electrical_systems_ktm_4strokes.html

We sell the complete ktm kits at the shop for the x2 upgrade !

[hobiee 28]

Eddie, how did you go off the edge of that huge wide road????? I see some snow and some moisture but ?????? Details please.

[Strega 0]

Eddie, how did you go off the edge of that huge wide road????? I see some snow and some moisture but ?????? Details please.

He probably got hit by one of these:

[SteelRain 0]

Eddie, how did you go off the edge of that huge wide road????? I see some snow and some moisture but ?????? Details please.

He probably got hit by one of these:

Close... that "moisture" is a sheet of ice.

[Bagstr 287]

CID,

Glad you made it back cold but OK. So when did Ian's slow group get back to camp/hotel?

My first trip up to DV I had the mistaken impression that everywhere would be Low and Hot. Ha!! There are 6k ft passes and cold valleys this time of year.

Death Valley equals Extremes.

[Wakemedic 0]

Eddie, how did you go off the edge of that huge wide road????? I see some snow and some moisture but ?????? Details please.

Yea its ice not moisture. Short story, we were clipping along to find our way out of the mountains before dark I came around the corner and hit that ice patch in 4th gear, went sideways until my rear tire grabbed dirt then high sided it up and over. Happened so fast. next thing I know , David says he came up and I was laying in the fetal position on a rock. Of course Chris said he would help after taking lots of pics to post on SDAR. I'm fine, bike is okay...... Didnt really like that front fender, mirror, working headlight, and new plastics anyway ! Bike made it another 140 miles home that night and another 200 miles the next day. Great trip with great friends, More details and pics to follow.

[Wakemedic 0]

Eddie, how did you go off the edge of that huge wide road????? I see some snow and some moisture but ?????? Details please.

He probably got hit by one of these:

Didnt get hit by one of those .... but close. Did have a couple of F18s buzz us at tree top level, seems like we rode into their training area. Scared the crap out of the 3 of us coming in on us from behind !

[SteelRain 0]

...David says he came up and I was laying in the fetal position on a rock...

like a rock... fetal position; face down.

It was a little scary knowing how far out we were.

[Wakemedic 0]

Like Chris Said.... Day one : started out with a large group headed by Ian first stop the Crater. Then down to the Race Track.

The 3 of us took off to explore a mine, next thing you know we werent really lost ...... just a might confused for a few hours and a couple hundred miles. All 3 of us had our Spot, GPS and Radios, so we weren't super concerned and although we had no idea where the trail went we knew that if we could find a way over the next Mtn range to 395 around Big Pine or Lone Pine, I have enough Snowboard buddies that live in Mammoth year round that I could get one of them to come down and get us shelter for the night or give us and the bikes a 3 hour ride back around the Valley. We ran into a Park crew that mapped us out down the southern route a couple hundred miles through the mountains. Between getting lost , the gas shortage, getting buzzed by fighter jets, 3 of us riding 60 miles home on Dave's headlights, and my cliff dive it was definitely an Adventure Ride.

Dave and Chris rocking the latest in trash bag wind block ride gear for the 60 mile night time cold slab ride home. Notice in the background the $8.00 GAL gas !

[Maniac 0]

Sorry about the error on the tracks, I assumed you guys had a good map. It was nice to share a beer at the Inn. Glad you guys came out and had an adventure. I have a lot of pictures to go through, we rode for 4 days!

Next year we will do a fast group ride and I will show you my favorite spots.

[Wakemedic 0]

Sorry about the error on the tracks, I assumed you guys had a good map. It was nice to share a beer at the Inn. Glad you guys came out and had an adventure. I have a lot of pictures to go through, we rode for 4 days!

Next year we will do a fast group ride and I will show you my favorite spots.

The group speed wasn't an issue for me Ian. Everybody knows when I follow Chris I just set my stabilizer, hit the throttle and pray !! Great weekend Bro, Cant wait to do it again !!

[Wakemedic 0]

DAY 2 Great riding with Beautiful Views. Ran into a really cool group of KLR Guys from Sacramento that had been checking out the SDAR site. Again the 3 of us took a couple of turns exploring and found some amazing tucked away campsites. Rode in and found an old mining town, and topped it off with a big group ride through Titus Canyon ! Big Thanks to Ian and Deb for turning us on to this place !!

[dsfox 0]

Great Times...Awesome people....amazing trip......pics to follow.... 600+ miles over the weekend...Death Valley is a VAST place.....beautiful, but needing respect....I was in the "other" group , we rode 270 miles that same day they got lost......sadly, we thought the fast guys would catch us long before that, but they were just across the valley from us when they turned back. ...we saw their dust but didnt' know for sure it was them.......our group was at the hot springs, heading north through steel pass to eureka dune/crankshaft junction.......we got back at 7 pm....we had our share of adventures....an epic and loooong day....more stories later.....

[dsfox 0]

.

[bluefin2na 0]

This week was nothing short of EPIC, I CHEWED up a brand new MEFO, and the big bore 705 kit on a KLR will hit 110MPH

on a nice long road, with a tad more to go.

[SteelRain 0]

This week was nothing short of EPIC, I CHEWED up a brand new MEFO, and the big bore 705 kit on a KLR will hit 110MPH

on a nice long road, with a tad more to go.

110mph indicated of course; as I whip out my calculator and adjust for altitude, barometric pressure, tires wear, and speed limits I can tell you were doing exactly 64.9mph and remaining completely within legal limits

[danrider 5]

Looks like a great time. Thank you for the pics.

[GeoMoto 0]

Awesome trip! I had fun riding with everyone and I look forward to next year. Brandy wanted me to thank you all too for a great time!

[Goofy Footer 539]

Awesome trip! I had fun riding with everyone and I look forward to next year. Brandy wanted me to thank you all too for a great time!

Jesse was that you on the big beemer? Woa I'm just making that connection. Fun trip and great riding. And to think arguably the best ride was still out there, literally stranded... haha. I'm sure that tow bill is going to be higher than the gas it would have taken to ride highway around the 4x4 road. Oh well.

Team Suzuki drove through the night to arrive in DV at 6am Friday to begin riding at 9am. Dedication.

We convinced another Suzuki to ride with us, here is CableJockey

Found a mine that went 80 meters deep

Chloride Cliffs

My first flat, I knew it right when it happened. I tried to thread the needle at speed between 3 rocks and got caught. Tube change was surprisingly easy and I'm thankful it was. I didn't have any reception to call bikeslut for advice this time!

Day 2 we went fishing and caught this big Exhaust Trout. Very rare species indeed

Very happy bboyle9 made it up Lippencott considering his exhaust was backfiring every two seconds and the bike kept stalling.

Day 3 on the way to Beatty's "dance" club....

Decided to hook a left at Titus Canyon because we heard the views were better there

Luckily we were right

There is a video of bboyle9's exhaust somewhere. That will be posted later. I also took some gopro footage of me through Titus, I might edit that as well. Thankfully, besides a bruised swollen shin I had no issues from my street crash two days prior.

Thanks to all who helped organize this!

[dsfox 0]

THE GROUP: Awesome People....

Big Thanks to the KLR.net crew for a second year at Death Valley Daze and another epic adventure: tommy (bluefin2na) our chef and jim (his chefs assistant) and ( bigwvumper) jonathan for the amazing food and hospitality.....Ian (maniac) our mechanic, for organizing the trip...and leading most of the rides......always good to ride with ed (snowaviation)...and Dr. J.........You guys are all great friends....we always have alot of laughs....

I also Had alot of fun hanging out and doing some riding with chris (covered in dust), david (steelrain) and eddie (wakemedic)....also around camp were john (cable jockey), tim (goofy footer) and brendan (bboyle9)......

RIDE SUMMARY:

I rode with various groups from WED til SUNDAY for a total of about 700 miles....my favorite day, despite it's challenges was Friday: An endurance event of epic proportions....270 miles....my longest ride so far....

UBEHEBE CRATER, teakettle jct, lippencott pass, SALINE VALLEY, PALM SPRING, STEEL PASS, EUREKA DUNE, CRANKSHAFT JCT, AND BACK.....

The Pics don't do it justice, but help all of us remember the amazing journey:

TOMMY'S KITCHEN (of course it had 2 CANOPIES and a bigger spread) before the gale force winds came through the first night....nearly destroing our several camp sites...

THURS RIDE TO CHLORIDE, BEATTY, TITUS:

(the wind was INTENSE...all day.....very challenging....it actually blew me OFF my bike when I was mounting up to leave the top of chloride cliffs....CRAZY...

MORE TO COME....