Camino Del Diablo, sometime in March?

[cattledog 0]

Hello,

Anyone interested in riding the Camino Del Diablo sometime in March? I did it last year in Feb as a three day trip. I rode my KTM 990 and my friend was on a GS800. There is probably over 75 miles of sand and the path we followed is about 120 miles of dirt end to end. Its a great ride if you like to get completely off the beaten path. You have to have a permit to do this ride which you can obtain on the Ajo, AZ or Yuma side. I am flexible on the date and I would also consider riding my 450 (haul the 450 out there lol) on this instead of the larger bike.

There are a few ride reports over on Advrider.com for this area; just google "Camino Del Diablo motorcycles" and you will see at least one decent report with plenty of pictures.

This trail was closed to motorcycles until about 2 years ago. My thought is that they might close it again if anyone gets seriously hurt out there, so if you are interested in riding this area you might want to check it out sooner rather than later. I also think this ride would be best in terms of safety with three people.

The terrain on this ride is pretty flat but you need to be very comfortable riding confused and deep sand, and even possibly deep mud (if there has been bad weather).

I attached a few pictures from last year. The "cabana" is at the half way point (about 50 miles in) and water is available there. One of the neat things about this ride is the isolation - there are many areas where there is no sign of human activity out to the horizon in all directions.

Chris aka Cattledog

[HVYWT 3]

You say three day how did that break up ?

[kkug 147]

Very Interested -- Small bike --I will PM you sometime.

[cattledog 0]

You say three day how did that break up ?

Hi there,

We left San Diego early on a Friday, and arrived in Ajo by mid afternoon. We got our permit from the Ranger station there, camped outside of town and then headed out on the Camino Diablo early Saturday morning. We camped at the Cabana (mid way point) on Saturday night then rode the rest of the way out to Yuma and then on to San Diego on Sunday.

You must arrive in Ajo well before the ranger station closes to get the required permits. It is possible to buy the permits ahead of time; and that would be the best plan. You also need to have a 6 ft pole with a red flag on top before they will issue you a permit. My pole broke a few miles into the ride and I never looked back.

I would ride my 990 again but this trail would be more fun on a smaller bike at least for me. Maybe something creative could be done with two trucks. I don't think riding the Diablo twice in one trip would be very fun - too tiring!

Please research this ride carefully before you consider going. We never had any problems but there are plenty of articles about this being a dangerous area etc. There were border patrol vehicles all over the area last time I rode it. In fact, an armored border patrol vehicle idled all night long about 500 ft from our campsite maybe keeping an eye on us overnight. I thought the agents out there were friendly and they told us there had been no recent problems.

Chris

p.s. Sounds good KKUG. We have spoken on the phone once before!