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A month or so ago bikeslut, pastapilot, kato, jbw, mctrails, and myself did a 3 day lake isabella riding trip. One of the days jbw and I went to try the rincon trail starting from ant canyon. The trail is 19 miles of technical single track that parallels the Kern river north and dead ends at the wilderness boundary that overlooks a nice fork in the Kern river. On the first attempt at it a month ago, we made it up about 15-16 miles in and had to turn around due to time constraints. We were not satisfied with this and Jon (pastapilot) want to also give it a go so we decided this weekend 11/9/2013 would be round 2 with the mighty Rincon trail. Here is my google earth track with elevation info.

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We met Friday night and camped along the Kern near the trail head. We had a camp fire and turned in fairly early in anticipation of the big ride ahead of us in the morning. We hit the sack and woke up nice and fresh in the AM for a 8:30AM start to the ride. Here Josh shows off his nifty oil bottles that he is using to carry extra premix in.

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Conditions we good. Temps in the 60's and overcast. This was good as the trail gets difficult quick. Here we come to the first large obstacle. It looks pretty tame in the photos but its a 2 story step up. I give it a go first.

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Made it! Jon give goes next. If you look close you can see the oil bottle strapped onto his side there full of extra gas. :torch:

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Jon is making it look easy, floating up the hill.

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And he clears it! Unfortunately a few feet later Jon caught some serious traction and had a little tip over. And where did he land you might ask? Right on his hip with the extra gas jug! No bueno!!! Gas tends to burn your skin when you are covered in it. Especially when its your chones. If you don't speak spanish, that means his underpants were soaked in gas. :torch: Jon had gas in his eye and all over the rest of him and his skin was now burning. So he did what he could and tried to take a shower using our camel bags. That was somewhat stressful, we were several miles up sh$t creek and one of us was already suffering from chemical burns, only 17 miles more to go. Jon stripped down and washed his clothes and self off and we were ready to roll to the river for a better cleanup job. That whole episode could have been much worse had the gas come in contact with a hot 4T pipe. Jon was being quite calm and just manned up and said he would meet us up at the river in a few miles. So off he went and josh and I kept moving to catch up with him in half an hour or so. Gas on his hip was not Jon's idea for the record.

Josh is moving and we are off.

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Jon is ahead of us at this point and on on the gas hard up and over a couple very large switch back covered mountains and on his way to the river. Here is Josh in hot pursuit through some rocks.

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Here is Jon scooting along shortly before we stopped at the river at sherman pass road and cleaned up and filled our water packs from the river with a portable water filter.

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Things were going well and everyone was feeling good at that point so we continued on deeper into the woods north of Sherman pass road. Here Josh demonstrates how to turn while going uphill on a rock garden.

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We continue on and are almost 1/2 of the way up to the wilderness boundary at this point.

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The sign shows 10 miles to go to the "Forks of the Kern". That is where we want to go!

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The trail is getting a little more cluttered and less traveled.

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No one has been here for a while. This is past the point at which josh and I turned around last time.

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Jon makes his way ever closer to the elusive forks of the kern. The trail is becoming faint and there are a lot of downed trees and new terrain at this point. It was like all of a sudden we went through one of those secret doors in zelda and popped out in some new exotic place.

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We are deep into the woods and getting closer to the infamous "Hill Of Doom" that one must travel down to the wilderness boundary to catch a glimpse at the Kern river.

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Over the river and through the woods to the Kern river we go. We made it! This is the end of the trail.

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We stopped here and had some food and then turned around for the daunting 20 mile trek back to camp.

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Afternoon is setting in so we get on the gas and high tail it homeward.

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You can't tell from the photo but this was a huge hill dubbed the "Hill of Doom". This is maybe a mile from the wilderness boundary. You have to clear this hill or you are sleeping in the woods until you can get up it. Doesn't look bad in the photos but it was pretty burly. Jon gave it a go first and had to take another stab at it. Josh amazingly cleaned it and I made it half way up and pushed for a few feet and rode it up from there. Here is Jon coming back up and we are on our way out of there! No sleeping in the woods for us!

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Another tricky hill on the way out of there

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Several more miles of rock strewn single track hills and cliffs and we made it back to camp! Everyone made it unscathed and we were pretty stoked to have all completed this trail.

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the end.

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Wow...that looks epic...great pics...thanks for sharing :excl::D

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This was a great ride, a few more pics to add:

You must navigate multiple mountain passes, both the passes in the distance are part of the trail. You can see the trail clearly only on the first.

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Jon making it up a space confined step up.

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Brad heading up from a small stream. The good thing about this trail is there are multiple options for refilling water, a water filter is a must for this ride.

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Brad making it up yet another rock field.

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The trails nearing the end of the rincon are rarely used and are often some pretty small ledges.

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Jon heading up a part of the "Hill of Doom" on the way back from the river.

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Awesome ride and trip. There's more story and evidence coming. Hopefully I'll get to it tonight.

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I did some of that trail ( the easy part ) now I know to pass on the rest of it. I realy don,t want to sleep with the bears !

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I've wanted to ride Rincon Trail from Ant Canyon staging area to the Wilderness boundary for almost 5 years. Thanks to Brad and Josh for taking so long to get together with me. In that time I was able to purchase, equip, and get comfortable on a really exceptional trail machine, my YZ450F. Eventually I'll change the transmission, and really it's only fault, to the WR transmission. That stands to make a great trail bike even better.

I'm not going to say much more than Spaugh and jbw have. If anyone wants to know more about why carrying gasoline in oil or coolant containers is a bad idea, just say so and I'll elaborate on my research conclusions.

And now here's something I hope you'll really like.

Living in a van, down by the river.

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Here we go

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The trail actually starts up ahead where Brad and Josh are stopped.

Salmon Creek Bridge

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I don't understand why it would be called Salmon Creek. I grew up on a Salmon Creek and every year salmon would swim upstream to spawn. I highly doubt there has ever been a salmon in that creek.

Here's Josh joining in on the first "oh s¶it" section of trail. Up ahead Brad is standing on a trail that's ~18" wide and having to go around a rock sticking out of the cliff face.

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This is the obstacle that I turned around at last time attempting the trail.

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I swear it was more intimidating and difficult two years ago.

One of my favorite sections of the trail. Dropping down from the first saddle into a dry stream bed and snaking through from bank to bank.

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Josh likes it too. Can't you see the smile?

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On the trail, looking across a rock obstacle, another dry creek and through an oak grove.

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A little further down the trail.

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My trusty steed, enjoying the fall colors.

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The KTM brothers are in two stroker paradise.

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Here is Spaugh and a look back to where we came from.

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Another of my favorite sections. A trail on a talus slope of decomposed granite.

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All thumbs, no fingers, up.

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1/3 of the way in Josh wheelies for joy.

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Behind him is Scheaffer Meadow Trail that will take you up to Kennedy Meadows.

Brad, stoic and ready for more.

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Which brings me to the end of Part 1.

Stay tuned for more pictures and possibly some video.

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After the intersection the Rincon trail got significantly less travelled and there were far more trees.

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Eventually it became a real "woods" trail. Here Josh attempts to keep the tires stuck to the leaves on the sloped trail.

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Brad working an obstacle.

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The trail came in from the right and makes a 90 degrees turn up the hill. It used to go straight through, but as you can see there is a rather large tree in the trail. I considered hopping the log but after getting the bike up to it opted for the alternate route.

The end of the road. Foot traffic only beyond this point.

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Other than the "Hill of Doom", I was in the zone on the way back. I guess I got into what the kids call the "flow". I was ripping it back. It could've been the sense of accomplishment that had me pumped or maybe it was that it took us 4 1/2 hours to get there and we only had 3 hours of daylight left in our day. Either way, I was in the zone and Josh and Brad only saw me when I stopped to make sure they were OK and still coming up behind me.

I just took some scenic photos while I waited.

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Victory!

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Josh celebrates with a wheelie.

And brad with a heel clicker.

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Some great stuff here. Gives me the PTSD shakes since it reminds me of the "hiking" trail in N. AZ. Was there any small cacti on this trail, Pasta?

....and yes, the only time I saw you then was when I rounded a corner, saw a small fire, a fresh kill on a rotisserie........... You were killin' it then, too.

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great photos jon. can we go again next week? :)/>

Thanks. New cameras are nice. I was thinking the weekend after Thanksgiving if you want to work out some plans, let's get it started.

Some great stuff here. Gives me the PTSD shakes since it reminds me of the "hiking" trail in N. AZ. Was there any small cacti on this trail, Pasta?

....and yes, the only time I saw you then was when I rounded a corner, saw a small fire, a fresh kill on a rotisserie........... You were killin' it then, too.

I really liked Flagstaff and have wanted to go back and finish that loop (hang out with the elk) I've heard most of the Coconino Forest is closed now.

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Planning on going to tecate week after Thanksgiving. You should come down for that.

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Great RR. I have been to KM many times but have never ridden the Rincon. The sidehill stuff ALWAYS intimidates me. I wind up holding my breath when riding them only to get tired and winded realizing that I wasnt breathing.......besides falling off the side I always wonder how would I get back up to the trail ?

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Great RR. I have been to KM many times but have never ridden the Rincon. The sidehill stuff ALWAYS intimidates me. I wind up holding my breath when riding them only to get tired and winded realizing that I wasnt breathing.......besides falling off the side I always wonder how would I get back up to the trail ?

you have your buddies break out the parachute cord and tie the bike to a tree so it can't slip any further then you all start pulling up the bike. ;) has happened before...

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