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Crawdaddy

I'm planning on taking a spin Sat morning

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I plan on riding this loop Sat morning (all open/public lands/Trails/Roads so no gate/closure issues along this route to the best of my knowledge :drinks: Please speak up if you know differently). The route starts/ends in Warner Springs and heads up to Anza via an assortment of dirt roads (Lost Creek Rd., Puerta La Cruz Rd., Cooper Cienega Truck Trail, Baily Rd., Terwilliger Rd., Wellman Rd., Kirby Rd., Mitchell Rd., Bautista Rd.). It eventually connects with Thomas Mtn Rd. and Hwy’s 74/243 up to Idyllwild. (Need to keep an eye out for a short/fun single track near intersection of Bautista Rd. and 6s16....I've only ridden it down to Bautista Rd. from 6s16, not up....I can see it on Google Earth (I think ;) ) and I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to find it when I’m out there B) )....anyway, whether I find that single track or not, the route turns off Bautista Rd. and heads up 6s16/6s18 and down Rouse Hill Rd./Thomas Mtn Rd to Hwy 74. At that point it hangs a left on 74 and remains on pavement ( :friends: yuk) via 74/243 up into Idyllwild for gas/breakfast at JoAnn’s (all pretty easy/fast riding to this point with exception of that one single track section off 6s16).

From Idyllwild, the route travels a portion of the Dualies Beaumont Charity ride/tracks in reverse....there’s a fun/tight/short single track near Idyllwild than eventually terminates into a fire road which drops down to 74/Hemet/Hixon Trail. I’ve only ridden that single track in the opposite direction so that should be fun/interesting! (I also included a Big Bike Cheat track to bypass the single track and head straight for the fire road/74 near Hemet....the single track section is not very well suited for big 650cc+ bikes – very tight).

The route then meanders through Hemet on 74/Fairview Rd./Bautista Rd. and eventually heads up Hixon Trail which is off Bautista Rd. (blue trail rating....moderately challenging). I’ll probably expand on the generic/truncated track a bit by riding around the Hixon Loop a bit once up top and eventually pop out at the other end on Forest Rte 2e43 which terminates into Reed Valley Rd. (optional detour/route to take a quick ~.8 mile spin over to Red Mtn Lookout at 9,563’ which is ~.7 mile short of Reed Valley Rd. “if” the road leading up to the lookout is open :D:king: )....then it’s back over to 371 via Reed Valley Rd. and Wilson Valley Rd....

The route then follows 371/79 down and over to Chihuahua Rd. which cuts back over to Cooper Cienega Truck Trail and a tad bit more back tracking on the same dirt roads taken up to Anza to get back over to Warner Springs (unless pinched for time in which case riders may just want to stay on 79 back to Warner Springs)....total “computer generated” distance is ~120 miles with a gas stop almost exactly mid way in Idyllwild (the actual track may be a tad bit more or less than the generic route/truncated tracks I’ve laid out depending on whether I can find the singe track off Thomas Mtn road and how much I goof around on the Hixon Trail).....big mileage for a “morning loop”, but much of it is a combination of dirt road/paved road (unfortunately) so the miles *should* disappear quickly....

I plan to be *rolling* away from Warner Springs about ~7:30am....I figure that’ll put me up in Idyllwild (~60 miles) around ~9:30am and back to Ramona by mid afternoon provided there are no mishaps along the way.....I’ll be driving over to Warner Springs and unloading there....prefer to just unload the bike(s) at Warner Springs (somewhere?) rather than freezing/riding on pavement in the early morning hours.....

I’m not that fast of a rider to begin with, and I want to lay down a good set of GPS tracks for others to follow in the future, so this will be a fairly mellow/moderately paced ride....any/all are welcome to join me (bring the directions/tracks if you’re running late cuz The Daddy ain’t waiting for ya :D:D:P )

PS: I’ve included Waypoints for gas in Anza and Hemet but neither should be necessary if riders show up in Warner Springs with a full tank and fill up again in Idyllwild after the first ~60 miles....of course, if you're "Pyroing" you may need to stop in Anza on the way.....

I'll post the definitive ride track afterwards for future reference/use by all.....

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Guest Hammerin Hammon

I would like to do this ride, another day when you are done with the GPS tracking. Bring on the harder sections. The harder the better :friends:

Stop by Amago Saturday I will be there all day with about 20 SDAR. riders. You can practice jumping with us. :drinks:

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I would like to do this ride, another day when you are done with the GPS tracking. Bring on the harder sections. The harder the better ;)

Stop by Amago Saturday I will be there all day with about 20 SDAR. riders. You can practice jumping with us. :D

Ha! Wasn't it Clint Eastwood who said, "A man's gotta know his limitations" :D:):D

WEll.......hmmmmm..........DADDY DON'T JUMP!!! :D:D

Have fun.......we'll lay down a good set of tracks for all to follow in the future......

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I am interested in stretching my legs this Saturday. I was planning to do the Bishop Two day but could not get my act together. My bike is loaded and ready to go. Where in Warner Springs are you leaving from?

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I am interested in stretching my legs this Saturday. I was planning to do the Bishop Two day but could not get my act together.

Likewise, couldn't get it together for the VCMC Bishop ride (and too cheap to drop the required $$ for that trip)

Where in Warner Springs are you leaving from?

Good question.....no good answer.....looking at Mapquest there's a road called appropriately enough, "Stage Rd." on the north side of 79 near Warner Springs Ranch......that might be a good "staging" area.....shouldn't be too hard to find a couple of KTM's somewhere in that vicinity at ~7:15am.....I drive a blue Dodge 2500....

Warner Springs

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Chris,

Have a great time, but just be prepared to go back and do it again. So the single track is that little thing we did last time we were up in that area? Doing it backwards could be interesting at that little down/up "hill climb" where you had said there was an abandoned car once upon a time.

Catch you next time..

/Fred

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OK. ~0715. I will try to find you. No need to wait on me. I will be driving a white Ford with a 2002 MXC in the back. If you change your mind or cannot make it, my Cell is 619 710-5151. I am looking forward to nice October Santa Ana ride.

Dutch Oven aka Eric.

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I'll post the definitive ride track afterwards for future reference/use by all.....

My friend Sean, Dutch Oven (Eric), and I started off from Warner Springs at 7:30 as planned. We made our way up through Lost Valley with only a couple of missed turns and locked gate scares. :D

I was able to find the first single track near the intersection of Bautista Rd. and Nf-6s16 pretty easily and I created an associated Waypoint in the attached file. :D The single track is simply a shortcut rather than staying on Nf-6s16. Then it was up/down Thomas Mtn and over to Idyllwild where Brent was waiting for us with his 950 Adventure. (Brent is a new member who literally found the SDAR site last night! ;) and decided to ride up from Moreno Valley to join us for a bit).

We ate breakast at JoAnn's and then headed for the TIGHT single track near town. I advised Brent that he might want to pass on attempting the single track on his ~475lb Adventure with "street tires" and he said, "why, I'm pretty sure your handlebars are the same width as mine"......to which I replied, "OK, whatever man" :D:D ......welp, turns out this guy makes his 950 look more nimble than I can ever hope to look on my 520........Brent, U R DA MAN! :D:D

Once at the end of the single track we plunged down to 74, rode through Hemet, and

jumped on the Hixon Trail (I created an associated Waypoint for Hixon in the attached file). Man, I love that trail and "the loop" up top. :D:D:)

Once up top we found out Reed Valley Road was closed off (at that juncture) so we came up with an alternate plan, or two, or three and eventually made our way down into Reed Valley/Wilson Valley. Once we reached 371 we said our goodbyes to Brent and headed back towards Warner Springs.

Great Day/Great new friends

I'll leave it to my new buds Eric and Brent to post Pics :D

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I'll post the definitive ride track afterwards for future reference/use by all.....

Great Day/Great new friends

I'll leave it to my new buds Eric and Brent to post Pics :D

Crawdaddy! First of all thanks for letting me tag along on your ride. Really fun stuff. :D It was good to meet & ride with you, Sean, and dutchoven. So here are a few pics. None of the good stuff though cause I was too busy RIDIN' .211181107-M-1.jpg

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Crawdaddy! First of all thanks for letting me tag along on your ride. Really fun stuff. :D It was good to meet & ride with you, Sean, and dutchoven. So here are a few pics. None of the good stuff though cause I was too busy RIDIN' .

Glad you were able to join us......what was your total mileage for the day.......mid 300's? You're an animal!

Hey Dutch - where are your pics?

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Better late than never? Here are some of the pictures. I took a bunch, but of course only a few are worth posting.

Thanks for a great ride and great company. Let's do it again soon.

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Better late than never? Here are some of the pictures. I took a bunch, but of course only a few are worth posting.

Thanks for a great ride and great company. Let's do it again soon.

Sean just sent me a couple of his pics.....3 guys and three 2002 KTM's (EXC 400/520 & MXC 520)

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Better late than never? Here are some of the pictures. I took a bunch, but of course only a few are worth posting.

Thanks for a great ride and great company. Let's do it again soon.

Sean just sent me a couple of his pics.....3 guys and three 2002 KTM's (EXC 400/520 & MXC 520)

I just downloaded this loop and am going to try to do it Dec 15th

Anyone interested?

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I just downloaded this loop and am going to try to do it Dec 15th

Anyone interested?

Going to Glamis with the gal pal, kiddos, and sand toys this weekend (have the EXC 400 paddled at the moment)......*may* be able to get out and ride on the 15th or 16th......not sure what the gal pal has on the schedule for that weekend :blink::):) .....I'll let ya know as we get closer :(:P

Fred - start groveling for your Hall Pass now since you missed out on this loop last time......you oughta go whether I'm able to step up or not.....and regardless of what's on Mama's Honey-do list :) ......easy for me to say :P:P:P

FYI - We parked at the Warner Springs Country Club last time and just signed some waiver with their security folks so they'd allow us to leave the trucks in their parking lot even though we weren't customers.....wasn't a big deal (that particular weekend).....

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Crawdaddy! First of all thanks for letting me tag along on your ride. Really fun stuff. :D It was good to meet & ride with you, Sean, and dutchoven. So here are a few pics. None of the good stuff though cause I was too busy RIDIN' .211181107-M-1.jpg

211181866-M-1.jpg

211185860-M-1.jpg

211183424-M.jpg

211186706-M-1.jpg

Not surprisingly, Brent is pushing me towards the 950 Twin .....contacted him through ADVRider......the various threads in Orange Crush will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about the big KTMs.....

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Not surprisingly, Brent is pushing me towards the 950 Twin .....contacted him through ADVRider......the various threads in Orange Crush will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about the big KTMs.....

Uh oh... sounds like the Daddy is eying a super-enduro???

Sure looks fun but I do want to ride both the 690 and the 950.......it would be nice to have a big pig adventure bike for road trips right out of the driveway.............would sort of complete my stable and also give Freddy an excuse to break out his GS1150 more often........it's really just a money thing at this point.....time to start saving some pennys......OK, LOTS of penys.....

That Orange Crush thread on ADVRider is pretty slick.....EVERYTHING you ever wanted to know about the 950/990 is in that thread.....

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Sure looks fun but I do want to ride both the 690 and the 950.......it would be nice to have a big pig adventure bike for road trips right out of the driveway.............would sort of complete my stable and also give Freddy an excuse to break out his GS1150 more often........it's really just a money thing at this point.....time to start saving some pennys......OK, LOTS of penys.....

That Orange Crush thread on ADVRider is pretty slick.....EVERYTHING you ever wanted to know about the 950/990 is in that thread.....

Two different genres of bike. The 950 is an adventure bike, the 690 (or my old XR650L) is a dual-sport, and I'd consider the EXC a dirt bike with a plate. It's all about what realms you want to cover. With the 950, you could dump your Super Chicken and never look back. I don't think you'd want to do your road ride from a few weekends ago on the 690. That's why I sold the XR650L, too much overlap with my EXC. Sure it was more comfortable than the EXC, but it was painful in the comfort department compared to the 950. Now, the XR or the new 690 will go places I wouldn't want to take the 950 (well not until I get some knobbies on it at least :lol: ), but in my opinion, there was too much overlap between the XR and the EXC. That's why I went to the 950. Comfy seat, wind protection, luggage, etc... I've been riding it to the grocery store and loading up the luggage with groceries lately!!! Take off the luggage, find a wide open dirt road, and it'll be doing 100mph before you know it!

The 950 Super Enduro sure looks fun, but it's kind of a niche bike. Although at only 40 lbs heavier than the old XR and more than double the power, it sure was tempting. :) In the end, however, the creature comforts of the Adventure won out.

The question again is... When do you want to take a test ride? I'm home after work every day this week :lol::lol::lol::lol:

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Two different genres of bike. The 950 is an adventure bike, the 690 (or my old XR650L) is a dual-sport, and I'd consider the EXC a dirt bike with a plate. It's all about what realms you want to cover. With the 950, you could dump your Super Chicken and never look back. I don't think you'd want to do your road ride from a few weekends ago on the 690. That's why I sold the XR650L, too much overlap with my EXC. Sure it was more comfortable than the EXC, but it was painful in the comfort department compared to the 950. Now, the XR or the new 690 will go places I wouldn't want to take the 950 (well not until I get some knobbies on it at least :lol: ), but in my opinion, there was too much overlap between the XR and the EXC. That's why I went to the 950. Comfy seat, wind protection, luggage, etc... I've been riding it to the grocery store and loading up the luggage with groceries lately!!! Take off the luggage, find a wide open dirt road, and it'll be doing 100mph before you know it!

The 950 Super Enduro sure looks fun, but it's kind of a niche bike. Although at only 40 lbs heavier than the old XR and more than double the power, it sure was tempting. :) In the end, however, the creature comforts of the Adventure won out.

The question again is... When do you want to take a test ride? I'm home after work every day this week :lol::):lol::)

Yep, all good points.......no doubt the 950/990 option would be the better option for the ~700 miles of pavement we rode a couple of weeks ago.......but my mind set is still 70/30(?) ratio of dirt to road which is why I'm still a bit hung up on the 690......but you do raise a good point on the overlap with the 520....

I've thought about selling the Super Chicken and the EXC 400 to generate some $$ (since Kathy would throw a hissy fit if I blew out the quads).....but it would be VERY difficult for me to part with a true sport bike since I've always had one (though it's mainly relegated to commuting these days, not track days :lol: )...........already backed out on selling the EXC 400 in the hopes Jarrett would turn it around in summer school (which he did).......hmmmmmm.......we'll see.....

Not in any hurry to take a test ride......all I have to do is look at what you did to Roger......:lol::lol:

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Not in any hurry to take a test ride......all I have to do is look at what you did to Roger......:lol::)

I didn't do anything to Roger... He just SAT on my bike - didn't even ride it. I know he keeps trying to pin that 990 on me, but that was all his own doing!!! :lol:

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Chris, I’ve been alternating between the Harley and the 990 Adventure when driving to work. You can use it as your commuter bike as well as your long adventure bike. That thing is fast. I don’t ride sport bikes but I don’t see why this couldn’t replace the super chicken. You would have been able to keep up with everyone on your recent ride. I don’t know if it will do 200 mph but I know it will break 100 mph without going over the break in rpm limit of 6,000 rpms with my wife on the back. :lol: I heard about that one later let me tell you. :):lol::lol:

And Doug you are too blame…you and Randy!

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Chris, I’ve been alternating between the Harley and the 990 Adventure when driving to work. You can use it as your commuter bike as well as your long adventure bike. That thing is fast. I don’t ride sport bikes but I don’t see why this couldn’t replace the super chicken. You would have been able to keep up with everyone on your recent ride. I don’t know if it will do 200 mph but I know it will break 100 mph without going over the break in rpm limit of 6,000 rpms with my wife on the back. :lol: I heard about that one later let me tell you. :):lol::lol:

And Doug you are too blame…you and Randy!

I like the Chicken for it's light/flickable "feel".....not it's "speed"......but I've already resigned myself to the fact that the Super Chicken will have to go if I pull the trigger on an Adventure bike.....that's fine, track days are behind me....belly is in front of me.....Adventure(s) await.....probably won't happen anytime soon.....Daddy needs to save his pennies....

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SDAR is awesome!  I needed info about trails in Idyllwild so I used the search pane and it brought me to this write.  Great description of the ride with good directions.  We only rode the Mt Thomas part this weekend, but we will go back to do the rest of it.  I can't believe I never knew about Idyllwild trails before now.  Thanks Crawdaddy for laying out a great route.  This was my son's first ride on his Dakar on dirt and he did great.

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