MacDuncan 131 Posted April 13, 2016 Well, any rainy day, like last Sunday, that requires me to skip a kayak outing in the ocean due to having to wait for the surf to clean up/wash out.... can have a silver lining. One good thought is always that there will be more tacky, less dusty, desert riding available. And particularly in April, when there is a touch of anxiety that it is gonna get dang HOT soon, I realize I better get out there and ride the deserts ASAP! So, a spontaneous get out and go with Pellos, arranged Sunday night, (DRZ's riding gear, car camping/tents/coolers) likely to Borrego somewhere..... UNTIL, he asked me what I wanted to do. I had a goal that before it got HOT this summer, I wanted to ride KOFA and Red Cloud, and maybe Picacho some more and tie in Valley of the Names. So he dropped by Monday at 10 am and we took off to Kofa to ride, Car camp-beer-eat-beer-tent, coffee, ride out Red Cloud, back. The Castle Dome town is very cool. Each part of the museum is really worth seeing. And, ya never know who ya gonna meet. haha I needed a cold one after hanging with Lolitta We initially thought of doing what looked like a very cool loop of the Park.... until we realized that the loop we thought about was well over a hundred miles... so we opted for a zip out and back to Big Eye Mine. The terrain was so cool and it felt like Jurassic Park-ish. 16 miles later..... A short break at the mine As we back-tracked, with just a few splats of raindrops.... I began to think that we should have done the big loop... I just wanted to ride and ride and ride... so we just zipped past the truck as if it wasn't there and took off towards King Valley heading north from Castle Dome. Truly fantastic riding... finally took a short break looking out over the very impressive alluvial fan of King Valley. Really wanted to keep going... next time! After a great outing we tossed the bikes in the trailer and headed to Lake Martinez. Fishers actually, as who could complain about 5 dollar camping fees. A nice morning coffee as we contemplated our ride for the day. As we journeyed out Red Cloud, I had thoughts of going north through Cibola to Blythe and then heading back through Picacho, but there were a lot of unknowns at this point given I had never even been on Red Cloud Road so we thought we would just go about 15 miles and pull a U-turn., but... It was so dang nice this morning... the recent rain made for mostly dust free riding and the washes were firm... about 85 degrees.... Oh my, and the views of the River and the bright colored rock formations were very cool! Well, great riding, and in particular at about mile 27-ish (yep, we didn't stop at 15 the very cool drops in the wash made wash riding far more adventurous, and then the aye, yae, yae... as due to recent rains, we were going to have to navigate the slimiest gooey muck stuff that was about 2 feet deep at times through the marsh. If either of us went down.... it would have been nothing but down right UGLY while the other fella laughed. It just wouldn't be fun. Nope, we didn't bif, mighty close at times.... the flying W with both legs out wide like a tight rope walker for balance.... and higher than the front tire seemed to help At mile 32 we had to decide.... hope for a way to find gas, find another way out...a quick look around answered that one - haha... or turn around. We had a sandwich an pondered.... Back we went for today, bring the rotopak next time. It was a great ride back to the truck, fantastic road, AND WOW, 53 miles in KOFA and 64 miles out Red Cloud and back and we did not pass, ....... over a hundred miles of great riding.... and we did not pass.... one other person or vehicle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Only a couple of Big Horn Sheep - dang nice!!!!!!! I deserve a brew! Home by 7 pm. A very nice 33 hours. Now I can shop for a radio that matches those distracting blue pants - haha. Cheers. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bp619 104 Posted April 13, 2016 Sounds like fun trip and cool area for riding Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
danrider 5 Posted April 13, 2016 I know that area well because I had a home on the river for eight years. That said next time you go give me a yell and I will show you how to get to Blythe and back to Picacho Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Durf 0 Posted April 13, 2016 I work out at the Castle Dome Heliport quite often but I've never been past where the pavement ends. I've been wanting to take my bike out there and check it out. Now I know I need to do just that. Thanks for posting. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Beezzz 6 Posted April 13, 2016 Kofa and Red Cloud are beautiful and desolate. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dirt dame 559 Posted April 13, 2016 Nice report and pix. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dress4Less 162 Posted April 13, 2016 Excellent RR and pics! Thanks for sharing! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
HotRod82 2 Posted April 13, 2016 Me and YumaAdam (board member from Canada) ran into that same mudhole a few months ago. I was leading and stopped to survey the situation, Adam said something like "we don't stop for mud in Canada" and went straight into the seat-deep water. Somehow his bike stayed running and he made it through, of course I had no choice but to follow. Good times. I hope you washed your bike off quickly because that mud is full of salt and really tough on bikes. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
