Oracle and I headed out last Sunday for an exploration of the CABDR
From SD to Yuma, camped at Picacho campground along the river then headed into the heart of the Mojave soaking in amazing desert double track, securing a primitive spot to buckle down for the night, 10+ hours of cold rains later, we packed up and heading out to ride some more truly amazing conditions.
From Mojave to Furnace Creek / Death Valley was a big stretch with no place to camp inside the park. Headed east on 190 and found a place just outside the park to set up and enjoy a well needed refreshment capturing the last few minutes of warm sunlight..
Looking at the bright stars and reminiscing over the days adventure, we didn’t think much of the lighting strikes way off to the north, we turned in to get a good night’s sleep.
Within minutes, a quick glance out the tent we noticed the clouds have started to move in and move in really fast. The intention was to go without the soaked rainfly from the previous night and enjoy the evening stars
With quick work we battened down the hatches and heading into our little tents to withstand 50mph winds for the next 10 hours, relentless is the only word I have for the wind, dust & rain that night.
As much as there is always a level of concern spending the night in conditions like that in extremely remote areas with no service – I found myself tucked deep inside my sleeping bag chuckling about our desire to tackle such adventures – and wouldn’t trade it for anything.
We made fast work of packing up a windy camp to hit the highway and head back to SD
The winds battered us along the way riding on a 60-degree angle for 250 miles pretty much until J-tree, where we had a bit of a tail wind maybe a bit too much of a tail wind
The flowers were amazing at the south entrance of J-tree park – worth the ride for sure
This was a big bike rally through the vast desert terrain, exactly what these bikes are built for...
Not at one point along this ride did I ever think I would rather be on a smaller bike
Can’t speak for the technical sections at altitude north of Furnace Creek, though up until that point it’s a big bike ride if you have the option.
We parted ways in Santa Ysabel - I headed over Mt Laguna on the way home hoping to see a little snow, nothing.... it was a beautiful way to end a great adventure
There was way more miles then pics – though here’s a few from along the way
Thanks again Oracle for the solid & safe partnership..