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royboyz

UTBDR last minute on an 04 525 exc

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Found out I could get a couple of weeks of with short notice but the wife couldn’t so decided to do the Utah Back Country Discovery Route with a week and half notice so ordered the only bigger tank I could find for the ole gal than my IMS 3.1 gallon  in an Acerbis 6.6 gallon tank so it arrived 1 day before my Departure date of 9-6-19 Friday and installed it as Thursday was the date for the arrival of the route map according to USPS but it did not arrive so I put out an all points bulletin to SDAR and thanks to MacDuncan was able to pick it up from  him Saturday . Also Thanks to CID, Wierdrider and others that responded to my plea for help. The tank has kind of a bad design with the petcock hanging out way out on the bottom towards the front. What could go wrong in a tip over?3E631171-F9B7-4BFA-A381-8F20EA8ACCB8.thumb.jpeg.f51500050bc31d596a098643341b29f7.jpeg

Hit the road and ended pulling off and back about a half mile from the road about 20 miles north of Flagstaff.and slept in the back of the truck when I was awoken about 2:00 a.m by the sound of a truck bombing around with yelling screaming and loud music and wouldn’t ya know it the stopped about a hundred yards from me but at this time I was concealed by big bush trees. 5BB297CA-E3E2-4A38-B374-400BDD9E4CAE.thumb.jpeg.285aeee8658d61ab2f78d39140990f6d.jpegI know what your thinking in about 7 movies I’ve seen this never turns out good for the old guy in the trees so put a round in the chamber. What could go wrong but after about an hour the truck fired up continued bombing about off in to the distance. At least they were blasting some good Red Hot Chili Pepper music though. Unloaded the bike in Mexican Hat Utah about noon thirty started the trail thru Valley of the Gods which did not disappoint 975F5BCB-FF59-4448-B609-B4402BEDB408.thumb.jpeg.c90bfb3533f32e29453556a9580065ac.jpeg7305B37B-6777-4322-B3CB-4ABD41E0B95C.thumb.jpeg.3b0f8d0a12b2442d875b8ad358d8afa1.jpegA8C6A1F5-C5B4-45D3-AFE8-F400D1C3D2B2.thumb.jpeg.e37531890071973120082932f26390d1.jpegCamped in Butler wash and the next day finished Stage 1 and continued on to Lockhart Basin and camped in the middle of it. Talk about solitude.1B6A69E1-3F7C-4529-B24B-70E7A2C32E24.thumb.jpeg.26fb14c2ce9017dd03a747044a44fc19.jpeg65A75132-6868-48F0-B626-906359741A23.thumb.jpeg.eab5780958572733ca80d4cb3d363abb.jpeg1D7CC057-FC5C-4021-95B1-CE20740C4749.thumb.jpeg.d600ab2009def4518a1899e39ec652bc.jpegThe next day continued thru Lockhart as the weather turned bad a few times and had to seek shelter from crazy thunder stormsBFFDF6AC-0C32-47A9-A4E5-CFC494148271.thumb.jpeg.ad2984298352c19f52fe82d3bd1634f1.jpeg7DC76E22-606B-458C-9737-593EEF666AA8.thumb.jpeg.dfe6d6af8f7750f7958435040fd07ae0.jpeg

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After waiting about an hour  for about an hour I said F-# it and went for it’ as the German people were filming and made it and they told me had I not I would have looked pretty stupid floating down the river on U-tube. 0481E933-D320-4016-81B5-9E3B8D04751A.thumb.jpeg.ca02e9563bd00c75942eccb71ab4aa3f.jpegFinished the evening and camped at onion creek and next morning Wednesday finished stage 2 and pushed on thru on and off rain and came across a group of big bikes that were struggling in the minor mud with gummed up tires so as I crossed hiway 70 it got real slippery so Imagine this guys bypassed this part or the might still be there who knows as I never saw them again. They did have a Jeep support vehicle following them though.35975484-45F2-4CDC-BC85-443679CB6DC8.thumb.jpeg.2f734873f0d280a860125e9cdbff112c.jpeg55F99419-9192-44AA-9701-5ECF894D2AD7.thumb.jpeg.63ce5050dde899c32068b340065403b5.jpegMust have gotten off track and found a different route down to Green River showered and then camped somewhere near the end of stage 3. Next morning finished stage 3 and pushed into stage 4. Well you no what they say “It's not an adventure till some thing goes wrong” right. To be continued.

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Mistake # 1 So I did recall seeing something about timber canyon being closed on the BDR website updates but had no Idea where that was as the roads go by FR numbers and not signs with names as I found out later the locals call them by names and the map doesn’t show numbers or names in this case. This is the section at the end of section 3 right before hiway 40 on the map and on the map is called red creek. Mistake # 2 was not leaving Wellington To go over a 10k foot peak until after 2:30 in the afternoon  which is over a 100 miles of dirt roads but more because I did also head over to Soldier summit for fuel and then got a little mixed up on top before finding the road of doom AKA Timber Canyon so at this time I had know idea about any closure and as I traversed down the mountain into the darkness as it is deep and not very wide with vertical crumbly looking rocksC5C75A04-472C-4A7D-8CC9-64518B485F93.thumb.jpeg.d0881e732ab89cadc749a47b956ba171.jpegSo I went through a creek that ended up sucking water into the carb but she eventually cleared out and  that was a bit of a scare as darkness and cold air was creeping in. This was mistake # 3 as it put me on the wrong side of the creek and then I rode thru a series of rock slides that started to bare a good resemblance to Carl’s Diner of the Erzberg Rodeo probably about 15 different slides and it got so bad I got off the bike in the rocks and took a little hike on foot to scout as the last rockslide had no end in sight. Mistake #s 4 and 5 was not taking off my jacket as I was already sweating and leaving the bike without a light source as the I went around this corner then, that one, and so on and so on until I saw a cabin with a camouflage bronco II parked there and immediately started to return to the bike and scout my route thru the rocks and was really having a hard time seeing as the moon had not come up yet. But found it just in the nick of time before total darkness and did not want to try and turn the bike around in the rocks and try to find another way across the creek so I piled a bunch of shaky rocks to get across and that could haves turned out real bad as could not build up any speed in the rocks so I contemplated the scenery for what seemed like five minutes psyching myself up before dropping the clutch and building enough speed to bounce through the hastily constructed bridge and rode through the rocks for another 5 or 10 minutes until approaching the cabin and stopped and called out honking the horn but no response but in my mind I just knew there was a couple of toothless hillbillies with shotguns watching me and then found around the corner from the cabin it was absolutely impassable.17513282-044A-466F-9750-486FA1D0021C.thumb.jpeg.8fce47913e1c422332300a53eb438a45.jpegD0534D12-47BA-42FD-93BF-AEEC059883CC.thumb.jpeg.e04971f8a7228cb0468bf4df0afee858.jpegand since the only spot to possibly pitch a tent was 50 feet from cabin of the people from The Hills Have Eyes that’s we’re I set up and froze my ass off all night and didn’t sleep very well as I thought about all the things that could go wrong as I try and get back through it all again in the morning such as breaking the bike or myself in the rocks and hoping like hell it didn’t rain overnight and raise the creek level and of course being eaten by Mongaloid Hillbillies during the night. When your alone the mind can come up with all kinds of bad situations. Ha ha The next morning I got the hell out of there and saw this son the way out but I must have been on the other side of the creek last night because didn’t end up going thru the one that almost drown the bike .ACA77C85-61F2-40EC-A56F-8772AF78F2CF.thumb.jpeg.1ca31caf6d08584868238c5a59a71e7c.jpegDid not have any problems negotiating the rocks and got lost on the mountain for a few hours trying to find the reroute with the same number verses name road problems and ended up using google maps which took me to one locked gate before backtracking some more and eventually finding Fr 131 to get me to Stawberry Reservoir so Luckily I had plenty of fuel with the Acerbis super tanker

6C38DFED-6D2B-43E7-84FF-83EB3C27C683.jpeg

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Oh boy, RoyBoyz.  This is a quite a story.  And since you're telling it . . . I presume it ends well.  Looking forward to the rest of it!

I've been in the Utah desert when the flash flood hits, and that red/chocolaty river of mud and brush and trash comes out of nowhere and stops your progress.  It is a sight to behold (and respect).  In my case it was from yesterdays rain almost a hundred miles away.  It's a weird side of desert travel, that can change your plans or kill you.

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Really Surprising we don't find more tortured carcass' along those rocky  trails.

Glad you made it out.  Have you thought of a cheap GPS which would help you know where you are on the map?

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7 hours ago, Zubb said:

Oh boy, RoyBoyz.  This is a quite a story.  And since you're telling it . . . I presume it ends well.  Looking forward to the rest of it!

I've been in the Utah desert when the flash flood hits, and that red/chocolaty river of mud and brush and trash comes out of nowhere and stops your progress.  It is a sight to behold (and respect).  In my case it was from yesterdays rain almost a hundred miles away.  It's a weird side of desert travel, that can change your plans or kill you.

You got that right Zubb, after that and with clouds still in the area I would look up every wash as I would pash through. Really wish I would have given those people my email to send me the video cause it was pretty sketchy crossing the river

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2 hours ago, Uncle Champ said:

Good Lord,

Wheres that ; but did you die chart? You didn't tell your wife this story did you?

 

2 hours ago, Uncle Champ said:

Good Lord,

Wheres that ; but did you die chart? You didn't tell your wife this story did you?

Uncle Champ, no I didn’t tell this to the wife because she was already calling me wreckleless for doing this on my own especially since I am a type 1 diabetic but I don’t let that stop me.

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2 hours ago, Bagstr said:

Really Surprising we don't find more tortured carcass' along those rocky  trails.

Glad you made it out.  Have you thought of a cheap GPS which would help you know where you are on the map?

Bagstr, I had the route loaded on my phone using as gps and also my on my old Garmin 60csx as back up and that was some of the problem with keeping me pushing forward as I was only a little over 20 miles from hiway 40 as the crow flies anyways. I was also carrying a PLB to only be used in a life or death situation.

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As I continued towards Stawberry  reservoir  A teenager Moose came running out of the bushes right in front of me and turned the same direction I was heading so I pulled in the clutch and thought about trying to get out the camera but knew that was unrealistic as he plodded along directly in front and the same speed as l for about 100 feet and then broke left an into the trees. That was fantastic as I had been a little disappointed with the lack of wildlife I’d seen up to this point compared to CoBDR last year  and not more than 15 miles later downhill on the twisty paved road course into Strawberry came around a sharp corner and again pulled in the clutch and thought WTF is that in the road? A gigantic Hawk of some sort chewing on a rodent as he went to flight he was 8 feet to my right as I slowed to keep pace he saw me to his left and banked right and over the hill he dove. A go pro that could be activated by voice command in these situations would be great. That is something I will never forget looking directly into his eyes as he or she saw me. Fueled up at the reservoir and continued on not wanting to stay another night at high elevation as I started Section 5  late in the afternoon again. I  stopped just before dark at 8200’ elevation next to a babbling brook near hiway 35. Another cold one as you can see from the frost.F756FEBB-956F-4690-B6DF-B72E90F53658.thumb.jpeg.0a2c3a9dd081fc7f5ccffae557c75040.jpegDDC7E5AB-A814-4CB3-B7BA-DC20C3F8EA7C.thumb.jpeg.e2f674ff84be2db8ad1dc6448988e888.jpeg

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The next morning pushed through the last 2 sections and finished BDR at Bear Lake which is kind of a tourist resort so couldn’t find a motel and slabbed 70 miles south to Evanston Wyoming in the dark with a stock crappy headlight nervous as hell about deer dashing across the road cause I’m not of fan of hitting deer on a bike after doing it in a motor home years ago. As I spent a night in civilization for the first time in 6 & 1/2 days and decided I was going to do The White Rim trail in Moab as I still had a week left

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5 hours ago, royboyz said:

Bagstr, I had the route loaded on my phone using as gps and also my on my old Garmin 60csx as back up and that was some of the problem with keeping me pushing forward as I was only a little over 20 miles from hiway 40 as the crow flies anyways. I was also carrying a PLB to only be used in a life or death situation.

A PLB is one thing but I always carry a couple PBR’s in case things go really sideways.

 

CiD

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Good one CID I carry whiskey for that also and it’s good in case you have to remove a limb that’s stuck under the bike

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Awesome write up and adventure.  Going to have to add Utah to my list of rides to do in the next couple of years. 

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Here are a pics from the White Rim Trail the most scenic trail I have ever ridden and highly recomendedIMG_0164.thumb.JPG.f8f74be2ab06b0efb07f6bca9058dcd8.JPGIMG_E0168.thumb.JPG.3373c5dde03ba911ebd01ecf10c97c0e.JPGIMG_0161.thumb.JPG.3b135d7b5186143cddbcc9c7ceb2b467.JPGIMG_0159.thumb.JPG.f57502cd03968e3b1ded07afa8ca01e4.JPGIMG_0141.thumb.JPG.743df80ff46d574333c06b81f140d7f8.JPG

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9 hours ago, Wierdrider said:

Gorgeous! Is it big bike friendly?

Yep, it would be bike friendly

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INCREDIBLE! Thanks for sharing the adventure! :thumbsup_anim:

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What an adventure!    I thought about bringing my bike and riding white rim when I was in Moab in July with my son.......but I decided against a solo trip in the heat......that and the website said a section was closed due to flash floods........definitely want to get over there........thanks for the write-up!

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On 9/20/2019 at 3:08 PM, royboyz said:

The next morning pushed through the last 2 sections and finished BDR at Bear Lake which is kind of a tourist resort so couldn’t find a motel and slabbed 70 miles south to Evanston Wyoming in the dark with a stock crappy headlight nervous as hell about deer dashing across the road cause I’m not of fan of hitting deer on a bike after doing it in a motor home years ago. As I spent a night in civilization for the first time in 6 & 1/2 days and decided I was going to do The White Rim trail in Moab as I still had a week left

So that what I call Adventurer,  and you know that I like it this way if it turns out just fine😎

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Is it over? or did we just break for commercial . . .

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On 10/2/2019 at 7:12 AM, Zubb said:

Is it over? or did we just break for commercial . . .

Yes Zubb, its over as I just slabbed it back to Mexican Helmet and drove home

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