The BIG Troy Meadows ride 07/15/08

[DigDug 0]

On Thursday morning, we decided to split up into easy and hard groups. HondaPilot, Mickey and I took the hard way. We rode the Mahogany Trail to the Bald Mountain overlook for some photos. Here we stop to hike the last 1/4 mile to the top:

The tower on top of Bald Mountain

Mount Whitney off in the distance

On the tower, HondaPilot taking a picture of me taking a picture of HondaPilot

From there, we rode to the end of the Mahogany Trail, down and back up the canyon of the Rattlesnake Creek Trail over to the Rattlesnake Trail. The Rattlesnake Trail is a 10 mile spur out and back - a BLAST of a trail. Black Diamond fun!!!

Here's a few shots of us on the trail:

HondaPilot splashing across the stream:

And crossing the log at the trail detour:

Not quite enough momentum so a little bulldogging was in order:

Mickey's turn:

Two down, one to go - here's a shot of the crossing:

Another crossing.. Here, Mickey drops the bike as his tires deflect off the two wet tree branches you can see coming up out of the water. Of course he left them in place for his dad to hit and suffer the same fate!

At the end of the trail, cut off by the wilderness area.

We took a short break for some snacks before heading back. It had rained behind us on the trail so we had to contend with some sloppy stuff - lots of fun!!!

Mickey coming back across the log

This part turned out to be a bit of trouble for Mickey who was getting tired. The trail consisted of a tire-width rain rut that had running water. In it were a couple 6 inch to 1 foot step-up's onto wet, slimy tree roots. Sorry about the blurry pictures, it was drizzling and I couldn't keep the camera lens dry.

You're supposed to be on the bike, not have the bike on you!!!

We made it back to the end of the Rattlesnake trail, zipped up the Beach Trail, the fire road, over Albanita and back down the Beach Ridge Trail to camp. We knew we'd gotten some rain back at camp as we splashed through puddles and a few sections of small hail/sleet along the trail. It was good to get back, changed into some dry clothes and get some food.

While sitting around camp, Mickey decided he wanted to go and ride some more on his own. Being a teenager, he just couldn't do as told and decided to go a little too far from camp and ran out of gas. As we were discussing when we should start searching, in walks Mickey, pushing his bike - Apparently he ran out of gas about 5 miles from camp and pushed his bike all the way back!!! Good job Mickey!!!

[Crawdaddy 96]

Looks like fun!!! - Thanks for the write-ups/pics

[DigDug 0]

On Friday morning, we decided to do the hard/easy split again. HondaPilot, Mickey and I were going to go to the western edge of the trail system while roostingu, dirtdame, and KLRoger did a short ride and headed out early to come back home. Mickey made it less than a mile from camp before "problems" caused him to want to return (or maybe he just knew that roostingu was going to leave behind his bike for us to bring home in the toyhauler and Mickey wanted to go for a joyride on it funny, he couldn't find the key to the cable lock when KLRoger decided they had room on the trailer for the bike, but he suddenly found it once they'd left ).

HondaPilot and I decided to forgo the singletrack we'd ridden the day before in favor of some pavement and forest roads to pick up the Schaeffer trail since Mickey bailed and we were both plated.

The Schaeffer trail was really cool.. It wound its way through a bunch of meadows and up the sides of some slopes up to near the top of Schaeffer Mountain.

HondaPilot at one of the meadows:

Another meadow:

A cool meadow in a small canyon:

Awesome hillside trail:

The end of the Schaeffer Trail, at Stony Meadows

From there, we headed downhill quickly on the Cedar Canyon Trail... All the while glad we're on plated bikes and won't have to climb back up this thing as we descended into the hot air.

This was a wild trail, dropping very rapidly down the sides of the canyon. It appears as though nobody had ridden this trail in some time since there was quite a bit of erosion, ruts, and growth.

As we got to lower elevations, the terrain started looking more and more like the southern California desert trails we're used to around here.

We hit the bottom of the Cedar Canyon Trail and headed south on the Rincon Trail.

Along the way, HondaPilot was stopped and looking to his left. He found this abandoned bike:

It had a cracked case, was leaking oil, seat torn up, and levers missing. It appeared to have been there for a few weeks at least. We noted the VIN, red sticker number, and gps coordinates to give to the rangers and continued along our way. It was only 3 or 4 miles off the pavement, but there were some pretty nasty obstacles you'd have to tow or push it over - we figured we'd leave it to the rangers.

We found out later that not many people ride that trail, so it could have been out there for quite some time. But the rangers now have the information.

We reached the pavement, and decided to go downhill on Sherman Pass road to the river to cool off and eat some lunch. We headed back up Sherman Pass road, relieved to rest a bit on the pavement and check out the views:

A left turn onto the Sherman Pass jeep trail found us climbing the side of the hill rapidly... That was quite the climb, and it never seemed to stop. I think we calculated that we climbed between 2000 and 3000 feet over the course of 3.5 miles.

HondaPilot near the top:

Between the temperatures and the bikes motors working so hard, we had to keep stopping and opening our gas caps to vent off the pressure of the gasoline boiling in the tanks. I knew I had to do that when the bike would start to bog from flooding because of the excess pressure. I finally turned my vent hose around (it's got one of those one-way check valves) to allow the pressure to escape until we reached the top.

We took the short jaunt over to Sherman Peak (our high elevation of 9909 ft) for the photo-op

From there, we were both out of water so we took a jeep trail over to the Trout Creek trail. Rode it south to the end, then back up the Boone Meadow trail to the pavement. We'd both had enough, so we slabbed it back to camp to clean up, pack up, and eat our final camp dinner.

We met Mickey there and the other three had already left for home. After a good night's sleep we too packed up and headed back down the mountain - wishing the week wouldn't have ended...

Here's a shot of the road back down to the Hwy 395 - Nine Mile Canyon Road:

Thanks to everyone again for a great weekend in the mountains. Kennedy Meadows has to be my new favorite place to ride in California. I really hope to get back up there at least one more time before summer ends - perhaps just for a weekend or maybe longer if my work schedule allows it...

[dirt dame 561]

Great write up and photos, Digdug. I don't know how you managed to take so may good shots where the trails got dicey. I'd have been too tired and too busy hanging on for dear life! (and I was!) Thanks again for hosting the outing with the food, transportation, toyhauler and mapping out the ride.

Again, great group: Digdug, Mickey, Hondapilot, Roostingu and KLRoger. Thanks to all that made it the adventure that it was.

Jeff, thanks for getting the video journal going on the trails. I especially liked the one of KL and the water crossing.

Trails were rough enough to beat up the bikes pretty good. We had a total of 3 flat tires, one stuck throttle, a leaky brake, one blown shock, one coolant leak, a thrown chain and a stuck carb float....and probably a whole bunch of assorted bent, tweaked and scratched bike parts as well.

[Crawdaddy 96]

Kennedy Meadows has to be my new favorite place to ride in California. I really hope to get back up there at least one more time before summer ends - perhaps just for a weekend or maybe longer if my work schedule allows it...

I've never ridden there so I'm looking forward to checking it out......Ya know, it's right on the way to Mammoth......so think about hitting it on the way up to, or on the way back from, the Festival of Beers and Bluesapalooza on the 2nd/3rd of August......or.......sounds like a good Labor Day weekend destination.......

[Strega 0]

I've never ridden there so I'm looking forward to checking it out......Ya know, it's right on the way to Mammoth......so think about hitting it on the way up to, or on the way back from, the Festival of Beers and Bluesapalooza on the 2nd/3rd of August......or.......sounds like a good Labor Day weekend destination.......

Labor Day week would be a good time for that I could bail on Fish Camp for Kennedy Meadows.

[Crawdaddy 96]

I could bail on Fish Camp for Kennedy Meadows.

There's A LOT of fun stuff to ride up by Fish Camp/Bass Lake......but you need a street plate to ride anywhere other than the Miami OHV area.......so if you're still on a stickered only bike I'd agree - head to Kennedy

[DigDug 0]

I've never ridden there so I'm looking forward to checking it out......Ya know, it's right on the way to Mammoth......so think about hitting it on the way up to, or on the way back from, the Festival of Beers and Bluesapalooza on the 2nd/3rd of August......or.......sounds like a good Labor Day weekend destination.......

I could bail on Fish Camp for Kennedy Meadows.

There's A LOT of fun stuff to ride up by Fish Camp/Bass Lake......but you need a street plate to ride anywhere other than the Miami OHV area.......so if you're still on a stickered only bike I'd agree - head to Kennedy

Ohhh... you two are bad news... Trying to tempt me now...

[Strega 0]

I'm off Aug 30 to Sept 7th, I gotta get out and ride somewhere cool for multiple days

[PastaPilot 17]

That was quite the climb, and it never seemed to stop. I think we calculated that we climbed between 2000 and 3000 feet over the course of 3.5 miles.

From where we had lunch on the Kern River to the top of Sherman Peak was ~15 miles. 10 miles was paved road and the last 5 was dirt road. In that 15 miles we climbed 6200' in elevation.

Today’s gasoline has a boiling point ranging from 130° to 430° F.

Found this doing some research, I was hoping there would be a more defined temperature such as water but I guess it depends on the grade of gasoline and the crude in which it was refined.

[Guest Hammerin Hammon]

Wow, looks like a fun ride. Too bad its so far away from the beach.

[dirt dame 561]

Wow, looks like a fun ride. Too bad its so far away from the beach.

Well, we had a Beach Ridge trail and a Beach meadow.

[DigDug 0]

Today’s gasoline has a boiling point ranging from 130° to 430° F.

Found this doing some research, I was hoping there would be a more defined temperature such as water but I guess it depends on the grade of gasoline and the crude in which it was refined.

That's a pretty big range!!!

I guess I filled the toyhauler with the cheap stuff

[Ports KLR 0]

Great write up and photos, Digdug. I don't know how you managed to take so may good shots where the trails got dicey. I'd have been too tired and too busy hanging on for dear life! (and I was!) Thanks again for hosting the outing with the food, transportation, toyhauler and mapping out the ride.

Again, great group: Digdug, Mickey, Hondapilot, Roostingu and KLRoger. Thanks to all that made it the adventure that it was.

Jeff, thanks for getting the video journal going on the trails. I especially liked the one of KL and the water crossing.

Trails were rough enough to beat up the bikes pretty good. We had a total of 3 flat tires, one stuck throttle, a leaky brake, one blown shock, one coolant leak, a thrown chain and a stuck carb float....and probably a whole bunch of assorted bent, tweaked and scratched bike parts as well.

Just finished reading all the write-ups, viewed all the pics and watched all the videos. Thanks to all for sharing your adventure. It looked spectacular! All the stuff you all shared made me feel I was almost there. Thanks.

Port

[roostingu 0]

I have been out of it for 3days I got some kind of a food poisioning or some bad water it hit me sat nite and all day Sun and Mon just getting a little better today, I was feeling poorly Fri but this knocked me out for the last 3 just got back on here to catch up. I wish I could have ridden more up there but the shoulder is still popping in and out and seem to have damaged the rotator and would have been unable to do much bulldogging. I will be back these are the most fun trails I have ever ridden and would highly recomend this ride. I do have some more video if anybody is interested I will try to get it up here sooon. How did u like the little 2-stroke Mickey and the rekluse it takes a little to get used to it . Hats off to Hondapilot to ride the pig is no easy feat. Thanks again Doug for the 4star accomendations.

[RogerTOWM 0]

I have been out of it for 3days I got some kind of a food poisioning Thanks again Doug for the 4star accomendations.

If I remember right…Doug was the cook? So maybe thanks for the accomedations and food poisioning?

[dirt dame 561]

Now, wait a minute. Nobody else became ill and we all ate the same food, right?

[DigDug 0]

Now, wait a minute. Nobody else became ill and we all ate the same food, right?

Yeah... Jeff was the only one that slept outside too - maybe that was it!!

You know, last time we went up to Pinnacles and rode there, I refilled my Camelbak at the second campground (Big Pine Flat). I was feeling ill by the time we were down to Devil's Hole. I attributed it to not drinking enough or just being tired. Well, later the next week, I read on Thumpertalk that the water spigots at Big Pine Flat were marked "Not For Drinking". They weren't that way when we were there! So I scrubbed out the inside of my Camelbak with hot water and dish soap. Then on the Big Bear Run I started feeling ill again. I attributed it to the fact that I was drinking Gatorade and the sugar wasn't sitting well in my stomach. That was until I cleaned out my Camelbak again - nastiness!!!! I guess the soap and hot water didn't take care of it. I filled it with water, put a few cap-fulls of bleach in it and let it sit for 24 hours. No problems since.

You might want to check your hydration system there Jeff - we did eat all the same stuff up at KM...

[RogerTOWM 0]

Yeah... Jeff was the only one that slept outside too - maybe that was it!!

- we did eat all the same stuff up at KM...

So are you saying that Jeff slept outside, got bit by a mosquito and picked up West Nile virius?

I would like to say that the food we ate up there was pretty darn good!!! You did a good job.... Say Doug....I'm feeling a bit hungry, can I come over for dinner?

[dirt dame 561]

I remember a link to a Sierra ride report on Thumpertalk, where the guy had the same problem with "unsound" innards while he was up exploring around the mountains on his KTM. Maybe Jeff read the report and caught it from there!

[dirt dame 561]

Some guys from ADVriders went up there around the same time we did. Looks like they had a good time too, from the report and the pics.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=361206