reporting from Bar 10

[piratemonkey 0]

We got caught in a snow storm at 6600 ft. We have many photos and stories upon return. Fortunately we did not have to cut anybody up and eat them. It was touch and go, though...

[bikeslut 1]

Wxcellent- sounds like another epic SDAR trip!!

[Strega 0]

The snow that the above group saw, we (Me, Ted, Brian (Hobie), Don, Hobie, Mike, and Brian (Beez), saw at 6500-7600 ft. Deep deep snow and it took about 3.5 hours to go 11 miles to start the day. It was a NASTY day of riding, insanely cold, wet, raining, snowing, hailing, but hell...when you get finished, it was a good day. Pics and report should be expected on Wed!

[piratemonkey 0]

Hmmm, they said there might be rain today. I do see some clouds yonder. Eh, doesn't look like much...

The sky sure has gotten gray now that we're at the Greater Tuweep Metropolitan Area. Look at that flag at attention!

Maybe we shouldn't have taken a side hiking trip to see the Nampaweap petroglyphs. The snow's starting to come down. Well, it's kinda cute in that light, snowy cute way.

End of cute. Begin the eating of the cold and white sh!t sandwich. Well, I might as well take a picture since I just got tossed off the bike and have my hands free.

We finally made it off the mountain. Icicles have replaced my pig tails. It's all funny now that I can officially cancel the Donner party reservation for two.

Clay or brown lard? Whatever it is, it makes snow seem like sticky flypaper. That sandwich we've been eating isn't finished -- it's just changed from white bread to wheat bread.

Thank you Bar 10 for letting us use the power washer.

We earned this dinner -- would taste just a touch better if the guy serving dinner didn't tell us the beef brisket's name was "Bucky." That's kind of a cool name and I bet Bucky was a handsome beast with large black eyes. Still, Bucky is now past tense and we should honor him by stuffing our craws full of him.

Yeah, the wagon smells a little like cat pee after the heavy rains, but it's gonna be awesome sleeping here instead of at 6600 ft under a tree with the Husky lit on fire for warmth.

[TrophyHunter 15]

Egads. Can't wait for the rest. Very nice!

[Bagstr 287]

Egads x 2

Edit: Crawdaddy's SPOT reported his group achieved Mesquite @ 4:10PM this afternoon (Tuesday)

[KTMomma513 0]

Thanks for the post. Glad to see you're all having fun, and nice to know my hubby (brian, Hobiee) is doing ok. Pretty strange not being able to talk to him by cell

[piratemonkey 0]

Thanks for the post. Glad to see you're all having fun, and nice to know my hubby (brian, Hobiee) is doing ok. Pretty strange not being able to talk to him by cell

There are basically three separate stories to tell. I'm telling the one where the group got out easy.

Hobiee, et al, have an extended story of suffering.

And, finally, we are all very curious how Dave and Sean's day went -- they travelled over an even higher mountain with deeper snow.

[stomp944 0]

Yup.

Just logged a separate post briefly highlighting the return trip adventure Dave and I had (and sorry, Randy, for exceeding the photo size limit..!!). Glad you guys still seemed to manage to have a good second day/night at Bar10.

Not fun on day 2 for us, however, when fingers felt like numb sticks and the wind drove sleet stinging into our faces - but it came about the half-way point and as long as we continued making forward progress, we kept at it. Boy, the sun and lower elevations sure felt great - as did a beer and a warm shower.

Sean

[piratemonkey 0]

A few more shots. I'll eventually post larger shots on my Flickr account.

The group on the infamous morning.

Sometimes the bead just doesn't want to set.

Husky + wind = a bike that doesn't match the other ones.

It looks close but it's 3,000 ft below.

It's a view that doesn't suck.

[dsfox 0]

CRAZY .......I was so sad I couldnt' make this trip, BUT after reading this and the pics....I think I'll plan a much later visit up there....when the snow is safely gone...I'd rather deal with the heat....hope everyone made it out ok...

[hobiee 28]

CRAZY .......I was so sad I couldnt' make this trip, BUT after reading this and the pics....I think I'll plan a much later visit up there....when the snow is safely gone...I'd rather deal with the heat....hope everyone made it out ok...

What and miss all our fun????? It was an ADVENTURE. One of the best times of my life for sure.

[cmayer31 3]

Looks like it was a good thing I got stuck at work on Friday. I've learned that neither I nor the pig like snow .

Looks like an epic ride, and I'm looking forward to more stories and pictures!

[Crawdaddy 96]

Teaser - Father/Daughter at the "River View" near Bar 10:

[dirt dame 559]

Great pics.....looks like you went from wife beater weather to parka weather in the span of that trip.

[Bagstr 287]

River View...Sweet!

[Crawdaddy 96]

River View...Sweet!

The views at Toroweap are even sweeter......

Did I mention the WR250R can go............wait for it.......

[Strega 0]

So how many colors does that shirt come in??

[Crawdaddy 96]

Come'on you slackers.........get off your butts and start posting up your pics/stories regarding the Bar 10 ride......you can't just sit there on that ledge forever ya know!

[humptythumty 0]

This was an incredibly awesome adventure. The scenery and views could not have been better and the snow added to the great memories.

It was fun hanging with all the SDAR folk. Special thanks to Brian (Hobie) for loaning Don an axle wrench. May have been a whole different experience with out it.

And of course a really big thanks to C-daddy for putting the whole thing together. Great job keeping us all updated in the weeks coming up to the ride and texting info on Friday and Saturday.

I’m sure people pay big money to be led on an adventure and never come close to having has much fun as we all had on this trip.

Link to my photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/Adventuredude80/Bar10April2010#

Wayne

[R2 RIDER 0]

Wayne, I kept "setting as background". Thank you, and all, for the pics and stories.

Thanks Mr. Crawdaddy for getting everybody together on another extrreem adventure.

MAN, I gotta get out more.

R2 RIDER

[hoss314 0]

Come'on you slackers.........get off your butts and start posting up your pics/stories regarding the Bar 10 ride......you can't just sit there on that ledge forever ya know!

Had to get the bike cleaned up (off to OW this weekend) and back to reality........

I had a great time! Can't wait to go back! (anytime )

Started out Friday little later than expected and dealt with a LOT of traffic getting to Primm........But, we got there........I think it was Crawdaddy that said "Hey, we are in Nevada....we can drink beer in the parking lot".........

Had buffett at Buffalo Bills (feedbag was pre-strapped).......few more beers bench racing at the Tree Bar.

Upstairs to sleep on the spring filled plank that makes lots of noise like a plastic covered crib mattress......(didn't drink that much! I won't pee the bed Buffallo Bill)

Up the next morning to get out in the dirt! Great ride over to Bonnie Springs For breakfast where Crawdaddy and Crawbabe were already sitting waiting on their breakfast. Breakfast was very good and company even better.

We then left Bonnie Springs and headed to the Red Rock state park.......paid our $2 and saw some scenery I had only seen on TV or in magazines. As we were riding through......I was thinking "wonder if they will get excited to find out that all those motorcycles that went into the park....never came out the gates" Oh well, cause we had one hell of a great time making our way through the rocks and down the other side of the mountain.

Started making our way back to Primm and we passd the infamous "couches"........that road is lots of fun with some hiding washouts. Jammed down the road and waited for Dan to meet up with me after an uphill turn. Waited and waited and no Dan.......so I rode all the way back to the couches looking for him with no luck. (did give me another chance to blast down that trail though)

Rode all the way back to the parking lot where I found Dan sippin on a beer waiting for me. Found out that he had missed the turn I was waiting for him at and met up with the tracks down the wash.

Got cleaned up and changed my 4 gallon beast of a tank for a 3.1 gallon tank.......was very bummed to find out that I brought 2 right side panels and knew exactly where there are two left side panels (in my garage ) Then we were on our way to Mesquite.......

Stopped at the Bass Pro Shops hotel and casino for dinner and a look around (love that place!) on our way. When we got to Mesquite we all had this brilliant idea to load my cooler with beer so that Jim's wife could bring it to Bar 10 in the truck (thank you for doing that!) so of course we better stock the cooler.

Loaded cooler......bikes ready......checked in at Best Western.......time for shower and bed (much better beds than Bill's)

Up next morning (Sunday) to head out to Bar 10.......Dan had some last minute tinkering to do and we were in no hurry so we left last. Right after we started, I didn't notice the two tracks that had intersected....and I took a wrong turn. I guess that the nail I picked up in my tire was a sign that I was going the wrong way. Stacked rocks.......busted off the tire and changed the tube.......wouldn't you know it...tube was pinched.......so I patched it and she held!

Off again with stops to only take pictures and check out the scenery.

Made it out to Bar 10 with no issues.....walked in and said......."where do we check in" she said "what's is your name" (told her) then she says.......ok your checked in. Works for me.......went out to the covered wagons and dropped my jacket to hold my wagon sleeping quarters.

Fueled up and headed out to the river view........Awesome!

Great ranch style dinner......more bench racing and then bed for the next morning ride.

Now Monday's ride was EPIC! I was riding sweep and had a great seat for all the entertainment.......Beez had an up close and personal encounter with a small cactus field.....(not sure how he found it cause there really wasn't a whole lot of cactus out there)........got up brushed off some needles and then the fun was ON!

Climbed up the mountain rocks (fun steps) and then there was some white stuff on the side of the trails..........getting cooler and then we were surrounded by white "stuff"

Can't remember who had made the comments about.....geez, we better keep moving those clouds look nasty and we could get stuck out here.....hard enough to find the trail since we can't go through the snow in some places.

I remember hobiee coming up to me and asked......"you have been pretty quiet most of this ride.....what is your level headed opinion of this" I told him...."I'm not saying anything cause I don't want anybody to get upset.......cause this is AWESOME and I don't want it to end! He agreed and we couldn't wait to see what was going to be behind door #2 in our adventure.

Door #?? was a long stretch of snow that was about 2' deep and not rideable......but we had to go that way. Someone was stuck.....Hobiee, Beez and I had to lay our bikes down for a snow nap to help out.

As I am last in line to walk my bike down the deep path.....I yelled ahead....is this rideable? and was answered no.....gotta walk it. So of course my response was "Hey, this is supposed to be San Diego Adventure RIDERS......not San Diego Adventure WALKERS"

We had finally decended enough to get out of the main snowy area.....(even though the snow was coming in horizontally pretty heavy) and we saw some familiar bikes at the petrographs.....left them a signature on their bikes and kept moving towards our destination (Toroweep). We made it out there freezing cold from the rain and had a Clark Griswald moment.....tapped our feet.....nodded our heads.......and hauled a** out of there.....too cold!

While heading back towards the schoolhouse......we got caught in some of the most snotty mud I have ever ridden in.......(again, great entertainment from the back) lots of spills on the slippery stuff. First gear and dragging our boots through the mud at times to keep it on two. Thank god the ranch had a power washer to get some of that crap out of our bikes. Wish that my hands were not frozen or I would have taken pictures. My bike was so filled with mud that the kickstand to the frame was a solid mass of mud......funny to look from the back of the bike and see a hole in the mud where my chain was threading through it. It was coming out of my counter sprocket guard like my kids play doh set!

Bike (cleaner).......shower for me......and we then got to eat an excellent feast (one of the ranch cows gave his life for us ) We all had our gloves on the fireplace trying to get them dry (think I was the brave one that threw my socks up first......heard an eww or two.....then by morning there were a lot of socks on the fireplace)

Packed up Tuesday morning and did not want to leave......but we had to......people were literally flying in to take over our sleeping areas....we had to go!

Great ride back to Mesquite......most of the trails were the same way we came out to the Bar because there were reports of 12' snow banks on our other route. But we saw soooo much that we didn't see on our way out there.

This trip was one for the records! best I have ever been on and can't wait to do it again! Thanks a lot Chris for sharing tracks etc. etc. and of course the company was the best!

It was really great to see a very proud dad riding with his daughter......I can only hope to be so lucky when my daughter gets older.

I have a ton of pictures (left on my GoPro by accident) but, HERE are some that I had printed

[Crawdaddy 96]

Ok, here we go…….Day 2, Part 1 (Best Western parking lot to snack stop)

Left Mesquite around 8:30am after fiddling with GPS mount/Bark Buster on CRF230F that Caitlynn was riding……I led the crew out of Mesquite and over to White Rock Rd. where the dirt riding begins……here’s the funny part, I pulled over and gave up my dust free spot at the point so I could ride in the back with Caitlynn……..but she was mid pack and didn’t pull over!!!.......and I wasn’t about to chase her down through the dust cloud of all those riders bunched together …..figured I’d catch up to her/them a bit down the trail at the first significant stop……….but, as it turned out, I didn’t see Caitlynn for another ~38 miles because that’s how far the numbskulls up front rode before they made a lengthy stop…….whatever, she got caught up in their Ricky Bobby "I wanna go fast" approach…….the terrain is easy but the ride over to Bar 10 is NOT about tunnel vision/speed……..it’s about stopping periodically to do a 360 spin and breath in all the sights……..whatever…….glad we reversed course on Day 4 so Caitlynn could breath in some of the sights she may have missed on the beginning of Day 2……

So, I rode sweep and stayed WAAAAAY back out of the group dust cloud………I rode at a good clip but each time I approached the dust cloud I pulled over to snap a pic…….I HATE riding in dust…....I’d rather just spread WAAAAY out…that's one of the reasons I carry a radio........spread out.......ride dust free.....yet still be able to communicate....

So here are a few pics on the way out before the lead group stopped about halfway there to have a snack….

Heading up into the hills outside of Mesquite:

Leaving Mesquite behind:

Across the saddle and entering the Grand Canyon - Parashant National Monument

After dropping down you pass by these Red Rocks that are kinda neat looking:

Straight ahead at this intersection towards Wolf Hole Valley:

The valley is scenic and high speed…..a few rocks here and there but NO WHOOPS…….for miles and miles………NICE!!!!….also very green this time of year:

Then you climb up out of the valley and drop down to Pakoon Basin on Wolfhole – Mt. Trumbull Rd.……..more high speed/scenic fun:

This solitary/lonely cactus looking out over the basin caught my attention…….

Time to leave the basin behind and head towards Poverty Mountain:

Up we go……

Looking down/back at Pakoon Basin……

Rounded the corner and saw the group pulled over at the usual snack spot/ledge…….very scenic spot……scolded them a bit for being dumbasses and riding too close together (though they did lay down an easy to track dust cloud ) and not stopping to breath in the sights along the way ……then I chilled out…..

A few pics at the lunch spot…..

Stay tuned for Day 2, Part 2 - snack stop to Bar 10/River Views

[kevinsinvegas 0]

That is one EPIC ADVENTURE. Next year I will have to join in on the BAR 10 adventure, just couldn't make this year. I'm thinking I need to do more prep to be ready.

I did get to ride Saturday with Humpty Thumpty (Wayne) and his buddy Don out to Red Rock. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and can't thank them enough for letting me join them.

I arrived at Buffalo Bills late, but luckily (for me) they were just getting ready to leave, but were nice enough to wait for me. Thought I had the tracks loaded into my GPS, but obviously I still have little to no idea on how to use it.

HT led the way, with Don on the 640, and me following on the XR. Don had his hands full in deep gravel, especially being first thing we encountered. HT got a rear flat 6 miles out, and thought I was BSing him when I told him. I was impressed with his trail side repairs (I have a lot to learn).

After a bit Hobie and Beez caught up to us, and passed. We all had lunch at Bonnie Springs together (great company). I think I was about 10yrs old last time I was there.

It was a gorgeous day in Red Rock, and the ride out of Red Rock was awesome. That and the ride out of Lovell canyon to Mtn. springs was my favorite of the trip.

The down hill after the mine will get your heart pumping, it did mine. If I could have sat down I think I would have puckered a hole in my seat.

Amazing that I was born and raised in Las Vegas, and 90% of that loop I had not seen before. And yes, I was sore and tired the next day.

Thanks Crawdaddy for putting the tracks together, I know that takes some work. I will study the GPS tutorials you posted.

Thanks again to Wayne and Don for letting me tag along. I don't remember the last time I enjoyed myself that much, and I didn't even get to ride to the Bar 10.

[Crawdaddy 96]

Day 2, Part 2 - snack stop to Bar 10/River Views

Caitlynn and I rode together in the back/dust free after the snack stop……afforded me the opportunity to stop and show her the sights/snap some photos…..

Time to saddle up again:

The scenery after the snack stop just gets better and better:

Into Hidden Canyon we go….yippee!!!

I sent Caitlynn up ahead so I could get a couple of nice pics heading into the Canyon

Then I leapfrogged Caitlynn and waited for her for a bit…..a bit longer…..no Caitlynn……so I turned around and went back to find her standing by her bike……..no mirror……no GPS……..”What happened Caitlynn?”………”well, see that rise back there……..and see that rock in the middle of the trail……..I sorta jumped off the lip and landed on the rock with my front wheel”…...Oh, ok ……..so I took what was left of the mirror and RAM mount off her handlebars and put the carnage pile in my saddlebags……and off we went again……

Lot’s of cows/calves along the road…….Caitlynn tried to make friends with a few of the calves but they wouldn’t let her get near them……

After a few stops/tries she gave up…..peace/out:

We stopped for a snack at the ruins referred to as Butch Cassidy’s place (not really but makes a nice story)

We eventually met up with Slowdown, KLRoger and Jim and rode in the rest of the way with them……

Getting close now…..I can see the Grand Canyon in the distance:

Caitlynn on the home stretch into Bar 10:

Caitlynn pulling in to Bar 10…..we arrived around 2pm……plenty of time to gas up, rest for a bit, then head down to the River Views….

The gas stop at Bar 10 was the first time I was ready with the camera when Caitlynn dropped the bike…… she’s pretty damn fast getting that thing back up off the ground but I caught her this time when the bike tipped over shortly after filling it with gas:

It’s 9 miles down to the River View from the Bar 10…..a few pics along the way....:

LOT's of sharp lava rock heading down to the river views..........speaking of sharp lava rock, hey……what’s this…….looks like Jon got a pinch flat in his rush to get to the river views…….luckily Sean was there to help him out…….have everything you need?......Ok, later Jr.…..

Made it…..time for some River View pics……I have to take a couple without bikes in them so I don’t catch to much sh!t from friends/family……

Up River

Down River

Glad that’s over with…….on to the fun/money shots!

Through the boot shots are always interesting though you can’t really tell how far down it is to the river……

Father/daughter looking up river:

CrawBabe flexing her muscles for Crawdaddy/Strega to see/admire:

CrawBabe looking down river:

Strega showing he has a bit of “The Captain” in him:

Caitlynn walking back to the bikes……check out the trail coming down to the viewpoint…….the scenery riding down is spectacular:

Jim and his wife Shannon were nice enough to drive down to the viewpoint with a cooler…….so we chilled out with a couple of beers for a while and soaked in the views…….then Caitlynn and Roger decided they wanted me to take a picture to send to my son Jarrett (JBonez on SDAR)………Caitlynn formed a “I love you/miss you brother” heart with her hands……..Roger chose a different expression to pass on to Jarrett……it’s commonly referred to as the “Adventure Rider Salute”

Time to head back up to the Bar 10 for dinner…….pretty sure Ron is “saluting” me in this shot:

Next in line was Caitlynn:

Check out the dust track of riders going ~50+ on the home stretch to Bar 10 from the River viewpoints…….must be time for dinner!!!

Stay tuned for Day 3, Part 1 – Bar 10 to Toroweap…….