Mammoth Lakes Weekend

[dsfox 0]

Must Post each day separately I guess like Chris (too many images……man, after seeing my pics, I wished I took twice as many)….so here goes:

I booked for this trip at Chris' first post back in January I think? because after Primm, I knew NOT to miss out on ANY trip he planned that I could possibly make…SOOOOO glad I didn't miss THIS ONE!...Not to repeat, but EPIC is the perfect word….Probably the most awesome riding I've enjoyed ( in my all of 2 years of dual sporting).

FRIDAY: Arrrived Mammoth 10 AM with Pyro...the others left at 8:00 am…I had all the tracks so no worries….just a few less miles for us..We headed south to LAUREL LAKES to enjoy a scenic first day warm up ride. I was told by the Ranger in May it was a Jeep trail, but he said it would be easy for bikes….Great!. Heard the scenery was awesome and only a few miles from town. So we started up and I soon realized…"easy" wasn't quite the word...rutty gravel road, then rock dodging/weaving, with sharp switchbacks, steep at points, then the road became a solid sheet of large, loose, shaley shards, very steep at points….Probably above my skill level, but I was determined to make it to the lakes…keep moving, persevere, "I can Make it!"..….BUT, for the first time my KTM overheated several times (no surprise on slow rocky climbs)…had to wait out the cool downs…It would be kind of like heading up the grand canyon on a thoroughbred instead of a mule...the horse can make it, just not as "naturally"…..I only got "rocked" off once heading up, slow speed step off BUT I soon realized that at that altitude (about 9000 feet) I almost wasn't physically able to wrestle the bike around because I would start gasping for breath and get kind of weak, just not use to that yet.…AND my electric start was NOT working so kick starting a bike, already a TAD too tall for me, on uneven, rocky, loose hilly terraces was EXHAUSTING…..Pyro to the rescue…he bailed me out..THANKS PYRO!..so we continued and made it all the way to the lake…IT WAS WORTH THE EFFORT! ..little crash once more heading out of the lake…similar deal…needed help….But hey, I made it with 2 incidence, and even the guys said it was a tough road…While at the Lake Crawdaddy, Hobiee, Strega, Hoss, and Kevin showed up….Sweet! Group Photo then we rode down and through some cattle field single track, sweet water crossing, and very cool stuff…then Crawdaddy, Jim & shannon, Pyro and myself were the only ones to enjoy an AWESOME concert that night with John Justice band and Ruthie Foster, Didn't realize I really like blues…..Here's Friday Pics….

LAUREL LAKES AREA AND TRAIL: (as always said: "It's tougher and steeper than it looks in the pics")

[dsfox 0]

SATURDAY: Headed out early 7 am into the Northern Forest after breaking into a couple groups…amazing riding, some fire roads through deep green forests, sagey meadows… some cool woodsy single track…somewhere along the way Pyro, Jim and I got separated and out of radio range from the rest…(probably waiting for my bike to cool off) I was missing my klx work horse just a "little"…it got a little tough, again in some deep gravel in the forest……Oh well, we had tracks, came out some other roads (there are hundreds up there)…onto the pavement for a short ride past the ski area and up to Minaret overlook (tourist spot), then headed up San Juaoquin Ridge…so awesome…like "the Hills are alive" sort….up on a grassy, flowery ridge above tree line at 10,220 feet….360 degree views of some of California's finest Sierra Nevada…Then had lunch in town and headed out again to the Northeast…Did about 100 miles, Great Day of Riding…and Can't say enough how AWESOME THE BLUES CONCERT WAS…A venue in the middle of tall pines, crisp mountain air….More of us went on Saturday night and some of the guys also enjoyed unlimited tasting of 60 microbeweries…fun crowd, and Chris is REALLY fun when he decides "We're going down front" and he, pyro and myslef fought our way toward the stage as Los Lonely Boys LAID IT DOWN!...another incredible day….Sat. Pics

The concert forest area had some knarly silt….not sure you can tell HOW silty....but the tub looked like mud after rinsing my shoes off later.....funny pic….

Edited August 11, 2010 by dsfox

[dsfox 0]

SUNDAY: When 6 am rolled around, which seemed a little too quick after the already full weekend…drill sergeant Chris was rallying everyone for a 180 mile day to Bodie, which I knew was probably about half "desert" type riding, I was REALLY feeling the calling to get as much FOREST and MOUNTAIN riding as possible…...Just had to explore more, there is sooo much up there.….so Pyro and I did about 80 more miles of the most amazing Forest/Mountain/Fun riding you can imagine….again, fireroads, some single track, a little pavement to get to June Lake for lunch…then headed northeast for more… with just two of us, we took some off track roads, and explored.. using the gps map to find our way in and out of the Northeast tracks.. also found the headwaters of the Owens River as a stream with little rapids winding through the forest…It as another "OFF THE CHART" day……

Got back about 4, had enough energy to load up, clean up and relax before 8 of us headed out to Angels for a Great dinner and drinks…..All together rode about 220 miles over 3 days….wish I had another week up there!…. Sunday pics:

OBSIDIAN BOULDERS

JUNE LAKE

NORTHEAST OF JUNE LAKE

Wish I took pics at dinner sunday, but all of us Rested up and most of us made the trek home Monday…

Goodbye to Mammoth for Now: I'll be back

A little offroad exploring by the canals in Bishop near the Owens River…

CHECK OUT this awesome rig and bike from the road…Can you SEE THE FIR?......hey, a 6-7 hour ride gets long…..

YOU ALL BETTER NOT MISS THIS NEXT YEAR! and Believe me, the Pictures just DON'T do it justice!

[Strega 0]

Those are some dirty feet.

[Crawdaddy 96]

All together rode about 220 miles over 3 days….wish I had another week up there!…

Love this "Check us out.....we're bad ass" pose.....but Troy, ya gotta take the glove off for maximum ADV salute affect - HA!

Glad you two were able to make it up......

[Crawdaddy 96]

Cool pix and write-up. Good to know people like Jerry Counts, looks like you guys had some great trails.

Absolutely........I really can't take that much credit for the GPS tracks......all I did was assemble'em into one file......most everything we rode is posted in Jerry's private library on GPSXchange......that said I have dropped in a few waypoints and cleaned up a few sections that are now closed and/or came up with a few alternatives.......every year the file changes a bit.....hopefully for the better......but the basic/foundation track file is all Jerry.....(thanks Jerry)

[Zenosan 2]

Nice Chris

Thanks for the photos. Wish I could have gone along.

[dsfox 0]

This post is missing about 25 replies....am I the only one missing this?....it only has page one, chris' first day post?...what happened?...mine jumps from chris' day one to zenosans post????? I just read a bunch more, and posted about 2 hours ago?.....

[Strega 0]

This post is missing about 25 replies....am I the only one missing this?....it only has page one, chris' first day post?...what hapened?...I just read a bunch more, and posted about 2 hours ago?.....

I still see everything

[curayjusdad 0]

Great report everyone. Makes me hungry to quit my job, sale the wife and kids and go ride . I can't wait to get some time off to do some of these great epic rides. So much to learn and explore. I'm headed up to Rock Creek Lake week after next with the family and 18 year old nephew from Texas to do hiking, camping, and an overnight backpack trip with my son and nephew. Asked the missus about bring the DRZ and the it didn't fly too well. Only going to be up there for a few days and I guess it will be family time. One of these days!!!! Thanks Crawdaddy and Debie for all the pics.

[pyro 1]

First I want to give many thanks to Crawdaddy for putting this event together for us. Another great job man, you are 'THE $h!T' !!! Second I want to give many thanks to DSfox for bringing me along on this trip and for being such a great riding partner. Thank you Strega for the super cool hat and t-shirt! And lastly, thank you to all you great riders that were in attendance. I am always so impressed with the quality of people that come together under the SDAR flag with the common goal of having a TOTAL BLAST. Mission accomplished in epic style! I can't think of anything that could have gone better this weekend. You've all done a great job of telling the story so far, so how about if I spare you the commentary and just add a boatload more pics?

Our fearless leader Drill Sargent Crawdaddy:

The one and only, the highly esteemed DsFox:

and a boatload more pics from pyro:

Cheers to SDAR and all you good people!

See you soon out on the trail.

Sincerely,

[dsfox 0]

Those are some dirty feet.

Ya Well....ALL YOU guys should have been there with us getting YOUR feet dirty!..... and rockin out with us to some AWESOME BLUES !......NO EXCUSES....

[hoss314 0]

Great ride and of course the best company to share it with!

Short report and a few pics......

Friday:

Met the group at 9 for a first ride in Mammoth for me.

Very sandy, soft downhill......was a tad late on the drop of the bike. Somebody has gotten really quick picking up their bike after dropping it

Kevin tackeling the downhill......

We did find a water crossing.....

Bit of a scary moment when the WR wouldn't start after this crossing.....take a break and she roared to life

Didn't take many pictures of the road up or down to the lake......that "trail" should be named "Arm Pump Road"

did not want to stop long enough to take pictures.

One other water crossing

Saturday:

Great day........lots of adventure in areas that look as though nobody has been in some of those areas in quite some time....there were some challenges!

Great views!

[hoss314 0]

Saturday Continued:

We made our way up to the view point for some great views and pics. There was a truck up on top with a few dogs (and their owners)...made me a little nervous! The dogs were walking around by the edge.....would've felt horrible if one were to slip down the edge!

no dog pics though

Part of "The Gang"....Forrest, some big ugly dude, Kevin and Roger

Looked like a big sand dune in the distance........little did I know that I was going to have plenty of sand the next day

There were lots of these "good luck charms" flying all around us....great color configuration......yellow and black

Sunday:

Not many pictures as Forrest and I got a late start with my GPS having problems with speaking to my laptop. We were also trying to get some miles in before Forrest had to peel off to get back to SD.

Viewpoint in a canyon

The next area was another "Arm Pump" ride through some soft deep sand littered with rocks.....at one point I had a wild horse running alongside me. Navigation on the trail was tough since the horses had already added in their divets in the sand.

After awhile I was suprised to see a different line on my GPS......got to the line and saw this marker

Forrest had to turn back via the highway somewhere just past this point......so Kevin and I rode on. We were debating on taking the more southern route and bypass Bodie or going to Bodie and then make our decision.

We opted to run up the hill to Bodie and then doubleback for a few miles to pick up the alternate route. That way we were sure to make it down to the trestle as well.

Split in the mountain on the way to the Trestle....while navigating through the rocks...lost balance and set the bike down. That "set down" ended up breaking a bolt on my rack that was already missing one bolt. Zip tye's to the rescue.....unfortunately, they would not hold another ride and I had to skip on Monday's ride

BTW Kevin....great riding the 176 miles with you on Sunday...we were able to get in a good "groove"!

Looking accross the trestle at Kevin......tough climb up the side of the hill to get back to Kevin's side of the trestle. Soft sand and trials tires don't mix very well. Working the bike up at that elevation is a workout!

Saw some deer coming back on the south side of Bodie

Couple more view shots

[kkug 146]

Wow looks like a good weekend. I thought you guy were going to kick back Bluesen and not do much riding. I was wrong!

Still a lot of snow what a great area. You guys realy rode some chalanging trails .

Thumbs UP !

[Zoot 0]

I WILL be on the next one. The entire reason I didn't go was because I had a trip planned this coming weekend and it fell through! ARGggggggggg

[Jim 0]

I have no idea who or what you are talking about. But, if you were talking about me.....well you get faster with practice!

Very sandy, soft downhill......was a tad late on the drop of the bike. Somebody has gotten really quick picking up their bike after dropping it

[dsfox 0]

Hey ! Here's a great "Happy Birthday Picture" for the ladies....I'll have to take my "cowboy" pic off the list.....

[hoss314 0]

Only wore my GoPro on Friday's ride......forgot about it until we were on the road coming into Convict Lake.

Kinda boring......but great views

http://s129.photobucket.com/albums/p234/hoss314/Mammoth%202010/?action=view&current=PICT0001.mp4

[kevinsinvegas 0]

There is nothing I can add to the previous ride reports, but to say thanks to everyone! This trip exceeded my expectations ten fold, in every way. It was great to meet everyone, and ride with all of you.

Crawdaddy thanks for bringing it all together!

Strega is one tuff dude, to ride with a broken thumb! CD was right, his thumb didn't affect my ride at all.

The Blues Festival was the icing on the cake!

I will add my pics when time permits. Moved into a new house the weekend before the trip, so I'm a little buried.

You do not want to miss this trip next year!

Kevin

[iparky 0]

I cant believe I missed the Bodie ride. My weekend up there started off on a bad note. First off showed up at Glass Creek campground Thursday evening only to find out that it is designated sites only and full, so off to Big Springs and found out the same thing. Spent the night at Hartley campground. Back to Glasscreek in the morning found a site and had to drive back to Hartley to get Motorhome and trailer and move. Set up camp and now it is 1 pm and still needed to go shopping for food. Found a tire on the trailer with tread seperation and it is 185.00 in Mammoth and 130.00 in Bishop, planned a Sat. morning trip for tire and breakfast in Bishop Sat. Truck overheated on the way, ended up getting towed back into Mammoth and waited until 4pm till to get truck back and the expensive Tire. So Sunday had to spend time with the wife, we took the Rhino out did a loop all the way to Mammoth loop and back then headed across the hwy and up Bald mtn rd. Rhino did not like 8000 ft so headed back to camp and got in around 3pm. The whole time sunday I was thinking of the trip to Bodie and was wishing I was doing that rather than cruising in the Rhino. Oh well maybe next time. Looks like you had a blast.

[Crawdaddy 96]

I cant believe I missed the Bodie ride. My weekend up there started off on a bad note. First off showed up at Glass Creek campground Thursday evening only to find out that it is designated sites only and full, so off to Big Springs and found out the same thing. Spent the night at Hartley campground. Back to Glasscreek in the morning found a site and had to drive back to Hartley to get Motorhome and trailer and move. Set up camp and now it is 1 pm and still needed to go shopping for food. Found a tire on the trailer with tread seperation and it is 185.00 in Mammoth and 130.00 in Bishop, planned a Sat. morning trip for tire and breakfast in Bishop Sat. Truck overheated on the way, ended up getting towed back into Mammoth and waited until 4pm till to get truck back and the expensive Tire. So Sunday had to spend time with the wife, we took the Rhino out did a loop all the way to Mammoth loop and back then headed across the hwy and up Bald mtn rd. Rhino did not like 8000 ft so headed back to camp and got in around 3pm. The whole time sunday I was thinking of the trip to Bodie and was wishing I was doing that rather than cruising in the Rhino. Oh well maybe next time. Looks like you had a blast.

Rough weekend for you but at least you got of of the city.......kept checking my cell to see if you were "in"....