California - The Adventure Republic

after the much needed lunch, we gassed up in johannesburg



then to towards husky monument. there was a trail closure, but having many gps, we found another route



another pic of a beautiful day in the desert















solemn moments at the monument









just a reminder of the 2011 death valley noobs rally - heads up, the 2013 is in the works.



one last pic before the group split into 2 on our way home



though the weather was a little cold, that didn't deter us from riding. all good people and teamwork. we discovered new routes, there were challenges, but we still all had a blast. no injury or broken bike parts.

riding home at night was cold but no complain, neither the rest. total of 320 miles.

next time, i will have heated grips and vest ....

others who have pics of the ride, please go ahead and post them here.

thanks for reading and we'll meet again on the next one......

Here is my RR:

The gang met up at 630am in Sunland, which consisted of Joel, Jim, Jon, Todd, Rich, Ersin, Diego, and myself. It was pretty chilly, and we made our way up Big T to Angeles Forest Highway, where it was even COLDER!


Getting ready to slap it from Palmdale to Mojave.


The parking lot bled orange so early in the morning!


We first headed north along the California Aquaduct. A few of the WRR's here, Jon and Jim.


Joel doing his thing.


Jon at a mini wash crossing.


Jim and his next restoration project.


A large portion of our route was redirected due to a large tortoise home.


While we were discussing route options, Diego walks away from Jim's bike which started it's first of may self induced naps.


Next stop, Randsburg, led by BigTodd.


A little bit of sand never hurt Ersin.


Joel is predicting victory...


Until his bike decided otherwise.


Diego considers some Dakar-esque speeds to clear the drop.


Now just slightly cool, an absolutely stunning day.


Next we took turns making our way up the steep road on our reroute around the tortoises. Joel in action.


Next, Jon.


Rich was thinking it would be good to have a few more knobs on that back tire.


Diego powers up.


Bill stretching the legs on his new WRR.


We managed to ride the east perimeter fence line of the Honda Proving Grounds. It was up for sale earlier this year so I'm not sure if it's still owned by Honda or not.


Slabbing a small bit into Randsburg for lunch.


After a well earned lunch in Randsburg, we decided to head to Husky from the northwest. Some nice roads heading SE towards Husky.

And finally we made it!


From here, we rode back out to 395 and half split down the slab towards OC, while the rest us continued towards 20 Mule Team Parkway. Jon, Joel, Bill, Jim, and I got back to Mojave at dusk. After Bill split in his truck, we warmed up with some soup from Subway and the 4 of us slabbed it back in the dark.

GPS tracks for the day. 337 miles in 13.5 hours...a very good ride!

Awesome stuff!!! Thanks for taking the time to post it all up.

bring the dr350 next time and let's ride.

btw, the long beach intl moto show is coming up. dec. 7-9, 2013. just like last year, see there again and join us for lunch.

http://www.motorcycleshows.com/long-beach

looks like most manufacturers will be there.......


ersin and isaac get all the credits. their pics and descriptions did justice to this rr.

Great RR , thank you everybody for sharing .

you're very welcome zxr. glad you like it.

some more eye candy for you folks out there.

We left camp near Fremont Peak (12 miles east of 'Haski') and rode 198 miles out to DV National Park and back, getting in well past dark. There were about a dozen riders at camp but couldn't get anyone else to make the trek, so it was just Spafxer and I. Weather was perfect, park was beautiful.

Johngil sent me his tracks for returning from LAB2V. Riding them in reverse, we followed it from Red Mountain/Johannesburg, to Trona Road, then out the edge of Spangler to Trona Pinnacles, on to Trona for gas, then over the 'escape route' and into Panamint Valley. From there we rode up Goler, over Mengel Pass, and into Butte Valley. We were looking for LONER (Paul) who was supposedly at the Geologist Cabin for the weekend. No sign of Paul out there.

Now I gotta tell you, if Johngil was going to ride LAB2V on Friday and Saturday to Vegas, then ride all the way back including this segment, he has his work cut out for him. The route through Spangler is SAND SAND SAND!!! Miles of deep soft sand. I stopped here to catch my breath:



Stopped for a break at the Pinnacles:



Our 'Darth-Peach' pic




Being able to fuel up in Trona allowed to make this loop with stock fuel tanks. Then on to Trona Airport and over the pass to Panamint. The section at the end of this road down in Panamint Valley is a field of volcanic baby-head rocks. Quite strenuous to ride but no trouble on the big dualsports. Spa said he took this route on loaded big-bikes a couple of weeks before....CRAZY!!

Panamint Valley from atop the 'escape route' from Trona:






Johngil had this route coming from Shoshone through Butte Valley and over Mengel Pass. It's a long strenuous route. There are a couple of really hairy rock gardens on the eastern slope of Mengel Pass. He certainly had his work cut out for him after riding all the way to Vegas.

TBarstow posted some pix of these sections over on the noob rally thread, here's one of them. I was too busy trying to get my bike through to stop and take any pix.




We stopped at Newman's Mine cabin. Would be a neat place to camp out there, although I doubt I would stay inside the cabin...LOTS of rat and mice droppings, too much risk of hentavirus or whatever that crap is.






The 'Browneye' on his trusty Husky.






Once we got over Mengel Pass we were looking for Loner (paul) at the geologist cabin. We weren't even sure if we found the right cabin over there. But no sign of Paul. Anyway, scenery was pleasant, nice to get the vistas from Butte Valley. The famous Striped Butte here:




So, we left about 9:30 in the morning and now we were at our furthest point from base camp and it was now 2:30 in the afternoon. At this point I knew we would be finishing this trip in the dark. We headed back over the pass, sun getting low in the sky.




Going down Goler Wash is a now a cakewalk:




It took us just a little over an hour to get to Ballerat. Stopped for an ice cold Bud, from here we could make good time on the hiway.






About 4:30 we rolled into the fuel stop in Trona and the sun was already over the hill. It was starting to cool off. I was so glad I brought a gortex shell as I had worn vented gear for the day. I litterally would have froze my butt off. It only took as an hour to get back to Red Mountain, going out Trona Road.

Right about Teagle Wash the road was closed with all kinds of flashing lights, turned out to be ambulance cars and a life-flight chopper landed right on Trona Road. Surely someone had wadded up playing in the sand out there. We made our way around the road block via dirt trails and kept going.

By the time we got down the 395 to head up to Fremont Peak it was pitch black. Were it not for GPS we would probably still be out there. 198 miles and I was really feeling it.

Our group camp had the bonfire of the year and lots of good times.





Thanks for reading along. Join us on the next one.



.

chris, great location for a campsite. you're close to every good riding areas.

very nice rr. can't wait to get back to the desert.


shameless plug. come and join us at the death valley rally on march 2013. sign up soon, filling up fast.
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=841673

Checking in from Death Valley. Chris, did you guys check the Geologists Cabin, I was there, but I may have been at the Queen of Sheba Mine when you guys rode into Butte Valley.



A view of the mine works



Ready to ride at sunrise, the days are just too short in DV after daylight savings time.



Some new stuff in Mengel Pass. The big storm in August created a lot of ruts, guess NPS equates ruts with wilderness.
The Mengel Pass hillclimb...



Well damn...
Here's the story on the poles and ribbon blockage at Mengel Pass, the NPS wants to prevent the ruts from eroding, so the approach on the far right is blocked. The main road is open.



Some natural carnage over at Warm Springs Camp.



My friend David W, a Jeep guy, knew of a couple of mines I hadn't seen yet, so we went for a hike on Friday, and also investigated a hidden cache. Access requires moving a cement block, and a lot of rocks. I put it all back in place after the ingress.



Stellas Cabin took a beating from the storm. Some of the ruts at Stellas...




So I missed Browneye, and Spafxr, but Slidewayes, and tbarstow stopped to say hi.
Thanksgiving in Death Valley, can't beat it.

Nice!

Jim kept thinking there was another cabin we were missing, but I'm pretty sure we stopped at an empty Geologists cabin.

Nice meal...how did you manage that? At the cabin????

TBarstow was over on Thanksgiving day? So, he didn't ride LAB2V then.

Paul,

The flag was not up... did you put it up?

Location was geologist cabin, but it sure didn't look like it.

I'm still confuzzled.

There are 3 cabins along that stretch of road, the Geologist's cabin is the one furthest west. All amenities are available, as is a BBQ. Tim came by on Saturday morning.

The flag was up every day. Did you see my truck? (Toyota)

nice pics and thanks for the update.

belated HTG!

see you soon.

day 1 - dec. 27, 2012

having to get up at 3am, ride in the freezing cold for 120 miles of pavement is not as bad as you think...hahaha. then in mex, did mix of dirt and pavement for another 140 miles.

before heading out to tecate, met everyone at denny's in la mesa for breakfast.

tecate crossing




riding towards compadre trail


compadre was in great shape and traction was great


beautiful weather....for now


todd's gsa makes a lot of wake


that morning, we were lucky our timing was perfect. it rained the day before.




maria and john


checkpoint was pita, but that's their job


maria


bigtodd


oops!


leaving my mark


eric and rich


wait at the Y - todd making sure no one take the wrong turn


john is always afraid of the cattle grates, he has to fly over......hahaha


larry finally caught up with us (long story)


short break


at ojos negros skipping rosita's



more coming

beautiful mex 3


lunch stop in valle trinidad


larry waiting for his turn


the only real coke is in a bottle; i had a tripe taco....new to me but tasty


road leading to mike's sky ranch


going uphill and having the sun in our face


mike's is at about 4200 feet, we were constantly gaining altitude


we got the preferential parking


soon the steak dinner was served


on the far right is the other john (inte), he too joined the fun


for $70/night you get dinner, and of course it includes a heated room and breafast

Hey Joel,
Great stuff!
We were a couple of days ahead of you, having crossed on the 25th ...
I've fallen in that exact same mud puddle ... ha.
see you in Carrizo,
-- SFMCjohn

john, see you in carrizo, yes that will be awesome as long you know how to avoid mud...

great we stayed at mike's; the heated room and shower were nice.







breakfast was part of the deal






getting ready to hit the road






inte on his 950 finally caught up with us lollygaggers


only 1 i can keep up is with maria...hahaha....poor me


doing head count at mex 3


next stop is laguna diablo dry lake

love this thread! Im headed your way in 2 weeks on my 950. any suggestions for a great way to get from vegas to sanfrancisco? Dirt would be fine, or backroads.