Spring Break on the Crooked River March 27-30, 2014

Hey! Pigs can ride will dual sports!
-crazymike

We got into camp Friday night around 21:00, rode through the rain stood by the fire and to warm up.



Hit the road Saturday before noon

Came up on a Northern facing road and it was soft. Really soft.








Walked ahead to see if it got better soon, it didn't.



We turned around and ran into a couple riders. Then there were 5.

We rode to Paulina for lunch. Picked up a straggler. Had some frozen pizzas at the country store in Paulina. Then took off for the South Fork of the John Day towards Dayville. Great section of gravel road there.



At this point Kathleen was getting really cold with no windshield or heated gear. We didn't even remember to put any handguards on :huh So we split up and she and I rode back while the other 3 went on towards the painted hills. They still managed to beat us back to camp however. Riding into the blinding sun on dirt slows the pace. Kathleen hadn't ridden her bike since last fall, so after 10 hours and 250 miles she was pretty worn out.

Pictures soon, we had a great time and the kids did too!

The parking area could have fit 10-20 more ADVers easily





Doggitter, Ram, S1marks, and Scott_PDX's trailer....



Scott's Super Duty Truck



Dave's Flat-Tired Chebby Truck



We finally tired Lixi out a little bit:

I wanted to let everyone know what a great time I had despite my attempt to ride through a fallen tree with my borrowed KDX220. The community is really great and I look forward to the next event I get to attend.

What did the wife say when you got home? Do you get to keep the bike? Also glad you couldl make it.

Glad to hear it was a minor/major accident, at least.....I was sure happy to see you in smiles Sunday as I was leaving, thanks for stopping by again

I had a GREAT ride Saturday
I started off solo, I was kinda in the mood for stops and pictures





And I was sure enjoying my new-to-us ride, the KLR/Sputnik hack combo



Somewhere halfway through Little Bear Creek Rd, I ran into S1marks and Righty65, then we ran up with petrolburner & leenpockets as they told us "Do NOT go down there". So we all turned back for Bear Creek Rd, and took it all the way North towards Paulina.


At the end of Little Bear Creek with the silly "Seasonal Closure" signs



This was a pretty ideal combination for a new kinda fun, if you're willing to work hard at it, on these smooth & fast but very consistent dirty Central Oregon roads. Of course, any/all bikes are the "Most awesome" on these kinda roads in this kinda weather. It was a bit less fun while trying to keep up on pavement with an 1150 GS,...and a KLR250, even. This pig-rig maxes at 65, but was a hoop of fun at 35-45 on these perfect soft dirt roads.

Neet old barn. Would like to have seen it fresh from the raising.

I had a great time with all ya'll - good rides, and good gear talk and good times around the fire. I gotta say, it feels a lot like the tight-knit rally and inviting community community I came from.

Here are a few pics, and I'm uploading some video to the tube for your viewing pleasure.

BlackTDI's Orange beast, and my Blue/Yellow middleweight - close cousins with lots of shared bits. We had fun railing the berms together:


Google auto-mashup. From the top of Prineville Dam, where we discovered the goat trail leading to a gravel road down below. . .


Fun in the snow! CRF-man (wish I remembered his screen name - doh!), Pigpen & JungleMan


It's not sticking! Where to next?


A great Sunday ride with doggitter - stoppin' down by the lake


Why we climb hills (well, other than for the fun of climbing hills):


Here's a link to the gallery if you want the pics:
https://rallyrex.smugmug.com/2014-Crooked-River

Ben went down the goat trail easily enough. It was coming up where that rear tire was definitely a liability. Good job Ben!

Oh, and check out the conversation at the beginning. Me likely!
http://youtu.be/Xwh-ErESccI

And kudos to the Kawasaki 250 - he went up and down with aplomb!

She was surprisingly OK with it. I think she thought it was an elaborate joke until one of the kiddos tried to jump up on me and I winced. Since I was smiling and joking about it, she seems to have decided it wasn't all that serious. I haven't identified any future rides I want to go on yet, so we'll wait to see if that changes her tune.

It doesn't take long for them to forget. Granted it took my wife two years after breaking my legs before she agreed to me getting another bike. Point being I got another bike.

Looks like you just missed winter.

​

Horse Ridge, Hampton, Riley, Keyes Summit and Ochoco Summit: Buried in snow
Paulina: Right in the middle of all those, barely a speck.
How in the world does that happen? I have never seen snow on the Paulina camera when everything else is getting hammered! The temperature isn't available, but it looks like a brisk Spring morning out there. Somebody runs out every ten minutes and sweeps the snow behind the bushes?

Same with Paisley right now. Everything else on the south-central page has snow while Paisley looks like it could be Eugene right now. (Don't tell them I said that)

Great photos RallyRex!

Here are a few of the one's i took, which weren't already copies of the others posted.
By the time i got to camp on Thursday evening, i had just enough time to set up my spot before losing the light.

So next morning was up & ready to ride.


Here S1Marks was fixin himself to look presentable...for the cows, horses & deer we saw throughout the days ride.


Headed out east & stopped to let the horses come to investigate. My bike, Mark & Jerry (Righty65).


Mark pointing the way we needed to go.


All kinds of beautiful roads out there towards Fort Rock.


...& interesting ruins.


An old pump house, with some pretty heavy gauge components.


Further out we battled the winds to get to Fort Rock & Christmas Valley for a lunch break.


Back at camp, the following morning, checked out a few of the rigs. Here is Joe's camper & 540!


Scott, SuperD & i rode out together for an eastern loop, stopping in for lunch at the Brother's one & only. Where we met a coupla others from camp.


A very unique building there, apparently shaped that way when the highway used to run the other side of it.


...& possibly trying to shape a face that would be protected from the constant winds!


Pump house & water tower in back.


We continued on from Brother's riding up to a level of 5500 ft elevation (camp was 3300 ft i think)...into the woods, the snow, cold & mud. Note to self, switch tires out for something way better in the mud for this heavy bike.
No photos of this part due to my extreme lock on the bars to avoid going down every 50 ft!!

Back to camp for another good communal feed from my bbq. Along with another awesome night of libations
& laughter.


Early next morning, out visiting & gathering a few more shots of camp.

Petrolburner's sweet...dirty Capanord.


I had some other nightly fireside shots...but for some reason they're a wee bit blury! :huh

Packed up camp slowly, made sure any remaining litter was picked up & again was one of the last to leave.
Another great long weekend away, bring on the next gatherings!!

Awesome shots squishy! THATS the ride I was hoping to join you guys on... before making a foot sandwich between my case and a boulder. Give me a holler if you want to visit the area again before next year's Spring Break!
-crazymike

got a few before the battery died; our end of the campground was much more calm for wind blockage.



good hour or so of twistys and dirt and rocks- kids got a taste...



no explanatin needed.

Very cool T & NoPo, getting the kids involved in the adventure!

Hey i've got some MX gear here for 8 year old plus, if they wanna stick with it.

Don't know if i mentioned it the other night already or not.

PM me if interested.

Mike, glad the foots not broken. I'd love to get back out & ride that area. Got a few important things pending this year that may keep me from getting out there, but i'll get in touch if i can do it.

All of those nice pics make me feel like a DOPE for not at least trailering over for the weekend.