The Lure Of The High Sierra

Labor Day was fast approaching, and we were preparing for our annual trip to the deserts of northwest Nevada and southeast Oregon. Our campervan had other plans for us, though, so at the last minute we decided to stick closer to home and go back down to the Sierra National Forest. We'd spent our 2-week vacation there just 4 weeks prior, and even though I was extremely disappointed to be missing the desert there was a teeny tiny little part of me that was shouting with joy to be returning to the land of high elevation granite. We were joined by our friend Mark on his XR440 and Eric's twin brother Max riding my KTM 450. We would be camping like mere peasants in our trusty cargo van, with Max in his truck and Mark in his van. This was the chosen spot, a deserted dome of granite at about 7500'...



Max was pretty happy with his spot...



We spent the rest of the day setting up camp, gathering firewood and playing in the creek...








Mark arrived first thing in the morning and we quickly loaded up for the day's ride...






First stop was the White Bark Vista Point at the start of the Dusy Ershim Trail. We briefly discussed doing it on our big bikes. Absurd, eh? Heh...



Eric, me and Mark...



We stopped at Mono Hot Springs but it was warm out already and we weren't into hot water at the moment...







We goofed around on the Bear OHV Trail...



Then found ourselves a secluded little campspot right on a lake...



We hit the water right away...



Mark was digging the granite...



The water was fantastic...crystal clear and not cold at all! I was in heaven...




Everyone was pleased with the day...



We hit the sack pretty early after hanging by a rip-roarin' campfire, all of us looking forward to whatever the next day would bring.




4 more days to come




WoodsChick

I live for these reports...

Cereal KLR said:

I live for these reports...

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+1. I have these fantasies that one day my kids will be done with college and I may have 2 or 3 dollars left over to do rides like this myself. Until then, I live vicariously through you WoodsChick! Please keep 'em comin'.

Please post bigger pics.

Cereal KLR said:

I live for these reports...

Click to expand...

JPK said:

+1. I have these fantasies that one day my kids will be done with college and I may have 2 or 3 dollars left over to do rides like this myself. Until then, I live vicariously through you WoodsChick! Please keep 'em comin'.

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Hey! When they get out of college they can add to that 2 or 3 dollars you'll still have in your pocket They owe you!

Beauregard said:

Please post bigger pics.

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I know you're being sarcastic, and I sincerely apologize if the photos are too big for your monitor. The default setting on my account makes them look great on my 23" monitor, and I always forget to change it when I download my photos. Sorry




WoodsChick

The next morning I scrambled up the granite in hopes of catching the sunrise but I was a few minutes too late...


I liked being up on the granite bluff above the lake...







We ate a light breakfast then got outta Dodge...





I couldn't wait to cross the river after Mark, Eric and Max...







It was just as pretty on the other side...



How many union carpenters does it take to filter a Camelbak full of water?



The hardest working water in the west, as we run into another diversion dam at the deadend...



Let's check it out!



I swear my bike feels bigger than it looks...



We turn around, head down another side road deadend and find this little gem...



Someone was kind enough to take a photo of me on the way back across the river...



Lot of water in these mountains...



The arches that make up the dam are pretty spectacular from below.
Wish I'd gotten a photo of the ones that were 15 stories tall...





Ride while you can, folks...





Coming up, some actual dirt riding!

*Subscribed* to another WC epic! arty

We decided to hit the Brewer Lake Trail and make camp down at the lake. The trail was a tad rocky in places...








It got a little dicey at the top but I kept it on two wheels...til I parked the bike, of course...



Max did a good job on my KTM with a little direction from Eric...





We'd wanted to camp at Brewer Lake and swim in the unusually warm water but it looked like there was a fishing derby down there. The lake was ringed with anglers and Mark rightly suggested that it didn't seem right to jump in and scare all the fishies away. We headed back to base camp


Ya know that deserted dome we were camped on? Heh...deserted no more. Seems there was a jeep event going on, and we were on the far end of the staging area for it. I wondered why there were porta-potties where once there were none. They were awesome, though. We never heard them and didn't really see them since we were so far down on the end of the dome.
Wish I'd gotten a photo of the Camel Trophy Defender.

We hit the creek right away to wash off the dirt and grime. I loved the way the water would slip beneath the surface of the rock through a crack, only to emerge a few feet later through another crack...



No, they're not dead...they just look like it...





I walked down the creek til it opened up and got even more interesting...



We cut some firewood, hauled it back up the hill and then had a tasty dinner of martinis, Pasta Carbonara and grilled rib-eyes


We decided to hit the Bald Mt Trail early the next morning, then mosey on down south and find a nice spot to camp. We skedaddled out of there in a hurry after hearing that the jeepers were leaving shortly for Bald Mt. We got up there pretty early...



Dang...I look tall in my gear, eh?



Nice views all around...







After a brief discussion, it was decided we'd take the "easy" way down as opposed to the "hard" way. I'd ridden both on my dirtbikes before, and had ridden the "easy" way on my SV650. Max and Eric head back down...





Guess what? After some nefarious route-finding on Eric's part we ended up descending via the "hard" way...surprise, surprise...and the way down also involved quite a bit of "up," too...



More sandy slippy granite on the way...




WoodsChick

(I tried to resize my photos after I uploaded them to PhotoBucket but it was an excercise in frustration and it took f o r e v e r ...sorry!)

The "hard" way wasn't really that bad, just a little more exciting than the "easy" way...


Hmm...I always get a little concerned when I see someone waiting for me with camera in hand...



I remember this spot...I rode it twice on my dirtbikes and I almost went over the bars on the GasGas. The transition between the rock and the ground is really abrupt, and I didn't feel like attempting it on the 610 with less travel, less ground clearance and 150 more pounds plus camping gear...




I didn't really want to ride back up the steep slidey steps that I'd just ridden down either...




Maybe it won't look so bad if I sidle on up to the edge all easy-like...



I must be getting a little more mature in my old age (I know..."finally!")



For the record, that MT60 front never ever broke traction. And just so you know, Eric took the easy way around



Ok, next up: some scritchy downhill granite followed by some scritchy uphill granite...I'm starting to see a pattern, here...Eric on his way down with Mark waiting on the other side...



Max makes it with no drama...



I think I'll take a different line...



I ran outta line before the sharp turn...





I made it down without hitting the deck, which is always the goal...



Looking back at where we'd just been...


And a glimpse of where we're going...down the granite, through the creek, up the rocky dirt section, jog to the right and then left up the granite that can be clearly seen to the right of the dead tree...



A zoomed-in shot of Mark heading up...




I'll post more later when PhotoBucket quits emulating a glacier and returns to normal operating speeds...




FrustratedChick

Wonderful pics ! Glad the trip went well !

dear frustrated chick.. another epic adventure..!

we will have a few pages of woodschick epic adventures in the barf books..

I wish I was there with my gold mining equip. Very beautiful pics. I know you all enjoyed yourselves.

SVBEESGAL said:

Wonderful pics ! Glad the trip went well !

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Thanks, Gal! It went better than our vacation a month ago, where we had all kinds of mechanical let-downs, that's for sure

budman said:

dear frustrated chick.. another epic adventure..!

we will have a few pages of woodschick epic adventures in the barf books..

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Like, figuratively? Or literally?

WarriorPrincess said:

I wish I was there with my gold mining equip. Very beautiful pics. I know you all enjoyed yourselves.

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We didn't see too many claims or folks with equipment, but I would imagine it's going on all over out there. And yeah, we enjoyed ourselves immensely!



WoodsChick

Ok, now where were we...? Oh yeah, crossing the creek and climbing the granite on the other side...

The creek crossing went well, and the granite was almost as sticky as slickrock...



Can you see Max in the dirt section behind me?






Max making me look bad...



He took a better smoother line than I did towards the end, too...



Arrghh...I hate it when that happens...



Just between you and me, I think Max was appreciative for the rest...



A few miles down the road we're back at it again...



3rd time's a charm!



A sheriff came up behind us as we pulled over to fix the flat and he started asking us if we'd been riding cross country (ya know, off-trail, not like riding from Maryland.) He asked us several times where we'd been, we told him several times where we'd been, and he asked us again if we'd been riding cross-country in a spot we already said we hadn't been. I got kinda testy and said "No!" He got defensive and said "I'm just askin'" I told him we don't ride off-trail. I shoulda said, "Dude...we're on street bikes, fercrissakes...does it look like we've been riding cross-country??" but I didn't. He was explaining that there had been reports of 4 dirtbikers riding off-trail up the road a piece and just then 4 dirtbikes rode by on the paved road, 2 plated 4-strokes and 2 non-plated 2-strokes. I said, "I think those are your boys" with a really smug and self-satisfied voice and he took off like a bat outta hell after them. I'm pretty sure he got the right guys.

We took some fun paved twisties for a bit and ended up down at the gate to the Dusy Ershim Trail. Now, I've ridden the Dusy a few times before, and I wouldn't even think about riding my 450 on that trail, much less my SM610. It's pretty much trials bike territory...or at least a lightweight 2-stroke with good ground clearance and a trials tire.

So, here I am on my way to the Dusy Ershim. I made it through all the rock gardens and steps and everything, only to get hung up on this stupid plastic water bar thingy...



Ahh...now we're in the fun stuff!



Here comes Max and Eric...





Mark is still grooving on the granite...








Ooh...I forgot about this part...



Once I get through the rocks, though, my reward is a huge wall of sticky granite...




More in a minute...


WoodsChick

poll? how many peeps think WoodChick's thread are the most awesome est?

So, yeah...the wall of granite...coolest thing ever! It's kinda steep and intimidating in a "what if..." kind of way, even though I've been up and down it before on my dirtbikes. Yes, the camera is level...





It levels out a little bit...



Then climbs again up to the top...



Here comes Max!





I can't believe how happy we all are to be right here, right now, at this moment...and on such a glorious day! Life is good...


























Everyone wanted to ride down the trail to get to the water and find a spot to camp. I wanted to camp on top right where we were. I remembered what the trail was like and wanted no part of it on the 610. I knew Thompson Hill was at the bottom (google it) and I knew what a challenge it was on my 200lb 2-stroke 280 tractor-bike. Mark and Eric (on my 450) went to check it out and came back within minutes. Looks like we're camping on the rock


More tomorrow, I gotta go to bed...

Nice!

Is there really a fire hydrant up there?

WoodsChick said:

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JPK said:

Is there really a fire hydrant up there?

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Yeah, those things are kinda stupid, aren't they? I don't know who put them out there...they certainly weren't there the last time I rode the trail a few years ago. I know that the Fresno 4WD Club initially laid out the trail in the 50's and they maintain it to this day. I think it takes away from the wildness of the trail; I don't like to see any man-made stuff out there. I'm surprised the forest service allowed it, quite frankly. There are admonishments everywhere on the gates at both ends saying do nothing to alter the characteristics of the trail or make the trail easier. It's kinda hard to put a cairn on the steep slope, but I managed to find the trail the first time I went down it, so I dunno... At the most they could have just used white paint spots like the 5 Miles Of Hell Trail in Utah...




WoodsChick

We found ourselves a good spot on the eastern slope of the rock, one that would be semi-sheltered from the wind, but also one that would provide us with some much-needed early-morning warmth from the rising sun. Max and I set up our tents while Mark and Eric rode back down to the lake to filter some water. The 1/8" of decomposed granite on top of solid granite slab would make for a nice comfy night's sleep...





Max found a pretty good spot, too...



Eric and Mark returning with 4 full Camelbak bladders...



Mark's home for the night...



Time to wander over to the west-facing slope to enjoy the sunset at a pre-existing fire ring...



Happy faces all around...





















This First Quarter moon (in Saggitarius just in case you're keeping track) shone so brightly on the white granite, it looked more like the full moon does when in the city...








Dinner was kielbasa sausages on Grace Baking rustic baguettes with red wine...



We talked around the campfire long into the the night, all agreeing emphatically that this camp spot was the best one that any of us had ever experienced, on or off the bikes. We all felt really fortunate to be here, and I know that, for me anyway, I was reluctant to walk away from the fire and get into my tent because I just didn't want the evening to end. Tasty food, plentiful wine, excellent company, stellar views and a roaring campfire will do that to a girl. But, alas, end it did...and I slept like a baby


One more day of riding on the way




WoodsChick