Strat's OR BDR Ride Report

Bike's all packed up for a morning departure northbound to the OR BDR (after I get my kiddo dropped off to scout camp).

AND I'm riding with a guy who calls himself Fluffy Bananachunks so you KNOW this shit's gonna be lit!

Stay tuned!

Damn, was riding in the general vicinity. If I had the fork travel of your gorgeous Honda, I might have gone north too. As it was, turned around before Burney, as work crews had one passable lane only, dirt.

This should be good. I'm in

When Strat's reports... I listen...!

Have a great journey!

so awesome! think I’m following along on Mr fluffy bananachunks’s share.garmin.com website. looks like you guys are past Reno already, w00t!

budman said:

When Strat's reports... I listen...!

Have a great journey!

Click to expand...

^^^^^^^^^
This.
So totally this.

gixxerjeff said:

budman said:

When Strat's reports... I listen...!

Have a great journey!

Click to expand...

^^^^^^^^^
This.
So totally this.

Click to expand...

+3!

BARF Adventure Riding guys Mr stratslinger77, Mr bananachunks and Mr SC-Surfer made it to “mile zero” on the OR BDR last night, camping before sundown at the Virgin Valley Free Campground after gassing up at Denio Junction. screenshot of Mr bananachunks’s Garmin InReach device:



pic of our three heros from a trip they did together earlier this year … this OR BDR trip isn’t their first rodeo together:

SFMCjohn said:

Mr bananachunks, Mr SC-Surfer and Mr stratslinger77, ready to rip, with Hunter Mountain in the background.

Click to expand...

looks like they were on the road again by 8am (impressive!), back to Denio Junction and north to OR and Domingo Pass.

Oh sheeeet! Me and few friends head out to do this on the 7th, we'll be a bit slower getting to Oregon as we'll all be on dual sports. Have fun and of course, looking forward to the report!

Nice!
What bike is Bananachunks riding? I thought he had the aprilia?

1962siia said:

Nice!
What bike is Bananachunks riding? I thought he had the aprilia?

Click to expand...

I thought I saw him mention he picked up the Husky recently due to Ape woes.
I could be wrong tho...(hunting for that thread.....stand by...)

Mr bananachunks told me he got his late model low-mile 701 Husky as his back-up bike while the Aprilia 660 was at the dealer for nine weeks, waiting for parts.

he seems to have totally bonded with the 701. here’s a pic he sent me of his mighty Husky 701 on a shake-down ride this past winter, on Jackass Grade, down by Tumey Hills BLM:



arty

the OR BDR guys got another early start, and seemed to have crossed Hwy 395 this morning, and are on their way towards Christmas Valley. weather report looks good, with highs forecast in the high 80s.

Oh that darn snotty mud! It's humbled a good many riders for sure!

I was supposed to start the ORBDR on the first but had to cancel at last minute.

Will be watching Strat's reports for sure!!

Have a great trip!

Saturday, July 1

We rallied at my place and hit the road from there. It was a hot day already Denio is a long way so we slabbed I-80 to Winnemucca.

We stopped for gas and McDonald's in Lovelock. It was HOT!


From Winnemucca, we pressed north into Denio Junction for more gas and water.


The nice folks at Denio Junction suggested we camp at Virgin Valley Campground, about 20 miles west. It's a nice spot with ponds, and a warm-ish spring that's been set up like a swimming pool.





I had a cigar and scotch while dipping my feet in the cool pond--a nice way to close out the day.

"we have a pool, . . . . and a pond. The pond would be good for you"

Sunday, July 2

We got an early start, returning to Denio Junction to top off gas, then crossed into Oregon.



A few miles into Oregon, we made a left turn onto dirt and almost immediately started climbing Domingo Pass.



There were still lots of wildflowers out in the desert.




A ways in, we stopped for a break and George found he his tower had come loose on his Touareg and was missing some hardware. This wouldn't be the first time I his trip. After about an hour of pfaffing about, George got it sorted and we were back on the road.

Much of the day looked like this, with rocky sections scattered here and there.


We followed the BDR track to the edge of the Hart Mountain Wildlife Refuge boundary and came upon this:


We had read about the closure online but without knowing the area, we didn't have context to know this was the road. And we didn't study the map close enough. Anyway, we had to backtrack quite a ways to follow the alternate route up to Hart Mountain. There were lots of rocky and sandy sections before putting us into this gravel super highway for the run into the Hart Mountain Visitor Center. Views for days...and the ability to run at speed for a bit was a welcome reprieve from picking our way through rocks and sand in the heat.




At the visitor center, we filled up on cold well water and chatted with Julie, who works there. She informed us the gas pump in Plush, our next stop, was broken. We needed to gas up in Plush or we'd be stuck, so Julie called a friend who has a nearby ranch and she agreed to meet us in town and lead us to her ranch where she had gas for us. Here's George and Monte filling up.


Mrs. Fitzgerald refused our attempts to pay for the gas. What an awesome gesture of kindness!

It was just a few minutes back to town for well-deserved burgers at the Plush Store.


While we ate, another trio of riders came in from Reno. We chatted for awhile, wished them luck, and got back on our way. Section 2 starts in Plush; we decided to just ride Section 2 for a few miles to where the map showed some springs, and look for a place to camp in that area. Mission accomplished! After a day in the desert, it was nice to see some trees again.

Lucky stroke of luck on the gas!!

Bet those burgers tasted good....!

Following along, love this thread.

Loving it but getting very jealous that I was not there!

Waiting to see if the snow has finally melted in the higher elevations!!

Monday, July 3

Around 5am, I was woken up by a wildcat meowing very close to our campsite. I couldn't see it because my rain fly was zipped up on that side of the tent, but it sounded very close. I didn't want to scare it off by unzipping the rain fly either. It hung around and meowed for about 10 minutes or so and then moved on. It didn't sound big enough to be a mountain lion, but who knows.

We all got about about a half hour later, quickly ate, packed up, and hit the trail. The first few miles were narrow 2-track but then trail soon opened up and we find ourselves riding along the spine of a Ridgeline with massive views.



In hindsight, this would've been a great camping spot!



From that ridge, we followed a power line trail for quite a ways through rolling desert. And then we began to gradually drop down towards Hwy 395 just north of Lake Aberr.



We crossed 395 and followed some fast gravel roads through some ranch land, hitting the occasional sandy spot before a long, rocky climb over the Whiskey Hills. We were riding pretty hard and I was leading out, having a blast over the rocks, so I didn't stop to take pictures.

We dropped down through Fandango Canyon into Christmas Valley, where we stopped for gas, refreshments, and a break. George has to re-tighten his tower and address a triple clamp pinch bolt that has worked loose. My Africa Twin and Monte's T7 ran like champs, BTW.



Section 2 ends there in Christmas Valley and we wanted to keep going since it was only late morning. So we continued on with Section 3. This is another example of riding so hard that pictures just didn't happen. From Christmas Valley, we climbed into a sub-alpine desert with some sandy sections, eventually working our way to the Newberry Crater and climbing into alpine forests on some hero dirt with traction like Velcro before being deposited at East Lake. By now, it was pushing 4 pm so we ate real food at the East Lake resort with a welcome cool breeze.



After lunch, we found a spot to pull in and set up camp about a half mile back up the dirt road we had just ridden down. And then it was time for a shower at the nearby RV campground.

Beautiful country! Didn't Mr Banana Chunks get a trailer for his bike recently? I was hoping to see that in action.