To read the beginning of this whole story please go to the S. Cal Wrecking Crew site found in the Western Section (yea I know Don - just give them a link - that takes all the fun out of making the work a little :rotfl:
Ed announced that he was going to walk out and would meet me up the trail a ways – he started walking thru the bush. . I started putting my stuff back on, pondered the situation for a moment and felt a good case of the panics starting to set in.. The more I pondered the dead KTM laying in front of me, the density of the canyon coupled with the WILDLIFE I knew was in the area together with the fact that I was feeling slightly fatiqued the more I realized how critical the situation could be.. Here I was, out in the middle of the PIUTE Mountains – totally unfamiliar with survival tactics in the desert and TOTALLY at the mercy of the rugged terrain that surrounded me, slapped myself in the face and said (outloud) stop it Scott – this aint Michigan and you HAVE to maintain a clear mind here!!
I looked up the mountain range standing majestically above the trees I was standing in the shade of. I thought – HOW ON EARTH ARE WE GONNA GET THIS BIKE OUT OF HERE!! I also thought, it makes common sense that we crossed this mountain range to into the Canyon area, how on EARTH are WE gonna get out of here – 3 guys and 2 bikes – if the journey out was even REMOTELY similar to the journey in riding 2 up would be IMPOSSIBLE..
I have ALWAYS been a “survivalist” at heart and ALWAYS been able to logically or maybe even miraculously fiqure a way out of most of lifes jams. It hurt my pride to look at Eds gorgeous bike laying there and (I know, thinking the worst promotes the worst) realize that there was NOTHING I could do to “make it run” for a ride out..
I pulled myself together and worked my way slowly down the canyon on the Gas Gas. I finally arrived at the fallen log that it had taken all three of us to get the bies over earlier and now faced it alone.. I rode the Gas Gas on the back wheel, preloaded the suspention and bounced over the log.. Of course when I went over the other side I was not upright and found myself swimming in a very shallow creek with gobs of black muck to softly land in. I pushed the inverted Gas Gas off me with my foot against the handlebars, stood up and wiped about 4 pounds of black sticky muck out of the area on my helmet where my googles usually cover my eyes. The stuff was so thick and greasy it took me about 10 minutes just to clear the lense up enough so I could see thru them again – the thought actually went thru my mind to just hang them on the bars and keep riding, but the thousands of barbs sticking out all over the trail spoke of better advice. The Gas Gas restarted on the FIRST KICK, kinda talking its soothing little two-stroke language to me about how it felt right at home in its current surroundings!! WHAT AN AMAZING MACHINE!!
I continued down the canyon and all of a sudden I heard this voice say “SCOTT – OVER HERE MATE”.
Sure enough, thru the bushes I could see what appeared to be parts of KIWI hidden in the stickers – I rode thru them and no more then 30 feet from the creek was the Canyon Bike Trail – 30 FEET!! Of course in that thick, narly mountain terrain it may as well of been 30 miles cause you couldn’t see it!!! At any rate, WE HAD THE TRAIL!!!
I asked KIWI if he had seen Ed. He said “yea mate, he’s walking”. GREAT, at least I knew that Ed had gotten out of KTM Kanyon alive and we were now on the right trail (literally would turn out to be our lifeline out!!).
As I rode upon Ed I could see that the term “walking out” was not exactly true!! He was MOUNTAIN CLIMBING out with full gear on!! I had just ascended (that would be pertaining to the 3 or four straight up verticals that I had just trials rode over – two of which were at least four footer! I stopped and said that I thought we should share the Gas Gas and the climbing/walking and that way we would both maybe get out of there that night.. Thankfully Ed had cooled down about the earlier mishap and took me up on the offer.. I am not sure how I would have responded to losing one of my bikes – POSSIBLY FOREVER – but Ed was handling it all like the trooper that he is and straddled the Gas Gas for some MUCH needed ride/rest time!!
I started climbing - I climbed some of the most GORGEOUS mountain terrain imaginable!! Yea it was WAY TOUGH going – but it was BEAUTIFUL!! Other then an occasional bike sound in the distance all you could hear were the sounds of nature – I felt REALLY bad for Ed because of his bike while at the same time I was enjoying myself beyond believe!! I had always wanted to do some mountain climbing and now I found myself in a “had to” situation that I was going to take EVERY second to let it sink in!! I watched as the sun lowered slowly toward the Mountains in the West and was intriqued with how the odors changed as the air became capable of maintaining the slightest amount of moisture – the air was so clean it was almost unreal! It was also very “thin” in content and I began thinking about all the times I had “rejetted” bikes and sleds thru the years and how “thin” air had effected their effiencency. I remembered laughing at the jet chart on a Arctic Cat T-Cat that I had set up one time and how elevation effected its fuel/air mixture so profoundly. Not having any real-life experience with Mountaineeriing sure had me fooled!! I was now finding out first hand the effects of thin air on breathablity!!
As my chest starting aching from hyperventilating something my father had taught me came to mind about “dragging out a bagged deer”. I will never forget him saying “DON’T GET IN A HURRY AND WORK YOURSELF TO DEATH – DRAG AND REST!!”. Out in those mountains that advice became prudent!! I would climb 30 - 40 feet and stop in the shade for a few minutes and keep repeating it! It worked great and I later found out that Ed was doing exactly the same thing!! It may sound funny to you the reader but I am telling you that mountain climbing with Dirtbike Gear on is NO PICNIC!! It was very difficult!! Motocross boots offer very little “feel” so stumbling can happen quite easily. Toss in noises beside you in the bushes (oh yea – in MANY places the bushes were rubbing against my shoulders but I couldn’t see 2 feet into them!!), ground covered with round face boulders from 4 inches in Diam to 5 foot across and also lots of very loose silicon sand all over stuff and then understand that every step you take in between this narley concoction it headed UP the mountain and you will begin to get the picture!! Now toss in some extremely technical switchbacks – oh yea, they were back – and then it gets REAL thrilling, even on two feet and two hands!! Of course, a little later as the sun went down and darkness set in (no moon that night) the term “thrill” took on a whole new meaning!! I am getting ahead of myself..
At one point, after climbing about 2 hours I became OVERWHELMED with the sheer beauty of my surroundings. I started coming to my senses about everything the day had held and how special of a situation I was involved in. The thought that yesterday I was flying in to LA – tomorrow (if still alive) I would be starting a 50 mph trip across the country in an old truck but TODAY I was with friends on an adventure of a lifetime – I pulled out my camera and took a picture of Ed with the mountains behind him – it just seemed like the thing to do.. (see pic 1).
As I continued up the mountain face I came upon the Gaser waiting for me. Ed had long sense abandoned the bike to give me a reprieve from climbing. This was an excellent idea that he had instigated earlier in the voyage and it had proven very effective. I had no sooner gotten started on the scoot when I realized that even though you did cover a lot more ground on the bike it was no easy task either. The harder we worked to cover ground on the bike the tougher it became to walk or ride – fatique and THIRST (oh yea, we had NO drinkable water either!!).
Speaking about water, I did start to notice placing along the trail where it looked like the mountain had sprung a little leak.. I was going to ask Ed if he noticed it but he beat me to the point. He said that he had been rinsing his mouth out with creek water for sometime and asked if I wanted some – I had some bad experiences with creek water as a kid and kindly turned down his offer but reminded him to keep a little extra for me – if thirsty enough I would have GUZZLED it!! I would rather spend a few nights in a hospital bed with internal water bugs then die of thirst in this arid region!!
While riding the Gas Gas I came upon another one of those infamous switchbacks. This one had a particular flavor as the boulder that formed the inside edge was about 10 feet tall and it had a tendency to want to force the rear of the bike into the canyon below. After forcing the bike to blend into the rock I discovered that a few feet further down the hill the sticker bushes were literally hanging over the side of the canyon wall – I stopped, shut the bike off and glared at the spectacle in amazement realizing that a conspiracy was taking place right before my eyes!! It became apparent that either the boulders, the canyon or the bushes were going to get a blood donation from yours truly. The decision of to whom the blood was given was up to the rider I guess. Between engine drag and both my legs holding against the pegs I was able to hold the bike back just long enough to snap a quick shot. If you look very carefully at the topleft of the blue fender you will see the grass line that begins an almost straight down decent – a CANYON WALL! Now look forward of the fender and you will see the bush that I am talking about. Pictures are TERRIBLE describers of actual depth and width (ever see a pic of the grand canyon?) but I will tell you that this spot was UNREAL in danger!!
I came out of the spot with a meer “stinging” on the back of my neck. Stopped the bike as it felt like 5 wasps had just stung in the neck. I took my glove off and reached back and quickly grabbed at the insects that were attacking me. All I got was a very small leaf from that bush you see on the trailside.. It ws shaped like a little Aspen leaf (about ½ in in dia) but it had something extra that Aspen leafs don’t have – THORNS at EVERY little edge of its outside perimeter!! Not just Rose stem type thorns either – CACTUS like stingers that hurt enough to bring tears to your eyes!!! I was still picking at them after I got home a week later!! Do you remember me saying that NOTHING in this area is “user friendly”? I was not joking!!! WHAT AN ADVENTURE!!!
I am going to continue this saga back at the S. Cal Wrecking Crew Site. Keep up with me if you can…..
Later
Woodsy
Ed announced that he was going to walk out and would meet me up the trail a ways – he started walking thru the bush. . I started putting my stuff back on, pondered the situation for a moment and felt a good case of the panics starting to set in.. The more I pondered the dead KTM laying in front of me, the density of the canyon coupled with the WILDLIFE I knew was in the area together with the fact that I was feeling slightly fatiqued the more I realized how critical the situation could be.. Here I was, out in the middle of the PIUTE Mountains – totally unfamiliar with survival tactics in the desert and TOTALLY at the mercy of the rugged terrain that surrounded me, slapped myself in the face and said (outloud) stop it Scott – this aint Michigan and you HAVE to maintain a clear mind here!!
I looked up the mountain range standing majestically above the trees I was standing in the shade of. I thought – HOW ON EARTH ARE WE GONNA GET THIS BIKE OUT OF HERE!! I also thought, it makes common sense that we crossed this mountain range to into the Canyon area, how on EARTH are WE gonna get out of here – 3 guys and 2 bikes – if the journey out was even REMOTELY similar to the journey in riding 2 up would be IMPOSSIBLE..
I have ALWAYS been a “survivalist” at heart and ALWAYS been able to logically or maybe even miraculously fiqure a way out of most of lifes jams. It hurt my pride to look at Eds gorgeous bike laying there and (I know, thinking the worst promotes the worst) realize that there was NOTHING I could do to “make it run” for a ride out..
I pulled myself together and worked my way slowly down the canyon on the Gas Gas. I finally arrived at the fallen log that it had taken all three of us to get the bies over earlier and now faced it alone.. I rode the Gas Gas on the back wheel, preloaded the suspention and bounced over the log.. Of course when I went over the other side I was not upright and found myself swimming in a very shallow creek with gobs of black muck to softly land in. I pushed the inverted Gas Gas off me with my foot against the handlebars, stood up and wiped about 4 pounds of black sticky muck out of the area on my helmet where my googles usually cover my eyes. The stuff was so thick and greasy it took me about 10 minutes just to clear the lense up enough so I could see thru them again – the thought actually went thru my mind to just hang them on the bars and keep riding, but the thousands of barbs sticking out all over the trail spoke of better advice. The Gas Gas restarted on the FIRST KICK, kinda talking its soothing little two-stroke language to me about how it felt right at home in its current surroundings!! WHAT AN AMAZING MACHINE!!
I continued down the canyon and all of a sudden I heard this voice say “SCOTT – OVER HERE MATE”.
Sure enough, thru the bushes I could see what appeared to be parts of KIWI hidden in the stickers – I rode thru them and no more then 30 feet from the creek was the Canyon Bike Trail – 30 FEET!! Of course in that thick, narly mountain terrain it may as well of been 30 miles cause you couldn’t see it!!! At any rate, WE HAD THE TRAIL!!!
I asked KIWI if he had seen Ed. He said “yea mate, he’s walking”. GREAT, at least I knew that Ed had gotten out of KTM Kanyon alive and we were now on the right trail (literally would turn out to be our lifeline out!!).
As I rode upon Ed I could see that the term “walking out” was not exactly true!! He was MOUNTAIN CLIMBING out with full gear on!! I had just ascended (that would be pertaining to the 3 or four straight up verticals that I had just trials rode over – two of which were at least four footer! I stopped and said that I thought we should share the Gas Gas and the climbing/walking and that way we would both maybe get out of there that night.. Thankfully Ed had cooled down about the earlier mishap and took me up on the offer.. I am not sure how I would have responded to losing one of my bikes – POSSIBLY FOREVER – but Ed was handling it all like the trooper that he is and straddled the Gas Gas for some MUCH needed ride/rest time!!
I started climbing - I climbed some of the most GORGEOUS mountain terrain imaginable!! Yea it was WAY TOUGH going – but it was BEAUTIFUL!! Other then an occasional bike sound in the distance all you could hear were the sounds of nature – I felt REALLY bad for Ed because of his bike while at the same time I was enjoying myself beyond believe!! I had always wanted to do some mountain climbing and now I found myself in a “had to” situation that I was going to take EVERY second to let it sink in!! I watched as the sun lowered slowly toward the Mountains in the West and was intriqued with how the odors changed as the air became capable of maintaining the slightest amount of moisture – the air was so clean it was almost unreal! It was also very “thin” in content and I began thinking about all the times I had “rejetted” bikes and sleds thru the years and how “thin” air had effected their effiencency. I remembered laughing at the jet chart on a Arctic Cat T-Cat that I had set up one time and how elevation effected its fuel/air mixture so profoundly. Not having any real-life experience with Mountaineeriing sure had me fooled!! I was now finding out first hand the effects of thin air on breathablity!!
As my chest starting aching from hyperventilating something my father had taught me came to mind about “dragging out a bagged deer”. I will never forget him saying “DON’T GET IN A HURRY AND WORK YOURSELF TO DEATH – DRAG AND REST!!”. Out in those mountains that advice became prudent!! I would climb 30 - 40 feet and stop in the shade for a few minutes and keep repeating it! It worked great and I later found out that Ed was doing exactly the same thing!! It may sound funny to you the reader but I am telling you that mountain climbing with Dirtbike Gear on is NO PICNIC!! It was very difficult!! Motocross boots offer very little “feel” so stumbling can happen quite easily. Toss in noises beside you in the bushes (oh yea – in MANY places the bushes were rubbing against my shoulders but I couldn’t see 2 feet into them!!), ground covered with round face boulders from 4 inches in Diam to 5 foot across and also lots of very loose silicon sand all over stuff and then understand that every step you take in between this narley concoction it headed UP the mountain and you will begin to get the picture!! Now toss in some extremely technical switchbacks – oh yea, they were back – and then it gets REAL thrilling, even on two feet and two hands!! Of course, a little later as the sun went down and darkness set in (no moon that night) the term “thrill” took on a whole new meaning!! I am getting ahead of myself..
At one point, after climbing about 2 hours I became OVERWHELMED with the sheer beauty of my surroundings. I started coming to my senses about everything the day had held and how special of a situation I was involved in. The thought that yesterday I was flying in to LA – tomorrow (if still alive) I would be starting a 50 mph trip across the country in an old truck but TODAY I was with friends on an adventure of a lifetime – I pulled out my camera and took a picture of Ed with the mountains behind him – it just seemed like the thing to do.. (see pic 1).
As I continued up the mountain face I came upon the Gaser waiting for me. Ed had long sense abandoned the bike to give me a reprieve from climbing. This was an excellent idea that he had instigated earlier in the voyage and it had proven very effective. I had no sooner gotten started on the scoot when I realized that even though you did cover a lot more ground on the bike it was no easy task either. The harder we worked to cover ground on the bike the tougher it became to walk or ride – fatique and THIRST (oh yea, we had NO drinkable water either!!).
Speaking about water, I did start to notice placing along the trail where it looked like the mountain had sprung a little leak.. I was going to ask Ed if he noticed it but he beat me to the point. He said that he had been rinsing his mouth out with creek water for sometime and asked if I wanted some – I had some bad experiences with creek water as a kid and kindly turned down his offer but reminded him to keep a little extra for me – if thirsty enough I would have GUZZLED it!! I would rather spend a few nights in a hospital bed with internal water bugs then die of thirst in this arid region!!
While riding the Gas Gas I came upon another one of those infamous switchbacks. This one had a particular flavor as the boulder that formed the inside edge was about 10 feet tall and it had a tendency to want to force the rear of the bike into the canyon below. After forcing the bike to blend into the rock I discovered that a few feet further down the hill the sticker bushes were literally hanging over the side of the canyon wall – I stopped, shut the bike off and glared at the spectacle in amazement realizing that a conspiracy was taking place right before my eyes!! It became apparent that either the boulders, the canyon or the bushes were going to get a blood donation from yours truly. The decision of to whom the blood was given was up to the rider I guess. Between engine drag and both my legs holding against the pegs I was able to hold the bike back just long enough to snap a quick shot. If you look very carefully at the topleft of the blue fender you will see the grass line that begins an almost straight down decent – a CANYON WALL! Now look forward of the fender and you will see the bush that I am talking about. Pictures are TERRIBLE describers of actual depth and width (ever see a pic of the grand canyon?) but I will tell you that this spot was UNREAL in danger!!
I came out of the spot with a meer “stinging” on the back of my neck. Stopped the bike as it felt like 5 wasps had just stung in the neck. I took my glove off and reached back and quickly grabbed at the insects that were attacking me. All I got was a very small leaf from that bush you see on the trailside.. It ws shaped like a little Aspen leaf (about ½ in in dia) but it had something extra that Aspen leafs don’t have – THORNS at EVERY little edge of its outside perimeter!! Not just Rose stem type thorns either – CACTUS like stingers that hurt enough to bring tears to your eyes!!! I was still picking at them after I got home a week later!! Do you remember me saying that NOTHING in this area is “user friendly”? I was not joking!!! WHAT AN ADVENTURE!!!
I am going to continue this saga back at the S. Cal Wrecking Crew Site. Keep up with me if you can…..
Later
Woodsy
