Adventure begins where plans fail... Cloudcroft, NM. Aug 2012

[Tourmeister]

Howdy,

So a little background first before I get into the full blown report. A few years back (Aug 2010), I went to Colorado to do a week of riding the mountain passes around Ouray. That was back in my KLR 650 days On that trip, there were a lot of guys on orange bikes that seemed to be having more fun than me and with much less effort... Of late I had been noticing that the KLR seemed to be getting heavier and heavier... At least it seemed that way because it kept falling over so often It could also have been that the riding I was doing was getting progressively more and more technical in nature. What to do!?

The wheels of rationalizing spin and I come up with the answer! At my age, things just don't heal quite as fast as they used to. So getting hurt kind of sucks a bit more than it used to. A big heavy bike like the KLR made it far more likely that I was going to get hurt doing the kind of riding I had been doing. Getting hurt gets expensive... in fact... it could EASILY be more expensive than the cost of getting a lighter bike with more power and better suspension!! There it was, so obvious it would have bit me on the bum if it had been a snake in the toilet. I NEED a better bike so I won't get hurt and have to pay expensive doctor bills!

Proud of my stroke of genius, I ran this brilliant reasoning past Beth...

"Uh huh... whatever..."

As often happens, I feel that she under appreciates the level of my geniusness But she didn't react to negatively either

I was not the only KLR rider on that trip. It would seem I was not the only one working on rationalizing a new bike _RG_ bought himself a KTM 530 EXC. GHT bought himself a KTM 450 of some sort (street legal though). I still did not have one by the time this trip came up again in 2011. No worries though. I would not be able to make the trip anyway By now, I had almost forgotten about the whole issue... until one night...

Vaughn "Bagwell" has this habit of randomly showing up at our bike nights a few times a year. One Thursday night on a cool fall evening in November, he showed up at our local bike night. I got to chatting with him and he mentioned this buddy that was selling a 2011 KTM 450 EXC for $4000!! My immediate question was, "What's wrong with it!?" He assured me the owner was a top notch guy that takes meticulous care of his bikes and that nothing was wrong with it. Seemed to good to be true, but you never know... So I asked him to find out more and put me in touch with the guy.

On the way home I casually mentioned all this to Beth and what a smoking deal it would be if it turned out to all be true.

"Uh huh... whatever"

Well... she still hasn't said no

(In her defense, she never has and never would tell me "NO", preferring instead to to let the folly of my plans make themselves painfully obvious to me on their own )

I anxiously waited for any information from Vaughn. A day or so later I got an email. It seems he was confused. It was really a 2010 KTM 530 EXC with about 2300 miles on it and it was $5800 instead of $4000. Hmmm... That might be a problem... I got to Googling. I contacted the seller to get specifics. Apparently he has a lot of bikes, races some, wants a new bike for racing, and his wife insisted that he clear out space to make room for any new bikes. So the 530 was the one to go even though it was relatively new. He was anxious for the new bike. The Googling showed that the price was indeed a sell it now price, especially with the mods he had done!

I convinced Beth that this would be a great deal. I'd either keep the KLR since it had long since been paid for, or maybe see what I could get for it. I set up a meet time with the seller and went to check out the KTM. As a bonus, and something that really got Beth to warm up to the whole deal, the seller also had a Honda CRF-50 that was basically brand new. He bought it for his daughter and she never got into riding. So we did a deal on the KTM and the CRF. Now I could also claim the KTM was so I could start riding with the kids on trails, something I was not wanting to do with the KLR. So not only was the KTM good for my health, it was good for the family too

The deal done, I swung by a local shop to get a kid's helmet, pads, gloves, etc,... for Daniel and Sarah. They were pretty excited about getting a bike! KTM in hand finally, I obviously had to plan some kind of ride or something to get to know the bike and figure out if I needed to do any farkling. Curiously, about this same time, I got a PM from Roger "Rsquared" about an upcoming trip out to the Big Bend Ranch & State Park for the week between Christmas and New Year's. He was going, thought it would be fun, and wanted to share a ride out and back. So I ran it by Beth...

"You do realize that means you will be gone on our wedding anniversary...?"

"I'll call you, I promise!"

"Uh huh... whatever..."

With a trip set and bike in hand, I set to getting it ready for the trip. New sprockets (lower gearing), Giant Loop Mojavi bags, new tires, new headlight (stock one is a joke), oil change, bar risers, etc,... Of course all the while I was thinking about Colorado and how sweet it would be to get this bike out there on those mountain passes so I could be one of those guys looking at the dudes on the KLRs and thinking, "There but for the grace of God go I..." Well, the Big Bend trip rocked... literally, and the bike was AWESOME! Colorado was going to be even awesomer!! I had flowers sent to Beth with the help of Snoopster

The new year rolled in and out, the kids learned to ride their CRF-50, even without the training wheels. I picked up a nice Yamaha TTR50E for them so they could both ride at the same time. And somewhere about that same time the stars aligned for an unexpected trip, a week in North Carolina at the end of May I love Colorado, but for sheer riding ecstasy, the roads in North Carolina are hard to beat! Best of all, this would give me a whole week of riding to bond with the KTM and work out any last minute kinks before heading to Colorado in August. And so that trip happened, and it too was awesome!!

Once home from North Carolina, I started working on the details for the Colorado trip. Hotel reservations. Trailering buddies. Proper jetting for the KTM. Route information. Selling the KLR... I was getting pretty excited.

We were supposed to leave on a Friday. The Thursday morning before this, I was taking a shower and getting ready for work when Beth walked in to tell me that my Dad just called to let us know he was on the way to the ER because of intense pain in his side/chest... He's 73...

Dad and I work together so I had to be in the office while he was out. We cover for each other when the other goes out of town. Just the night before I think I had mentioned to Roger that I was starting to get a feeling that this trip might not happen. One of our trailering buddies, CeeBee had to make a last minute cancellation. His mother in law was just diagnosed with Stage 4 throat cancer and was given a few weeks to live at best. (She died within a few weeks). Now with my Dad in the ER for unknown issues... our plans were on hold until we could find out what was going on. Dad was still worried about us being able to do the trip and trying to figure out how he could get home from the hospital and be in shape to cover for me so we could leave He's nuts, but I love him.

Dad ended up having to spend five days in the hospital. I had to cancel all our reservations. We were not going to Colorado this year. I was okay with that though. So was Roger. It's a funny thing, and I am sure some of you have had a similar experience, but there are times when you know to just let things go and not worry about them. It is what it is and stressing won't do any good. My first concern was Dad and the trip was a remote runner up on my list of worries. I have also learned that sometimes what happens in the place of failed plans can work out to be better if you just relax and let it happen.

Fortunately, Dad was okay. Diverticulitis. Not life threatening and manageable through diet. Dad was home by the following Tuesday evening. Roger had taken two weeks off from work, so we still had the coming week to do a trip. CeeBee was out. So that meant just Roger and I riding in the truck... for 22 hours... straight through each way... and a whole LOT of diesel for a round trip to Ouray... to stay in an expensive hotel... We quickly decided that perhaps we might head to Cloudcroft instead. 15 hours of driving instead of 22, MUCH less diesel, and $50/night versus $140 for a hotel. We'd been to the area before and knew what to expect in terms of the riding. We also had some unfinished business with a particular trail...

Getting rooms might be tough. Labor day weekend was fast approaching. I called the hotel where we stayed before and they still had a few rooms left, so I booked two for the following week just in case we'd be able to go. Then I waited to see how Dad was doing after being home a few days. By Wednesday evening he assured me that he was feeling well enough to cover the office so I could leave town for a week. I let Roger know and we finalized our plans. I wasn't 100% on Dad, but by Thursday, I was feeling much better. I loaded up the bike Friday night and went to bed early. Roger would be here at 5:30am to load his bikes and we'd hopefully be on the road by 6:00am-ish. My normal daily roll out of bed time is 10:30am

Off to bed...

[TLRam1]

In

[John Dirt]

[The Bruce]

[Tourmeister]

Morning comes earl... wait!! Morning hasn't come at all!

I creak my way out of bed and into the shower. No shower and I won't be able to function. Gotta have some hot water to loosen up the body. After dressing I flip on the front porch lights for Roger and start getting my last minute stuff together. Everything else is already packed in the truck. While I am rummaging through the fridge for something edible, I see Roger's headlights. I step out for a sec to flip on the flood lights over the driveway to illuminate the trailer. I have to get my shoes on before I can go out and help him with his bikes.

Yeah... it's still HOT even at 5:45am Can't wait for that cool dry air in Cloudcroft!


Venus watches over us as the sun begins to wash away the fainter light of the stars... Not a sight I see very often


We get the bikes loaded and all of Roger's stuff in the truck. We pull out of the driveway shortly after 6:00am. Not bad. We hop on I-45 and settle into cranking out some miles. Unfortunately, I seem to be unusually navigationally challenged today and we miss a turn at Centerville and the next exit isn't until Buffalo, about fifteen miles up the road As we head out of town on US 79, I start thinking the GPS is retarded for trying to route us back South rather than just cutting due West to Waco. As I am pulling over to rethink our route Roger mentions something is hanging off the trailer. We get out to investigate and what we find is one of the huge steel ramps that sit under the back of the trailer has slid almost all the way out of its holder and is protruding about 4 feet from the side of the trailer. It's on the right side so there was no danger of hitting oncoming traffic, but I can't believe we didn't just take out the line of mailboxes along this side of the road when we pulled over!! The pin that locks the ramp into its holder is totally gone. I check the other ramp and its pin is bent pretty bad. Roger grabs a pair of locking pliers and attaches them to the retaining tab. This should hold for a few miles. It is only about 7:30am. We head back into Buffalo hoping to find an open hardware store, Wal-Mart, or anything and anyone that might have a bolt/pin we can use. As luck would have it, we find an open True Value hardware place and they have the exact replacement pins we need for just a few bucks. Things are not going according to plan already, but it turns out to be a good thing. Had that ramp come out while I was bouncing down the highway at 70mph, things could have gotten REAL ugly... Grateful for our good luck, we get back on the road heading West... after I get lost in town because of another wrong turn I blame getting up so early

The rest of the drive out is fairly uneventful. Roger and I always have great conversations out and back, something I enjoy almost as much as the riding part of the trip... almost... The stops to fill up the truck are painful at almost $4.16/gal We grab lunch at some local Mexican Food chain that Roger loves from his days when he lived out in West Texas. Good burritos We continue heading West through Artesia, where we make our last diesel stop, a $125 fill up... And then we head out of town for the last stretch of US 82 toward Cloudcroft.

It is a beautiful day, but all around us there are scattered thunderstorms, some small and some getting bigger. Large dust devils swirl around in between them, almost daring the clouds to stamp out their dust. As we are busting along admiring the day, I spot a bike parked on the shoulder of the East bound lane. I pull over and we walk back to check on them. It is an older couple on a Yamaha Venture and they are out of gas. Seems they have been here for almost an hour and no one has stopped to help. Roger quickly grabs his MSR fuel bottle from the back of the truck and we pop the fuel line off my KTM's tank to fill it. A few trips back and forth and they have enough to get them on into Artesia. The guy wants to pay us but we assure him it's no problem and we are glad to help. They rumble off and we get back on the road.

We will be meeting James "Jbay" at the hotel. He is going to ride with us for a few days. He texted earlier to let us know he had already arrived and would be waiting for us to do dinner. We roll into town around 5:45pm local time, unload the bikes and check into the hotel. The hotel is a great little place with maybe 10-12 rooms. Ron is the owner and he's a great guy, very accommodating and friendly. Before dinner Roger helps me rejet the bike for the 6000-9000 ft altitudes we'll be enjoying.

He's a master at this... James supervises.




He even has all the right "special" tools handy


It takes all of about 10 minutes to get the bike fixed up and back together.

Ron lets us park the bikes under cover at night, just so long as we don't block the left door during the daytime.


Roger and I decided to bring both of our own bikes, me a 1200 GS and KTM 530, him a KTM 990 Adv and his KTM 450. James has his KTM 350 EXC.

The rooms are clean and simple. Nice bathrooms. BIG closet!




There is no AC, but with evening temps in the 60's and night time lows in the mid 40's, WHO CARES! The rooms each have an oscillating fan in them, which I put on the floor right under the window. Perfect all week long.

With everyone settled in, we go get dinner. My memory stinks when it comes to names for some reason. Anyway, it is a really good BBQ place on the South side of town owned by some Texan transplants. After suffering through a week of not so great local food on the last trip out here, we found this place the last night of that trip Odds are, we are gonna eat here most of the week since they have a pretty good variety of food on the menu and it's good!

Stuffed and tired, we head back to the hotel and call it a day. The plan is to meet in the parking lot around 8:30am and start riding around 9:00 or so. I give a little thought to the route for tomorrow and then hit the sack about 9:00pm, about five hours earlier than my typical bed time. I switched off the light, rolled over and I don't remember falling asleep...

[sanderjavant]

Good read!

[Gravel Guy]

in

[tricepilot]

[vc_slim]

And then what happened?

[Tourmeister]

I'm gonna be working on this at work between phone calls and jobs, so it may take me a week or so...

[Vinny]

[_RG_]

Question: Scott, what kind of mileage do you get when pulling a loaded trailer like that to CC? (I'm truck shopping)....

[Tourmeister]

Originally Posted by _RG_

Question: Scott, what kind of mileage do you get when pulling a loaded trailer like that to CC? (I'm truck shopping)....

I don't always check it. However, I want to say it is somewhere around 14-15 mpg when hauling interstate and running about 70-75mph. I think that is about what we got on the run to North Carolina with seven bikes on the trailer, the bed loaded, and four guys in the truck. Once you hit mountains, it might drop a bit, maybe 12-13 mpg at worst. This truck pulls and rides fantastic. Everyone that has done any trips with me has loved it and commented on it. When not pulling the trailer and just cruising down the interstate, it can get up around 22-23mpg. It does have the bed shell on it though and that helps. Also, I think Dad put in one of those programmable chips that ups the boost on the turbo a tad right after he bought it, so I don't know what the number might be for a similar truck without the chip. The truck is wayyyy out of my price range, so I am VERY fortunate that my Dad lets me borrow it for trips like this! The MEGA cab is really nice and comfy with TONS of room.

The only problem I know of that we've ever had with it was the back right axle bearing seal going out as we were coming into Silverton on our arrival for the 2010 Ouray trip we did. LOTS of smoke, but no damage. That little gas station right next door to our hotel had it fixed in a few days for about $250.

I think it has about 110,000 miles on it right now. I have probably contributed about 15K of those doing trips. The tires last a LONG time. Although, during this trip I was noticing significant vibration that felt like an out of balance tire. Dad said he had that checked a while back and was told they were balanced. I asked about a bubble/separation in the tread, but they could not find anything. So they just rotated the tires. But the vibration is still there and felt especially in the steering wheel. I suspect he just needs new tires finally.

[edit]
I should add that over the years Dad has had Dodges and Fords. While all of them have been nice and good trucks, this particular Dodge really stands out from the rest. It is also really quiet for a diesel. Some of the older Dodges were really loud in the cab, especially the sounds of the turbo.

[Tourmeister]

Alrighty then, let's get on with the riding!

Sunday morning is cool, crisp and clear. The dry air just feels so good on my skin. It actually makes me want to be outside, unlike the hot clammy feeling back in East Texas that makes me want to stay inside most of the time. When I wander out to the bikes, Roger and James are already getting their bikes ready. We top of oil, fill camel-baks, agree on a route, and it is time to go riding.

With the cool temperatures, I have decided to wear a street jacket today instead of my normal mesh jacket. I wear the mesh pants but also wear the internal rain liner just as a mild wind breaker. If things get to toasty, I can open vents on the street jacked and shed the rain liner. I wear a long sleeve cotton tee over a short sleeve cotton tee. Down low, it is the long version of the LDComfort riding tights. I love these things. Anyway, as we head South on the Sunspot Highway, the sun is still down behind the trees and the windchill is quite noticeable! I am confident that once we get off the pavement, being chilled won't be an issue...

The plan for today, at least the beginning anyway, is to go back to a hill that turned us away when we were out here in May of 2010. Then, it was rough and wet, with water literally running down the trail. After a few drops of the KLR, I was determined I was going to get to the top without another drop. It took a while and I did it, but once at the top I literally just put the kickstand down and slid off to one side onto the ground. I was totally out of breath and did not have the strength to stand. I stripped off the riding gear and lay there staring up at the sky and enjoying the cool breeze while waiting for Roger and Bill "Wasabi" to arrive... and I waited... and waited...

When I had recovered and had some strength, I started walking back down the trail to see if they had a problem. I was thinking that surely by now they would be close to the top... I was met by Roger riding up and he told me we had to go back. Bill had a few more drops and was just exhausted by the lack of oxygen at 9000+ feet.

"Are you sure...!?"

"Yep, not going to happen."

"Dang! Now I have to go back down through all that!"

"Yep, but that beats him getting up here and then not being able to get back down..."

"Good point."

So I trudge back up to the top of the hill, gear up, turn the KLR around, and start back down. I never started the bike. I just went down from rock to rock, log to log, a few feet at a time, resting at each point. Occasionally, there were spots were I could just coast in neutral for short distances, but the speed would get to be too much once it started getting loose and rough again and I would go back to the previous method. I eventually got down to where Roger and Bill were. The last stretch of the hill is a rocky ledge, covered with loose rocks, dirt, and water. Roger rode Bill's KLR down for him, then his KTM. I followed. We were ALL beat and decided to call it a day.

My goal today is to conquer that hill. It does not take long to get there. We run down the highway to Upper Rio Penasco Rd., and head East a short way. I am not sure about the name of the road on which we turn, but it leads to Cathy's Canyon. On some maps, that is the name of the road. On other maps it is Cathy's Creek Rd., or no name is shown. Here is the start of it.





Yours truly


It would seem that the horses love these things, he was eating the blossoms off all the stalks


He ate them out of my hands and let me scratch his ears


Right... so back to the riding.

We head down Cathy's Creek Rd., a short distance and find the sign for the trail we are looking for, T113, Willie White. I accidentally passed it and had to turn around. Right at the point where we drop off the road down into a deep wet and muddy gully, there are what look like a bunch of boy scouts getting ready for a hike up the trail. I pull up and there is a gap between two halves of the group which I can thread to hit the trail.

"Excuse me!"

And I drop down into the messy gully, slosh and spin my way to the other side, make a sharp 90 degree turn and start up the side of the mountain. The first hundred yards or so are right up a rock ledge, about the width of a fat ATV. It has many steps in it, is covered with rocks, and is wet. Did I mention that this area got about 2" of rain Friday and it rained a good deal yesterday afternoon...? Already I am wondering what awaits us around the corner at the top of the ledge.

Here's a map taken from the Forest Service


We enter from the left, off "Water Canyon Rd.", yet another name for the road. The section we are heading up is that part on the left. The top is at that first intersection, which is where I made it last time out here. The actual trail is a little wigglier than the map shows, but the contour lines give a good idea of how steep it is, starting around 8500 feet and rising to just under 9500 feet.

I stay on the gas and try to keep my weight forward, ever mindful of keeping my left hand guard away from the rock wall right beside me. One good whack could send me off the edge of the ledge, something that almost happened to Bill on our previous trip. I still haven't figured out how he managed to avoid going over when his bike went down! At the top of the ledge, the trail bends left and starts up a narrow and steep valley. It changes to a wet mix of dirt, rocks, and roots. As expected, it is slick. I spot a few hikers coming down the trail as I make my way up, trying to stay steady on the gas and not being obnoxious as I pass by them. Right off the bat there are a couple of really good root sections that have to be navigated. I get through the first several sections and then my back tire hangs on one particularly fat root, robbing me of all momentum and stopping me in my tracks. When I try to get on the gas, the back end just slides right out from under me and I step off to the side as the bike lays over.

Now at this point, when I was on the KLR, I just killed the motor, sat down, and rested for a bit. Barely even started on getting up the mountain I was already winded and picking up the heavy KLR was not something to rush into! A real joy of riding the KTM is that picking up the bike is not a strenuous ordeal. I look down, take a breath, grab the downside handle bar grip and just lift it up. Sure, it takes a little effort, but nothing like the squats I had to do to dead lift the KLR! So right off the bat I am saving energy for the rest of the climb instead of just killing myself because of the bike I am riding. This adds to the confidence that comes from the handling of the bike because I also know that just getting the bike through rough stuff will be much easier if/when I drop it.

Now let me interject something here. We have ALL heard the phrase that it is steeper than it looks in the pictures. If you are one of those that has tried to capture steepness in a picture, you understand. This will be a recurring issue throughout this report. Many of the trails in the area are very nice, two track, and not at all very steep in general. They may have a short steep section here and there, but those don't generally last very long. This trail is pretty much steep all the way to the top, a distance of about 1.2 miles. There are a few good spots to stop and rest, but for the most part once you start up, you really want to just keep going so you don't lose your momentum, especially in the rough parts.

Looking back at James and the hikers - The ledge is back down to the right behind his head


You can see the root that stopped me in the lower right, with the black spots on it from the spinning tire. I really should have mounted the new tire before this trip


You can see where Roger was spinning the tire in the loose wet dirt on his way up


With the bike righted and pointed in the right direction, I hop back on, take a deep breath, and get back on the gas! The great thing about the 530 KTM is its grunt. The motor can just be lugged like crazy and it never stalls. It doesn't hurt that I am running 13/52 gearing either! I try to run second gear for most of the climb because it reduces the jerkiness of the bike from my hand moving on the throttle as I hang on to the bars. Many times I can actually just start from second gear, which is nice because I don't have to worry about trying to get shifted from first to second while getting up my momentum so I can stand up on the pegs. Occasionally, I have to make a quick drop down into first to get my momentum back up, and then I keep moving. Even with the recent rain, there is not as much water actually on the trail this time as there was last time. It is not running down the hill now. Also, there don't seem to be as many BIG rocks on the trail, but rather more small rocks. There are some spots with big embedded rocks and big roots, but a lot of it is actually pretty nice two track with softball sized rocks scattered all about.

Roger stops about 1/3 of the way up for a break and to make sure everyone is okay


Looking down one of the cleaner sections of the trail


Looking up, more roots and rocks


Rested, we take off again and soon are into a really rocky section with big chunks of embedded rocks with big loose rocks scattered on them. The bike is just bouncing along, more upset by me than by the rocks I try very hard to stay smooth on the throttle, but several big hits make me get back on the gas, the front deflects, I accidentally chop the gas, get back on it, and before I know it is like I'm riding a bronco bull I manage to keep the bike coming back to the general line I want to take and keep it upright. I am starting to feel the effects of the thinner air up here. My muscles fatigue much faster, but I still don't have that just totally wasted feeling like last time. Also, when I rest, I do seem to recover faster. That whole thing about being chilled...? Fuggedaboudit!! My shirts are TOTALLY soaked, as if I had just be hit with a water hose. I shed the outer shirt and stuff it in a bag. I leave on the rain liner for now just because it's a hassle to remove and store. But man, I bet I have already sweat out at least a liter or more in just the first ten minutes of riding!! Thank goodness it is only about 75 F and not 95 F and humid!!

After the nasty section there is a nice clean and almost level section where we stop to catch our breath.

Pretty right? See that stump (dark spot) right in the middle of the trail? Things get fun right after that!


The nice flat smooth section!




James rolls up for a break


Still have to be mindful of our footing though when we stop


A peaceful spot, wind rustling through the Aspens, a cool breeze...






After a good rest, it is time for the push to the top. Since I am parked out front, I take the lead. At the stump, I chose the lower line to the right.



Just past the stump is another steep section, so I get on the gas... As I get closer to the top, the trail starts to bend back and forth more. Now there are downed trees, tree stumps, rocks, roots, and loose dirt!

Looking down from just below the top, see my line?


Well... I caught another root between those two trees, smacked the one on the right with my left bar and once again the bike was laying on its side I picked it up, backed up a bit so I could get a run at the root, popped over it and motored on to the top.

Here's another view


And finally I break into the beautiful clearing at the top!!

Looking back down again


I park the bike and grab the camera to go wait for the other guys

Looking back through from below the shot above


This is the intersection shown on the FS map up above


My bike is parked right where the trail disappears through the trees.


Here's Roger avoiding the roots I hit and going to his right instead

Roger reaches the summit of the Willie White trail - YouTube

Roger reaches the summit of the Willie White trail - YouTube

And here's James doing the same thing

James reach Willie White Trail summit - YouTube

James reach Willie White Trail summit - YouTube

This is the continuation of T113, but we aren't going that way today, we're taking T5008 to the South, Wills Canyon Trail.


Taking a well earned rest at the top


Roger enjoying the break, the trail behind is not on any maps. It heads due South but I have no clue where it goes or if it dead ends


You have to like rocks if you want to ride trails out here




We take a nice long break, maybe ten minutes or more, then gear up and keep moving. Next up is T5008, as seen heading South on the FS map shown above. Looking at the GPS topo map, this looks to be a steep drop. As long as it is not any worse that what we just came up, I am not too worried.

Starts out really nice...


Roger takes point for the descent. It starts out nice and smooth, twisting down through the woods and then suddenly starts dropping FAST. This section of trail looks more like a gully wash than a real trail. I guess the recent rains washed out the small loose stuff, leaving behind a lot of big rocks. In many places, it is so steep that I am literally straddling both sides of the trail with my feet on rocks, trees, stumps or whatever I can find to hold the bike back from just sliding down out of control. There is no momentum management here for just riding through it all, at least not at my amateur level of riding. It is hold at one spot, look for the next spot a few feet ahead, release and aim for the next spot, try to stop and hold so I can scout for the next spot, rinse and repeat while breathing REALLY heavy...

But I should have known better! More BIG rocks, hehe - Can you see James?


That is James hiding back there in the trees


As usual, I rarely get good pictures of the really rough stuff because I am too busy trying to get through it without killing me or the bike. So most of the shots are of the relatively mild sections where I can actually stop and get my hands off the bars to get out my camera.

Not too bad here


Or here... But it gets fun just ahead of this!


And then it gets steep again!


The last few hundred yards are pretty intense and slow going. Finally I can see the bottom, but I dare not relax and lose my concentration before I actually get there! Next rock... sliiiiide... scramble to stay upright... next rock... start picking the next place where I hope to come to a stop... right side up... and finally I just coast on down to the bottom where I join Roger in the shade!

James is still a ways back up the hill. So I grab the camera and start to head back to check on him. I am REALLY glad we did not try to ride UP this trail!! I don't know that I would have had the energy required to do that climb While I am getting off the bike, we spot some other riders coming up from Wills Canyon Road South of us.

Looking South from the intersection in the lower right of the FS map shown above


They don't stop to visit, instead just cruising on by with a wave. Turns out they are all "older" dudes, looking like they might be in their 60s and up. They are on smaller bikes, maybe 400s and 250s. They look like they are having a total blast. I hope I can still do this kind of stuff in my 60s!!

They have great signage out here for the most part, we just came down that 1-1/4 mile long section of Wills Canyon from Willie White


Looking North back up the trail - you can really see how everything just comes washing down off the mountain when it rains


Looking South again, T5008 heads off to the left behind the riders and the road to their right which they just came up goes down to a parking area/trail head.


I start walking back up the hill side to look for James, hoping to get some good shots of him coming down. There are downed trees EVERYWHERE around here. The winter of 2009/2010 was hard on trees because of record snowfalls. In May of 2010 they were still busy clearing trails and roads when we were riding here. We had to do quite a few detours because of closed roads and to avoid clearing crews. Last year, there were a LOT of fires in the area. Then there the beetles... All in all it has been a rough few years for the area, but it is still incredibly beautiful out here and there are still MANY healthy trees.

The downed trees give a good indication of the steepness of the slope...


The downed trees are used for maintaining the trail as well. That is James way back up there in the background.


A little higher up on the trail


Another 100 feet or so back up the trail, James is taking a break


James just came out of a really steep section with BIG rocks. I took a break about the same place.




From here he can see the end...


Another good shot that comes close to showing the actual steepness. It's real easy to start picking up speed you might not want to be carrying...


Your choice of lines is right down the middle through the rocks, or tying to hold the bike on either side on the damp loose sides of the trail. The latter usually resulted in me going right back into the rocks


James decides to park the bike against a tree at a mostly level spot and take a longer break, this kind of riding works up a BIG sweat!!


He assures me he is having a good time, but I can sure relate to that look in his body language!


Roger waits patiently in the cool shade below us


After a short break, James gets back on the bike and rolls on down to join Roger in the shade. We take a longer break and ponder where to go next... We're hot, tired, and starting to get hungry. I've got peanut butter crackers and granola bars in the Camel-bak, and I munch a few, but burning this kind of energy we are wanting something a bit more substantial...

Here's what we see on the GPS basically,


We are at the intersection in the upper right corner. Roger mentions that the guys that rode by earlier went on around the mountain on the trail to the East. We decide to run the Western trail, Upper Wills Canyon trail T9278, hit the road West of us and run that back up to the Sunspot Highway. From there we'll cruise on down to Timberon and find something to eat... Hopefully... After that we'll figure something else out to occupy us for the afternoon. The Upper Wills Canyon trail is a nice easy ride. It is wide two track that wanders along a narrow valley, a nice change of pace.

Roger


Typical views on Upper Wills Canyon trail


Wills Canyon drops us out onto FR 64, also called Davis Rd., on some maps. This is a nice wide graded gravel road. We run it North a short way until it intersects the Sunspot Highway.

[End of work day, more tomorrow if time permits ]

[GHT]

Great reporting Scott, it's almost as if I were there, I can almost smell the dirt from your descriptions! I am so looking forward to next year!

[TOE JAM]

That guy on the left in your picture of the other riders is in his 70s!

[MotoTex]

That first trail you guys rode is what I always called Telephone Canyon. We didn't ride it this year, having taken Willie White from Bluff Springs and heading on the way you went. I remember riding T113 when it was singletrack. Having double track might offer some additional lines. It has always been a challenging climb, on par in technicality with some of the trails between West Side road and the Rim Trail.

[Tourmeister]

Originally Posted by MotoTex

That first trail you guys rode is what I always called Telephone Canyon. We didn't ride it this year, having taken Willie White from Bluff Springs and heading on the way you went. I remember riding T113 when it was singletrack. Having double track might offer some additional lines. It has always been a challenging climb, on par in technicality with some of the trails between West Side road and the Rim Trail.

I have heard that name as well. Signage shows it to be T113 where we started and also calls it Willie White. I've no idea if perhaps it was renamed

[Tourmeister]

Originally Posted by TOE JAM

That guy on the left in your picture of the other riders is in his 70s!

Howdy Phil!

You know these guys? Locals?

Thanks for hauling us around... I'll be getting to that soon

[MotoTex]

Originally Posted by Tourmeister

I have heard that name as well. Signage shows it to be T113 where we started and also calls it Willie White. I've no idea if perhaps it was renamed

The road labeled on your graphic as Water Canyon used to be on the map as Telephone Canyon road. No idea why the change was made.

It's easy to see how it could be considered part of Willie White, but in my (admittedly addled) mind WW will always end at the intersection of 5008 (Wills) and T113 (Telephone).

You can call the trail Ray,
you can call the trail Jay, . . . .
as long as I can find my way
to a green chili cheeseburger,
it's all okay.