A Beast Of An Adventure

[SpiritAtBay]

John and I had been kicking around the idea of returning to New Mexico, we both fell in love with the state on two previous trips.

So when Trail Boss pitched the idea of a week's loop involving the BDR, we were IN!

As usual, you talk and hope and plan and talk some more and read ride reports and watch videos and ya manage to get the time off of work and it just seems that departure day will NEVER arrive…

And then, omg, we leave next weekend! Where’s my camelbak? How cold will it be at night? In the morning? Should I pack my thick fleece or will the old thin one do?

And of course, what riding attire? Apparently, others are having the same debate: Textile jacket or armored shirt is a topic of discussion on the TWT thread leading up to departure day.

We are planning on camping half the nights. Because of the pandemic, we aren’t sure if stores will be open, or what they will have. So we pack non-perishable, heat and eat type foods. Enough food and water for 2 people for 2 days.

My right hip has been giving me increasing trouble. John and I worry whether I’ll get much sleep on the pads we have. We decide to double up the pads and hope for the best.

Camp gear includes the usual: tent, twice the number of sleep pads,an extra blanket, etc

The remoteness of some of the areas we will be traveling through prompts John to pack more than his usual assortment of tools and gadgets for “what-if” scenarios. He also throws in a couple of fuel bottles.

This all adds up to a LOT of weight.

As usual the day before departing on a big trip, work keeps me late. When I finally get home, John and I pack and arrange and re-arrange and finalize things until the wee hours of the morning.

We basically take a nap before getting up at 6am and trailering the bikes to our meet up point in Fredericksburg to meet KubotaMike. In FBG, we trans load the bikes and gear into Mike’s roomy, enclosed trailer and FINALLY are on our way to a week of riding the New Mexico Backcountry Discovery Route!

Mike’s powerful truck isn’t bothered by the load at all, cruising at 80 without so much as a single groan (or downshift.)

I am thrilled to have the spacious back seat all to myself and quickly set up camp; I’ve brought a pillow and a comfy blanket and snacks… I basically spend the entire journey alternating between napping, snacking, surfing the net, yacking with the boys and more snoozing. The drive went by fast for me! Thanks KubotaMike!!


Dramatic and rapidly moving thunder showers greet us as we cross into New Mexico...

We arrive Ruidoso, Mike drops us at our motel and proceeds to his motel. It is not until we are lugging all our gear up to our room that I attempt to lift John’s side cases. They weigh a ton. We get into the room and gaze at the mountain of bags. The room seems overly warm. The AC is running but …

We end up switching rooms that night. Yes, lugging all the gear to another room on another floor.

We also decide against camping. We both know there are deep sandy sections on the BDR, we don’t know how much ‘technical’ stuff there will be but attempting the route on heavily loaded ‘big’ bikes just doesn’t seem smart or very enjoyable.

We are reluctant to give up on camping and vow to devote some time and energy to figuring out how we can do an extended camp trip off the bikes “next time”.

Thank goodness for Mike’s trailer. Quickly, we rip thru all the bags, pulling out everything we now no longer need. John schleps it over to the trailer and secures everything inside.

We meet the group at KBob’s for dinner and prepare to leave in the morning.

 

[SpiritAtBay]

Sunday 7jun20
First ride day.


Look how eager Tim is, making final preparations in his sock feet!

It seems strange to leave Ruidoso in the morning on just the bike. The bike is light now, side cases only half full. It feels like I am off for a day ride, and will return to the same hotel tonight.

I get my first real look at Ruidoso as we ride thru town. Cute town, obviously geared toward tourists, there are lots of places to stay, cabins for rent, small mom and pop motels. John and I note a few that catch our eye.

We are riding in a loose group and I think everyone is finding it difficult to not exceed New Mexico’s ridiculously low speed limits. Some riders sprint on ahead. We won’t see them again today. There are now 4 in our group: Tim/?… (Husky701) and Curtis/Rocky Raccoon (KTM500), John/JT (KTM690) and me/SpiritAtBay (701).

We clear the town and turn off onto a forest service road that takes us into Lincoln NF. The scenery is mountains, tall trees, glimpses of views. The road is dirt with isolated rocks with some climbs and turns. Eventually we stop and air down tires. People are out enjoying the forest and the perfect weather. In fact, folks have set up camp right beside the dirt road. Every passing car or bike sends a cloud of dust wafting over everything. This puzzles me. Are you required to stay within x number of feet to the road?

We stop on a level bit of road to air down.

The weather is perfect. This would problee be boring to readers so I'll stop mentioning the weather. Just know that the entire week the weather was perfect. Cool mornings, warm to hot afternoons, cool evenings. Sun and blue skies. All day. Every day. Perfect.

 

[duchess]

Love the ruidoso area. Those speed limits are killer.
good read.

 

[StromXTc]

Sounds like 1 and 2 nd week of june was/is sweet weather spot between good temps and before the rains.

 

[Monica]

Looks nice out there under the trees

 

[_RG_]

Sitting around a campfire one evening I asked a fellow from New Mexico "what's up with the insane traffic laws and speed limits out there?" Answer: dunno. Okay, what the heck is the purpose of "traffic safety corridors" out in the middle of the desert...other than generating state revinue? Answer: dunno. Why do the people put up with this nonsense? Answer: dunno. Wonder if we could build a really long bridge going over the place sometimes.

 

[SpiritAtBay]

Sitting around a campfire one evening I asked a fellow from New Mexico "what's up with the insane traffic laws and speed limits out there?" Answer: dunno. Okay, what the heck is the purpose of "traffic safety corridors" out in the middle of the desert...other than generating state revinue? Answer: dunno. Why do the people put up with this nonsense? Answer: dunno. Wonder if we could build a really long bridge going over the place sometimes.

Greg, don't forget the "congested area" signs. I fell for them a couple of times; see the sign, think, Oh, we are coming to a little town, slow down....nothing.....a couple of isolated driveways....more nothing. "That was the congested area? A couple of ranch gates????

 

[SpiritAtBay]

Love the ruidoso area. Those speed limits are killer.
good read.

Thanks, Mary. Rainy here this morning, good time to write some more

 

[SpiritAtBay]

SAND SAND AND MORE SAND
or
A Bomb and A Lamb​

We left the forest and entered a desert area north of White Sands Missile Range. Of course, it started out innocently enough, range land, gravel road.

We stopped in the little town of San Antonio for lunch.

I liked our waitress's taste in footwear.

Our little group and a couple of other groups all crowded into this little restaurant named The Crane. The locals and the staff were wearing masks. We were not.

Oh, here's the lamb. Or maybe a calf? At the base of a tree in the parking lot.

Full of good Mexican food, we struck out again. Turned off the highway and onto a gravel ranch road.

Eventually we would encounter SAND. We did in fact, encounter some riders who decided against struggling through the sand on their big bikes and were headed back out. One rider stopped. “Nothing but sand!” he shouted, “It goes on like this for miles!” We plowed on ahead.

When we hit a sandy stretch, I would get tense and scared and frustrated. But, with John’s tips and advice in my ear, I kept going. I would even learn how to turn in deep sand. And I didn't fall down!

This ranch road went on forEVER. Always there were hills ahead, but the road never reached the hills. It was flat. It was very warm. It was not pretty. And it was sandy. Shallow sand or deep sand. Sand mixed with gravel. Sand mixed with powder. Sand.

We reached the infamous bomb that has been pictured in so many ride reports.

Rocky Raccoon poses by the bomb.

I take my turn posing by the bomb.

Tim crashed into the 'bomb' nearly setting off WW3

At some point, a local stopped. Asked if there was an enduro race going on. Looked at my 701 and commented that he oughtta get a bike like that to do ranch chores on. He told me that after we passed thru a ranch gate, the road turns to “caliche” and was “awesome”, “You’re going to love it” he said.

I wondered what New Mexican caliche looked like, decided it had to be better than sand. And I was stoked to hear the road was about to be awesome. After an eternity, we reached a gate. It was open and we went through. The road continued much as it had before. There was a short, mild climb and a slight turn and then straight and flat and sand. Where was the caliche? Where was the awesomeness? Guess we just weren’t calibrated into the local’s way of seeing things.


Eventually of course, it did end. Late afternoon/early evening, we hit pavement and finally rolled into Truth or Consequences. Probably the hottest afternoon of the whole week. We stopped for gas and a six pack then straight to the hotel. We were super tired. We were hot. We were dusty and gritty. We wanted nothing more than a cold beer, a hot shower and sleep. But that didn't happen, not right away anyway….

 

[StromXTc]

Gina, how many hours did this sand stretch take. 2-4-6 hours? Estimate. Congratulations for perseverance

 

[duchess]

Yeah, no poop. Good job.
Such a suspenseful ending at this juncture of saga...

 

[SpiritAtBay]

Gina, how many hours did this sand stretch take. 2-4-6 hours? Estimate. Congratulations for perseverance

Brian,

JT did some sleuthing with gps and satellite data and found that the sandiest part was about 22 miles. And took us about an hour.

The whole ranch road was 66 miles long and took us a total of 2.5 hours.

That doesn't sound so bad, does it?

 

[StromXTc]

Brian,

JT did some sleuthing with gps and satellite data and found that the sandiest part was about 22 miles. And took us about an hour.

The whole ranch road was 66 miles long and took us a total of 2.5 hours.

That doesn't sound so bad, does it?

Until you do it on your Suzi. Always seems further when you haven't been there before. Good stuff

 

[michaellmcc]

Glad to see the NMBDR report being issued!

Love that first photo of the thunderstorm - always a welcome sight in West Texas/NM.

Thanks!

 

[humanrace]

Enjoying this one.

 

[SpiritAtBay]

Thanks guys!

 

[SpiritAtBay]

So, hot, dusty and tired, we had arrived T or C. Curtis split off for his hotel, John and I headed for ours, again, wanting nothing more than a cold one, a hot shower and a bed.

But, we were in Truth or Consequences, staying at the Pelican Spa and Inn. SPA and Inn. Key word: Spa. As in hot mineral waters from deep underground piped right into the hotel.

We should have taken some photos of the hotel, it has a funky retro vibe.

Nothing fancy, a 4" spigot that filled that tub up lickety split.

John and I had stayed at this very hotel last spring and had failed to partake of the waters. I was determined to enjoy them this time and my over worked muscles would surely benefit from a hot soak. So we drank a beer and had a soak and it was indeed wonderful. When we got back to the room we were both limp as noodles. And starving. John volunteered to go out and get us pizza while I laid limp on the couch.

Not really, I got a second wind and hand washed some laundry and made a clothesline in the living room. It gave the room a nice ambiance. I think we were both in bed and passed out by 9pm. Despite KubotaMike's texts trying to get us to come out. ("I found a real bar!")

It had been a very full day, but we had another big day tomorrow; Chloride Canyon!

 

[Trail Boss]

I think we were both in bed and passed out by 9pm. Despite KubotaMike's texts trying to get us to come out. ("I found a real bar!")

You and JT sound like me.

I was born to be wild.

Until about 9 pm.

9:30 at the latest.

 

[MotoTex]

Okay, I'm making notes from what I read in the threads from this trip.

Note 1: Start the ride in T or C, or, skip the section that parallels the missile range and Trinity site that left y'all all aglow.

Note numero Dos: Hot Springs piped into the room. Haven't seen this since visiting Kingston Hot Springs near Presidio, back before the artsy folks bought it.

Note C: Richard's scenic bypass several days beyond.

I've gotta check this BDR out. Thanks for the recon work!

 

[kubotamiketx]

Gina, I think you are trying to disparage my flimsy reputation... Great write up, can't wait for next year. Defiantly nice to go into brand new country, but it can be even nicer to go to somewhat familiar country for a deeper exploration with some previous experience guiding you.

 

[SpiritAtBay]

Gina, I think you are trying to disparage my flimsy reputation... Great write up, can't wait for next year. Defiantly nice to go into brand new country, but it can be even nicer to go to somewhat familiar country for a deeper exploration with some previous experience guiding you.

I can't believe you are worried about your rep...

 

[M38A1]

That little place you had lunch in San Antonio NM? It's a staple for Rusty/Woodbutcher and I each winter when we go to Bosque Del Apache and photograph the birds there. The wildlife management area was only about 6 miles from there we frequent. The food is awesome every time we've been there and we've been there a LOT!

 

[SpiritAtBay]

test pic attach. it worked. i have internet, i managed to insert a pic from John's smugmug and i have the inclination to work on this so, better late than never! hope i can get some stuff posted before i lose internet (ie before everyone wakes up and logs on)

 

[SpiritAtBay]

CHLORIDE CANYON



I was nervous about riding famous Chloride Canyon. I had heard of it, read of it and seen some video clips of it. I had heard it was difficult. I had heard that sometimes it just wasn’t passable. I had heard it was beautiful and a must do. So I was nervous as we rode out of Truth or Consequences.

I didn’t know what to expect but I sure didn’t expect the unassuming one lane road that meandered through a little neighborhood or the ghost mining town that was at the start of the trail.

John led us onto a narrow track that I thought for sure we were trespassing on private land and then – boom - we were in a narrow, twisting canyon with a stream at the bottom that we criss crossed again and again. It was very beautiful in that western way, rugged yet charming. I found the riding to be fun. Some parts more challenging but not so difficult I lost my nerve. The 701 was proving itself to be a good partner. Steady when I wanted to go slow and pick my way through but always ready to rip if the occasion arose.

The narrow canyon eventually widened and the riding changed from rocky trail to more of a forest service road. But the scenery never faltered. It was gorgeous. And the weather was so dang pleasant.

Curtis, John and I stopped for a picnic lunch. Sprawled out on grass enjoying the sun and the breeze and the trees.

 

[SpiritAtBay]

This "installment" is out of chronological order but, just trying to take advantage of internet connection to get it posted.

I saw a Grizzly!​

Rocky Raccoon (Curtis), John and I had started out together from Ruidoso. Even though I had repeatedly told Curtis he should ride with someone else because I am a turtle on dirt, he claimed to be enjoying the slower pace.

So on this day, the three of us once again headed out together. Curtis would occasionally race ahead and then wait for John and I to catch up. I told John he could ride ahead with Curtis if he wanted; the track was an easy forest service road and I was really enjoying my pace. But he stayed with me.



We had been in mostly open country, forest alternating with open pasture. Very few houses or any sign of human activity. Eventually the track entered a forest and began climbing a mountain. It was beautiful and serene riding along in the deep shadow of tall trees. I was leading and John had dropped a little distance behind me. I topped a small rise and saw movement in the trees ahead. Looked like a red cow. “Strange place for a cow to be, wonder if she is in trouble,” that thought was still forming in my head when the ‘cow’ stepped out onto the road. A shaft of sunlight fell onto long golden hair as the creature shook itself and a mighty cloud of dust lifted. BEAR! Without thought, I had stopped the bike and killed the engine and stood frozen. BEAR! BEAR! BEAR! My brain screamed yet I could not speak the word, or any coherent word. I apparently made some sort of noise because behind me, John assumed I had taken a spill.

The bear, meanwhile, had become aware of my presence. It's head swiveled to me. It froze. John came riding up. The bear made it's decision, crossed the road at an amazing pace and literally disappeared in the trees on the other side. John said all he got was a glimpse of a disappearing bear butt.

I was incredibly excited. I felt no fear. I was in awe of the animal. It was huge and golden brown. I had gotten a clear look at it. I believed it was a grizzly, based on the size and color. John and I were both ecstatic to have had an encounter with such a magnificent wild creature. We strained for another glimpse but it was as if the bear had never been there at all. I chattered excitedly for a few more minutes, “I thought it was a cow at first and then it stepped right out onto the road not more than 50 yards away!” John suggested we wait a bit, just to give the bear plenty of time to be on his way.

Eventually we rode on. I was now scanning the woods on either side, eyes wide open for bears. I didn’t realize John was doing the same thing until he said every tree stump now looked exactly like a bear. And it was true! Bears everywhere!

The forest road ended at a paved highway where Curtis was waiting for us. I blasted John’s poor ears when, still too far away for Curtis to be able to hear, I started yelling, “I saw a grizzly! I saw a grizzly!” Curtis got excited too and asked good questions about the encounter and telling me that the park service would be interested in a grizzly sighting this far south as that would be exceedingly rare. (He was so polite about this.)

We rode on enjoying the day. Curtis eventually peeled off on his own and John and I wandered into a little town stopping for a meal. At the table, I was using my phone to look up bear info. The waitress overhead a comment I made and seconded Curtis’ assertion that it most likely was not a grizzly. The googles were tertiary confirmation that grizzlies just don’t venture this far south.

“But,” I sputtered, “I have seen black bears in the Carolinas and they did not look like this bear! This guy, first of all was enormous. And he had a big ruff around his neck. And when he turned and ran across the road, he had a hump. And his rump was real low. But most of all, he was GOLDEN.”

Apparently, my bear was a “Cinnamon phase black bear.” Okay, maybe he was a black bear. The largest, golden black bear to roam New Mexico!


One more note. I had a camera in my tank bag. It might as well have been in Texas. No way on God’s green earth could I have gotten that camera out. This incident inspired me to get a helmet cam. Which I have done, but which I have not mastered the use of yet.

this pic stolen from Pinterest (which of course has taken it from somewhere else...)

this guy comes the closest to the critter i saw. Shiver me timbers!