Texans Utahing 500s for a 1000 Yeehaws

[ConejoDon]

See you on the other side............

 

[KsTeveM]

……..we rolled out of Moab late morning yesterday and got at it. More scenery, seems fake sometimes.

Sorry, yes more pictures with middle aged men sweating with motorcycles. You know you like it. You’re sick like that.

We got into the heart of the canyon. Feeling sprightly, on the pegs, attack mode.

This next move is super advanced, I call it the lazy susan. Thought I heroed through it, at the top got denied the last ledge on the back tire. Teamwork we got it. KTMCarhart might have cleaned it, but I’m not going to acknowledge it.

It was a nice ride, few moments of trickiness and was pretty long, slower riding for a good bit of it. Just have to be patient and enjoy it.

The rock gardens/ledge work get tiring at times, but you endure on an enduro.

And take breaks in the shade when you can snag some.

This was our lunch spot, scraggly tree, but it worked. And pro tip, drink a little DR Pepper out of the bottle and freeze it the night before. Slushy DR Pepper in the hot desert on the trail with a late lunch, priceless.

The riding got easier as we went and we stepped up the pace and soaked it in.

Cleared Lockhart and got on some fast BLM roads.

What a ride, we weren’t fooling around.

Grabbed some nice slab and worked our way up in the Abajos again for a nice chilly ride into Monticello.

Oh and we Chevy Chased newspaper rock, not much to report on….other than too many people. Not our scene.

Our steeds started heading for the barn, we hit our last dirt rolling to our home away from home, 3 Step Hideaway. Can’t begin to tell you how cool this place is and the folks that run it and care for you. If you’ve been on the fence and/or don’t know about it, look it up and hook it up.

Back at the truck. Cold beer…….must……have…….cold……beer….boots can come off second. Beer assistant!! Boot assistant!!

Taking 3 right turns worked out. Got some solid mileage on the muscles. This run was a good’n!!!! I feel older. The wiser part seems to always miss me, really strange. We hung out and had a nice meal with Mr and Mrs Dingweeds, the Mobius crew and a pile of Marylandorians. This is the way.

 

[GrapeApe]

So steve graciously allowed me to hijack his post to throw in a little on my last day of riding. Well after we had hard dates set for Utah, my wife received the save the date for a cousins wedding in Denver. She understood, but was sad I couldn’t make it. As the week approached, we figured out we had use it or lose it airline dollars from heat of Covid trip cancelations. My wife impulse reserved me a one way ticket home. I opened up basecamp. 3 step to denver… ooof, too far. 3 step to buena vista, 250miles. Now that I can do that in a day.

I called up my father in law Mike and asked if he would drive from denver to pick me up. Eddyline at 4 for pizza and beer. Plan set.

Skip to morning of… ol’ stevo starts stirring well before sunrise per usual. I reluctantly drug my sore body out of the warm comfortable bed and head to the 3 step cantina in search of fresh coffee. Stevo and I take in The sunrise while rocking and sipping our daily dose of caffeine. We each just needed a good pair of dickies to complete our perfect old man day starter pack.

I start my way east by b-lining for Naturita. Before I left, I checked with scot to make sure there was a bridge to cross the Dolores river. He smiled and said yes there is a bridge and that I would enjoy that ride. He wasn’t wrong.

This area averages 14in of rain a year, in July alone they received 21in of rain. The road definitely reflected this fact. I welcomed the demand for trail eyes.

I fueled up in Naturita and cut across the uncompahgre NF on a beautiful sweeping dirt highway. The aspens where thinking about changing but haven’t fully committed.

I got a tip from a tenured guest at 3 step letting me know that hey 50 regularly shuts down. Scot pulled out a paper map of Colorado, a quick pinky measurement revealed to me that it would only be 30-40miles longer to take hwy 92. Boy was I wrong. My 30 minute detour was actually over an hour longer. But way better than frying in line on blacktop next to blue Mesa.

Quick fuel up in gunnison, didn’t even take the helmet off. Sheriff let me know 50 in a 40 is too fast for 742, lucky me he was to lazy to flip around and chase me down.

My detour cost me too much time… I had to blow past tincup turn off and gunned it towards cottonwood pass.

35miles and 55 minutes, I got this.

4:03. Big Mike is there waiting. Time for some beer.

Nothing like the smell of an old 12v. Peace out gang. Thanks for tagging along.

 

[KsTeveM]

Not too shabby KTMGrape! I think we should relinquish ride report duties to you. Im just going to roost and scrutinize your riding and writing!

 

[GrapeApe]

Not too shabby KTMGrape! I think we should relinquish ride report duties to you. Im just going to roost and scrutinize your riding and writing!

I’ll leave the writing to the expert.

 

[KsTeveM]

KTMGrape ditched me for some more dirt….and his hot wife that happened to be in Denver. It happens. I rolled south back to Texas in the truck……it’s like driving to Russia, the road of bones rolling home.

Plenty of time to think about this trip. It rates up there with my off road exploits. After 40 years of off roading, I’d say that was Mr. Stevo’s Opus, without Rowena. Grape was my someone to watch over me.

Really pleased with the flow, logistics, traveling light, scenery…..and ****, the 500s slayed. This was the lowest mileage of my big trips, but the miles were quality riding unparalleled to any other long trip I’ve done. That said, my body is hurting/healing, unparalleled to any other long trip I’ve done.

Thanks for following along and making the overall experience gooder

Now, back to business. The show must go on. What’s next, where is the big ride for 2022 going to be? More Utah madness (daddy like)? Or Baja ride? Or dang it, what about Idaho, looks killer? Ride the 500…..or the Africa Twin? Trying to figure out a way to wiggle my nose and have me and one of my bikes in Coeur Dalene, or Utah, or Baja or a mystery place? It’s all so confusing. What yall think? Anybody have ideas to pull off something epic? All ears am I.

 

[ConejoDon]

Outstanding - thanks for sharing!

 

[Tigerkf]

Good job Steve! Now go home!

 

[TNC]

Hey...I think I recognize that bridge crossing of the Dolores. Did you get there from 3-step by going east to road Z1 and then on Gypsum Valley? I spent a couple of weeks exploring that whole area from the Utah border over to CO141. Awesome country in there and not a lot of tourists on most of it.

 

[TNC]

Steve, I was keeping up with y'alls ride over on ADV too...some of my favorite country. Could you clarify something in your Lake Powell segment of the trip? Did y'all go from hwy 95 to Red Canyon. I think I've done all of the stuff you've covered in your trip here, but the hwy 95 to Red Canyon was an especially challenging effort in route finding. I've hammered that area on many trips, and it took me three tries to finally poke around enough to make the connection across from hwy 95 to Red Canyon. Some of the area in your pics looked like some of that...but then that's not unusual is it...LOL! I could tell y'all did some of the Ticaboo/Bullfrog side of the lake, but wasn't sure if y'all were poking around the Hall's Crossing side or not.

 

[GrapeApe]

Hey...I think I recognize that bridge crossing of the Dolores. Did you get there from 3-step by going east to road Z1 and then on Gypsum Valley? I spent a couple of weeks exploring that whole area from the Utah border over to CO141. Awesome country in there and not a lot of tourists on most of it.

You called that one correct. I was pleasantly surprised by that section of my run!

 

[TNC]

That area is a surprise. If you're in that area again, if you turn north when Z1 hits Gypsum instead of south the way y'all went, it gets even more interesting in terrain and difficulty and finally ends in a spot called Silvey's Pocket...and there are numerous offshoots along the way. Awesome area and river runners on the Dolores are likely the only people you might see north of Z1. I said "people", but you might see these guys up that way...LOL!

 

[KsTeveM]

Steve, I was keeping up with y'alls ride over on ADV too...some of my favorite country. Could you clarify something in your Lake Powell segment of the trip? Did y'all go from hwy 95 to Red Canyon. I think I've done all of the stuff you've covered in your trip here, but the hwy 95 to Red Canyon was an especially challenging effort in route finding. I've hammered that area on many trips, and it took me three tries to finally poke around enough to make the connection across from hwy 95 to Red Canyon. Some of the area in your pics looked like some of that...but then that's not unusual is it...LOL! I could tell y'all did some of the Ticaboo/Bullfrog side of the lake, but wasn't sure if y'all were poking around the Hall's Crossing side or not.

Hey there TNC. You are on the right track. But we came from 276 side, to red canyon, and went out blue notch to 95 (and got on Fortknocker). The connection was not easy. I spent some time off the bike hiking about, found it, then spent some time sitting on my butt knocking down the erosion with my boots and used a stick like a shovel…..and did some clearing of limbs so I could stay on the doable line that was overgrown. It was super hot. There was some quick sandy type mud here and there as well. It is so remote, just have to be careful and prepared to camp, whether you make it through or not. I would not want to do it solo, too many things could go wrong. There is some tricky riding here and there to boot. The bigger the bike, all these factors will compound. And it is a really long connection. The payoff was nice though!

 

[TNC]

LOL!...yes, I did it from the Blue Notch side. I had tried from the Red Canyon side on a couple of trips, but route finding was impossible for me. I did stumble on to Rainbow Canyon where old cowboys back in the day had carved the name in the canyon wall. It looks kind of easy to go the Red Canyon route when scoped out on Google sat view, but as you know it's not clear at all on the ground...and it changes over time with weather, erosion, etc. Steve, via Blue Notch I found an alternate, vague route well back to the east before it gets close to the lake. It was a crazy downhill with exposure. I was kind of scared riding by myself, but I had a SPOT, so what could go wrong?...LOL!

I poked around on this vague trail with a few spots I should have turned around on, but I kept going. Instead of the bushwhacking route closer to the lake, I popped out near Wilson Canyon in Red Canyon. I felt some real victory in hitting Red Canyon and making my way out and back to camp in that large pull-out area on hwy 95 toward Jacob's Chair. I love all that area off hwy 95 and 276...so many off shoots and gems out there. All of y'alls trip brought back lots of good memories.

 

[KsTeveM]

Now that I am not doing the ride report on the fly while riding, I went back through my camera and also went through the go pro on my helmet for the first time. Here are some new pics that caught me eye. Should also quickly show how diverse things were out there in this one post.

I liked this one, kind of a natural gate keeper on some single track in the Abajos.

I think we were scooting west from Blanding on this one looking out over the Bears Ears area.

One of the difficult trail hunting escapades below. Found it, such as it was. I tried to scare it with my shadow. I guess it worked. That and my walking it/knocking down some of the edges to help us clean it.

One of our night time shenanigans pics at the reservoir.

We went through a couple tunnels to go under the highway and get to the trails. One by Hite, one in Green River area. I was worried about visibility and eating doo doo in the mud, but they weren't too bad.

KTMCarhart boogying along, I believe in the Hite area.

Here are some of us combing the desert. Some obscure/semi tough riding in the Ticaboo area more or less. Have to look for my wing man in these, tis some big country.

We got back in some color, I think most of these were east of Salina. That sheep dog was not messing around, he needs a pay raise.

And back into the desert. I like being able to see the headlight in the middle of the day in the dark canyons....or in aspen tunnels for that matter.

Some pictographs above KTMCarhart's giant head, three figures in red. They reminded me of the bad guy ghosts in the movie Ghost, all stretched out. I think I heard that noise while we were there.

Here we are trying to get to the super sneaker camp hide out at the end of the day. KTMCarhart trying to ham it up....or scratch it up? I think both as it turned out.

Flashback....where is the trail? Does this thing come out? If we have to turn around I'm going to cry. I looked back at KTMCarhart, he sees the look on my face and is trying to look around me. Then I look back to my front. Not a lot of choices. You either weed wack/rock climb your way through or put your bike up for sale at those coordinates.

We finally made it to the super sneaker serengeti hide out.

We even had a cool work bench at that camp....and fancy cups.

I started waking up really early that next morning. I would enjoy the night sky, then fall back asleep, then just laid around for a while. Not because we drank too much (never happens) or because KTMCarhart was snoring really loud wrapped up in his orange cocoon (always happens). It just felt right that morning as night transitioned into day. Birds came alive, fish were jumping, the sun started glowing and some ducks were flying around. I wish I could put the smells of the damp desert morning in the report for you. It was a nice quiet time for me, with the normal background snoring. At least I know he is present and accounted for.

This next day, we did some hard riding, probably hardest of the trip. And it never really let up. It was probably the highlight of the trip at the same time, you know how that goes.

And our last day on the trail was mostly red. Here is a couple parting shots below. Hope you guys enjoyed seeing a few more pics from the vault.

 

[Tourmeister]

Those sheep dogs are SNEAKY! Back in 2016, I was up on the top of the mountains North of Salina on my 1200 GS with my daughter on the back (she was 11 at the time). We were stopped and I was taking some pics of all the sheep in the valley below when she said, "Look at that sheep dog!" She seemed a bit anxious for some reason so I was scanning all over the valley looking for it. When I mentioned I couldn't see one anywhere she said, "RIGHT HERE!" I then look back around the other direction and a HUGE Great Pyrenees was standing next to the bike! He didn't seem agitated, just curious, but I was so surprised I almost soiled myself

We were running Skyline Drive from the South end up to US40, but we only got as far as US6 because NASTY weather. We took the long way around to Heber City and it started hailing moments after we pulled into the parking lot of the hotel.

 

[KsTeveM]

Those sheep dogs are SNEAKY! Back in 2016, I was up on the top of the mountains North of Salina on my 1200 GS with my daughter on the back (she was 11 at the time). We were stopped and I was taking some pics of all the sheep in the valley below when she said, "Look at that sheep dog!" She seemed a bit anxious for some reason so I was scanning all over the valley looking for it. When I mentioned I couldn't see one anywhere she said, "RIGHT HERE!" I then look back around the other direction and a HUGE Great Pyrenees was standing next to the bike! He didn't seem agitated, just curious, but I was so surprised I almost soiled myself

That's funny, kind of the same thing in the Beaver Creek/Skyline area. Wish we had the go pro going, it was like parting the seas in the herd of sheep. I was enjoying it, kind of relaxing taking it all in. As we started to clear them, I sped up and then I saw this one big looking sheep hauling xxx at me, almost soiled myself is pretty accurate. Then he just aggressively acted like he was going to bite me but didn't. And he kept this up for longer than I thought he would. Again, that dude needed a raise. I had to put on the after burners to fully extinguish his fire. It reminded me of this one time at CTOR when I was minding my own business and then an all white Lama Alpaca dingus jumped on the single track between me and KTMCarhart and chased me for a long time. Just about the time I thought things were cool, he was back and on my six, he was in at least third gear. Probably had nothing to do with KTMCarhart laughing behind him. Sometimes being first isn't cool

 

[_RG_]

"I started waking up really early that next morning. I would enjoy the night sky, then fall back asleep, then just laid around for a while. Not because we drank too much (never happens) or because KTMCarhart was snoring really loud wrapped up in his orange cocoon (always happens). It just felt right that morning as night transitioned into day. Birds came alive, fish were jumping, the sun started glowing and some ducks were flying around. I wish I could put the smells of the damp desert morning in the report for you. It was a nice quiet time for me, with the normal background snoring. At least I know he is present and accounted for."

This is what it's all about. Well done.

 

[TNC]

Love the pics, Steve. Again...some of my favorite areas to ride, and you told the stories with awesome flair.

 

[Boulder Ed]

Great ride report! I've been all through that country many times since 1998. We thought we owned it as Coloradans and once accepted into a group that had ridden there for 40 years already, I felt nothing could ever change. But things changed dramatically. Spectacular riding out there, that most will never see. Many of the nicest trails with incredible petroglyphs all over are closed now. Yes, Hite fuel is always hit and miss, but you need it to get back to Hanksville. I've crossed the dirty devil when it was literally touch and go, with spotters in case a bike went under. Not so tough anymore, its been mostly low for a long time and storm runoff is infrequent. Most of the roads are well groomed now. Really glad ya'll enjoyed it. Don't tell anyone you are from Texas. Some Texans earned the bad reputation, of "bubba on a dirtbike" out there in years past, contributing along with many bubbas from other states, to massive trail closure. People are way more respectful now, and motorcycle clubs are fighting to reopen lands, but its critical to follow the rules if we are to have a place to ride in the future.

 

[KsTeveM]

I got a fever and the only prescription is more cow bell....I mean adventure.

Where are yalls ride reports? My reject pictures are better than nothing!!!

 

[GrapeApe]

The Photographer was very skilled on 11 out of 12 of those.

 

[KsTeveM]

The Photographer was very skilled on 11 out of 12 of those.

Thanks, its been a long road.

 

[Yeti2ride]

I got a fever and the only prescription is more cow bell....I mean adventure.

Where are yalls ride reports? My reject pictures are better than nothing!!!

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Finally grabbed myself by the nards and had a long over due hernia procedure done today. Now to buy a capable, similar type bike, and join you on one of these rides. With your permission of course.

 

[KsTeveM]

Finally grabbed myself by the nards and had a long over due hernia procedure done today. Now to buy a capable, similar type bike, and join you on one of these rides. With your permission of course.