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Crashing Our Way Through Mexico - The Furious Five Draw First Blood

Oh man, I can't wait to get back down there. I've been staring at Mexico maps for the last couple of days.... Keep posting up!
 
Back in Galeana on Saturday evening, we successfully linked up with Doug and Zeke. They had ridden from the border to Galeana, via Rayones, while we were exploring the road over the mountains to Camarones.

As the town of Galeana slowly awakened on Sunday morning, we suited up and headed out on a new adventure. All I really knew about today's route was the ominous text message JT had sent to Milton the evening prior telling him we were riding the route where "the arroyo is the road". Sounded to me like we were in store for a classic JT special (If you've ridden with JT before, you know what I mean. If you haven't, well, you should make a point of riding with JT sometime.)
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Doug giving me a mid-five (not a high five, not a low five).
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Our plan was to ride south on Hwy 2 to the village of Pablillo, turn east, and ride dirt south until we caught the paved road running north out of Aramberri.
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The El Alamar route east from Pablillo is beautiful. If you haven't ridden it yet, make plans to do so the next time you are in this area. It's a "don't miss" route, IMHO.

The trees in this area are covered in more moss than I've ever seen anywhere else. It makes for an interesting picture, I think.
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The mountain views along this roads are nice too.
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Like I said, I really like this road. A lot.
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The El Alamar route passes within a few hundred yards of the Around the Mountain route (see the MexTrek ride guide for more info on these two routes). Luckily there are two connector roads between these two routes, allowing you to go from one to the other. We took the easier western connector to the Around the Mountain route and then headed south/southwest toward Agua Blanca. The western connector is marked by this large brick igloo (purpose unknown).
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The Around the Mountain route is equally beautiful and fun as the El Alamar route.
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That is the settlement of Agua Blanca (White Water) in the distance. Perhaps those two pools of white water are where this place gets its name?
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Shortly after leaving Agua Blanca we made a left turn into a field. There used to be a road here, navigating through a narrow valley for several miles, merrily crossing the accompanying stream multiple times along the way.

That sounds great, except for the "used to be here" part. The road is no longer here. It washed out a few years ago and has been abandoned rather than repaired. The steams is still there. :) And we were going to ride it. It didn't take long before we all understood in intimate detail what the term "the arroyo is the road" meant.
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With the road washed out, we searched out a bypass. JT assured us that it was only a 1/2 mile, or 1 mile at the most, before we would be out of the arroyo and back on a road. With the trust of little children we followed JT, the Piped Piper of Adventure Riding, into the depths of the arroyo.
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You already know what happens, don't you?

A mile came and went and yet we were still in the arroyo, picking our way through the boulders, baby heads, and creek.
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Progress was slow. Bikes were dropped. Help was extended. We pushed relentlessly on, with no end in sight.
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Then..a glimmer of hope. Was this the end of the arroyo?
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Nope. The arroyo continued on. And on. And on. Every now and then it would tease us with a short section of road but all too quickly we were back in the rocks. And our struggles continued.
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Finally, after several miles of riding we reached the end of the arroyo and were back on a road. :)
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Once in the town of Milpillas we took a break at a small store. It was time for a cold drink and a snack (lunch). Several men and children were hanging out in front of the store and we soon made fast friends with them.
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Zeke won hearts and minds by buying all the kids the snack of their choice from the store. The cost was 1 photo of the kids. The boys were very willing to pose but the little girl was too shy to do so. With encouragement from her dad she finally joined the boys for a pic.
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These horses were calmly parked outside the store, waiting on their owners to ride them to the next destination.
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The Furious Five, in all our splendor!
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Our new friends. :)
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Great pics. Way better than the one's I got. Keep it coming

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk
 
With the trust of little children we followed JT, the Piped Piper of Adventure Riding, into the depths of the arroyo.
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You already know what happens, don't you?

:haha:
 
I so missed out on this ride. That arroyo looks fantastic!

I've taken some creative liberties with this part of my ride report to dramatize it a bit. But, truly, the arroyo was a lot of fun. I wouldn't ride it on a big adventure bike, but anything 350 lbs or less with a rider of average skills should be fine.

As long as it hasn't rained a lot lately...
 
I wanted to ride from Linares to Mainero and then west over the mountains to Camerones. JT wanted to find a track/trail/road that would allow us to go from Milton's Secret Route to La Florida. So we decided to do both...if possible.
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Riding east on Hwy 58 to Linares never disappoints. Wonderfully twisty and oh so scenic.

Once out of the mountains, we headed south to Mainero on some fun dirt roads.
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Sometimes you see some funny things in Mexico. Like a no-passing sign on a one car wide dirt road. Is passing such a big issue that this stretch of dirt really needed a no passing sign? Really?
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Those are the mountains we will be crossing later today. Yes!!!
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"So then Ken say, 'You've got to lean right, turn the handlebars to the left, feather the brake with one finger, kick your leg out, and go for it.'" And, sure enough, an hour later as I was attempting to cross the washed out creek without crashing, turns out he was right.
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As we took a short break at Abarrotes Don Beto, this older gentleman asked me if I would buy him a Coke. So I did.
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Left or right?
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JT says right. And don't fail to notice that this road is two way traffic.
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A short time later we reached the edge of the mountains. Time to start climbing.
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That pic could have been the result of too many frijoles for breakfast

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You definitely should stop and hike down to the bottom under the natural bridge. Ive done it 4 times and in exchange for your strenuous physical efforts, you're rewarded with a great scenic view, calm river sounds below and some good cardio to make up for sitting in the saddle. It gets the blood pumping good. Now its all cement steps with metal rails but not even 8 yrs ago, it was a regular hiking trail with some spots with a few ropes for rails. Fang told us that there might be a hiking trail on the north side of bridge that you can follow down to a cave ?? Take JT with you down there but make sure he doesn't walk under any spiraling stair cases, ochh!

Good advice! Definitely worth some exploration
 
I've taken some creative liberties with this part of my ride report to dramatize it a bit. But, truly, the arroyo was a lot of fun. I wouldn't ride it on a big adventure bike, but anything 350 lbs or less with a rider of average skills should be fine.

As long as it hasn't rained a lot lately...

I think you take great pictures and have an entertaining ability to tell a story. Just as you have the ability to capture the admiration of those children with magic and jokes. It is a loss that we failed to record that.
I expected more pics of us lying on the ground next to our bikes as the title describes. You have been too kind.

And JT sits by smoking, grinning, and I truly wonder what he is thinking. Makes me dread following him, but he knows the way out. Epic it was
 
"So then Ken say, 'You've got to lean right, turn the handlebars to the left, feather the brake with one finger, kick your leg out, and go for it.'" And, sure enough, an hour later as I was attempting to cross the washed out creek without crashing, turns out he was right.


Ken does dance with his bike well. ??
 
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Or a charcoal kiln?


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cool, we were wondering what this was for and your answer seems the most appropriate. someone said that maybe for thunderstorm refuge but it was too far away from any village. maybe someone lived there nearby long time before but we didn't see anything from the trail and thou we didn't explore much off trail. my mother in law is from mexico near the border area with texas but she had no idea. Ive seen charcoal making on her ranch but its quite different where the mesquite is placed slightly underground.
 
cool, we were wondering what this was for and your answer seems the most appropriate. someone said that maybe for thunderstorm refuge but it was too far away from any village. maybe someone lived there nearby long time before but we didn't see anything from the trail and thou we didn't explore much off trail. my mother in law is from mexico near the border area with texas but she had no idea. Ive seen charcoal making on her ranch but its quite different where the mesquite is placed slightly underground.

Reminds me of the Florence Coke Ovens in the Gila Desert East of Phoenix, Az.
 
Reminds me of the Florence Coke Ovens in the Gila Desert East of Phoenix, Az.

Your pics are the first I've seen of a coke oven. Had to read up on that and now its on the list.... I dont know if this structure could withstand the intense heat given the unsupported masonry. Can't believe I missed it...time to get back and take a more leisurely ride to look.
 
Your pics are the first I've seen of a coke oven. Had to read up on that and now its on the list.... I dont know if this structure could withstand the intense heat given the unsupported masonry. Can't believe I missed it...time to get back and take a more leisurely ride to look.

This can be done on the way to next years el salado run, we can just skip the riverbed section. And we already have pictures of it, so we can ask locals in pablillo too.

Rich, that mountain view pic with what looks like a cave was taken about where on the route, since doug and i might be heading back there, i would like to ck it out, i missed it last time?

I have a good idea where the charcoal cooker is at cuz its in the only time we were heading west on the route.
 
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Rich, that mountain view pic with what looks like a cave was taken about where on the route, since doug and i might be heading back there, i would like to ck it out, i missed it last time?

Zeke,

The cave is on the El Alamar route east of Pablillo and before the connector to the Around the Moutain route.

After we left Pablillo, we rode through the trees with all the moss. Beyond that, we spent some time riding a shelf road - it was in the earlier sections of the shelf road that I took the picture of the cave.
 
If anyone took pics of the oven with a cell phone, cant you get the coordinates from the exif data? Or, Rich, we can probably find it from looking at the point log of your gps track and finding the stops.
 
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Thanks guys, im pretty sure we will find both the cave now and the oven. Hey its sad to say but the KLX is gone, she provided me with alot of great memories: once to junction and cloudcroft and 4 Mexico rides and even to a local MX track where I finally learned to make some jumps etc. and hrs of fun riding with my boy on the tank. Farewell Kawi...
 
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