Gunslinger's Divide Ride - Do ya' feel lucky?

[DoctorXRR]

On the next day we head out of Las Vegas, and try to get back on the dirt road in national forests….but one route I have does not pan out. Looks like the road is washed out, and we have to do some back tracking. Later UlyBrad mentioned he may have seen the faint road on other side of the wash out, but was not clear to me.

From here we take a detour, hoping on I-25 for a bit, then on to highway 3, which is a beautiful scenic drive that includes part of the original Route 66. This works out for the better, because I end up with what I think is my BEST photo of the whole adventure!

This old church in Ribera holds many surprises and I wish I stopped to explore a bit more! We also saw this old Risa Café, and did not stop but next time we will, its got great reviews for awesome local food.

Did not see these in person but would have loved to find them…

Be sure to check out the Risa Café if you get the chance!
http://www.thelarisacafe.com/TheLaRisaCafe.com/Home.html

We end up riding Hyway3 all the way down south, and drop back into Capitan, the point where Gunslinger’s Divide Ride splits off on the out bound, and in bound routes.

Part of our return routes has on FR 433, but as we go off the forest, looks like it turns to private roads that are gated….so we have to do some backtracking off this section. The riding was fun, so that was OK! But, next time need to find some alternative routes.

Exploring, looking to try and hook back up on the forest roads, after hitting a couple of locked gates.

Ultimately, because of the back tracking, and its getting later in the day, we decide to make our night’s stop in Roswell……not a first choice, but really our only option. I have a section of dirt that heads south, but its too risky given it could peter out like the other one. Later, reviewing GPS in the hotel in Roswell I see this route is all named county roads so it looks good for next time!

So, for our last day’s ride through the Guadalupe Rim, I find myself awake at 4 AM, sitting on the toilet, with my GPS and smart phone on Google maps! I’m calculating the distances for GAS! Because from Artesia, 40 miles south of Roswell, there is none till we get to RDS world HQ! Hope is our turn off point, and I carefully check that the marked roads out of Hope will get us to the Rim Road.

Here is our last day!

Hope is our turn off and we make it to Russell Gap road!

On the ride in from Hope, I am nervous about the distance, and if we both have the gas range. From Artesia we burn 20 miles in gas, and I set our pace at 50 MPH to conserve fuel. Sitting on the toilet in the hotel, I calculated 50 miles to the Rim Road….and we hit it at 51 miles! From here I estimate we need a solid 120 further of fuel, for a total of 170 to 180!

Here is the turn were looking for!

The Rim Road turns into a real gem…..riding high along the edge of the mountains, is a nice graded road, with some cattle and ranchers on it. Several side roads noodle around, and offer chances for more exploration! Some areas have a few minor washouts, likely from the big rains that hit us in the very beginning, as we started this adventure.

From here we ride the Rim Road all the way back to HQ, and as we drop down, the heat ramps up! We drop into some rougher dirt roads in Dog Canyon, and hit HQ in a 103-degree heat! I plowed through 200 ounces of water in my camel bak!

We arrive at HQ after about 180 miles, UlyBrad added his extra quart of fuel he carried the whole trip, and did not hit reserve!

Were hot, thirsty, dusty, tired and saddle sore, just how you should feel after a big adventure! Will post up some closing thoughts on our 2,060 mile adventure!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9p8oH1jm1Wg"]Rim Road - RideDualSport.com - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSITckukpy0"]Guadalupe Rim Road on RideDualSport.com - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Rsquared]

New Mexico is one of my favorite Dual Sport destinations, and after reading your ride report, I remember why. Well done.

Anymore, when my wife catches me setting on my bike making vroom-vroom noises, she realizes I've just read another great ride report. Oh well, off to the garage...

 

[DoctorXRR]

RSquared, thanks both the ride and the report are a ton of fun for me. Looking forward to re-do's on different variations of this ride, with some tweaks to the route.

Looking forward to hearing about your adventures too!

 

[CleatusJ]

Great report and I noticed you didn't say a thing about the old man needing his gezzer naps. He did look like a

 

[DoctorXRR]

Final thoughts and reflections, or “I’m OK, Your OK – now get off your butt and pack up your crap on the bike!”

It took me till our last night in Roswell to finally beat UlyBrad at packing all my crap on the bike and getting ready….still, he was at a disadvantage because we stayed in a motel…..UlyBrad is the master at setting up and breaking down camp I was always lagging behind. Maybe because I had to clean my goggles with my lens cleaner and adjust the GPS at just the right angle…..

Here’s a few lessons I learned along the way if its of any help…..most likely its all been said before!

TIPS FOR THE DUAL SPORT TRAVELER – NOT IN ANY REAL ORDER OF IMPORTANCE!

TIP A – YES YOU WILL BREAK, LOOSE, OR NEED MORE BUNGEES!
Pack extra bungees or Roc Straps! I loaned UlyBrad a spare Roc Strap before we set off, and packed a couple extra bungees. We needed them to tie down extra water, and two of my bungees the hooks stretched out and got week due to relentless pounding!

TIP B – MAKE GPS TRACKS “E-Z in E-Z OUT!”
I got too creative adding in extra sections of dirt roads around the major sections of my GPS tracks. In trying to avoid pavement at all costs, I built in too many smaller dirt sections that were time wasters. Write your tracks so you get into, and out of, your major dirt routes quickly and easily. When your hot and tired at the end of the day, you don’t want to noodle needlessly on little dirt roads just to avoid a few miles of pavement into a town.

TIP C – THREE’S COMPANY AND FOUR’S A PARTY!
On this ride me and UlyBrad did great, with just two people decisions were quick and easy. But, when you get into the rough stuff, and generally for safety, I think 3 riders are best. More support, muscle, and brains for when it gets rough. If someone gets hurt, one can seek help if needed, and another can stay with injured person. But, FOUR is good too and provides good coverage for your buddies, and wont slow you down too much. For larger groups, I recommend splitting up into groups based on riding style and expectations.

TIP D – COFFEE, OATMEAL, SARDINES, CRACKERS, AND BEER!
I packed two freeze-dried meals ($8 each) I did not end up using. We ate very well on sardines, smoked oysters, chips, crackers, ect. These are easy to pack, make a great meal or snack and not too expensive. All we needed in the AM was some good coffee and oatmeal, that hit the spot! When we got motels we hit a couple restaurants, or better yet just got some grub in a Wal-Mart for cheap.

TIP E – WALMART – IT’S A LOVE/HATE THANG, MOSTLY HATE!

Courtesy of: http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/

I confess, me and UlyBrad looked like we fit right in, grubby, smelly, dirty, so we were no fine examples of civilized man. But I felt conflicted. Love it or hate it, Wal-Mart came in handy – we picked up a cheap camping mat for UlyBrad and a couple of cheap dinners which was great. But, Wal-Mart was really depressing, a magnet that sucks in a lot of poor rural folk, regaled in baggy shorts, tattoos, blue hair, muffin tops, and obese rug rats. Most everyone we saw was tremendously overweight, and the kids on the way to diabetes. If towns could be left alone, little local mom and pop stores I would be fine with that…..maybe Wal-Mart took that option away, sucking the life out of small mom and pops.

TIP F – WATER, WATER, WATER!
No doubt, ALWAYS PACK EXTRA WATER! Its your friend. Drink lots. Bring more. If your stuck, hot, tired, you will need it, or someone in your group will!
Overall, the ride was excellent. The route is a work in progress.

I want to ride it several more times, and tweak it. Go back and ride sections we had to by-pass, find new entrance points, and continue to evolve the route. New Mexico offers great opportunities, take advantage!

 

[bigdon55]

 

[DoctorXRR]

Post script to GSDR report! So made the GSDR route from a combination of tracks provided by others, CDT tracks, and those I drew myself. So, of course it’s a work in progress, and subject to variations! Half the fun is exploring to see where these tracks go, and along the way we found several obstacles.

On the loop to Pie Town, we got derailed, as a small FR off of the main FR was impassible due to downed trees. We had to bail out and find Old Highway 52 to Datil. This turned out for better, since we lost time the day before to repairs, and managed to roll into Datil just in time to snag dinner and a room.

As we headed north, I drew tracks across national forest that would dump us out on Highway 54. But, no luck as the track petered out at locked gates. On my GPS I could see the road continuing, through the forest, but clearly the gates were locked. Also, “county maintenance ends” signs were a pointer also. So, we took the northern route up, and cut across to 54. Along the way I spotted “old 54” on the GPS but this was all-private and we had to take the paved road.

When we hit Taos, I wanted to cut across forest roads towards Angel Fire and White Peak. But the track I drew landed us at a huge locked gate to the road, which goes up to a water tower. We bailed and took 64 north to Angel Fire, which was fine because it was a great ride, and White Peak would later kick our butt!

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Doing this again, I would drop our gear at the camp ground just outside White Peak, and spend a full day noodling around in White Peak without gear.

Finally, a small side loop I drew going up forest road turned into locked gates again, as we went off the forest. But was not always clear we were on private land. We were not able to take the southern route and had to ride into Roswell (ugg), and make good and sure you have plenty of fuel, because your heading into no-mans land after Hope!

 

[KsTeveM]

I really enjoyed this ride report. I hope bringing this back to the top brings others enjoyment!

Now you got me wondering about this White Peak area. I've been on 120 several times in the last 10 years and don't recall anything looking inviting these days for offroad rats in that zone. Curious if anyone else has recent intel on that area. I have a buddy that lives in Angel Fire, is an offroad nut, been on Vol Fire Dept etc. and asked him to look into it for me.

I been thinking lately I need to build a "hard" style BDR for New Mexico since it is so much easier to pull off a big ride there with proximity to home compared to other states. It doesn't have to be hard core single track, but I'm looking for stuff harder than the average BDR. And cool camp sites etc. If anybody out there has ideas or GPX tracks, please PM me. I've done the NMBDR, Shadow of the Rockies, several trips to Cloudcroft, several trips to Angel Fire, Red River and Las Cruces. Dreaming is free!!!