Well, I couldn't manage to get the time to go with Woodsie and Eric up to my favorite trail riding destination when they went up for the 4th of July. Can't say I wouldn't have rather done that than the chores that I was saddled with that weekend, but then again I almost would have rather had a root canal that weekend rather than the business at hand....but I digress.... So I decided to join my friends who were camping up in the San Bernardino mountains. They made a last minute decision to ride some of the fire roads and single track trails up there after their big Bass Lake ride got cancelled. I hadn't been on a ride with Deb since last October and hadn't even met Ian yet, and it was a 120 mile drive up there....so I was enthused to go. The poor old TE has seen very little action so far this year. The battery that the bike came with 4 years ago was still in the bike, but it wasn't very functional anymore. Still, there was the good old kickstarter. I loaded the machine onto the Jeep and headed out just after sunrise. With all the precipitation we've had last winter and spring, the forest was nice and green, the water flowing in places it had not been in previous years. I was pretty excited. Mid morning at the campsite. It was a beautiful start to the day, but I knew the innocent looking little fluffy clouds that began to appear would probably turn into a fullblown thunderstorm sometime early in the afternoon. After consulting the map, we geared up and headed out towards Coon Cabin camp. It has quite the vista. And a nice trailhead that goes up behind the camp. See how those clouds are starting to sneak up on us? By the time we reached Onyx peak (over 9000 ft elevation) it began to rain. We didn't ever see any lightening or hear any thunder, and even though it rained pretty hard in some of the areas we rode, we never got rained on really hard. Seemed like just a few gentle showers actually caught us and then we would end up riding though an area that just got pounded. We found another trail that would take us off of Onyx peak. It turned out to be really steep, covered in loose rocks and gnarly. I regrettably managed to take a nap during this part of the excursion. I spent most of the descent trying to kickstart my flooded bike after wrestling the portly beast back up onto two wheels. Once I got the TE lit up, we made our way on to a flat meadow area where the weather had recently cut loose. It doesn't get any better than this. We tore along the back roads, trenching through the soft earth and enjoying the scenery. Ian found a trail off to the right that he wanted to explore. Deb and I weren't as enthusiastic about it. We kept moving on down the road till we found the trail to Tiptop mountain. In retrospect, the other trail probably wasn't any worse than the Tiptop trail. I started up it just fine, but about 3/4 of the way up I just wasn't in good enough physical condition to keep pushing on, so I stopped about here to catch my breath. I can't get over how much more rocky and steep that stretch looks "in person"! I rested till my breathing and heart rate dropped back to normal (which was just a few minutes), drank some water and GU, then turned around and rode back down to wait at the bottom for my riding partners to return from the mountain top. Then we continued onward through the hills and valleys and a couple of deep water crossings till we reached pavement and headed into Big Bear for some lunch. More to come.
The lunch venue was a Mexican restaurant called La Paws. Decent food and low prices. We discussed where we would go for the afternoon. Deb had never seen the worlds largest lodgepole pine tree, so we prepared to take a route that would include that. It looks so nice up there, but don't be fooled....the place is full of Jeepers, passenger cars (where the roads will allow), mountain bikers, horseback riders and quads (where there are OHV trails). I just made sure that I didn't take any pictures of all those other backcountry visitors. Although we went through a bunch of drenched areas on the eastern edge of the mountain range, it appeared that the western side didn't get a drop of rain. The going was a bit dusty in the afternoon. This caused me to lag to stay out the other's dust cloud. We moseyed over to the Lodgepole pine trail and parked. It was after all, a foot trail and we didn't want to get the stinkeye for being bad motorcyclists and riding on a foot trail. I make this statement sort of in jest, but not completely because the trail isn't actually marked with any signage that forbids motorized vehicles. Just playing devil's advocate there. We hiked our way down the trail and visited the "big" tree. It had a wide trunk, but wasn't as impressive as I had imagined. We posed at it's base. Another pine nearby was more majestic, so I took a picture of it instead. A toothsome log. After we trudged back uphill to our bikes, our riding boots feeling like leaded divers shoes every step of the way, we finished our route that would lead us back to where we started that morning. It was a relaxed, non eventful ride. Our little trio of merry riders rolled back into the campsite at just before 6. I loaded the bike up and made it home around 8. Deb and Ian would camp the night and start another two wheeled adventure the very next morning. It was really great to ride with Deb again, as it was to meet Ian and ride with him also. I can't wait till we do another ride together.
Coon Cabin camp? ...Thats where I wanna go!... That looks like 1 gnarly road with many loose rocks to push the bike around ....and yep, the camera will flatten them out ... I'd be up off the seat, on the pegs, in 3rd maybe, probably using the clutch on my bike to maintain rear wheel traction and control my speed & RPMs ... just a guess ... 2nd might work better as I have a 14T FS ... I loose some of the CR stuff with a 14T FS, but it works out ....
Looks like you had a great time!!! You catch Big Bear the right time of year and it's Heaven on Earth Loved the off and on rain too, how cool was that!!! 'Bout time to make my run to Pioneertown through Holcolmb and Cactus Flats. Try to do that a couple of times a year and at least once at night during a full moon. That's great country up there, and your bike looks awesome !!
Dang, gal! Looks like a really good time! And yes, that is a rather large lodgepole pine Your bike is looking pretty blingariffic lately Is it just me or is that KTM slammed down pretty far? Looks like Deb has her foot flat on the ground when she's sitting on it...something I know nothing about
I think that the bike hasn't been lowered, but Debi installed some new soft seat foam and shaved a portion of it out in the middle, so she could touch the ground easier. She may have also turned back the preload on the rear shock to gain more sag.
Actually, I didn't know that the ride was going to happen until about the day before. An organized ride at Bass Lake area had been cancelled, and my friends who had arranged for time off for the event suddenly found themselves needing a ride, so Deb posted up on SDAR, the day before she left. In fact, I called her on Friday evening to get directions up there, after she had already spent a day riding. I can post up, though.
Terrific, I'll look forward to it. Feel free to join the DS ride and camp out this weekend. www.cafehusky.com/threads/bobs-big-bear-camping-party-july-13-17-2011.19231/
As Usual ---awesome RR and super duper pictures --Mmmmmmmm I have not posted any RR for a while --WHY ? Just been toooooo busy riding lately --maybe do one soon
