Chasing Rovers, a Western TAT Adventure

The Plan: Ship the bikes to Albuquerque. Fly in and ride around 500 miles of dirt in New Mexico to the New Mexico/Oklahoma border where we would pick up the TAT and ride west.

The Victims: Mike (AKA Mfletch) on his 2006 TE450. Dirk (not a Cafe member) on his KTM 640 Adventure. Myself on my sometimes trusty (fingers crossed) 2009 TE450.

Two weeks before we were to ship the bikes I started to suck an intake valve, not good.I was a little stressed, I've been planning this trip for over year. http://www.cafehusky.com/threads/cylinder-head-repair.34370/

Got it fixed up and ready to ship in record time.

Loading the bikes in Sparks, NV.






Fast forward to Albuquerque, unloading the bikes.



More to come...

Day 1

Albuquerque to Taos.
We mapped out a route to get us across NM, unfortunately in NM many roads on maps are no longer open, it would get a bit tricky traversing NM trying to stay on dirt.
Just trying to get out of Albuquerque was a chore.

Which way to go.



National Forest between ABQ and Los Alamos.







The Rio Grande


After a long day we set up camp between Taos and Angel fire.

Day 2

Angel Fire, NM to Trinidad, CO

We left camp around 8:30 AM and headed into Angel Fire for fuel and food. Yet more roads not open for motorized travel, more re-routes. We headed east on 120 through the mountains over to the small town of Springer where we picked up my GPS track. From here on out the roads I chose had County Road numbers so we figured we'd be good and stay off private property and closed roads. We headed out of Springer and within a few miles were stopped by a river crossing too deep to cross. As we tried to figure out our route around a not so friendly looking cowboy comes out of his house to inform us "You three fuckers are trespassing, when you crossed that cattle guard you were on my property!". He was not real thrilled with three dirtbikers on his road, so much for county roads. We quickly re-routed around his property and got back on track. The roads were little more than two track, bordered on both sides with barbed wire and almost perfectly straight for about a hundred miles. We rolled into a small depressing town close to Texas called Clayton, had a quick lunch and headed for where we'd pick up the TAT on the New Mexico/Oklahoma border. From there we rode to Trinidad, CO. After almost 12 hours of saddle time, around 350 miles and tired we decided to motel it.

Rolling into Angel Fire


Highway 120






Straight NM farm roads





High Plains


A sign of weather to come




Our turn west


Rolling into Trinidad

Day 3

Trinidad, CO, to Westcliffe, CO

Around 160 wet miles

Living on the west coast my whole life I never really knew what monsoon season was like around the Rockies, it rains everyday! We started with a nice breakfast at a small cafe in Trinidad before hitting the road. By mid day it started raining, mostly light rain but once in a while it would pour. By the end of the day we were all wet and cold, who wants to camp in the rain, I guess we'll motel it again.

A great breakfast and coffee and we were ready to ride



Through the foothills, everything was so green and lush, a different world from California and Nevada this time of year






Rolling through the sleepy town of La Veta


We stopped by this cool old church and had to check it out



Reverend Dirk preaching against the sins of two wheel travel


and Fletcher confessing his bike could have used new wheel bearings


Maybe we should bust out the rain gear




Yep, rain gear was needed



A warm room, cold beer and a beautiful view out the front door

Hey Divine Intervention kept me from replacing those bearings. Otherwise we would not have gotten the free steak dinner and beers. Plus the Land Rover swag that will be getting.

Keep the pictures coming! I love new mexico, and new mexican food is even better!

Another installment tomorrow...

Day 4

Westcliffe, CO to Lake City, CO

The day started sunny as we headed off towards Salida but as we're getting used to, it rained again. The route from Westcliffe to Salida was beautiful, large aspen groves and green meadows. We rode over the continental divide and even saw 2 moose. Today was the first Rover sighting, as we were resting after Marshall Pass a silver Land Rover pulled up and asked us if we've seen any other Land Rovers around, little did we know how many times we'd see the same Land Rovers over the next 8-9 days. By the time we arrived in Lake City we were wet yet again and decided another night in a motel was needed.

Leaving Westcliffe



Into the hills, I loved the aspen groves, meadows and long abandoned homesteads and ranches







Just after Salida we hit Marshall Pass
Me



Through a nice canyon just before Lake City


Those 2 black dots up ahead are moose, I didn't even know there where moose in Colorado, with our limited knowledge of moose we didn't want to get any closer


More rain


Heading into Lake City for the night


I wish I'd taken some pics in Lake City, cool town. Great Calzone across from the gas station.

More to come...

Day 5

Lake City, CO to Telluride, CO

The shortest day we had by far.

We had a nice breakfast in Lake City and rolled out of town. Our first pass of the day was Cinnamon Pass, at the top there was four silver Land Rovers. I took a few photos while waiting for the group, soon Fletcher made it to the top and started talking with the Land Rover guys, after chatting with them one asked if they could interview us on camera. They mic'd up Fletcher and brought out the cameras, Dirk and I were just supposed to stay quiet while Mike did what he's best at...talk. I guess the British film crew was doing a special about crossing America on back roads while the Land Rover crew was tackling the TAT in pretty much stock LR4's and inviting journalists along to do the driving. We said our goodbyes and headed out. We did a quick detour to Engineer Pass, then on to California Pass and down the Corkscrew. These sections took forever, not the difficulty but the constant stopping to look around around and take pictures. It was getting late and raining pretty good once we made it through all the passes when we met a super nice fellow adventurer named Kevin, he told us he might know a spot we could camp near Telluride so we followed him and set up a cowboy camp in the trees next to a nice little creek. Fletcher and Dirk rode into Telluride to celebrate Fletchers new found fame while Kevin and I cooked up some dinner around the campfire and talked about bikes and rides.

Leaving Lake City under blue skies



Heading towards Cinnamon Pass






The first high pass of the day




Land Rovers...



The people that mined here must have been tuff

Man, I'm having flashbacks big time!! The Rockies are awesome!!! Be safe.....

I think it was a weather station but not really sure. Yep, MT43, pretty much the only tire I run anymore.

Notice, I'm always trying to find a "Husky" kickstand...

Day 6

Telluride, CO to somewhere in Utah (The San Jauns to the La Sal Mountain Range)

The morning was a little rough for Dirk, he got some news of a family emergency and quickly packed up and headed out to take care of family business. Our new friend Kevin had 300 plus miles to get in today so he quickly left also. Then there were two... Mfletch was not feeling so great after celebrations of stardom, we promptly packed up and headed out at the crack of 10 or so. The Rockies are beautiful but I was looking forward to the desert warmth. We aimed to get to Utah today, a few light showers and some hail and we were out of the mountains. Soon the weather turned again to high plain tornado type downpours we could not outrun. By late afternoon we continued to push on when we finally hit dry weather. Fletcher found a nice little paradise to camp at in the the La Sals, probably one of the top 2 places we camped at the whole trip.

Not too many pics on this day, we were trying to rack up some miles.

Fletcher, keeping the rubber side down wasn't so easy for him this morning


This section was a little slippery and we got lost a few times trying to find the right route


More aspens


Our home for the night




It's amazing how much crap you can stack on a TE450 when you find a proper kickstand


A nice gourmet camp cookout before bed

Day 7

La Sals outside of Moab to Green River, UT

Coming out of the La Sal mountain range and seeing the land open up before you is a sight, from alpine forest to desert in just a few miles. Today was a short ride day, we had to stop in Moab for tires and an oil change at Arrowhead Motorsports which as some may know is little more than Frank's house with two garages in the back. We were just happy he was willing to open up on Sunday to change our tires and let us change our oil. After bike maintenance and lunch in town we headed to Green River for the night.

We had to help drive some cattle to a new pasture


Looking towards Moab from the mountains


The TAT brings you right into Slick Rock from the back


Heading out of Moab towards Gemini Bridges


Once outside of Moab the roads open up


A couple of views from the state campground in Green River

Day 8

Green River, UT to Salina, UT

Probably some of the best riding on our trip today. I got a little lost following the GPS this morning but recovered quick enough. We felt we were catching up with the Land Rovers, we could see their tracks. If we weren't sure which way to go we could just follow the Rover tracks. Today was mostly very fun and scenic canyons. As we exited one narrow and long canyon the skies opened and we got wet, almost caught in flash floods, if we were an hour later it could have been dangerous being stuck in that canyon wash. The road turned into a river and lightning was hitting all around us, it was actually a little scary. We had to make our own track around a wash that refused to recede even though the rain had ended for an hour or so. Eventually we made it to Salina, bought some groceries and found a cool campground about 15 miles out of town, not on the trail but worth the detour.

Black Dragon wash






Eagle Canyon





The same photo everyone who rides through here takes...


Water everywhere and we need to find Husky kickstands


The wash from our hiding spot


A closer look


That wash receded as quick as it came and we were off, only to be stopped at the next wash


This one wasn't going down so we made some coffee and enjoyed the views


The wash kept rising


So we routed around


Our camp for the night outside of Salina

Yep, most of this trip I wished I'd had a 650-ish bike, I'm really considering a used 610-630 or a Terra, I want to do more small bike adventures. We would have short sections where a 450 was perfect but a whole lot more where a 450 just felt small.

Day 9

Salina, UT to Baker, NV

We took it slow this morning and had a nice breakfast at a cafe in Salina, we really didn't start riding until about 11am. The trail out of Salina follows the Paiute Trail from Salina through Richfield and on to Kanosh. Not too many pictures today, the Paiute Trail was fun but everything else was mostly wide open desert roads. The people in Kanosh were extremely nice and all the homes (which aren't many) are all perfect with perfectly manicured yards, it just struck me as odd for such a small community. The gravel roads after Kanosh were flat out sketchy with 6 inch gravel, I was only comfortable doing about 45mph max in some of it, once in a while you could see the marks where a bike would crossrut and hit the ground. We decided to stay in a motel in Baker and get a shower, cool town with decent food and nice people.

Up above Richfield


Paiute Trail



Why are these guys following us
http://www.fourwheeler.com/events/1307-land-rover-expedition-america/
http://blog.interactivelandrover.com/blog.do?id=952&p=entry


Wide, sometimes sketchy, deep gravel roads





The only shade for 50 miles, we took a break


Crystal peak, an odd white mountain you could see from miles away





Our home for the night in Baker