Still Laid Off? Let's Do Nevada And Oregon!

The fun continues! As some of you already know, Eric got laid off recently and we've been heeding the advice my mother gave me when I was little..."make hay while the sun shines." We hit Utah for 2 weeks, then Eric worked for a few days, and then he had another week off. Not wanting to waste the opportunity, we loaded up the 610's and the LC4 and headed to northern Nevada. It wasn't a particularly quick trip...

Ok, so I just completed 2 weeks of rocky and sandy off-road splendor in Utah with nary a problem on my 610. It waited patiently in the garage for its next outing. We get to our preferred camp spot and as soon as I set foot on that northern Nevada goodness the unmistakable smell of spilled fuel greets me like a sledgehammer. Fuel is pouring out of my once-repaired IMS tank. About 15 minutes later I'm sporting Eric's IMS tank and he's mentally preparing to ride his LC4. Not a fan of the funky color scheme but I ain't complaining'. Not an inappropriate look for Memorial Day... ..


We took a short ride to a spot that provides an amazingly strong cell signal and made plans to get my stock tank to Nevada. We also wanted to do a shake-down ride to make sure Eric's tank was working well on my bike, as we had a good ride planned for the next day. The water in this normally-dry lakebed gave me hope for good conditions...



Not much snow in the hills. At least not yet, anyway...

We spent the rest of the day setting up our base camp and getting our bike-camping gear sorted and loaded for the next day's ride. The forecast was for rain and the meteorologists were spot-on.


We headed northwest the next morning and weren't on the bikes more than 10 minutes before seeing the first herd of wild horses...

Magnificent creatures, and very healthy this year...

This guy had a really funny-looking rack...


It's a good life out here if you're a horse...


It's also a good life if you're a rider with a week off work...




I got Eric a really nice collapsible rod and reel for Christmas but unfortunately we didn't bring it...

Too bad the steaks were still frozen, as this cool barbecue would have done them up right...

A monument to lost comrades out in the middle of nowhere...

Last Chance Ranch...

It was looking a little unsettled to the north where we were heading...

Maybe we should head south instead? Naah...

Even though the icy wind is screaming through the valley and the snowflakes are starting to fly, we decide to take the 4WD road on the other side of the ranch rather than get on the main road. Not a great idea, as it turns out...


More tomorrow, but don't worry...I didn't take half the amount of photos in Nevada and Oregon as I took in Utah

I hear ya. We let a lot of things slide in order to get in all the riding that we do, but we're both OK with that. We ain't getting any younger so the time is now, for sure. When we're 88 we'll still be doing the same thing, but probably from the relative safety and comfort of my Rubicon that I don't own yet

And, yeah, it was a zoomed photo but he wasn't that far away to begin with. They usually take off at breakneck speeds when they see us coming but this guy was a little more sedate. We don't see too many people out there (although on this trip we ran into more humans than we ever have before ) so maybe that's why the wildlife is a little easier to capture? Tons of animals everywhere.

Thanks, WHITEROCKET5.9

The wild horses are usually cool if you just stop and look. As soon as you start moving again they take off. I try hard not to make them run, as it puts stress on them that they don't need, but when they're running pell mell across the plain it's so beautiful it almost makes me cry. Seriously. I feel so fortunate to be riding amongst them.

Those are usually dry lake beds but they had water in them. Lots of recent precipitation had the lakes pretty wet. I'm sure the snow we got added to it after these photos were taken...

Oregon?

Yeah, baby



We rode into California, too

We headed out towards the ranch looking for a 4WD road that would take us closer to our intended destination. For the first time since using Benchmark Road and Rec atlases we couldn't reconcile the map with what was actually on the ground. We had to go through some gates, and while that is a common occurrence out here and there were no "private property" or "no trespassing" signs anywhere, we felt that we were probably on private land so we back tracked out of there and hit the main road back down past the dry lakes that weren't dry. All the while it was freezing. Yeah, I mean real freezing, like 32 degrees freezing. Screw camping...we passed through Vya and headed down into Cedarville and barely got ourselves some shelter at the Surprise Valley Hot Springs. The office was closed but I shoved my way in when someone came out. As soon as I had the key in my hot little hands the skies opened up and the rain and hail began pounding us hard. Can't hardly tell, can you? It was hellaciously loud on the metal roof...


Superb timing on our part, for sure. There was hardly anyone there and we were given the Buckaraoo Room, really cool old ranch stuff with old photos of a local ranch family. Ken's wearing those chaps in the photo...


Neat, but the best part was the heater and roof and naturally hot mineral springs hot tub on the private patio. It felt great after 170 really cold dirt miles...


The view off the deck was obscured by the weather so we wouldn't find out how beautiful it was til the next morning. In the meantime I pulled the steaks out of my backpack and cooked us some dinner in the fully stocked kitchen. You know it's cold out when your steaks are still frozen after being in your backpack for 9 hours...


Ahhh...now this is camping!!


We drank our wine and soaked away the night in the rain, thanking our lucky stars we weren't camping. We awoke to a superb view of the Warner Mountains off the patio...




We weren't the only ones grooving on the serene morning...


We soaked a bit more then packed up and left, knowing full well we'd be back for some more exploring in this remote corner of northeast California. We headed into town to fuel up our bikes and bellies. We were consulting the map but decided to let the snowflakes determine our path instead...


Sometimes not following the intended route can be a good thing...


Letting the weather dictate the route turned out to be really fun, as we ended up on some super-cool obscure stuff...


We were leaving this kind of stuff behind us...


And heading into what looked to be semi-pleasant conditions...(i.e. not snowing...)


We obviously took a wrong turn somewhere along the line...

After this section it started snowing pretty good so we stayed on this main road and put the hammer down, intent on making it back to camp before it got any worse. We even did a section of pavement that didn't suck too bad only because we knew we were getting close after 150 brutally cold miles. No more photos due to the snow and urgency...you guys are getting off easy this time

When we returned to camp Eric's twin brother Max was there with Eric's stock fuel tank. We switched out the tanks and prepared for the next day's ride. Eric would ride his LC4 and Max would manhandle Eric's TE610.

More later...

Don't I wish! Riding is waaay more better than working any day!

Max is Eric's twin brother. He used to roadrace with Eric but now he only rides dirt bikes with us once or twice a year. We put him on the TE610, now wearing the 5gal IMS tank. Eric rode his LC4 since it's more of a handful....
We headed south and paid dearly for it. When I whipped the thermometer out it
showed 36º and falling rapidly. I put it away since it was too cold to hang onto it without my gloves...
We stopped at a hot springs to thaw out a little bit and then hit the road. The clouds were spectacular! Sorry...no naked photos in the hot springs ;-)
Max wanted to do High Rock Canyon so that's what we did...

Found a cave with tons of swallows in it...
Max checking out the inscriptions carved by the pioneers on their way to California and Oregon...


I was in the lead and saw 2 vehicles coming down the track. This was kind of an off-camber uphill rocky section (can't see it in this photo) and I pulled over as far as I could to the right. Talked briefly with the lead driver in a maroon Cherokee, letting him know there were 2 more behind me and to sit tight while we got past him. He nodded and agreed to not move. As I started to ride past him he rolled forward and his Cherokee slid sideways down the incline and right into me. I didn't get hurt or anything (although there's a mysterious bruise on my left thigh that I can't explain) and luckily Eric and Max screamed at him to stop, but it definitely got the adrenaline flowing! I got out from under him, threaded the needle between the rear of his vehicle and the front of the red Cherokee behind him, and pulled an impressive wheelie up the rocks. Didn't mean to, I think it was just adrenaline overriding my usual finesse. Max ended up falling over when the red Cherokee in the rear kind of bogarted his line as he was coming up the hill. At least he was nice about it and asked Max if he was OK...which he was...
We continued on our way with no more drama...
Man, I love riding with the stock tank!



It was a little wet between the walls of the canyon...


Eric thought he'd be smart and ride up on the bank of this crossing, only to end up plowing through and sending up a swampy rooster tail...
I tried to take his line but when I went to transition up onto the edge of the grassy section I hit neutral and had to step off when I couldn't reach the ground in time...

I ended up canning the fancy maneuver and just took the direct approach...

Max's crossing was smooth as silk...
More in a few, I gotta go eat my pizza.

After leaving High Rock Canyon we jumped up on the plateau and headed up Wall Canyon, so named for the lovely wall of rocks that runs the length of the canyon. Some of you might remember when we came upon it last year when the big dozers were tearing through the wall of rocks during the construction of the Ruby Pipeline...





Well, this is what it looks like now...ugh!


Someone put a lot of effort into building the rock retaining wall behind this spring. Hard to tell there's about 5" of crystal-clear water under the plants...


Probably not as much work as this cabin...

We found the little road that runs up the face of the rock wall and headed up...





Eric riding into the clouds which opened up on us shortly after this photo was taken...

We got snowed on and rained on pretty good so we just hightailed it back to camp as quickly as we could. We did 170 miles for the day, which was no big deal for me and Eric, but that was a lot of miles for Max. He was pretty beat.


He was ready for more the next day, though! We had a good day planned, a quick jaunt up to place fresh flags on a plane crash site and a trip into Fields, OR for one of their famous burgers and shakes. The morning dawned bright and sunny for a change and the brothers were looking forward to a good ride...


The nicest day yet...


There were tons of cows in the hills and all the gates were closed, thus slowing our progress a bit...

It was totally worth it, though...

Lots of green grass due to the springs in this area...


Looking down on a mining cabin...

Three tiny little bikes on a mountain...

Oh, wait...there they are...

Max and Eric heading down...

Carrying flags to honor some vets on Memorial Day...


Where we're going...



More later...I gotta go eat dinner.

This last section got really steep and rocky. Max was doing great...right up until I stopped and turned around to make sure he was ok. Eric rode it up for him...

We all made it to our destination in one piece...

Our destination was the final resting place of a B-24 Liberator and her 11 crew members. The debris field has been sitting quietly in a meadow at 7500' for 67 years. All 4 engines are still there...






Beauty amongst the sadness and destruction...


Speakin' of sadness...

I've been thinking about these guys for 2 years...thinking they deserved fresh flags on this Memorial Day...


I toasted their memory and their service to our country with a good pull off my flask of Laphroaig 10 Year...


My heart was less heavy when I left the meadow...


Conditions were good once we got down out of the rocks...

There's a reason I ride a supermoto 610 in the dirt and not an LC4 640e...

Fields Station is always a "must-do" when in this area...


Waiting for cheeseburgers...


We wanted to soak in the hot springs but a rowdy extended family beat us to it.
We decided to go play on the playa instead



More tomorrow...

The Alvord Desert in Oregon is a wonderful place. The Steens mountains, hot springs, wild horses, solitude. And, of course, the playa...




Max had never been on a playa before. He was pretty much blown away...



The playa is the ultimate playground. It goes on forever, there's nothing/nobody to hit, you can see for miles in every directions...just huge fun! We took photos of each other doing our speed runs with the GPS...


I'm proud to say that my SM610 with dirt gearing, full-on knobbies and +16,000 miles on it reigned supreme on the playa with a blistering 104mph. That's 2mph faster than Eric's LC4 640 with fancy-schmancy titanium exhaust system, sooper-dooper carb, and extra displacement. His TE610 with Max aboard could only manage to lay down 98mph.

Oh yeah, my speed run included going through the only puddle on the entire playa. If you've ever been on a dry lakebed before, you can surely imagine the terror one feels when approaching a wet spot at speed. I just hoped like hell that it wasn't the beginning of a wet area as I surely would have been catapulted over the bars once the wheels dug in. No problem, as it turned out, but I still swallowed hard when I saw it approaching at +100mph. My view after turning around and following my tracks back to Eric and Max...


After we determined who was the baddest of them all (me) we just screwed around...











I had a blast carving big turns in the crusty surface of the playa. It's just such a free-for-all out there! They had to drag me, kicking and screaming, off the playa...



We headed back to camp and I promptly ran out of gas a few miles later. Gee...I wonder why? :teeth My stock tank wasn't going to make the whole 170 miles anyway. Eric topped me off with his 5gal tanker and we continued on. We spent the rest of the evening soaking, drinking and sitting by the fire. It was the nicest evening all week with no wind, mild temps and clear skies littered with stars. Turned out to be the most fun night in camp!

The next morning we glumly packed up and prepared to leave. Anyone remember the drunken pilots from years past that fly in from north of Seattle and drink and play naked bocce ball all day? Well, we watched them fly away before leaving ourselves. We watched John and Dana taxi away...


While Gail and Tracy (husband and wife in twin 1946 Cessnas) awaited their turns...


As is customary, they buzzed our camp to say "good-bye"...


Tracy is a madman...


Gail's shiny Cessna...



We left right after they did, bumming that it was over but glad we had the opportunity to come out and play in the desert we love so much. I was really pleased to be able to get the new flags up to the plane crash site for Memorial Day, and the Surprise Valley Hot Springs was a good find for our future adventures in northeast CA. It was great having Max along, too, as usual. Hopefully we'll be back next fall!

Thanks for coming along with me!

Thanks, ghte It's always good to beat Eric at something, regardless of what kind of bike he's riding. It's such a rarity I really have to savor it when it happens