Ride Report: Trailriding at China Hat 11/9~11/07

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Ride Report: Trailriding at China Hat 11/9~11/07

Postby Tawmass » Mon Nov 12, 2007 1:20 pm

On Thursday I hurriedly jetted home after work, loaded up the trailer and bike, then got into the parade of slow, Interstate Five, stop-and-go traffic heading south to Salem. A few friends from work invited me to go ride on the East side and I have a difficult time saying no to fun. I couldn’t find my ‘camping check-off list’ to confirm items, so I kept going over and over what I might have forgotten. I eventually pulled into Sisters and hit the grocery store, stocked up on a few eats then continued my way out to China Hat Staging Area (East Fort Rock). Only a few miles out of Bend, there was a horrific display of blood and guts splashed onto the pavement where some unfortunate dear and driver met up, which reminded me how dangerous it is driving in Eastern Oregon. When it comes to bumper burgers, everyone loses.

I finally crested Horse Ridge and descended into the turnoff at Millican Valley. On the way in, there were countless critters darting across the road, such as mice, jackalopes and deer. Oh, and can’t forget all the slow-moving elk (aka: cows)! Scary!

As I was within a few miles of the camping area, I noticed a flickering of light in the distance. Odd, since there are no visible city lights in that area, other than the Millican Store area. Then the flickering became clearer and I realized it was night lights from riders. I had a hunch it was Kent, Michael and Billy and, once I found the campground, sure enough they came rolling in sporting their new Trailtech lighting gear – nice! They had to ride 60mph at night down the entrance road to catch me too! Guess I shoulda stopped on the road when I saw them. :D
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I set up my camp next to Michael’s monster, land-yacht toy hauler and we settled in for the evening. After awhile, Ray also showed up and joined the ranks.

The next morning had everyone stirring at daybreak and what a glorious day it was! The sun was bright, the air was crisp and the dust was – dusty. We started out, eventually spreading ourselves out to avoid the brown clouds. As an added plus, Billy was sporting a spand, branking new Katoom 300EXC with a button. It’s the oddest sounding thing ever: zzz, zzz, ring, ding, ding… Unbeknownst to Billy, I velcro'd a tiny, brass bell to his new KTM, so that he'd wonder what the heck the sound was when he was riding. Billy caught on quickly and I was busted, so then stealthily attached it to Ray's KTM a little bit later. And another plus, was Mark Zertana also showed up (Billy’s Pa In-Law) to join in the fray - was great to see him again.
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Kent was the designated ringleader, mapping out routes for the entire weekend, of which he did a super job. On this day (Friday), our intended destination was to make our way down south to East Butte Lookout and back.
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This was a pretty fun section as we made our way down. We actually happened onto a few sections where the trail groomers must have been recently, since the trail was smooth, albeit dusty. Of course, the whoops were relentless as always, especially heading up to East Butte Lookout, but the view up there was spectacular! The resident lookout keeper must have plenty of time, since there was even a squirrel playground! Mark and Billy weren’t impressed with the suggestion that we had to wee off the tower… Also, Ray was complaining about some sort of 'dinging' sound eminating from his bike. :lol:
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We then made our way back towards camp paralleling our original path and catching some very fun trail.
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Back at camp we had lunch consisting of Michael’s awesome barbecued hamburgers, hot dogs and assorted health food offerings by Ray. Afterwards we almost succumbed to nap time from the food, but then caught a second wind. Speaking of wind, Billy and Ray are rancid and have some serious health issues. Kent attached a couple missing bolts for his radiator and we were off.
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We started out only a mile or two from camp heading east on #45, a rocky, lava trail, when I came around the corner and saw Billy picking up his bike and staring and the broken clutch-basket cover. Evidently he had a slow-mo tip over and one particular piece of lava rock (attached to the center of the Earth) mated with his engine case and something had to give. It wasn’t the rock. With only 30+ miles, Billy’s break-in ride was done.
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Fortunately I had a tow rope and yarded Billy back to camp. He said afterwards that it was one of the scariest things he’s done, since I was peppering him with cinder rock, then the 40+mph down the pavement capped it! Nice helmet, Billy.
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Billy was now relegated to hanging at the campground drowning his sorrows with PBR (Pabst Blue Ribbon), so we gave him obligatory sympathy, and then went back riding. We all had some fun climbing one particular rocky uphill just north of camp (entertained some other riders), wound around some more trails, then pointed the horses back to the barn.
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Back at camp, Billy had a nice fire cooking and the barley pop was spilling. Unfortunately it was spilling in the fire too, as the PBR bombs rang throughout the night, scaring the bejeezus out of us each time they exploded. Good times! This was also about the time I remembered an item I left at home - a chair.
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Saturday morning came bright and early with a few rain drops covering the ground. I heard it sprinkle on my trailer twice that night, but not enough to keep the dust down. This day’s ride would have us going north across Highway 20 to the Millican Area and back. Dejected, plus needing to head to the Valley to watch a football game, Billy took off. In his place, Stefano showed up with his pristine Husqvarna 510 and he was amped to go. This was the start of Kent, Michael and Ray making continued, failed attempts to pronounce Stefano's name properly. It's pronounced "STEFano" guys! :wink: I of course installed the secret bell on Stefano's Husky, but he knows every square inch of that scoot and caught me immediately - busted!
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We headed out again up a nasty, rock-strewn uphill, that Stefano wisely opted out of, then across the nasty lava trails that took its toll on Billy, and then headed towards Hwy 20 on trails #30 and #36, followed by rain clouds, that even brought out a rainbow. We then passed through the deep sand whoops, of which Ray despised. Notice the wild tracks in the background!
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Passing through the culvert under Hwy 20, we started up the north side of the highway. This had a few surprises in store from the loose rock on one particular uphill section. Notice how Kent protects himself from Stefano’s roost!
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CLICK HERE to watch a short video of Michael making a valiant attempt at a nasty uphill!

We then found our way up a large cinder cone that was a blast to go up AND down! If you look closely you'll see my ghost...
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We then turned back towards the ridge summit above Hwy 20 and caught excellent trail back down to the culvert crossing again.
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The rains started to become more prevalent as we headed back west across Millican and once again caught more newly-groomed trail – sweet!
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Back at camp, it was time for burgers and dogs again, thanks to Chef Michael. Ray had to reluctantly jet, so we were now one less in the group. We again donned our cold, wet gear and took off NW eventually making our way onto #20. As we rolled north, the sun started to get low in the sky and cast its last pieces of light onto Mt. Hood in the distance – stunning! When we finally got from #24 to #20, wow, was this a hoot, as it appeared to be newly groomed, plus went back and forth for miles and felt just like skiing!
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After a few miles of #20, Kent took a major digger on a particularly nasty uphill. Fortunately he was fine and was especially glad he had all his armor on.
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As we got going again, I realized how great it was to follow a two-smoke bike again, since so many bikes are now four strokers. Sorry Kent, but Billy's exhaust smells better than yours. :wink: It was now really starting to get dark and, although we had headlights, they were only the stock 35w units. We started making our way back and talked to Ty Card and his buddy along the way.
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Back at camp again, Stefano had to take off, then we relaxed for the evening. Kent ended up with a very nice strawberry on his shoulder and Michael had a bruised left wing. The day had left its mark. It was good though, since chicks dig scars.
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The rains were now constant yet Kent and I still wanted to do a night rip. Our plan was to ride up to the Pine Mountain Observatory, since it has been years since I’ve been up there. Kent hooked up his nightlights and we took off down the main highway (it’s okay folks, we’re street legal) and turned south on the red-cinder road. That’s about the time I started thinking that it was freaking cold! I kept shivering inside my layers of gear and my digits were starting to become permanently affixed to the grips. Now I was having second thoughts about this ride, but didn’t want to wuss out to Kent. That’s about the time he said, “I’m freaking freezing!” Whew, didn’t have to ask me twice as we ditched the cinder road and rode a trail over by the China Hat ISDE Staging Area, then hit the road back to camp. When we were almost to camp, I could see a pair of car headlights coming at us. No problem as I slowed down behind Kent, but then I saw some flickering in front of the headlights and shadows moving around, but I couldn’t see clearly amid the showers. Then Kent dove off the road and I trailed him, not knowing what the heck was happening! Slowly a group of about six bikes, sans headlights, slowly went by us on the road, in front of a pickup with headlights somewhat shining ahead for the riders. Man, that was scary! Kent and I then made our way to Michael’s toy hauler, where he thankfully had some very hot apple cider just waiting for us. I proceeded to make love to that warm cup of cider and eventually felt the blood coming back to my pinkies.

For the entire weekend we covered almost 160 miles of epic fun. The weather covered the map, just as we did and it was one of those memorable rides that will be remembered for years. We’re already making plans for the next one!

You can view my full set of pictures here:
http://tawmn.smugmug.com/gallery/3815059

You can view Kent's full set of pictures here:
http://sumpter.smugmug.com/gallery/3817505

Below are Friday's and Saturday's respective routes.
-Tom
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You don't stop riding because you grow old, you grow old because you stop riding.
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MortimerSickle
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Postby MortimerSickle » Tue Nov 13, 2007 5:18 pm

Nice write-up. Looks like some good riding over there.

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YamaHead
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Postby YamaHead » Sat Dec 01, 2007 9:56 pm

MortimerSickle wrote:Looks like some good riding over there.


Absolute Haven for DualSport riding 8)


Nice Report Tom =D>
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NO FEELIN' LIKE 2-WHEELIN'! 8)

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brad21
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Postby brad21 » Wed Dec 05, 2007 7:41 pm

Here's what it looked like yesterday!

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Tawmass
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Postby Tawmass » Thu Dec 06, 2007 7:34 am

Wow, you don't see it like that very much over there - thanks, Brad!
-Tom
You don't stop riding because you grow old, you grow old because you stop riding.

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