Prntckt
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Only did the segment from Rabbit Valley to Westwater and back that took about 3 hours at a leisurely pace
Rayger143
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1border4manu
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Thank you for allowing us to come with you on your rides.
CID
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Well, crap, here I am in Utah … again … 😛 It’s like a giant black hole for me, I can’t escape its pull. 😍
The view from my seat tonight -
The view from my seat tonight -
I didn’t know that you could get a SxS Licensed in Colorado. Nice view.
DG Rider
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I've been aware of the Pinal City wagon tracks since i moved to the area, but today is the 1st time I've actually gone to see them. 120+ year old wagon tracks from the Silver King mine to what was Pinal city, just west of Superior, AZ...
Nearby is Queen Creek and an oasis in the desert...
Further south is Arnette Canyon and the L.O.S.T. (Legends Of The Superstition Trail) trail spur off if the AZ trail. This is a non-motorized trail, but I will definitely be bringing the MTB up here next fall...
Nearby is Queen Creek and an oasis in the desert...
Further south is Arnette Canyon and the L.O.S.T. (Legends Of The Superstition Trail) trail spur off if the AZ trail. This is a non-motorized trail, but I will definitely be bringing the MTB up here next fall...
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Rayger143
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Went up to Chute Lake Lodge with my kids for a burger and beers. Easy ride along the Kettle Valley Railway.
The even neater thing about those old wagon ruts is that you can also see the footprints of the mules which pulled the wagons. They evidently stepped in the same tracks every trip. Great photos.
Nice that they replaced the rails and ties with boards so the public could enjoy the views from the trestle.
CID
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Someone has to do this so I accept the responsibility. 
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Looks like a beautiful area to ride in.
HBarlow
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@CID
When you drive your motorhome out to your riding areas do you spend several days in the area?
Do you see other off-road riders or are you generally alone in the wilderness?
When you drive your motorhome out to your riding areas do you spend several days in the area?
Do you see other off-road riders or are you generally alone in the wilderness?
1border4manu
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If you ever need to take a few days off from your responsibilities, please let me know. Would love to have a ride, with views like that.
CID
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The desert - either you get it or you don't. I have red sandstone in my DNA Helix. 😍 I got introduced to southern Utah in 1972 and have been back almost every year since, this is my 51st year.
Hi Harvey, hope things are going well for you.
I look for jeep roads in the GAIA topo, the more roads showing, the harder I try to get there. I also use Google Earth (also free) to find the desert 'color' and home in on those areas. It's my preference to stay put, secure the one 100 watt solar panel (enough for my conservative uses) and kick back, riding 'some' every day in whatever direction calls to me.
Initially, I just leaned the panel in the direction of the sun. But the wind came up one night and sounded like an all night tornado. It ripped the panel off this location, breaking one bungee cord and straightening the hooks on another, flinging the panel 40 feet.
Luckily, I don't latch the MC4 solar connectors so it was able to unplug itself and landed face up, doing very little damage. 😍Now I secure it to the trailer, after drilling strap holes around the perimeter. To answer the question, why not mount the panel on the RV roof - maybe someday but, aimed at the sun, one panel is enough, mounted flat and I'll need at least two. That and I don't really want to drill holes in a roof that doesn't leak and I don't know where the trusses(?) are located to screw into.
GAIA Basic is free and supports my iPad, Windows desktop and Android phone. If you have any computer skills (I HATED the damn things except for GPS tracking, photography (free pictures
) and forums), download GAIA GPS and have a look at it. (gaiagps.com)On this recent 4 day 'sprint', I was connecting some loose ends that I had missed previously, so I moved daily. I rode this new loop clockwise, starting in the upper right (camp just off screen), the sections are numbered. 4 and 7 were new connects, I'd ridden the other tracks before.
Section 7 was longer and twistier than I had thought and much of it was dried mud, which can wash away with any heavy rain. If I do this again, I'll ride it CCW so I get the muddy (possible) section behind me. If it has washed out, there will be a LOT less backtracking. Section 7 is much of this potentially unstable mud -
One of my favorite screen shots, tracks I rode in one ~3 week visit - 1500 miles, 60+ gallons of fuel; had to run to town 50 miles away to refill the trailer (47 gallons). When I find an area covered with jeep roads in the topo, I know it's going to be good. 😍
Mid Florida to the desert is quite a bit further for you than myself @ ~450 miles. I have friends in northern Arkansas that would love to have me in the neighborhood but it's too damn far from the desert (and I don't do humid).
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HBarlow
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@CID
Thanks for the story. You live an interesting life. Free as a bird!
Apparently you don't have a problem with bandits stealing gasoline or other items off your trailer when you're miles away on a ride.
How many miles and hours do you ride in a typical day?
Thanks for the story. You live an interesting life. Free as a bird!
Apparently you don't have a problem with bandits stealing gasoline or other items off your trailer when you're miles away on a ride.
How many miles and hours do you ride in a typical day?
CID
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First, to answer an earlier question - I rarely see or meet someone else out on the trails, so, yes, alone in the wilderness.
Theft - I takes my chances but The Desert, USA ain't mexico. I have a buddy taking a year off to do a 'round the world' trip, first leg to the tip of South America. He had been in mexico for less than two weeks, parked in a gated courtyard and the low life, scum sucking azzholes stole his painstakingly outfitted $$$$ DR650 dual sport motorcycle. Rule of law means nothing to them nor to 'law enforcement'.
I've ridden from ~20 miles to 145 miles in a day and from ~3 hours to maybe seven. A couple of great friends set me up with 1-1/2 terabytes of movies on a hard drive to entertain me in camp. I'm not hyper active and have no trouble relaxing around camp; since I'm in paradise IMO. 😍
Free as a bird, indeed - (fwiw: I know there are happy marriages, I wasn't in one of them)
I learn from my mistakes -
And my ever present sig -
"A single guy can walk around without explaining it to anyone...… Married guys can't go nowhere. There always has to be a plan, a list of errands, a system, a destination. Alone, your life is intuitive, like poetry. With a woman, it's a form of bookkeeping." Garrison Keillor
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HBarlow
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@CID,
Do you keep a log book or other written records to record your trips? If you eventually get too old to continue wandering in the desert you might enjoy reviewing the memories of the "good old days."
Do you keep a log book or other written records to record your trips? If you eventually get too old to continue wandering in the desert you might enjoy reviewing the memories of the "good old days."
CID
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To a point and not very consistent but yes, I write down over 50% of my rides. The track logs are a YUGE part of those memories.
As are the photos -
These clouds and the sprinkles they brought, chased me out of the area before I was 'to the end'. But this, when wet, is impassable. I always try to get to the 'end', I may never be back and a track log isn't complete if it doesn't get there.
The environment is so harsh and the soil is so devoid of organic matter, few weeds grow here -
HBarlow
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Your excellent photos are strangely and eerily beautiful. In a different context you could have shown me the first three photos and told m e it was the moon and I would have believed you. I have not previously seen photos of that terrain.
Some of your photos could be enlarged and printed on high quality paper and sold in desert museums.
I wonder how many people have ever explored that area?
Some of your photos could be enlarged and printed on high quality paper and sold in desert museums.
I wonder how many people have ever explored that area?
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