I know, all these chocolate referrances might be getting old but its the best description of the color, texture and rideability of our soil when wet so just deal with it! Met up at the Professors private .7 mile trail/track for a little warm up. Kurt had some new jetting that needed to be sorted before we head up into the forest. You can see part of our sandy ditch trail from space! We had great riding up to this old lookout. A one guy had never been to this vista so its always fun to share the perspective. Kurt. Dave approaching the top. A little bit of snow but it was kinda warm and easy to get consistent traction. Thick snow down in that drainage below, well stay out of there today but a super fun double track with about 12 good sized water bar jumps exists, Super fun to hit it going uphill. Check out Daves axle tool/spoon combo! The Professor and his 620 with North Sister under a blanket of weather. SuperVW on that smoky/stinky XR rolling back down the butte. Kurt - thats Tam McArthur Rim and part of Broken Top on the horizon. Dave - Professor - I was in front and spooked up a 12 pack of deer through here. Those guys saw some of them too as they scattered then started to double back. Some sugar frosting on the coconut/pine needle/gravel bottom ditch - Kurt. Here comes smoky - Did I mention this thing stinks too? Dave - Watch out for that root that tries to throw you into the trees. Into another loamy ditch through the recent burn. XR smoke lingering. Yummy caramel with some almonds thrown in for crunchiness. Kurt - Lots of possible new lines through here now. Fire good. We bushwacked through some new stuff to connect with the sandy ditch trail. This is not even worth considering unless its soaking wet. - which it is today! Kurt - Dave - Hmmmm - wonder where that one goes? Well have to check it out another day. You gotta exit the ditch in a few places. This is sand. Wet sand! Then back into the ditch. After about 5 miles of sandy goodness, we chose this super fast old 2-track we call the tree farm. SuperVW got to try out some other bikes and was blown away at how much easier the 450 is to ride. Almost out of time, we head back down another ditch. Someday well cut that log out of the way but for now, its a cool, get-around feature. Zero dust today. I occasionally ski with this guy and its really great to see him progress on his first legitimate dirt bike. Danger! (sort of) Headed home from here. Found a small shed horn and Dave carried it back to the beer cooler. We had a perfect saturday (11/13) of rolling around the moist forest floor on the edge of the high desert. December 1st this will all close for wildlife habitat and migration. Opens again on April 1st. We might get one or two more rides up there but its supposed to start snowing tomorrow.
What a great ride to finish off the Fall, start the Winter! The sandy ditch trail was a blast and everything else too!!! Felt super good to get out for a ride. Here are some more shots