Dirt Farming: NY/PA style

Some pics from a short ride around Friendsville today.

Somehow I knew I belonged here...



In honor of Jomamma I came to this crossroad (what thread was that anyhow?)...



which led me to this...









and my buddies gargoyle...

Met up with some local guys for a ride this morning, 2 KTM's and a KLR. I'm the least experienced of the group so thanks for putting up with my slow speed today guys. Definitely learned a few things and only dropped the DR once and I'm blaming that on a slimy root in muddy condition...on a street tire.



Finding dirt...



Pretty nice so far. This is where we tossed the coin to decide which trail to ride. Stupid coin.:eek1



Mud and ruts. The KLR also had a crappy street tire on the back. We both paid for that...



after riding down the trail/creek bed we decided to give this trail a shot. Walked a bit of it and it looked decent enough...



had to turn back when we found a tree blocking that trail, back to the creek bed...



which lead us down to this...



Dan and Karl crossed to see what's on the other side. No go so we headed back the way we came...








I fell shortly after this...



Great ride and I appreciated finally having someone to ride with. Hope you guys let me tag along again. I promise to get a knobby on ASAP!

If anyone is following this thread from the area we're trying to find other riders for local rides. One of the guys I rode with today started up a page on Shutterfly. If you're nearby and would like to ride with us stop by and introduce yourself.

http://binghamtonadventureriders.shutterfly.com/

I also started a thread in the Regional section...

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?p=21392393#post21392393

Found a great new road I'd totally forgotten about. It's just across the river from my old house in Great Bend PA. It runs through State Game Lands and ties into some other dirt roads. Nice riding and I didn't see anyone else on the SGL road. The other dirt roads were in gas well areas and got pretty busy around 5:30. I guess thats when the shifts change. Otherwise they were also clear of traffic and a lot of fun to ride. I wonder if I can ride on the gas pipeline??? Anyone know?

A few pics of the SGL road.

This is known as the Million Dollar highway. Guess it must have cost a million to build back in the day which was probably way too much for a road from nowhere to nowhere.







Kept me on the pegs a good part of the ride.

Great pic's! Those SGL roads are some real hidden gems. I love discovering and exploring new ones. Gas related traffic can definately get heavy at certain times, even areas well off the beaten path.

I live and ride a lot between Lawton, PA and Laceyville, PA. There are some awesome new gas pipelines around here, however all of them that I know of are private property. Technically, the NG companies forbid ATV's (not sure about other vehicles), but in the end it's really up to the landowner. My neighbor takes a quad on his pipeline without issue.

There's an awesome stretch of pipeline that is just off the edge of my land. It leads up a steep hill to the dirt road a mile away on top. Until recently, I used to rip up and down it all the time, I can even get some decent air in a few spots. However, my neighbor just had the NG company plant some high octane deer food plot that runs the entire length, so out of respect, I now stay off the pipeline.

That's good info to know Matt. I'd read something last year on this site that made me think it was fair game riding the pipeline. I'm rethinking it now. I don't want to ruffle feathers and given my limited riding experience I'm probably better off staying on SGL roads.If you know of other areas that are user friendly I'd appreciate the info but do it thru PM's since we don't want all these other FF's knowing about them.
Do you have any specific nights you're free to ride? If you do I can meet you half way after work. There's a ton of dirt roads between you and me we can entertain ourselves with.

Those houses made me think of Edward Scissorhands!

I know. When I came off the dirt road and saw that shit I was blown away. Speedsville it basically an area of people living in old worn out RV's and cabins but it's on the fringe of Ithaca which is also a lot of people living in the back of the car but coupled with high spenders on daddy's buck going to Cornell and Ithaca college. A huge conflict of interest in more ways than I can put into words. Those "cottages" rent for $1000-$1800 a month!

No dirt tonight, bridge building instead. We've got a big project going on and I get to drive through daily to watch the progress. Headed over tonight to watch for awhile. Tried to find a place on the hill to get arial shots but no luck.

One of the old bridges coming down...



Want...









That middle beam was giving them problems, it was fitting a little loose I think. Watching the guy try to inch it over with a small pry bar was interesting. I love this shit and it's been fun watching it progress for the last year or so. Everyday my ride in to work is a bit different and so far traffic has been moving remarkably well.

I love watching stuff get built

Rode through this morning and they only managed to get that one spanner beam in last night, I was expecting to see all 5 in place since they work through the night on that stuff. Someones getting their ass chewed out this morning.

Had a great time trying to find new and old roads in Suesque county today. Hit the Million Dollar Highway again hoping to find new stuff but there's way too many gates and being older gentlemanly types we mostly behave ourselves.
Orangie breakfast cereal...



and peeing orange...



skidding to a halt "we need to go back and get pics of that house"...





No orange pee, seriously...but apparently, judging from the small orb, we weren't alone. I'm glad DanO wasn't actually peeing in that place...



DanO and Karl plotting to leave that slow DR and KLR guy in the dust as soon as we blow this joint...



DanO supporting the train and viaduct in Lanesboro, obviously they didn't ditch us at the haunted house. You'd be surprised how our big pigs hold their place behind those KTM's. (thanks guys for letting us keep up)



Finally we get muddy. Took all morning to find this deep puddle. I was pretty clean until here...





Bob, with jeans and mesh sneaks...



Those nice puddles respectfully provided by some very busy beavers. The dam they built was huge. I didn't get a pic of the dam but I'll post one as soon as one of the other guys sends it to me. Not sure how they planned on dragging this tree to the dam but it looks like they figured it was more work than they wanted and gave up on it...

Dark side pics from today...


apparently these squatters were avid outdoorsmen...

Just got a couple of pics of the DR in the puddle....

After reading so much about Bald Eagle riding here and seeing some fantastic trails I figured it was time to take a ride down and check it out. Although the weather sucked I had a great time and only got myself into trouble a few times. Lot's of good riding in this area and many trails marked for dual sports. Those are the ones that got me into trouble. No harm/no foul though since nothing broke on the bike or my body.

Wish I'd brought my tripod, the greens deserved sharper pics.



After getting rained on all night Friday I was able to nab this shelter for Saturday night. Nothing really dried out but it didn't get any wetter either so win for me.



Rocky terrain although the pics don't really do it justice.



more greeness...



What starts out as 2 track always seems to end up like this...





nice...



and soft sometimes...



Penns View but the view was fogged in so I turned around for this shot...



easy...





Decisions, decisions...



Again, the rocks appear smaller than they really are. The front suspension was moaning...which worried me a bit...





How could you not love a place with trail names like this...



and signs like this...



I highly recommend the meatball sub here (corner of 32 and 114)...



Great trip, about 4 hour ride from here if you don't get distracted along the way. It took me seven hours to get there Friday but I kept taking detours along the way. Highly recommended and I'll be back before the snow flies for sure.

Little correction if I may,,,Homan's General Store is at the junction of 322 and 144,,, you had the right numbers though!
Glad you had a good time in this neck of the woods,,, but why didn't you move the tag?

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=635646

If it's like it has been, you can do that next week-end!

Wish I'd have checked on the tag-a-rama before I left, I'm always up for a good tag.
Man, I really screwed up the route numbers. Thanks for correcting that.

If you come down again, post up.
Maybe can meet up for a bite or do a little ride together.
Just got my DR, so getting back into doing dirt and gravel that I haven't done for a looong time.

I'll do that. Riding alone out there could lead to trouble, always good to have a backup to help out if things go south.
Tell me scootac, how do they make the underbrush in the woods so damn green down there? I'm not sure I've ever seen such a vibrant green in the woods before. Maybe it's just from all the rain we've had. Astounding either way.

We've had our share of rain by far. Add in the warm/hot temps and things are growing like crazy. Not just in the woods, you can see it in the farm fields around here also.
Did you ride down from Binghamton or haul it down?