Pozer : Time for some balance practice/ Foresthill Trail 5 & 6

My Gas Gas Pampera has been on the shelf for 5 years now. But I always told myself " once I retire I'm going to use this thing to practice my balance skills", so I kept it on the back burner and never sold it. I'm so glad I did too this little monster can go anywhere as long as its under 45 mph and shorter than 40 miles between gas stops. Anyway I recently did retire and well; that was like winning the Lotto. Finally work wasn't getting in the way of life. Only now it seems I don't know how I ever had the time for it. My whole day is always filled up with some grand project or multiple smaller ones.
So anyway, I finally got around to getting that Pampera ready for a trail ride. Seems I haven't been to Forest Hill OHV. for maybe 10 years so I thought I might see if I could still ride trail 5 & 6 without too much fuss.

I have an adventure ride coming up in about a month in Colorado and I want to get in a little balance practice so I don't make a total fool of myself. I haven't been riding much lately with all this retirement- fix up and sell the house and move stuff going on. So I get up early and proceeded to get lost getting there. I guess its been longer than I thought. Not too far out of my way maybe an hour. Regroup. Drop off gas can for refuel at China Wall stage. Drive to Sugar Pine Stage area. Proceed to get turned around again looking for trail 6. OK everything is Good to go. I ask a fellow rider who points me in the right direction. By the time I reach trail 6 its early afternoon. But I came all this way so it has to get done.... I proceed; solo.

A little dusty but hay I'm not following anyone so everything is good..... for now.

And then I come to this! Luckily for me I was on my Gasser. This bike just walked right up this thing! Amazing!

Then I came to this. I suppose I could always backtrack if I need to.

Near the end of the trail 6 loop you come to a cross trail of the Western States trail and from Forest hill to Robinson Camp; it's offroad legal. Its been forever since I'd been down to the river on the WST. and I may not be back this way again for a long time so I gotta do it. Very tight switchbacks; again I'm thankful for the Gasser; its' so small and nimble. A true pleasure in the extreme tight stuff.

The bridge at the bottom; after about 20 switchbacks.

This may be the last picture of the day but it wasn't the end of my day. My little ride soon became a mini adventure preceding my planned adventure to Colorado. Just above the Western States Trail and back onto trail 6 again I make my way toward trail 5 when all of a sudden I'm not sure which trail leads back to the staging area. ( it crosses a couple of roads and I got my roads mixed up) I head down a fire road and flag down a truck. He says I need to turn around and go the other way to hit Forest Hill Rd. So I head the opposite direction; looking down at my odometer I realize I don't have much fuel left. Within 30 seconds I'm out of gas. OMG! Time to walk. So I ditch my bike and my gear in the woods and head up the road. Two miles and fifty Hail Marys later I reach Forest Hill Rd. I only walk about 100 yards down the road when all of a sudden my answer comes meandering down the road (but in the opposite direction) I stick my thumb out but he cruises on by. One minute later he's coming back down the road; he stop and asks if I need help. He was camping in the area and recognized me when I road through his camp ground earlier in the day. He just happen to be changing camp sites when he came upon me. He was the only person on the road; it was a Thursday afternoon. To make a long story short; my new friend not only gave me a lift back to my truck ( 5 miles away). He helped me retrieve my motorcycle. That little miracle saved me at least three hours. He went away well fed for his efforts. Another good day!

Awesome story!

Glad it worked out ok. I have a co-worker that rides that area, some pictures were familiar, don't think I want to do those trails on my heavy pig of a KLR.