David, Mark, Greg and I thought it would be nice to get a break from the cold, so we headed south to ride for a couple of days. We used David's Extreme Backcountry trailer. We camped about 40 minutes south of Mesquite, NV, at Whitney Pockets, at the same place we camped before. The plan was to ride south on Wednesday with the goal of reaching Lake Mead, then on Thursday riding a big loop through Grand Canyon-Parashant National Forest.
Beautiful land out there. I've never ridden out there, but have flown over it hundreds of times. There's a huge sink hole out there too. According to our helicopters, it's at least 170' deep. If you find it, don't stand on the west side of it. There's a chain link fence around it too.
We rode through what I think is called the Gold Butte Wash. If you ride it in February you'll be able to ride through streams running down the wash. By the end of March it is dried up. Either way it is a lot of fun. We headed south past Lime Canyon Wilderness area, then stopped for lunch. David David, Mark Out of habit, Greg climbed up to look for terrorists hiding in caves in desert rock formations. No terrorists here (anymore)
We eventually made it to the shore of Lake Mead (Gregg Point I think) and noticed every few minutes a helicopter would come from the west, circle over the far western end of Lake Mead, then fly back. We supposed they must be tourist flights out of Las Vegas. Is that the case?
We continued to make our way south past Jumbo Peak. In one somewhat gnarly section Mark hit a rock with his toe. He said it was the worst he's ever hit his foot (and that's saying something), and he decided not to look at it until we got back to camp. We continued down a steep road with babyhead size boulders. Eventually we came to another pleasant wash that brought us to the shore of Lake Mead. Greg Greg, Mark, David
That night we had steak, breadsticks and corn. Mark finally pulled off his boot. He almost decided to go get medical care in Mesquite.
Yup. Those are the tourist helis. There's a few LZs out there that I used to land at when I was in the Air Force (combat rescue).
I think we rode a little less than a hundred miles Wednesday. Thursday morning: David provided the hamsteaks (as he did the steaks the night before) and we ate well again. Greg is the best chef among us. We did a clockwise loop out into the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument. It was a little over 100 miles, 4 hours moving, 3 hours stationary total. Here we are taking a break:
The pictures I've posted are poor quality ones I took with my cell phone. Greg usually takes a bunch of gopro footage, but on this trip he discovered his battery won't keep a charge. David had a good camera and also got helmet cam footage. I'll post those as soon as he sends them to me.
Good combo -- motos and camping! Glad there aren't any more terrorists up in those rocks. Coast is clear for the next inmates to ride in the area. Thanks!
So the pictures I added in the previous two posts are from the first day's ride, south from Whitney Pockets down to Lake Mead, all in Nevada. When we got back Mark checked his toe. Owie. This one shows the split skin on the front of his toe.
Aside from Mark's injury, it was a tranquil evening. Here is the sun going down in the direction of Lake Mead. The next day we headed east toward Arizona (Whitney Pockets is just a few miles from the border). Here are a couple of pictures from right near the border.
Old stone cabin. (RedRockRider, I'm guessing you've been to this place more than once. Is there a name for this cabin?) Is it still referred to as "photo bombing" if you're the one taking the picture?
Riding terrain was varied and fantastic. Huge amounts of fun. At one point my clutch stopped working very well. Turns out part of the clutch mount had broken off. Here's Greg patiently explaining to me how stupid I am. Here is some of the fast roads we found ourselves on as the day wore on.
Terrorist Removal is what i do best, my pleasure! This is one of my favorite ride areas! I do have some short Go Pro clips ill get put together and post as soon as i get a chance.
