Eastern Arizona Mountains, Valleys, and Rivers.

[russbryant]

Great looking ride Dawg. Nice pics too!!

Russ
Tucson

[mntdawg]

The moon over Oak Grove canyon greeted me in the morning.





I miss judged the sun rise by several degrees.









Looking right down Turkey creek with the Tablelands above.





Start of the Oakgrove narrows.









Before I pack, I think a lot about riding further out unloaded, but I have to keep reminding myself not to push this bike in the harder stuff.





I packed and started down.









I stopped at the top of the first switchback,looked into Turkey,then walked down for photos.






Things sometimes look a lot different going the other direction.

The next five are a set as I walk back up.





















Rolled right down to the top of the second switchback.













One last tough spot.





And I was in the canyon bottom.






























Back at the confluence of Araviapa and Turkey creeks.





Araviapa creek.

[mntdawg]

Originally Posted by Twentyniner

Good stuff. We're gonna have to get together and ride again soon. I still have the DRZ 400 as well as the Super Beast Tenere.

Sounds good.
I will be doing more of this remote riding/camping, as well as trail riding

[mntdawg]

Thanks Russ,

I finally got a bike suited just for this stuff.
Some great trip planes are brewin

[mntdawg]

Flying up the valley on a very freshly graded dirt hiway, I decided not to spend a third night as planned, The wind had picked up out of the SSE. I still wanted a little more though and headed up Rattlesnake Mesa road.











It has been six years or so since I was last on it.













It stays on top of this ridge for a long way before dropping to a saddle.





It drops to that saddle, then climbs back up in the trees and snow onto Rattlesnake Mesa.





I did not feel like playing in the snow (had enough of that already this season) and Turned back towards the creek.





I found a place out of the wind and cooked a good lunch. The farther south I went the wind was strong consistent and colder. I battled the wind all the way back to the Jhonson road where there are a few hills to knock it down a notch or two. Back in Dragoon I was blasted by this guy again at the same gate, what are the odds.







All said and done I rolled 378 miles. A good guess is 100 miles give or take of pavement. The DR feels good.

[seabee1]

Originally Posted by mntdawg

No.

Ok. I guess I won't meet you there, then.

[Reidy008]

Nice report mate.

[alcanrider]

Thank you!

[Comrade Art]

Nice pics. I had a DR 650 a few years ago; very reliable and easy to ride.
Enjoy your bike

[SportsGuy]

Awesome report! Love that you do this solo. ;)

Thanks for taking the time to share all this with us, too. :)

[mntdawg]

A cold busy week after getting back, so I planned the best weather day, Thursday, for trail riding with another inmate.

This shot is taken at 4,500' elevation, the peak in the back is 8,460'.







The valley in the foreground, saddle in the center left, and peak/lookout center, all share the same name.




After throwing the loaded DR around for a few days, it was a joy two smoke again.

[Psycho18th]

Thanks for the great reports. I'm running somewhat of the same setup. 200EXC for the gnarly singletrack and a DRZ400 for the longer dualsport type adventures. Haven't done a bike only overnight yet, just longer day trips on the DRZ. How do you like that Giant Loop bag on your KTM? I was thinking about using one on my DRZ, as the E-model doesn't have a substantial subframe to mount a rack to.
Psycho

[Domromer]

Awesome! Can't wait to see more. Have you ever checked out the queen valley loop? There is some really nice riding back there.

[mntdawg]

The Mojave GL I use primarily for extra fuel capacity, Ramz showed me the Touratech 2L fuel containers that fit perfect and are bomb proof.On the newer version the tool bag is removable. I really like the ability to mount GL products on all the bikes I own, here it is on my 400.








The Coyote GL Is used for lite multiple day rides, it works well on the 400.






I did not like the way the Coyote GL fit on the 650 with the rack on. The Drtbagz set up had plenty of room, so I used the Mojave for fuel.

[mntdawg]

I have climbed and jeeped in the Queen crk, Oak flat and Devils canyon area. But that was almost twenty years ago.