Riding/Camping with Neighborhood Dirt Bikers
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- GrizzlyGuy
- Forever On The trail - RIP
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Riding/Camping with Neighborhood Dirt Bikers
Pete dropped by my house late Thursday night and said that his motley crew of dirt bikers wanted to do an overnight ride, leaving the following day. Did I want to go? Sure I did! Pete knew of a great campsite out in the Bowman Lake area but didn't know how to get out there on dirt. I said no worries, leave that to me. I had no time to plan a route or get together my camping gear, but knew that my GPS map and always-on-board survival gear ought to have me covered.
He had arranged for someone to drive a truck out to the campsite area with all the camping gear, food, booze, etc. Cool! But when I showed up to his house the next day, he said the truck guy had bailed, so now I had to be expedition navigator and mule (dirt bikers can't pack much gear on their bikes, see here):
With the limited amount of space available on my Grizzly for their gear/food/booze and the extra Kolpin I brought along for them, they had to make some tough choices: naturally the booze won out in almost all the choices.
We started in Prosser Hill OHV, rode the dirt roads north to Henness Pass Road. and headed west. Here is a Google Earth shot of the route from where we started to where we took a break at Webber Falls:
From the falls we continued west on Henness Pass, hung a left at Webber Lake, onto Meadow Lake Road, then on out to Meadow Lake:
From Meadow Lake we went north to the intersection with the road that goes between Jackson Meadows Reservoir and Bowman Lake, turned west toward Bowman, then turned south toward Sawmill and Faucherie Lakes. The one-way trip is 39.4 miles per my GPS track log.
Pete re-found his sought after camp site along Canyon Creek. The dirt bike crew (Eric, Pete, Soren, Gina) and I are now happy campers at dinner time:
This has to be one of the best camp sites in the Sierras. You're camping right next to this:
Which flows into a deep pool with a natural diving board:
You can get into the water up in the rapids and go shooting down them like you're in a flume. When the current takes you to the diving board you climb out, walk the plank, jump back in.
My survival gear came in handy. For reasons unknown, they had brought enough water for a day of riding but not enough for two days of riding, and no one but me had a water filter. Two flip-flops sustained mechanical failures during the water play but were repaired using some McGyver skills and bits of this and that from my first aid kit. Calls home were made via the sat phone. My hank of paracord did Bear Bag duty overnight. The Gorilla wrench even worked well for splitting firewood chunks from a dead tree.
Speaking of first aid... those supplies came in handy two. All of them had wiped out at least once on the way there, and Gina wiped out twice, both times right in front of me. When copious amounts of alcohol failed to numb the pain, my supply of Advil, Aspirin and various other pain relievers was quickly depleted. Or maybe it was the copious amounts of alcohol that required all the pain relievers. I forget, I was trying to do my share of consumption duties...
We came back the same way the next day. I was hoping to take them on some different/rougher routes on the way back but the after effects of the prior evening's activities nixed that idea. I wasn't bummed out. Getting only about 3 hours of sleep on my survival kit's crappy air mattress didn't exactly lead to a go-get-em attitude for me the next morning. But it was still a great trip!
He had arranged for someone to drive a truck out to the campsite area with all the camping gear, food, booze, etc. Cool! But when I showed up to his house the next day, he said the truck guy had bailed, so now I had to be expedition navigator and mule (dirt bikers can't pack much gear on their bikes, see here):
With the limited amount of space available on my Grizzly for their gear/food/booze and the extra Kolpin I brought along for them, they had to make some tough choices: naturally the booze won out in almost all the choices.
We started in Prosser Hill OHV, rode the dirt roads north to Henness Pass Road. and headed west. Here is a Google Earth shot of the route from where we started to where we took a break at Webber Falls:
From the falls we continued west on Henness Pass, hung a left at Webber Lake, onto Meadow Lake Road, then on out to Meadow Lake:
From Meadow Lake we went north to the intersection with the road that goes between Jackson Meadows Reservoir and Bowman Lake, turned west toward Bowman, then turned south toward Sawmill and Faucherie Lakes. The one-way trip is 39.4 miles per my GPS track log.
Pete re-found his sought after camp site along Canyon Creek. The dirt bike crew (Eric, Pete, Soren, Gina) and I are now happy campers at dinner time:
This has to be one of the best camp sites in the Sierras. You're camping right next to this:
Which flows into a deep pool with a natural diving board:
You can get into the water up in the rapids and go shooting down them like you're in a flume. When the current takes you to the diving board you climb out, walk the plank, jump back in.
My survival gear came in handy. For reasons unknown, they had brought enough water for a day of riding but not enough for two days of riding, and no one but me had a water filter. Two flip-flops sustained mechanical failures during the water play but were repaired using some McGyver skills and bits of this and that from my first aid kit. Calls home were made via the sat phone. My hank of paracord did Bear Bag duty overnight. The Gorilla wrench even worked well for splitting firewood chunks from a dead tree.
Speaking of first aid... those supplies came in handy two. All of them had wiped out at least once on the way there, and Gina wiped out twice, both times right in front of me. When copious amounts of alcohol failed to numb the pain, my supply of Advil, Aspirin and various other pain relievers was quickly depleted. Or maybe it was the copious amounts of alcohol that required all the pain relievers. I forget, I was trying to do my share of consumption duties...
We came back the same way the next day. I was hoping to take them on some different/rougher routes on the way back but the after effects of the prior evening's activities nixed that idea. I wasn't bummed out. Getting only about 3 hours of sleep on my survival kit's crappy air mattress didn't exactly lead to a go-get-em attitude for me the next morning. But it was still a great trip!
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Re: Riding/Camping with Neighborhood Dirt Bikers
sounds like a good trip and looks like a great swiming hole!
South Side Keeper
Paynes Creek 2017
Paynes Creek 2017
- auendave
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Re: Riding/Camping with Neighborhood Dirt Bikers
I agree good trip, nice camp spot, copious amounts of booze, swmming, what could be better?
Paynes creek 2013
- BruteForce
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Re: Riding/Camping with Neighborhood Dirt Bikers
Nice! I need to head west and get in on one of these boozing rides!
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- QMaze
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Re: Riding/Camping with Neighborhood Dirt Bikers
Awesome, and a dirt bike girl,,woohoo.
Re: Riding/Camping with Neighborhood Dirt Bikers
It IS a cool place!
Wherever I go, there I am
Paynes Creek 2016!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
16 Yamaha Wolverine R-Spec EPS SE
09 Yamaha Grizzly 700 FI 4x4 EPS
Paynes Creek 2016!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
16 Yamaha Wolverine R-Spec EPS SE
09 Yamaha Grizzly 700 FI 4x4 EPS
- GrizzlyGuy
- Forever On The trail - RIP
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Re: Riding/Camping with Neighborhood Dirt Bikers
EigerMike wrote:sounds like a good trip and looks like a great swiming hole!
It would have been better to have a half-dozen scantily clad female masseuses/barmaids delivering drinks with little umbrellas directly to us, and massaging our weary muscles in between dips in the natural pool. A meteor smashing into our campsite would be a lot more likely to happen than that, so yeah, we had it pretty good.auendave wrote:I agree good trip, nice camp spot, copious amounts of booze, swmming, what could be better?
I know they have 'The Big Ride' out in your parts, so we'll have to set one up and call it 'The Big Boozer'. Unfortunately once you introduce booze into the equation, not much riding seems to get done. On the way out, people want to take the shortest path so they can get to the booze that much quicker. Then the next day the easiest route to home is about all anyone is able to handle!BruteForce wrote:Nice! I need to head west and get in on one of these boozing rides!
Yeah, the chicks in this area are pretty tough and fearless. If you spot a drama queen down in town or on the slopes, you know she's probably a tourist.QMaze wrote:Awesome, and a dirt bike girl,,woohoo.
Hah! You already discovered that place, I should have known that The Great Explorer would have been there first. Looks like there was less water in your shot so I'm guessing it was taken later in the season(?).hemingray wrote:It IS a cool place!
TV For Thrill Seekers: http://AdventureWorld.TV
More Videos: http://GrizzlyGuy.TV
Some More Videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/ATVGrizzlyGuy
Photos: http://www.GrizzlyGuy.com/ATVs
My quad: Grizzly 700, 25" Bighorns, Bash Plates,
Warn 2500 Winch
More Videos: http://GrizzlyGuy.TV
Some More Videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/ATVGrizzlyGuy
Photos: http://www.GrizzlyGuy.com/ATVs
My quad: Grizzly 700, 25" Bighorns, Bash Plates,
Warn 2500 Winch
Re: Riding/Camping with Neighborhood Dirt Bikers
Yep, that was last October - cool difference! I stumbled upon that site and thought was one of the coolest spots around, being right on the water.
Wherever I go, there I am
Paynes Creek 2016!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
16 Yamaha Wolverine R-Spec EPS SE
09 Yamaha Grizzly 700 FI 4x4 EPS
Paynes Creek 2016!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
16 Yamaha Wolverine R-Spec EPS SE
09 Yamaha Grizzly 700 FI 4x4 EPS
Re: Riding/Camping with Neighborhood Dirt Bikers
Neat trip Eric.
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Ken Hower
RTF Director
http://www.rubicontrail.org/
Regards,
Ken Hower
RTF Director
http://www.rubicontrail.org/
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