timh
Explorer
"Moto Misadventures"
I had been planning this ride for quite some time. Our goal was to ride from Mammoth, AZ, across Rug Rd to Turkey Creek and back in a day. I have driven Rug Rd. before and remembered it being extremely rocky but I figured it would be easier on a bike. This would be my first mistake...
The "Home Alone" saguaro.
My buddy Gary and I drove up to Copper Creek rd. Friday night to camp where we would be meeting up with everyone else Saturday morning. This camping trip would also count as our February full moon camp. I know the full moon isnt until tomorrow night but I can't camp during the week.
The five of us hit the trail at 9am the next morning. We take a quick break before descending carpet hill.
The high point of the ride.
A few of the loose shale hills that we had climbed were grueling and tough to keep moving, but two of the hills that we descended were far worse. We began descussing exactly how we planned to attack the hills on the way back. We soon realized that we were going to potentially run out of daylight if we waste any time. I had been telling the guys that I have heard of others riding all the way to Wilcox and looping around to the San Pedro Valley to get back to Mammoth, and doing this all in one day.
Turkey Creek at last. By now everyone had had their fill of rocks, this Wilcox idea started to become a possibility. We couldn't remember how far it was but I hadn't driven it before and it seemed like it wuld be doable. Two of the five of us only had stock tanks but we had a couple of soda bottles of fuel. Everyone agreed and we started toward Wilcox. After riding quite a few miles out of the canyon we came into Klondyke where we found the sign that said 61 miles to Wilcox.:Wow1: Uh oh, were committed now, better to run out of fuel on a highway than the middle of nowhere.
We had also geared the bikes down for the rocks so our cruising speed, without being too high in the rpm's, was only about 45. When my friend Curtis finally ran out of fuel about 20 miles outside of Wilcox we pulled off the road. Not 1 minute after doing so a really nice fella pulled up and asked if we were lost, we told him about our situation and he he kindly offered up some gas that he happened to have in the back of his truck. He says to us "it's 98 octane, I hope thats OK." :victory: We press on and arrive at the truckstop in Wilcox at 4:00, greatly regretting our decision. We weighed our options, 80-100 miles of boring dirtroad in which will be mostly after dark and freezing, or hotel and ride back the next day. We had settled on a hotel when Curtis started making some phone calls. Unbelievably he found a friend that was willing to come down and pick us up that night, and drive us all the way up to Mammoth to our trucks. We hopped across I-10 and settled in at the local Pizza Hut. We relaxed enjoying some cold beers and wings until Mark arrived around 9pm. After loading up the bikes and making the journey back to Mammoth I finally got back home at 12:30 Sunday morning.
I couldn't have asked for a better group of guys to have ridden with. They all rolled with the punches and had a great time where many people would have whined and complained. This one will provide some good stories for future campfires.:ylsmoke:
I had been planning this ride for quite some time. Our goal was to ride from Mammoth, AZ, across Rug Rd to Turkey Creek and back in a day. I have driven Rug Rd. before and remembered it being extremely rocky but I figured it would be easier on a bike. This would be my first mistake...
The "Home Alone" saguaro.
My buddy Gary and I drove up to Copper Creek rd. Friday night to camp where we would be meeting up with everyone else Saturday morning. This camping trip would also count as our February full moon camp. I know the full moon isnt until tomorrow night but I can't camp during the week.
The five of us hit the trail at 9am the next morning. We take a quick break before descending carpet hill.
The high point of the ride.
A few of the loose shale hills that we had climbed were grueling and tough to keep moving, but two of the hills that we descended were far worse. We began descussing exactly how we planned to attack the hills on the way back. We soon realized that we were going to potentially run out of daylight if we waste any time. I had been telling the guys that I have heard of others riding all the way to Wilcox and looping around to the San Pedro Valley to get back to Mammoth, and doing this all in one day.
Turkey Creek at last. By now everyone had had their fill of rocks, this Wilcox idea started to become a possibility. We couldn't remember how far it was but I hadn't driven it before and it seemed like it wuld be doable. Two of the five of us only had stock tanks but we had a couple of soda bottles of fuel. Everyone agreed and we started toward Wilcox. After riding quite a few miles out of the canyon we came into Klondyke where we found the sign that said 61 miles to Wilcox.:Wow1: Uh oh, were committed now, better to run out of fuel on a highway than the middle of nowhere.
We had also geared the bikes down for the rocks so our cruising speed, without being too high in the rpm's, was only about 45. When my friend Curtis finally ran out of fuel about 20 miles outside of Wilcox we pulled off the road. Not 1 minute after doing so a really nice fella pulled up and asked if we were lost, we told him about our situation and he he kindly offered up some gas that he happened to have in the back of his truck. He says to us "it's 98 octane, I hope thats OK." :victory: We press on and arrive at the truckstop in Wilcox at 4:00, greatly regretting our decision. We weighed our options, 80-100 miles of boring dirtroad in which will be mostly after dark and freezing, or hotel and ride back the next day. We had settled on a hotel when Curtis started making some phone calls. Unbelievably he found a friend that was willing to come down and pick us up that night, and drive us all the way up to Mammoth to our trucks. We hopped across I-10 and settled in at the local Pizza Hut. We relaxed enjoying some cold beers and wings until Mark arrived around 9pm. After loading up the bikes and making the journey back to Mammoth I finally got back home at 12:30 Sunday morning.
I couldn't have asked for a better group of guys to have ridden with. They all rolled with the punches and had a great time where many people would have whined and complained. This one will provide some good stories for future campfires.:ylsmoke:
