Death Valley Adventure
Saturday - March 14, 2009
It's going to be another day of adventure riding. Of course, it all starts with a good breakfast!
Aaron, Vern, myself, Jeff, and Jason filling up for the long day at the Panamint Springs restaurant.
After breakfast we go to get geared
up, fuel the bikes, and start gathering for the day's long ride. The plan was
Saline Valley Road, the Warm Springs, Steel Pass, Eureka Sand Dunes, Crankshaft,
Ubehebe, the Racetrack, Lippincott, and back to Panamint Springs.
Here we are just about to head down the highway towards Saline Valley Road.
Note how round my front wheel looks in this first picture!
We're soon heading north on Saline Valley Road. Our liitle group is comprised of seven (TravelToad, A.Vern, JAB, Jasonfb123, H8Chains, Spafxer, and me). Saline Valley Road is just a great road for the GS where you can really open it up, so while TravelToad is herding the cats (making sure everyone is making the right turns), I race on ahead.
I reach the point on Saline Valley Road just a little ways before South Pass where you get that great view of the Panamint Valley and take some pics.
Along comes Vern...
From here, it's over
South Pass and we regroup at the junction with the road coming down from
Lippincott.
I get there a few minutes before the others, and start taking a few more pics.
This is the very bottom of Lippincott Mine Road, which comes down from the mountains beyond.
The others start showing up...
Jeff and Jason
Here comes Vern...
Jim, followed by Joel and Aaron
Our travel guide, Aaron
Leaving the junction with Lippincott Rd, were continuing north on Saline Valley Rd.
I get about a 100 yards down the trail, and something doesn't feel quite right. I stop and discover I had forgotten to zip up my tailbag, and my camera's missing!
Luckily, Aaron saw it lying on the trail
and picked it up for me, but it no workee the rest of the day. Still got to take
it in to get repaired.
Next stop should be the Warm Springs. The big bikes take the lead with
Aaron racing ahead. Soon after a fun ride through Saline Valley, Jim and I see
Aaron standing by the side of the road ready to take our pictures and waving us
by.
Here we come...
There we go...
When he waved us by
what Aaron didn't realize that we didn't know where the turnoff to the Warm
Springs was, and we flew right past it and kept heading north. I eventually
stopped maybe about 4 or 5 miles past the turnoff figuring we'd better wait up
for the others. Jim decided to check out the road ahead, and I guess he kept
going for a little ways. Anyways, after about 10 minutes Aaron comes riding up
and says we missed the turn, so I waited while he ran down Jim to tell him the
same thing. Then we backtracked to the cutoff to the Warm Springs and finally
caught up with everybody else at Matt's truck (Matt had driven out to the Warm
Springs to have extra gas for many of us).
So here we are pulling into the Warm Springs after our little detour.
As I mentioned, Matt brought extra gas for several of us to use for the long route yet to come. So I grabbed a few gallons from Matt, and then also topped off with some from Vern.
I think Mike is
puzzled at how much the GS can drink!
A group pic and then it's off to Steel Pass (well, at least for some of
them).
So we're all set to head up Steel Pass.
For those that may not know, the road up to the pass is a pretty rough road - a
combination of loose gravel and boulders - some small, some large - some round,
some sharp. it makes for an interesting ride.
Our group of seven had met up with several more AdvRiders at the Warm Springs so
there was probably about a dozen or more that took off on the road to Steel
Pass. Since I had been towards the front of our group earlier in the day, I
decided maybe I'd stick back and help out as sweep for this part of the journey
- I figured I couldn't get lost again doing this.
Most of the group took off at a pretty good clip. I was hanging back, and we
were going at a pretty slow pace. I did have one "senior" moment
shortly after starting up the road. My right hand mirror had come loose and was
swinging back and forth. Instead of stopping to tighten it back up, I tried just
taking my hand off the throttle and tried to tighten it quickly while still
moving - not a good idea. I had my right hand on the mirror, got bounced around
by a rock, no throttle or front brake control, and a had a slow-speed fall onto
the left side. Not a big deal, didn't get hurt, but I now had my right-hand
mirror in my hand instead of on the bike - I had broken it right off. Jason was
there to help me lift the pig up, and I slipped the broken mirror into my
tailbag.
Just a little ways into the ride, Jason was having great trouble shifting and
his bike seemed to be stuck in about 3rd gear. So he was having great difficulty
keeping the bike running - 3rd gear was a little too fast for the road
conditions so his bike would stall; and then he would have trouble starting back
up from 3rd gear as well. We were losing time quicky to the riders in front, but
to Jason's credit he kept trying to forge ahead. Finally, I decided to ride
ahead and catch his brother Jeff since he had their tools. Jeff turned around
and went back to help Jason fix the shifting problem. Then I went ahead to catch
up with Joel to let him know what was going on.
Joel took this photo as I was coming up to him.
Talking it over with
Joel, we decided that one of us should probably head back and convince Jeff and
Jason to turn around and head back (as the day was getting later and later, and
continuing bike problems would not be fun). The other should try to catch up
with the riders up ahead who we are sure are starting to wonder where we
are and what happened. We both really wanted to make it over Steel Pass, but
Joel let me continue on since he would have more opportunities in the future
(it's a much longer ride to DV for me than him).
Here I am having the "who goes on, who goes back" discussion with
Joel.
You can't see my front wheel in this
picture, but I'm pretty sure it is still round. Anyways, Joel heads back to Jeff
and Jason.
I continue up Steel Pass trying now to catch up with the others ahead of me. I'm
not going very fast, but at a quick enough pace to hopefully catch up some with
those in front. I probably hadn't gone another mile or so when all of a sudden
my front-end feels like it is just bashing into every single rock on the trail.
My first thought was that I must have blown the front shock on the GS Telelever
suspension. So I stop and take a look, and it's not the shock. My front cast
wheel has a pretty huge dent in it, and the tubeless tire has lost all air.
Now I'm at a conundrum (is that the right word?). I'm assuming that Joel's
headed back to the Warm Springs and back to Panamint with Jeff and Jason. I
committed to continue on, and figure that somewhere up ahead Aaron, Jim, and
Vern are wondering what's going on. Being a virgin on Steel Pass, I'm not
exactly sure how much of this rock road is before me or even what the road ahead
has in store. But I decide that I better keep going - someone up ahead is either
stopped or coming back to see what the problem is and I committed to letting
them know.
So with the front flat, I keep going. Now I realize how much the air in the
front tire aids suspension, because it feels like I don't have any. I feel every
little rock that I'm riding over, and the cast wheel is getting more and more
bent out of shape - luckily the tire seems to be holding the bead, and I'm now
having to go pretty slowly.
I get another few miles and haven't run into anybody, and think again about
whether I should continue on or head back. I decided then that I was going to
just continue no matter what. Another mile or so up the road, and I run into
Vern on his 1150GS. Apparently he's been stuck for awhile. He ran into an area
with really loose gravel, and his big 1150 GS just kept sinking up to the axle
in it. He's pulled it out once or twice already, and tried again but just
couldn't get through this area. His rear TKC just didn't have enough tread left,
I think he would have made it with a newer tire. But I'm happy to have come
across somebody.
Vern stuck on Steel Pass
We talk it over and discuss our options. We look at the map and try to figure where we are and how far we have to go; and decide the best option is to turn back. As reluctant as we are to do so, it was probably the wisest thing to do. Still not knowing if anybody ahead is still waiting for us or coming back to check, Vern had a piece of paper and we wrote a note stating that we turned around and tried to place it in an obvious spot - just in case somebody ahead came back to look for us. We get our bikes turned around to head back to the Warm Springs.
Vern decides to take a picture of our moment of defeat:
I now get to look forward to riding the 12 miles or so of Steel Pass Road back
to the Warm Springs on my front flat tire. But just before starting up the
bikes, we hear the sounds of motors heading our way down the pass and 3 angels
show up!
Now these guys may not look like angels!
Dave:
Jim and Joe:
But they were
certainly the answer to my prayers!
Dave, Jim, and Joe had ridden up Steel Pass earlier in the day and were now
riding back down. Apparently, they had come across Aaron and Jim at the top of
the pass, who I'm sure were wondering where the hell the rest of their group
was. So Dave, Jim and Joe were on the lookout for us. That also allowed Aaron,
Jim, Matt and any of the other inmates with them the opportunity to continue on
their ride without worrying about us.
So the three show up, and Vern and I explain our situation. My front wheel has
at least 2 or 3 spots on both sides where there's a pretty large gap between the
edge of the cast rim and the tire. I think Vern said each spot looked like a
taco. I pretty much figured I'd be riding at least back to the Warm Springs on
the front flat, and then maybe need to get trailered out.
Joe said he's had some luck before with tubeless tires and cast rims in pounding
the wheel back in shape - at least enough to get the bead to set and hold air
again. What do I have to lose at this point?
So we get my bike up on the center stand and then start removing the front
wheel:
You can see one of those
"taco" spots at the bottom of my rim in the pic above.
Well, as soon as the wheel is off, Joe and Dave start pounding away on it with
the biggest rock close by. When that proved not to be enough, we searched and
found a bigger rock, and the pounding on my rim continued. Slowly, the wheel got
back to a reasonably round shape.
We tried inflating the tire with my air pump, then Joe's air pump, with C02
cartridges, and just couldn't get enough air in fast enough to set the bead.
So Dave volunteers to let me have one of his spare tubes. You see, it ends up
that Dave was the KTM rider that I met at the junction of Saline Valley Road and
Hwy 190 the day before. He thought he might be getting low on gas, and I offered
him gas from one of the spare bottles I carry. Turns out he thought he could
make it back to camp, and didn't need my gas but he figures it's going to be
good kharma to return the favor and give me one of his tubes - well good kharma
for me, unfortunately not so good for Dave but that's getting ahead of the
story.
Anyways, in no time Joe has the new tube installed in my tire, it holds air, and
we get the wheel installed back on my bike.
Dave's anxious to get going again, so he starts down the trail first. I was
getting all my tools put away, so I think Vern and I were following everybody
else. What a difference in riding now that I have air in my tire again!
Well, I don't think we get much more than about 1/2 mile down the trail when we
see Joe is stopped. Son of a bitch - he's got a dinged up front wheel and a
flat. Again, it's off with the wheel, find some big rocks, and try to pound it
back into shape to hold air.
Dave's way up ahead, and we know he's got one more spare tube so Jim takes off
after Dave, while Joe, Vern, and I are working on his front wheel.
We got Joe's wheel in a pretty round shape but still couldn't
get air in it fast enough to set the bead. Finally, Dave show's back up - Jim
had finally caught up with him. And Dave gives Joe his last spare tube. In a
flash, Joe's got that tube installed, it holds air, and we get his wheel
installed again. We're all good to go.
Dave's got another surprise for me too! I had lost my Spot Tracker earlier on
the ride up Steel Pass. It must have bounced out sometime after I had my flat,
because I remember hitting the OK button when I had stopped and discovered my
flat. Dave found it down the trail, about where Jim had caught up to him so I
now have my Spot back.
Jim had continued onto the Warm Springs, after catching up to Dave. And now, the
rest of us were on our way to the Warm Springs again too. Vern and I arrived and
saw Jim there. Then Joe shows up. Then ...
Well, then Dave doesn't show up!
Jim's the most rested, so he takes off back up Steel Pass to find Dave and the
rest of us wait. We wait and wait. It's getting later and later. After about 20
minutes, there's no sign of Dave or Jim. We're not sure if it's another
mechanical problem or if Dave has perhaps fallen and injured himself. Joe
decides to ride back up as well. It's about 6:15pm. Joe tells us that if it's
any kind of medical issue, either he or Jim would hightail it back to the Warm
Springs. If he's not back by 7:00pm, then Vern and I should head on back to
Panamint, and let Matt (who was planning to spend the night at Panamint although
his truck and trailer were at the Warm Springs) know. If Dave, Jim, and Joe
could make it back to the Warm Springs, they may just try to stay at Matt's
truck until help arrives.
So Vern and I are hanging around the Warm Springs. The springs are looking
inviting, but we don't know what the situation with Dave is and if we will need
to take off in a hurry so we stay dressed. In the meantime, there's naked women
(cougars not playmates) running around and getting in the pools. Unfortunately,
there's naked men running around too.
Around 7pm, Vern and I decide that we better take off for Panamint. We know were
going to be riding in the dark. We go ahead and find Lizard Lee (the caretaker
at the Warm Springs) and bring him up to speed with the situation - he's got a satellite
phone just in case it's needed.
Then we head on our way back to Panamint. We get a ways down the Warm Springs
Road, getting close to Saline Valley Road when we see a couple of riders coming
our way. Looks like GSA's but they don't bother to stop to talk to us, so we
keep on going. Turns out, one of them, Jeff, would take a spill before reaching
the Warm Springs and get's hurt pretty bad - he get's airlifted out later that
night (actually about 3 or 4am the next morning).
The ride back back to Panamint was fairly uneventful - and actually quite a bit
of fun. It's quite different riding at night with limited vision. Vern and I
rode a lot of the ways side by side so I could take advantage of Vern's better
lighting. We came across one couple in a car that were lost, and trying to find
their way to the Warm Springs and we gave the directions the best we could.
We also ran into Matt, who was heading back to his truck and trailer at the Warm
Springs. Knowing some of us hadn't showed up at Panamint, he figured it was best
to head back in case anyone was stuck at the Warm Springs.
We finally made it back to Panamint right at 9:30pm. I head directly to the gas
station/store because Vern and I have to change rooms that night at the hotel
and I need to get a new key (and get our luggage that was being stored in the
store). I arrive just as their locking the door for the night. They open back
up, give me a key to the hotel room, and I get our luggage.
Then, having stories to tell, and hot dogs to eat, we hung around the campfire -
and wondering what happened to Dave, Jim, and Joe. Just about the time, we are
thinking of turning in for the night, Jim shows back up at Panamint.
Turns out Dave had a flat on Steel Pass just after fixing Joe's flat. With one
of his spare tubes in my bike, and his 2nd spare tube in Joe's bike, Dave was
trying to get patches to hold. They finally did get it fixed enough to hold air
and continue on, trying to make it back to Panamint.
They passed the accident scene on Warm Springs where Jeff was injured. They
passed Matt who was heading back to the Warm Springs (and I think eventually
trailered Jeff's bike back home). Then both Dave and Joe had yet another flat.
So they had sent Jim back to Panamint to get Dave's truck.
Now I owe these guys BIG TIME, so I volunteer to go back with Jim to help out.
We reach Dave and Joe at about the intersection of Saline Valley Road and Hwy
190, and get their bikes loaded in the truck. We finally get back to Panamint
about 1:15 or 1:30am.
Well, I came to Death Valley for an adventure and I have to admit that I certainly accomplished that!
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