White Mountain Research Station Ride
Friday - July 31, 2009
Friday was what I regard as the first day of the actual WMRS gathering of Adventure Riders. Most were camping at the Brown's Owens River Campground, so I headed over to the campground Friday morning.
Stonewall was organizing a ride over to a little red rock canyon, so I invited myself along. We headed east on paved Benton Crossing Road, and then it turned to dirt.
This is Cory. His wife rides a Ural Sidecar, an together they're known as HotMamaAndMe.
Here comes NotBetty.
We re-grouped before hitting the Chidago Canyon Road.
Chidago Canyon Road winds through a small red rock canyon.
Here's HotMama on the Ural.
After getting through the canyon, the road straightens out and we hit the intersection with Fish Slough Road.
Most of the group were planning to head north towards Benton, but Kelley and I decided to head south towards Bishop.
Here's me heading south on Fish Slough Rd.
Kelley on Fish Slough Rd.
We literally flew on Fish Slough Road, racing along at over 90mph, hitting 100mph in a few places.
Soon we came to a small area with petroglyphs...
My riding buddy for the day, Kelley.
We continued south, and hit the intersection with Casa Diablo Road and Chalk Bluff Road. We took Chalk Bluff west towards the highway, and then south into Bishop. On Stonewall's recommendation, we ate at the Petite Pantry - great food at a good price.
After lunch, we returned on Chalk Bluff Road, and then turned north on Casa Diablo Road. After a few tricky turns, where you need to be careful of not missing the turn, the road straightens out and it's time to fly again at excessive speeds.
Soon, we were back to the campground, and more and more adventure riders were beginning to show up and set up camp.
Joel showed up with Cathy, and they were looking to organize an afternoon ride. Soon another small group formed, and we took off north from the camp taking Hen Sage Road onto Owens River Road.
Getting ready for the afternoon ride.
Sopascat (Cathy) was intense on her DRZ400.
Kelley on his big KTM.
There they go...
Time for a break.
A typical pose for Joel - taking photo's
Another break...
We took some pretty fun trails through the forest.
Joel was riding so fast I could hardly keep him in focus...
Eventually we got to the top of Lookout Moutain, that provided some great views of the Sierras and the surrounding areas.
Soon we were on the trails again, trying to find our way back to camp.
Here's RSKE checking his supersized GPS for directions.
The rest of us are following along...
Here I am...
I think we were going around in circles for a little while in the forest, but we eventually found a pole-line road that appeared to be heading in the right direction. Unfortunately, it soon turned into a sand wash. Cathy went down in the sand, and I helped her up.
A little ways further, she went down again but this time I took pictures first.
Another 1/2 mile down the road, I dropped my GS. Luckily RSKE was there to help me pick the big GS up.
Soon, we were back to camp.
Dunerat cooked up a great Carne Asada dinner.
About the time it started to get dark, I left the camp to head back towards the McGee Creek Inn.
Getting There Yosemite WMRS Day 1 WMRS Day 2 WMRS Day 3