White Mountain Research Station Ride
Sunday - August 2, 2009
Today is the ride into the White Mountains. Woke up in the nice, comfy bed at the McGee Creek Lodge; and then headed over to the Brown's Owens River Campground. Just about everybody was already getting ready for the day's ride. Pretty soon, a group of about 8 us formed up and were ready to head out.
Leaving camp on Benton Crossing Road heading east - Joel leads the way
On Chidago Canyon Road
We took Chidago Canyon Road to Fish Slough Road, where we tried setting land speed records again. I think Bill won at a little more than 100mph. We stopped at the petroglyphs for a short while, and then sped on our way south again.
Waiting for everyone at the end of Fish Slough Road
The Honda's in the group headed towards Bishop to fill up on gas, and the rest of us headed towards the beginning of Silver Canyon to wait for them.
Soon we were on our way up Silver Canyon and into the White Mountain Range. I was having way too much fun riding up the canyon to stop and take pictures. At one point, we made a right turn and saw Randy stuck on a very steep and rocky section - the rear tire of his V-Strom just spinning away. Randy was going to ride with our group, but had mistakenly left with another group earlier that morning that took the pavement route to Silver Canyon. We obviously caught up with him at just the right time. He had a street-based tire on his bike and in a loose section of dirt and rocks on this very steep pitch, his wheel wasn't able to get the traction needed and he was burning up his clutch.
So several of us pitched in to help him back the V-Strom down the hill.
In the meantime, we had lost track of Joel.
Oh, there he is down the hill.
Apparently he had take a spill, so none of the group rode back down to help him. Randy was letting his clutch cool down, and then he was going to ride back down the hill.
So after contemplating it for a bit, it was our turn to tackle this steep, rocky section of the climb. Bill went up pretty easily on his GS, and then I went to take my turn next. Unfortunately, I got on the wrong line from the very start and started bounding around on my big GS - made a few saves before finally dropping it about half way up. With some help from Bill, and a few of the others, I soon had the bike on two wheels again, and made it the rest of the way up this steep section.
Most of our group made it up this section OK, except for one of the Honda 650's in the group (whose name I don't remember). It looked like he grabbed to much throttle at the start, because his bike went vertical. He ended up with a gash on his hip, so Eran decided to ride back down the hill with him.
We continued up Silver Canyon, and finally reached a plateau at the top with a beautiful view of the Sierra's to the west.
Both our group and several riders from other groups were taking a needed rest after the hard ride up, and enjoying the views.
Our group split up at this point. Some wanted to continue up to the Research Station; but Joel, Bill and I decided to head towards Wyman Canyon Road for a trip down the mountain.
Wyman Canyon was a complete blast! I should have stopped to take more pics (especially of the many water crossings), but was having way too much fun riding down this trail to stop. Much of the way, Bill and I were hauling ass, pretty much side-by-side.
Here's a few pics at one of the rare times we stopped for a rest.
We continued down Wyman Canyon Road to Hwy 168. The twisties on Hwy 168 were fun, and then we headed north on Hwy 395 and stopped in Bishop for lunch. Then it was back to camp. Dunerat cooked up some more carne asada for dinner, which was a great way to end the day.
The next morning I headed back home. Stopped for a night in Crescent City, on the coast just south of Oregon. Rode up the coast in Oregon, before cutting back inland and home to Camas, WA.
Getting There Yosemite WMRS Day 1 WMRS Day 2 WMRS Day 3