Heh forum name change mid post...
Ok second day.. Again click on the pic for the large 8 megapixel version.
Woke up with the dawn sore pretty much everywhere, the good aching sore from a good days workout, I really should have warmed up a couple weekends at Red River before the trip, and the left forearm still a bit rubbery and cooked up a double portion of oatmeal and some coffee and then Casey and Scott got up so we packed up and got ready to ride out battleaxe trail, provided we can find it as the map for it is back in Mesa in the truck.
Pumped the camelbacks full for about 3 liters each.
We rode up a trail and stayed on the one that looked like it had the most and the most recent traffic, after several miles we ended up looking up at a very steep climb up into a saddle that looked to me like it might be a couple hundred feet. Scott and I already had picked up his bike once this morning, and the GPS didn't show this road as even existing, but it did show some other roads that went out to the highway back down closer to the river.
So back down we go, to chase other trails, which after much chasing we took a deep sandy wash that went toward the river just to eliminate the possibility of any roads heading out that direction as we would have to cross them.
Well no roads did, just one small and unused looking trail that appeared it could peter out in 100 feet.
At some point we went back up to the steep climb again, that part is a little fuzzy.
Anyway by this time it was after 12:00, peak heat of the day, water half gone. My outlook was to avoid what happened yesterday with a down KLR on a steep incline with heat exhaustion and no water and being even farther from the river, and maybe on a dead end trail we didn't know where it went. Sounded like a recipe for trouble to me, the kind that can kill a fella if it goes bad enough.
So I suggested we just go back and camp, cool down, and hit it again at the crack of dawn, or at least at about 4-5 when the heat was falling off with full water. All agreed and that's what we did. No need to do anything that could get dangerous, we had enough food for a few days and all the water we needed at the river.
About the time we got water refilled and Casey and Scott were cooling off in the river, a jeep comes down on the other bank looking for a ford over to our side, and Casey grabs a ride to town to find out if a) the trail we were looking at went anywhere, b) if he could get a truck to ford us over the river.
By this time gas was beginning to be a real concern.
I guess I didn't take any pictures that day out riding, my camera apparently ate enough dust it was making real loud noise when the lens moved in and out. I decided to minimize pics for now.
A shot looking down into the old ford we were camped by, the river bank shots and where the truck backed up to are right down there.
Me and Scott's camp for the night.
What two days of rock crawling and a high hp thumper does to a Terraflex...
So having brought a week worth of food to cook, I set up the svea stove and made some grub for me and Scott, and we kicked back and took it easy that afternoon. A modded Jeep cherokee came by on our side of the river and we talked to the guy, which convinced us 90+% that that climb we balked at was in fact the way out, and the last tough obstacle on it followed by 7-8 miles of more trail.
So we ate and slept well, or at least I did. Around dark we started hearing some alarming sounds... Remember that sign at the desert entrance in my last post?...
All the sudden the sounds we heard down river became more clear, helicopters. Then around dark we start hearing what sounded to me like .30 cal machine gun fire, LOTS of it, thousands of rounds.
I took a little stock... I'm prone in a low sandy spot, 50+ft tall solid rock wall 25ft to one side, 20ft tall sand bank 200ft the other way, I'm pretty safe and I sacked out after listening to it for an hour or so and slept like a baby most of the night, Scott can fill ya in on the night he had.
So morning comes, more hot oatmeal and coffee, refill the water bags, and sit around trying to fill time waiting for Casey. Some military Helos fly over and Scott makes a small attempt to flag em down with no success. We were fantasizing about having them pick the bikes up and drop em across the river and be waiting there for Casey.
The day passed, we loafed, ate, loafed, thought about what frying up some of the local reptiles might be like (I might have if I'd grabbed the two foot lizard I saw that morning) and decided if Casey didn't show up by dark we would cross the river and hike ten miles down the RR tracks that ran parallel with the river to the next little town and call him and see what was what.
Well right as it got late into the afternoon here comes this behemoth truck on the other side, with tires as tall as my bike, woot! was worth this just to see that truck and watch it in action.
No pics from me of it, I was busy riding all three bikes down through the washed out sandy ford to the bank and loading them all up, as I was the only one with boots and riding pants on. I did grab caseys vid cam and shoot some video though.
Nice truck I must say. Ohh and Casey then whips out the map that shows exactly where we were and where the climb out was.
So we get across the river in about the coolest truck ever, eventually get moving, meet some fine members of the U.K. military having their own party, and ride 18 miles of mixed dirt/silt/gravel to a little town, where I told Drew and Drew that dinner was definitely on me at place of their choosing. We grabbed rooms at a little fleabag, and down to the mexican restaurant we went. Major good vittles, and we ate a lot of it.
Back to the hotel with the little window AC that was louder than my bike, and another night of good sleep on a full stomach. I guess it was about this time we discovered Scotts rack bolts had been sheared in half, and we need some non trivial repair, like a drill and a bolt extractor, and some higher grade replacement bolts... But that goes into the next day.....
It was a very nice little camping spot on the river, I really enjoyed it there. I'll remember it for a long time. And we did need the day break as the next day the arms and legs were no longer sore and good as new.