Bass Lake - My favorite CA. trail riding destination

[Crawdaddy 96]

The first “organized” Dualsport ride I ever attended was the 2002 Bass Lake 250 (roll chart?, Easy/Hardways?)……I was clueless/ill prepared ……and I had the time of my life!!!! :clapping: (link to Red Hot Riders Newsletter write-up about my first organized dualsport ride: http://www.redhotriders.com/newsletters/newsletter_08_02.pdf )........the Dualsport hook was set (firmly)…..I immediately joined the O.C. Dualies (the sponsoring club)………I’ve tried to get back up there at least once a year ever since…….likewise, the 2005 Bass Lake 250 marked the first “organized” dualsport ride for my son, Jarrett (then 13 ).

Soooooooo, we wanted to get in one last father/son ride before he swears into the Air Force this coming Wednesday……….and it only seemed right that we should return to Bass Lake where it all began (for both of us )……..a few SDAR buddies were able to join us (Strega, Joliet, SXP, DigDug)……the last member of the group was Gil Busick (Mr. GPS from D37) who, coincidentally, I initially met at the 2002 Bass Lake ride (we were camped next to one another)….

We rented a guest house from a fellow O.C. Dualie member/friend (Russ Martin) who is retired in the Oakhurst/Bass Lake area…….lucky guy, what a fabulous place to live…..close your eyes and imagine riding away from your doorstep to the southern tip of Yosemite …….without your tires ever touching pavement!!! :lol2: ……......it’s NOT a dream :lazy: , it’s Russ’s reality!! :tease: …..how sweet is that?

On Friday we rode over to Jone’s Store for lunch/gas only to find they had no gas available…….this changed up our game plan a bit and we re-routed over to Wagner’s Store for gas before dropping down to the Whiskey Falls area to finish out the ride……..we had so much fun on Friday that we opted to reverse the route between Bass Lake and Wagner’s on Sat morning (with some more single track exploration thrown in for good measure)……Sat afternoon we had a great time but we also had a few incidents that will be discussed in greater detail as the pictures come on board (I didn’t take any photos but the other guys did)……

Yesterday morning the fun continued…..we rode some unbelievably fun/scenic trails and we were back at Russ’s by 12pm before packing up and heading home…..I think we rode about ~350 miles this weekend......guess how many other riders we encountered? - "0".....the trails were not only awesome, they were empty......how cool is that? :dance3: .....Bass Lake is the :bomb: !!!

Like I said, I didn’t take any photos this year but here’s a link to some photos from two years ago while we wait for the boys to post up some pictures/trail tales from this year’s ride:

Chris's 07 Bass Lake Photo's

A couple of video's of Jarrett crossing the creek at the Big Sandy campground:

Jarrett's initial Stream Crossing at Big Sandy CG

Jarrett crossing back over, wheelie, crossing - followed by Anthony crossing

[Jaynen 0]

I had no idea! I need to get the trail maps from you. I have been dying to ride the area. I have been on some trails but no clue where we were and it was when snow was on the ground so it was muddy and slick

I know I have said it before but my father in law owns property right there

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source...=17&iwloc=A

I think Bob Bailey a good friend of my father in law mentioned Russ if hes the guy whos been leading small dual sport rides out there for years and years and sets up all the larger dual sport routes.

How was the weather did you guys go this past weekend? I really want to get up there its one of the reasons I want the wife on a bike so she doesn't get left behind

And again if people want to hit up the area there is plenty of room to park a toy hauler or a few or whatever else at my Father in law's place. Not that I think its expensive out there

P.S. I didn't know you had a KTM 400 for Jarrett

[Joliet 0]

Here are a few pics to get it started.

[Strega 0]

One of the best trips I have EVER been a part of, it was amazing. 300 miles and didn't come across any other riders on a holiday weekend. Samir took a ton of pics for us, it was great. And DAMN that guy can RIDE.

Couple of SXP's pics:

All of the pics are HERE

[SnailDarter 0]

that my rear sprocket -- looks vaugely familiar

If so I hope it didn't cause too many problems.

[Strega 0]

that my rear sprocket -- looks vaugely familiar

If so I hope it didn't cause too many problems.

It made it till the last 7.5 miles and then had to be trucked out. That thing was in some bad shape. Glad we all made it out safely even after the Pteradactyl hit me in the face and sent me over a cliff.

[Crawdaddy 96]

that my rear sprocket -- looks vaugely familiar

If so I hope it didn't cause too many problems.

The bike ran great Fred - Thanks again for allowing Jarrett to use it......yep, the "needles" on your rear sprocket broke off on day two but as Roger typed, Jarrett made it pretty close to camp before it just completely failed.....the hydraulic brake line went out about mid day on Sat. so Jarrett rode with a rear brake only on the tail end of day two.........not sure what snapped the brake line? :clapping: .....Jarrett is washing up the bikes today and changing the oil/cleaning the filters.....also told him to swing over to All American to pick up a brake line.....we'll get that installed this evening when I get home from work......

[Crawdaddy 96]

..........even after the Pteradactyl hit me in the face and sent me over a cliff.......

:clapping: They're not going to get it........you'd best explain and see if they're buying what you're selling ......Glad you're .......things could've ended up MUCH worse :dance3:

[Jaynen 0]

Whats the deal on the case carnage?

Pterdododdactyles?

Looks great guys

[Joliet 0]

Roger, you said that was all the pics. I don't think so..., that really gets me steamed.

[Strega 0]

..........even after the Pteradactyl hit me in the face and sent me over a cliff.......

:clapping: They're not going to get it........you'd best explain and see if they're buying what you're selling ......Glad you're .......things could've ended up MUCH worse :dance3:

After the large log, we headed down the trail a bit. In a descending right hander something hit me in the goggles, could have been a bird, flying squirell, butterfly, or possibly a spear thrown by one of the aboriginals still hidden out in the woods. Anyway, as I looked back onto the trail I was deep into the turn, now sliding, I low sided the bike as to not go over the cliff but the momentum was too great. I hit the edge, high sided, did one complete roll with the bike over the edge, and the right footpeg caught a bunch of bushes and hungup as I continued off the bike down the slope landing back first on a stump. The 2 empty water bottles in my backpack saved me some serious injury, as I was without chest protector or flight vest since I left them at Crawdaddy's place in Ramona (not on purpose). I crawled up to the bike and radio'd I had gone over the edge. I heard a bike go bike so I yelled and it was Joliet who quickly stopped to come help. I was holding the bike as I thought it was going to break lose and any moment. He jumped down to help me hold it and Doug, Jarrett, and Chris, rushed to help. We tied a tow strap to the middle of he bars and after about 15 minutes of work we got the bike back top side.

Looking down the hill is what scared me the most. It was nasty. Steep, rocky, fallen trees with 1-2 branch stumps sticking out, more rocks, more tree stumps, etc. It could have been very very very bad. I feel very lucky that it wasn't worse. I still can't believe I wasn't impaled by a stump or broken a ton of bones in the rocky part on the way down. I'm still having a hard time believing I actually made it out of that one without serious injury. They asked me if I was ok and I said, "Yeah I think so". I think there was a lot of adrenaline flowing at the time, and I didn't realize how much my shoulder hurt. When I did the barrell roll with the bike, my left hand got caught up in the brush guard and when the bike stopped and I kept going, I think it dislocated my shoulder. Somewhere in the tumble down the hill it popped itself back in. It started to get pretty sore about 20 min after the actual incident.

About a mile down the road I noticed my left boot was black with oil, and noticed I had punched a hole in my case. Samir came back up the trail to see the trouble and assisted me in applying some JB Weld after he cleaned up the surface of the case. Once that was done we were on our way down the hill to wait at the bottom for the truck to come pick up Jarrett (sprocket issues) and I. We sat there for about an hour while Doug went for the truck and got eaten up by mosquitos. I decided to ride back to the house with Chris and Jarrett and Doug piled into the truck. I just wanted to say I finished the day out on my own without trucking in the last 7.5 miles.

Great trip, and I always like riding with guys I know are willing and capable of solving nearly any problem we could ever run across on the trail.

Thanks again for the help fellas.

[Strega 0]

Roger, you said that was all the pics. I don't think so..., that really gets me steamed.

That was all of Samir's pics, Doug's pics have yet to be filtered in. Once I get those from him, I'll weave them into the gallery.

[SnailDarter 0]

Wow - flying dinosaurs -- really.

Glad you're "OK" although if you dislocated your shoulder you'll be feeling that one for awhile, then it will go away for about 25 yrs, and then you'll feel it again... I can hear the stories now. "I remember way back when you still listened to music on an iPod, ... we were out riding bikes that ran on gasoline and had carburators, and this flying dinosaur hit me in the face and sent me over a cliff......"

It made it till the last 7.5 miles and then had to be trucked out ----> that sucks, 7.5 miles from home out of 300 -- just a couple fewer wheelies and it probably would have made the whole trip . Glad it ran well, besides that (and the brake line).

[Crawdaddy 96]

Roger, you said that was all the pics. I don't think so..., that really gets me steamed. :clapping:

That was all of Samir's pics, Doug's pics have yet to be filtered in. Once I get those from him, I'll weave them into the gallery.

Samir and Doug also have some good pics from yesterday that none of us have seen yet........I can neither confirm, nor deny, that Gil and I may have gone for an unintentional "swim" on a certain stream crossing yesterday ......Doug is in Yosemite today and then reporting to Tracy AF base in Sacramento tomorrow so he may not post his pics for a while.......Samir is great about taking pics.....and lousy about posting them......so we may be waiting a while for his day 3 pics of the "Tree/Stream" single track trail and the knarly/rutted crap we rode over in Miami OHV area yesterday.....I suppose I can't rib him too hard since I didn't take ANY photos.......though I did get one pic with my phone camera of the dragon fly that flew into Jarrett's shorts/knee guards on Sat. :bomb: ....scared the crap out of him......that thing was ~3 inches long.......he held it from his glove for everyone to see (and no one cared :dance3: :tease: ).......he almost rode off the trail in an effort to quickly pull over and remove it from inside his knee guards :lol2: :lazy:

Unfortunately, Roger and Jarrett were forced to pass on yesterday's ride due to mechanical/physical breakdowns on Day 2

[Jaynen 0]

Glad to hear you ended up OK all things considered Roger and big props to all you guys for helping him out (not that I would expect lesS)

[Erick 0]

Dang that trip looked like a good time. Beautiful terrain, good group. I'm jealous...

Glad Strega made it out of the cliff mishap unscathed. That goes to show you there's a greater purpose in life for you. :clapping:

The waterfall pics remind me of a fantasy gone wrong. Hiking all day, come up on a beautiful waterfall with what should be waterfall nymphs under the waterfall. But no, it's a bunch of stinky dirtbike riders taking pictures of each other.

:dance3:

[SXP 1]

Chris - I dropped of a DVD with my pics in the mail this evening. You should have them Tuesday/Wednesday, and then you can post up the incriminating pics of yourself and Gil.

Also, visited the doctor. Diagnosis is a "Non-Displaced Fracture of the Second Metatarsal". I had the option of a cast, but declined. I hope (actually, WILL be) ready for Mammoth at the end of the month.

That was the mostest, bestest, incrediblest, funnest, blah, blah, blah (I don't want to get too gushy here).... riding weekend I have ever had. You did an amazing job organizing and laying out the routes. THANK YOU!

And....Roger, Gil, Ken, Doug and Jarrett - you guys rock! Let's make this an annual event and pray for some rain the next time - the dust was pretty nasty.

[Crawdaddy 96]

Chris - I dropped of a DVD with my pics in the mail this evening. You should have them Tuesday/Wednesday, and then you can post up the incriminating pics of yourself and Gil.

Also, visited the doctor. Diagnosis is a "Non-Displaced Fracture of the Second Metatarsal". I had the option of a cast, but declined. I hope (actually, WILL be) ready for Mammoth at the end of the month.

That was the mostest, bestest, incrediblest, funnest, blah, blah, blah (I don't want to get too gushy here).... riding weekend I have ever had. You did an amazing job organizing and laying out the routes. THANK YOU!

And....Roger, Gil, Ken, Doug and Jarrett - you guys rock! Let's make this an annual event and pray for some rain the next time - the dust was pretty nasty.

Ouch.......heal up soon buddy, only a few weeks til Bluesapalooza.......

(FYI to all, Samir pulled a "Strega" and nailed his foot on a rock on a particularly rocky/dusty single track......by the time the dust cleared enough to see where he was headed it was too late, his right toe caught a rock and the rest is "metatarsal history" )

I'll take some credit for organizing a ride with friends, but the real thanks for laying the groundwork (literally) goes to Russ, not me..........he "created" many of those trails years and years ago and maintains them to this day......then the advent of GPS came along and various Dualie members rode'em/laid down tracks long before I ever set eyes on some of those trails......many are still relatively secret......you know, 007 stuff....

[Strega 0]

(FYI to all, Samir pulled a "Strega" and nailed his foot on a rock on a particularly rocky/dusty single track......by the time the dust cleared enough to see where he was headed it was too late, his right toe caught a rock and the rest is "metatarsal history" )

A rock will get the best of em once in a while

I hope you recover quickly Samir, take it easy. I had a clean break, 2 fractured metatarsals, and a partially torn achilles after LA/B/V. Take care of it, don't do what I did and let it go and have it still hurt 8 months later =\ Foot is lots better, but the achilles still gives me issues.

I really am thanking my lucky stars tonight I'm at home, able to type this. That cliff incident really scared the sh!t outa me.

[Jaynen 0]

Rightfully so!

[Crawdaddy 96]

Chris - I dropped of a DVD with my pics in the mail this evening. You should have them Tuesday/Wednesday, and then you can post up the incriminating pics of yourself and Gil.

Photos rec'd.......three amigo's (Ken, Doug, Gil) contemplating the best line across the stream.....

Gil opted to take the right side line which really wasn't that difficult......he made it across, got up on the bank, then tipped over into the strream......a good laugh was had by all (even Gil)

But you know what was even funnier? .....I sat there, watched Gil, then proceeded to do the exact same thing!!!....the bike stayed on the bank.....I took a full plunge swim.....

Soaked and refreshed

That single track trail was VERY cool (and not just in a cold stream sorta way )........after that particular trail we came across the "Tree Trail".......so named because of all the fallen trees across the trail which had been cleared by Russ and friends.....the Tree Trail also had 3 more stream crossings but no spills to report there.....no photos in that stretch unfortunately.....too much fun to stop!!!

On the final stretch to Russ's we came across a lot of debris on a nearby fire road......very irritating.......then we found the source......some A-Hole decided to tow a travel trailer back there and abandon it which totally blocked the road to all 4-wheeled traffic

Not a big deal for this resourceful set of riders......we simply created a work around and popped out on the other side

GREAT trip guys.....thanks for coming up to my favorite play ground

[DigDug 0]

Alright, well my photos are downloaded, I'm sort-of caught up on work (at work and around the house), so I figured I'd share a couple shots.

Fred (Snaidarter), you may want to not look at these pictures by the way!

Our humble abode:

Day one... A little bushwhacking!

Slow speeds will cause this sometimes:

No going around this beast of a tree!

Jones Store - day one lunch and planned gas stop (until we found they had no gas!!! )

Inside the store - Samir with his dirt mustache.

Local bathroom:

I know we have a few KLR riders on the board:

Contemplating what to do about getting some gas:

Meadow shot:

Oops.

Rest stop in the shade. Cold water!!!

This is one of those times you shouldn't look Fred!

Sorry about the shadow...

The SnailDarter machine throwing a mud roost.

There was some pretty awesome scenery on this trip!

It was nice to see some water to splash around in for a change!

Roger's landing spot after being attacked by a B-52!!!

The branches caught the bike before heading further down this slope

Day 3

Another stream crossing - the site of the infamous Gil-dip:

It's blurry - but here is a shot of the infamous Gil-dip:

Followed shortly by a Daddy-dip:

More great trails:

Not a good camping spot!

In all it was a great time! Great riding area and I sure hope to head back up there one of these days!

Thanks for having me along!

[dirt dame 559]

Beautiful countryside, pretty darn rugged looking trails.

[Strega 0]

Those pics don't even REMOTELY do that lil cliff any justice...

[Joliet 0]

Those pics don't even REMOTELY do that lil cliff any justice...

I still think your new outfit and a batarang would have solved the problem.