Saturday, March 17, 2007

Wickahoney

Made it to Wickahoney, old stage stop , this time. The same route as last week for the most part.

We were going to cross the highway and return along the Bruenea Canyon, but Daniel discovered a flat. Limped down the Hwy51 to Bruenea. The only thing worse than riding Bubba on the highway is doing it at 45 mph.

Still on the list is: upper Big Jack Canyon

Little Blue Table Calendar

West Side of Jack Creek

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Ate lunch at the Parker Trail Head.

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Wickahoney is worth the ride. The structure burned ~ 10years ago. It was on a stage line than ran to Elko.

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Sunday, March 11, 2007

BUBBA'S 1ST RIDE

OBJECTIVE – TAKE BUBBA ON HIS 1ST RIDE

FIND WICKAHONEY & LITTLE BLUE TABLE CALENDAR

We got close but the trail boss wasn’t paying attention & blew by the turn to Wicakhoney.

Everybody received a rain check for the next ride.

ATTENDEES – BYRON, PAT, BOB, KURT

TRAIL BOSS – JOHN

Bob & I did ~ 300 miles

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Started from my house and headed across the NG Range. Stooped at Gus’s in Grandview for fuel and provisions. 

A Harley tribe arrived at the same time and created a bottleneck at the counter. While some of us were waiting outside

some of  Grand View’s finest arrive in ‘car” with no passenger side doors and front flat (beer run).

Next stop was the Jack’s Creek Overlook for lunch.

Byron & Bob at the overlook

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Then a quick stop at Hole in the Rock.

From there we “explored”. More awesome country and fun two tracks.

Made our why further up Big Jack Creek. Saw 3-4 herds of antelope.

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We eventually intersected Battle Creek road and took a turn that hit Hwy 51. Back tracked to stay on the dirt. Followed

Battle Creek up over another elevation change. Got into some snow melt and muck. With another wrong turn we arrived at

Antelope Springs where we found mud. At this point we decided to turn around and go back to the highway.

On the way back down I noticed a two track heading south east.This would have taken us to Wickahoney as well as a track

from the creek crossing near the corrals.

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At the highway Byron, Pat & Kurt headed home. Bob & I rode the pavement down to Grasmere. I wanted to scope out the

reservoir as another place to take the kid. Glad I did. The road to water is too rutted for the motor home.

Also took a side road that should take you on top of the Little Blue Table and to the  Indian carvings. The Little Blue looked

snowed in.

On the way in there looks to be a “high end” dairy farm. 1st impression is this is one rich framer.

It turns out to be some secret government facility. Only signage is“US government Stay Out” & “Danger Laser Radiation”.

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No vehicles on site and the grounds inside the fence are spot less. Must be cloning mutant cattle or its safe haven for

Chenney when  the global warming disaster strikes. Haven’t able to find anything on Goggle.

We took the highway back to Shoofly Cutoff then to Grand View.

Bob hit “reserve” but when he bought gas at Gus’s he only put in ~3.4 gallons. Must have been a false alarm.

The Gal at Gus's told us it was too muddy to ride into Wickahoney. It was on the route I took!

From Gus’s we decided to find the two track from the Snake up to Bird’s of Prey. Another bust. The road end at a farm

that was posted. The two tracks would have been on the other side. Not wanting to press our luck we back tracked to Hwy67.

Then cut across the NG range to Pleasant Valley.

Got home around 8pm. Still dusk so it’s not quite an epic ride.

Bubba after 400 miles:

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The 640 is a great dirt bike and has enough beans to get you down the highway. I wouldn't want to ride pavement

more than 1-2 hours at a time.

In the dirt it wants to be ridden on pegs & up over the handle bars. The cockpit feels crapped on the highway for me.

Off road it feels more like my 400 and will roll thru things I would avoid on the 950. You can easily move out off and

thru ruts that make me pucker on the 950.

Lots of vibes. In the dirt on pegs you don’t notice – too much fun. On the pavement the knobbies mask the engine.

I don’t have the power source wired for the GPS yet. The handle bars vibe so much the gps batteries loose contact &

the unit shuts off – one of the reasons I missed the two turns. I carried the gps in a side pouch, but did ever want to stop to

consult.

 
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