Note: This is the second part of the adventure. See part one here.
Due to the rain last evening, I decided to stick to the more heavily used trails – at least compared to what I was on yesterday. Mud isn’t the end of the world, even for a guy from the desert southwest, but I hate tearing up the trail. Not getting lost, again, was a sub-goal. I rode up to the Hilso Trailhead again and decided to try the Burma Trail – Lost Lake Rim Trail – Turkey Next Trail – Y2K Trail route. Lotso miles! The Burma trail turned out to be a nice ride but was a pretty good workout for me. Note: A video of descending the Burma Trail is here.
The trail is in good shape and obviously maintained by someone (Thanks!!). Hauling my big behind up that trail took some real effort BUT, I made it without any falls or major excitement!! A bit surprising to me was the success I had ascending the steeper (but short) sections. I was able to keep weight on the rear wheel, keep moving, and not lose balance among the rocks and ruts. Yay me! I guess my skills are improving – or I’m getting luckier as I get older.
The Lost Lake Rim Trail was great fun. Mostly because I didn’t have to do so much climbing! Like all of these trails, it certainly had it’s climbing sections. Nonetheless, I mostly remember the smooth rollers and downhill sections.
The Pine Tree Overlook is spectacular and not to be missed. I only saw a hint of this lookout on sign post #13 which marks the intersection.
I am astonished at the amount of labor that someone/somebodies have put into this lookout. The rocks have been stacked to form a flat area with a fire pit, maybe even a camping area – it is very nice. The view is beautiful! I can easily imagine hauling a tent back there and spending the night. The really funny thing? I was receiving 4G phone signal! I could live at this spot. THANK YOU to the people that built this trail and lookout!
I was very happy to have remembered to start my GPS tracking log. Yay me again! I missed about half of yesterday’s ride. The ride was 16 miles with 7560′ as the lowest altitude and 8289′ as the highest, a little over four hours on the trails. I loved every second of it.
Number of people spotted on the trails today: Three (two cyclist, one hiker).
Observation time. A group of campers/day use folks had a couple quads/four wheelers. For some reason, they found great joy in loading small children on the quads and then racing, and I do mean racing, around the road that loops thru the campground. Guessing only but I’d say 50 mph. Now, after about the sixth time, I had to stop and ask myself what would posses a person to destroy the absolute peace and quite, stir up dust, and endanger others (trying to walk their dogs, walk, etc…). I could not come up with anything positive. It is no wonder that “recreational vehicles” are being excluded from everywhere. I decided to try a positive approach with this fellow. I stood in the middle of the road on his next hot lap and stopped him. I told him that I too was a quad rider (not in many years though) and that keeping a positive perception of our sport in the general public’s eye would go a long way toward not loosing the few remaining places to ride. I don’t think he got it but he did respond with a reasonably polite “you want me to ride outside of the campground?” question. I said yes, that would be the most courteous thing to do. With a flash, he was gone and did not return. At least thru the campground. So, I dunno. Maybe I did something positive to help you ATV riders, maybe not. In any case, I’d strongly recommend that you continue to work on getting the word out. It is generally (what I refer to as) the least common denominator that ruins this type of thing for everyone. There may be 100 boats on the lake but the one racing around with the drunk ‘driver’ is the one that the public notices and hates. It is true in all areas.
By mid-afternoon it was time to pack up and head for home. I’ve talked repeatedly about the vibration that I am fighting. I am sad to report that, on the return home, I felt like I had lost ground. The vibration was worse than on the trip out. Discouraged but still thinking… Maybe tire pressures, maybe a rear brake issue (warped rotors there as well??), maybe, maybe, maybe…
I had a pretty good lock on the miles driven so I filled up with fuel and calculated my mileage. I was very happy to see just a hair over 10 mph displayed on my handy dandy calculator! That is tolerable – though it still causes a twitch of discomfort.
The organizations involved with creating these trails has done a fantastic job. I can only imagine the volume of work required to accomplish this feat and to then maintain the trails. Thank you to the Forest Service in recognizing that the forest is to be enjoyed (not restricted) and for allowing these trails to be created. Thank you to all involved!
Note: A new website and trail guide are now available. Order the guide and support these guys!!
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