2011-06-24 Mammoth Mountain MX

Rear tire arrived from Tire Express - in 2 days! Those guys rock!

Installed last night so no worries of cord showing on this trip!

Finally, time to get this Mammoth show on the road. This was to be riding partner Dutch's biggest ride day, *ever*, and he was pretty excited about it.

Vines getting water, 06:45 or so.

We were to meet at 0700, I arrived at 0645 to have a delicious home made egg burrito. Dutch, always early arrived at 06:50, so he got to watch me polish off the burrito before leaving. Dutch isn't a breakfast club aficionado, I am!

Woot freakin' Woot, we are OFF!

Golden kali hills, just east of Paso Robles, on highway 41/46.

Soon enough Coarsegold town was in view, we stopped to refuel bikes and bods.
Check this guy out - he's freakin SMOKING a cigarette while refuleing!

We ate at Katie's, where a pattern started to develop. Dutch would order something really cheap, since he a light eater, and I'd have the fully $20 monty. Dutch is skinny, I'm not!

Got to love a place that's called the 'Dirty Donkey'!

Southern Yosemite  entrance. The Japanese guy on the KTM had the shortest legs and the tallest bike. He was always doing the tipping-toe dance. They guy on the Duc behind him, with a dry clutch, was stinking the joint up with burnt clutch smell.

Dutch running tail gunner position.

Bet you have never ever seen this pix before, yes?

Adventure rider Dutch taking it all in.

Dutch asks a rhetorical question - "Why do you always enter the exit lane of the turnouts?"

I've never seen the park so full of water. Brideveil falls was ROARING.

I think this is the best picture of Dutch during the entire trip. Sometimes even a blind squirrel finds an acorn.

Bridleveil falls between trees.

Creek feeding the Merced river, running at full force.

Half dome from the valley view. Later, we'll see this again from the northern view.

Merced river running full. 

I was starting to worry about mi amigo Dutch. His face was always contorted like this..

Another chunk of granite... 

The Merced looks still in this photo, makes you wanna jump right in, yes?

Out of foucs pix - I need to delete this one.

55 to stay alive, Smokie the Bear says so!

Many views of Yosemite remind me of previous trips to Mammoth MX - like this one. I recall being here the same summer it burned, a looong time ago.

Although resilient, the recovery does take time.

7000 feet and climbing..

1991, I took a pix of my little doggie, Reno, on the hood of my 84 F250 with Palomino camper and small MC trailer. In some ways, things were simpler then. The dog is gone, the falls remain.

Rock climbing anyone?

8,000+ feet!

Snowbanks alongside the road..

The sticker on the topbox says it all!

Ahh, the old 'photo in the mirror' trick.

Lots of water run-off.

Somehow, the FI on the VW van wasn't working. Judging by the lack of speed, it was in the 'get home' mode. 

Just pretty stuff.

Everywhere you look, it's a good scene.

Halfdome from the northern perspective.

Telephoto view. 

Always smiling - Dutch. Actually, he's kind of wondering where the next potty break is!

I need to work summers in the park. Wonder how I can make that happen?

Wabs, the IttyBittySixFiddy. Sometimes, I'm deeply reminded of Tim, Twowheelnut. This was one of those moments. The Bates sticker, the CARP sticker, this was Tim's bike, he put those stickers on that top box.

Dutch rides the manly 1,000 cc Vstrom. 

In case you haven't been to Yosemite, we are on highway 120 East bound, this is just west of Tuolumne meadows.

Funny, didn't see even one person in the water!

It's simply not possible to improve on mother nature.

Water crossings due to snow melt were often. Got splashed once, it was really cold. 

Tuolumne Meadows Lake

 9,400 feet!

Close to the northern park entrance.

Yikes, almost 10,000 feet elevation!

INYO face baby, INYO face!

Out of the park, looking west behind where we rode.

Highyway 120 east bound. Another memory - I lost my brakes on this grade once.. scared the crap outta me.

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Dutch takes point while I play camera man.

Kinda boring pix - delete it? (yes)

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A photo collection of my bud Dutch!
395 southbound, about 14 miles before 203 and Mammoth Lakes, Ca.

Nice roads.

Good scenery.

Does it really get better than this?

Dutch is thinking, my Candy Butt Association butt hurts! How much longer to the condo?

 Why does the skinny light weight guy ride the manly 1,000 cc Vstrom and the the not-so-skinny-guy rides the gurlie 650 cc Weestrom?

Dutch never takes his eyes off the road. EVER!

This was hilarious. We arrive, get keys, and can't figure out the door lock. We wiggle and jiggle the keys, nothing. Dutch has to get help! Some burglars we are!

...to be continued, day 2, and dual sporting around Mammoth...

Day 2 - Dual Sport riding Mammoth

Dutch went to the racetrack, I decided to dual sport around on the DL650, to find all the nearby lakes and cool stuff to see.

The day started off with a wonderful breakfast at 'The Stove', a Mammoth tradition. 'Back in the day', we raced this weekend for over 10 straight years, and this eatery was part of the tradition.

The snow is still good - they might skiing till August at this rate.

The main ski lodge.

The road to Devils Postpile was closed. I thought about riding around the barrier, but there are too many peeps around with funny cars and guns n stuff..

Next destination, Inyo Craters. I did not make it, I wussed out - the road was too knarly, to many ruts, and logs and stuff for the low ground clearance DL to handle. Plus, I did not have a map, and there were many road junctions. And no one knew where I was. And I'm a WUSS.
<insert video here>

Back to pavement, on Mammoth Scenic route. See map above.

On the way to June Lake scenic route. If you ever have a chance, ride this loop. June, Gull, Silver, and Grant Lake are all on this route.
Approaching June Lake.

I found a road called 'Oh Ridge', I had not been on it before, so I missed most of June Lake its self -
<insert video>
Water water everywhere.

Silver Lake

Pretty, huh?

Discovered these two oil painters, and immediately thought 'Huh, that ain't so good, JB can do better than that! LOL.

I like this pix - taken on the fly, without her knowing.

Wabs n' the mountains. This is still Silver lake.

This Harley guy saw my camera, and REALLY did not want his pix taken of him and his trailer queen. So I took the pix anyway!

Silver Lake campground. I have to bring msDcarver and the critters up here in the kozy komfie kamper.

Cheap too!

Continuing on with the lakes theme, I headed to the next lake, Parker. It was on this bitchen dirt road..

Where I found the trailhead. What, you have to WALK to get there? No way, not in these MC boots. I need to find a pair of walking/riding boots.

The view below. That's Mono lake down there. Look at how full it is! The So Cal peeps will plenty of water this summer for their lawns...

Next lake is Walker. I remember my deceased brother raving about how great this lake and stream was - this would be my first time to see it. And it too has dirt only access!

The best sites are only available via dirt roads..

Outstanding!

Walker Lake trailhead and campground.

This guy and his doggie were cool. The chocolate lab was such a good doggie. Made me miss Harley-D-Dog!

Walker Lake.

Old gnalry tree. It looked better in real life - this pix doesn't do it justice.

Info about the Walker Lake region.

Mountain Wabs!
She wanted to start singing some old 'Sound of Music' tunes..
Which of these following pix do you like best? Let me know by posting a comment!

Pix 1

Pix 2

Pix 3

Pix 4

Pix 5

I can't help it..
The hills are alive, with the sound of Moooosic!

Walker Lake is owned by LA. They take alot of water from this beautiful area. All So Cal peeps are bums, jes' sayin'.

Onward the journey goes on the way to Virgina Lake, north of this by about 25 miles at the Crowley Summit.
But first, there is the matter of getting off this dirt road. The sign said 3.5 miles to 395, but this hill looks really steep - too steep based upon my last Death Valley adventure where I got stuck on a hill half this slope..

It doesn't look so steep here, but trust me..

So I made a right hand turn and went down the hill! 

Mono Lake, heading north to Virgina Lakes.

Yet another trailer queen. Doodes like this should be shot.

Onward up the hill.

TaDa! Virgina Lake drive. This is one fun 6 miles of tarmac.

..and here's the Lake.

Wabs wants to go swimming!

Check out the only snow board track down the hill. Would you do it?

Virginal Lakes resort - owned and operated by some wonderful peeps. Good food too. They hire foreign exchange students to help with cooking, cleaning, and what not. This year they were from Turkey.

The engraved door. It appears not many people pay attention to the sign..

I'd never seen these raft-fishie things - those idiots were in full wet suits and fishing?

Discharge of Virgina Lake.

This looks like mighty fine way to spend a Saturday to me.

The lodge from another angle.

Down the hill from the lodge, that's 395 down there.

I found this helipad - how cool is this?

This is how the lodge owners get up and down the hill in winter. How cool is this thing anyway? I'd love to drive it around. All tracks are driven.

Check out the stack..

LOL, got luck on this pix - check out Wabs in the reflection..

Sure would not want to be run over with these monsters..

Alrightty then.. I found this dirt road with a sign that said 'something Basin'. Should have taken a pix. I'm thinking like a basin, a bowl, a depression in terra firma, right? WRONG bucko, this road went straight up the hill and was steep. Oh crap, 2nd gear is falling off. The rear wheel is slipping and sliding. 1st gear is just spinning the rear tire. Now the front end is dicy... CRAP, had to stop and not go all the way up the hill. I am a WUSS.

But I did get a great pix overlooking the Mono Lake overlook...

The next 2 pix are from the 'normal' overlook. This is the one FJR peeps and cagers use, LOL:

Next stop - a power plant. Mill, IIRC. I must remember to photograph the object - by the time I get to writing these RR's, I forget what it is.

I had an ephinany - power lines go to a power plant. Here, the lines are going up the hill to power up the lodge maybe?

The last lake of the day is called Lundy. This one surprised me, it's really nice, had a little general store, and the camping looked really good - as long as you weren't in a motorhome..

Wabs and water.. Some folks fishing on the bank looked on, they must have thought I had gone bonkers as evidenced by the look on their faces..
BTW, that water is freaking cold.

Beautiful riding roads up here.. this is still Lundy Lake.

The last lake is Mono Lake!
Check it out - the most water I've ever seen in this lake..

..and it's amazing that seagulls are this far inland - but that's what these are, as in Jonathon Livingston...

I need a better camera.. I'd really like this pix if the detail and resolution was better..

The last pix of part two -
Some REAL motobikers here!

Our condo. First time I've stayed at a condo, and it was freaking great! Inexpensive, too.

<Insert ride to track video here>
I'm looking for dirtier dual sport than Wabs - so took pix of a bunch of plated bikes..

This Husky looks interesting but I'm not too sure about how comfie that seat would be for a 300 mile street day.. and I don't like the after thought evap cannister either..

I like the simplicity of this bike - heard it was out of production though. Two brothers founded the company but couldn't turn a profit.. Too bad, this bike is KISS all the way..

Water pump, hoses, all critical stuff is well protected.

Always weird for me to see chains on the right hand side..

How in hell did this rider get this bike plated?

Compare this Suzook to the V bike above - too heavy, to much crap on it.

Race track view..

Future SX track builder. This kid was into it!

Got to love duct tape numbered racers!

I'm starting to like KTM machines..

To me, the Yamaha and Honda brands looked old and slow. The KTM's and Kawies looked lighter, meaner.

The new Yamaha 450. Note the leaned back cylinder for mass centralization. It makes my yz426 look obsolete.

Now THIS is an Adventure bike!

Hard core. This guy has been on the road for 6 weeks.

The FJR1300 predecessor. ABS brakes, even back then!

Warrior bike. Judging by the footpeg, it's a  Honda.

Pink riding gear is making a second appearance. Hello, is this 1991 again?

Some crummy action shots -
<insert race video here>

Pit Tootsie!

Nice tongue!

Where IS my rider?

Flaggers never looked like this when I was racing!

Check out the front sand tire..

This rider is checking out the pit board sign.
It probably read "Next stop I-Hop!"

450 Pro class winner - he was stoked!

The big post-race interview...

Mandatory swig of water from the Monster Energy can..

The look of happiness.

Check out the hair and tats.. especially the leg tat.

A hug from grandma!

Bad weekend for this rider - has anyone seen my engine?

The Rockstart Suzuki pits..

The Pro Circuit support team, well at least peeps who know peeps who can sit under the awning!

Check out the kids' look - "Who taking a picture of?"

Cool tunnel for spectators ..

This kid was great - had his Go Pro camera and was videoing the riders as they went by..

The Ride Home