11.5 Trail w/Montana Jim

Montana Jim and I went out for a short ride Sunday morning to mile marker 11.5 near Lake Pleasant. The day was beautiful. It started out cool with rain just to the east of our riding spot. We headed N on trail #9 until we got to the hills and then turned R onto some steeper hill climbs. We did several hills and decided to go over near the mine to the W to see if we could find a trail that would take us over to Castle Hot springs road. On our way over we came off #9 and into a wash where we did some boulder crawling. It is amazing how big if a drop you can go down without having the quad flip over on you. As we came out of the wash Jim saw a very steep hill he just had to go look at. He took off up the loose rutted hill but when he neared the top it was nearly vertical and off camber. When I saw his led come off the left side I decided I didn't need to attempt this one. Jim made it but it was not easy. We tried a couple of trails that started out good but turned into single track trails so we turned around. There was one nasty off camber rutted hill that got our attention.

Finally we found a good trail that went up and over the mountain. We came to a boulder area that we recognized. We had been on this trail last year when we camped @ Morristown. We thought the trail ended when we were on it last year. This was great now we had a loop. As we continued to Castle Hot Springs we came on a heard of deer. One even had a Cholla stuck to it's side. From the road it is 7 miles E to a turn off next to the Wilderness area that takes you back to the top of the mountains. Trails 9.10, and 11. We stopped in the wash at # 9 where Jim showed me how to launch your quad up and over a 3 & 1/2 foot straight up wall.

All and all we had a great day. 50 miles in 4 &1/2 hours and didn't even sweat. I know that's not even a half day by Roy's standards.