Bloody Basin Rd to Dugas to Childs Hot Springs Loop 02-24-07
What an Adventure. We headed out for a 110 mile loop ride from I 17 and Bloody Basin Road across part of the Great Western Trail to Dugas Road to the Verde river hot tubs at Childs and then loop back to Bloody Basin road via through the canyon.
As we unloaded the temp was a brisk 30 degrees. With it being that cold and traveling on a smooth road we were going about 30 MPH for the 1st 15 miles. Wow does that make your fingers hurt even with good gloves. After the 1st leg we headed across a section of the Great Western Trail to Dugas Road. About 1 mile in we turned. I waited at the turn for Jim and Mike. By the time they came by the group had a pretty good lead. As we came over a hill they were no where in site and there was a fork in the road. Oh no which way did they go? We were looking at tire marks and thought they went left. As we started down this trail I just had a feeling it was not right so I went back for a look and I saw them about 1 mile away just going over a hill. I rounded up Jim and Mike and we took off to find the rest of the group.
This is a good reminder: You are only responsible for 1 rider and that is the one behind you. We all need to wait for the rider behind us at any forks in the road. As far as that goes you need to keep the rider behind you in your mirror. If you cannot see them they may have had a problem.
The trail came out on Dugas road and we headed to a side trail to the Verde River. This trail was quite rocky just the way Roy like it. The views were incredible as we came to the switch back section. You could see forever. We were at about 6,000 ft elevation and could see the San Francisco Peaks in Flagstaff and the Verde river.
Along the switchback section Howard stopped and said he didn't know what was going on but he couldn't steer his quad. There was Mike, Steve, Howard and me as the rest went on down the Mountain. We started to investigate and see his steering post was broken, so we took off his windshield and instrument pod to get a better look. Sure enough the top bracket was broken in half. Wow, now what we were 40 miles in on a 110 mile ride. What can you do if you cannot steer your quad, plus the trail drops off more than 500 feet. I thought about it and said I have just the fix. I was reading the Feb 07 issue of ATV Illustrated Magazine and they had a review of J-B Stick. It is J-B weld in a putty form. I just bought it last week and put it in my quad. It was our only hope. We took everything apart and scraped off the paint as best we could. The rest of the group came back and we had a pow-wow as to the best way to fix the problem. We flipped the bracket that holds the handlebars and put J-B stick on the top and bottom of the bracket with some large washers and the headlight bracket. This is supposed to cure in 4 minutes so now was a good time for lunch. It took a little longer to cure because it was still cold. I don't think any of us thought for sure it would hold on such a rough trail but it was time to test it. We went slowly down the mountain and to our amazement it held.
We stopped at the Y that goes to the Hot Spring. Howard didn't want to go any further than he had to. I didn't blame him so he got on Roy's 2 seater for this 2 mile jaunt. The Hot Springs were loaded. There must have been 30 people in the water. There are 2 pools one in the open and one inside a rock wall enclosure. There was some cool paintings inside the enclosure but there so many people that I didn't take any photos. I was told the water in the outside pool was 94 and the one inside was 105. Not sure if that is correct or not.
Back on the trail we headed down the canyon that comes out on a pretty good FS road. We decided to forgo the other side trip to the Verde because of time. We also picked up the pace so we would get back before dark. This was probably not a good move. As we were going pretty fast and it was slightly rough. Howard hit a big rock and broke loose the steering partially. I had a ratchet strap I secured to the bracket we welder to the stem and he made it back to the trucks.
As we were arriving at our trucks there was a long line of stopped traffic stopped southbound on I17. We heard an 18 wheeler rolled over and took our 2 cars. No one was killed but it was laying across the lanes of traffic. It sure made for a long ride home after the freeway was reopened.
Another excellent adventure for the record books. Thanks to everyone for working together to get Howard home. A special thanks to J-B Stick for their product. It is a must have product for any 4x4 bag.
Read MoreAs we unloaded the temp was a brisk 30 degrees. With it being that cold and traveling on a smooth road we were going about 30 MPH for the 1st 15 miles. Wow does that make your fingers hurt even with good gloves. After the 1st leg we headed across a section of the Great Western Trail to Dugas Road. About 1 mile in we turned. I waited at the turn for Jim and Mike. By the time they came by the group had a pretty good lead. As we came over a hill they were no where in site and there was a fork in the road. Oh no which way did they go? We were looking at tire marks and thought they went left. As we started down this trail I just had a feeling it was not right so I went back for a look and I saw them about 1 mile away just going over a hill. I rounded up Jim and Mike and we took off to find the rest of the group.
This is a good reminder: You are only responsible for 1 rider and that is the one behind you. We all need to wait for the rider behind us at any forks in the road. As far as that goes you need to keep the rider behind you in your mirror. If you cannot see them they may have had a problem.
The trail came out on Dugas road and we headed to a side trail to the Verde River. This trail was quite rocky just the way Roy like it. The views were incredible as we came to the switch back section. You could see forever. We were at about 6,000 ft elevation and could see the San Francisco Peaks in Flagstaff and the Verde river.
Along the switchback section Howard stopped and said he didn't know what was going on but he couldn't steer his quad. There was Mike, Steve, Howard and me as the rest went on down the Mountain. We started to investigate and see his steering post was broken, so we took off his windshield and instrument pod to get a better look. Sure enough the top bracket was broken in half. Wow, now what we were 40 miles in on a 110 mile ride. What can you do if you cannot steer your quad, plus the trail drops off more than 500 feet. I thought about it and said I have just the fix. I was reading the Feb 07 issue of ATV Illustrated Magazine and they had a review of J-B Stick. It is J-B weld in a putty form. I just bought it last week and put it in my quad. It was our only hope. We took everything apart and scraped off the paint as best we could. The rest of the group came back and we had a pow-wow as to the best way to fix the problem. We flipped the bracket that holds the handlebars and put J-B stick on the top and bottom of the bracket with some large washers and the headlight bracket. This is supposed to cure in 4 minutes so now was a good time for lunch. It took a little longer to cure because it was still cold. I don't think any of us thought for sure it would hold on such a rough trail but it was time to test it. We went slowly down the mountain and to our amazement it held.
We stopped at the Y that goes to the Hot Spring. Howard didn't want to go any further than he had to. I didn't blame him so he got on Roy's 2 seater for this 2 mile jaunt. The Hot Springs were loaded. There must have been 30 people in the water. There are 2 pools one in the open and one inside a rock wall enclosure. There was some cool paintings inside the enclosure but there so many people that I didn't take any photos. I was told the water in the outside pool was 94 and the one inside was 105. Not sure if that is correct or not.
Back on the trail we headed down the canyon that comes out on a pretty good FS road. We decided to forgo the other side trip to the Verde because of time. We also picked up the pace so we would get back before dark. This was probably not a good move. As we were going pretty fast and it was slightly rough. Howard hit a big rock and broke loose the steering partially. I had a ratchet strap I secured to the bracket we welder to the stem and he made it back to the trucks.
As we were arriving at our trucks there was a long line of stopped traffic stopped southbound on I17. We heard an 18 wheeler rolled over and took our 2 cars. No one was killed but it was laying across the lanes of traffic. It sure made for a long ride home after the freeway was reopened.
Another excellent adventure for the record books. Thanks to everyone for working together to get Howard home. A special thanks to J-B Stick for their product. It is a must have product for any 4x4 bag.
