Bumble Bee-Cleator-Desoto Mine 02-08-09
Wow, what a ride. Montana Jim, Robert and I went for a snow ride Sunday. We started out off Bumble Rd at our usual staging spot. We took the trail that goes along the creek because there was some water running in the creek. We then net up with the trail that is what we call the back way to Cleator. This is always a fun run with all the water crossings along the way. It was raining off and on and the sky was very cloudy.
Next we took off north of Cleator to the Desoto Mine trail. This is always a challenging trail and with the snow and rain it would be even more interesting. The fog was so thick at the beginning of the trail you could only see about 30 feet. A little later we hit a clearing where the snow covered mountains were beautiful.
We went up the trail to where we normally stop for lunch. This is where the pine trees start. It had been snowing on us for several miles. We kind of enjoyed the snow, at least it was dry instead of rain.
There was one mishap on a very nasty hill climb on our way back. One of the steep hills has a couple of large boulders about ¾ of the way up the hill right in the middle of the trail. There is no way to avoid them. Even Jim had to back up a couple of times as it was trying to throw him off his machine. I went up to spot him just in case but I had to get out of the way as Jim came at about 25MPH to attack the rocks. He made it but I was thinking this does not look good. Since I was there Robert came up next. He hit the rocks and launched the front end of his Can-Am 400 Max skyward. I grabbed a hold of it even though it was over my head. Robert tried to hang on and nailed the throttle. It was going over without a doubt and I was afraid it was going to crush him so I pushed it over to the right. He went off the back and it landed on the bank. I grabbed it and Robert was there as well but the quad had other ideas. It came crashing down on us since we were on the downhill side. I don’t remember just exactly how it happened so fast but me and Robert and the quad were all rolling down the hill. We got lucky that we didn’t get hurt but the quad continued to barrel roll somewhere between 5 and 8 times down the hill. On one roll the horn honked. Not sure if that was his quad giving us the finger or what. It stopped on its wheels with the motor still running. Those Can-Ams take a licking and keep on running. We looked like we had been rolling in a mud pit when it was over but nothing seemed to hurt.
The quad actually wasn’t hurt too bad either. The right front tire was off the bead and the front rack was broken along with his GPS. Maybe a few other bends but nothing major. We propped up the front tire, put a strap around it hooked up a compressor and waited for it to pop back on the rim. It was still leaking out the valve stem some but not too bad.
We put 2 ropes on Roberts quad this time to make it over the rocks and to the top. I was gun shy so I asked Jim if he would like to ride the Polaris up the hill. He did of course but he had some major air on the rocks. I thought oh no here we go again. Thankfully he controlled it.
At this point it started to snow pretty hard. It was snowing so hard you could not see 20 feet. Notice the one photo that looks snowy. Robert is in the middle of the shot but you can barely see him.
We were going to explore another trail we had spotted on the way in but our plans changed. There was a gorgeous rainbow on our way to the main road.
We made a stop in Cleator where I found out it’s a good thing I had my helmet on when I was spotting Robert as there were scrapes on the side of my helmet. I don’t think helmets are over rated at all.
Now for the last 13 miles back to the truck in a rainstorm. It was a fast cold run but another Great adventure for the books. As I am typing this I find that I do have a few sore placed but nothing bad.
Read MoreNext we took off north of Cleator to the Desoto Mine trail. This is always a challenging trail and with the snow and rain it would be even more interesting. The fog was so thick at the beginning of the trail you could only see about 30 feet. A little later we hit a clearing where the snow covered mountains were beautiful.
We went up the trail to where we normally stop for lunch. This is where the pine trees start. It had been snowing on us for several miles. We kind of enjoyed the snow, at least it was dry instead of rain.
There was one mishap on a very nasty hill climb on our way back. One of the steep hills has a couple of large boulders about ¾ of the way up the hill right in the middle of the trail. There is no way to avoid them. Even Jim had to back up a couple of times as it was trying to throw him off his machine. I went up to spot him just in case but I had to get out of the way as Jim came at about 25MPH to attack the rocks. He made it but I was thinking this does not look good. Since I was there Robert came up next. He hit the rocks and launched the front end of his Can-Am 400 Max skyward. I grabbed a hold of it even though it was over my head. Robert tried to hang on and nailed the throttle. It was going over without a doubt and I was afraid it was going to crush him so I pushed it over to the right. He went off the back and it landed on the bank. I grabbed it and Robert was there as well but the quad had other ideas. It came crashing down on us since we were on the downhill side. I don’t remember just exactly how it happened so fast but me and Robert and the quad were all rolling down the hill. We got lucky that we didn’t get hurt but the quad continued to barrel roll somewhere between 5 and 8 times down the hill. On one roll the horn honked. Not sure if that was his quad giving us the finger or what. It stopped on its wheels with the motor still running. Those Can-Ams take a licking and keep on running. We looked like we had been rolling in a mud pit when it was over but nothing seemed to hurt.
The quad actually wasn’t hurt too bad either. The right front tire was off the bead and the front rack was broken along with his GPS. Maybe a few other bends but nothing major. We propped up the front tire, put a strap around it hooked up a compressor and waited for it to pop back on the rim. It was still leaking out the valve stem some but not too bad.
We put 2 ropes on Roberts quad this time to make it over the rocks and to the top. I was gun shy so I asked Jim if he would like to ride the Polaris up the hill. He did of course but he had some major air on the rocks. I thought oh no here we go again. Thankfully he controlled it.
At this point it started to snow pretty hard. It was snowing so hard you could not see 20 feet. Notice the one photo that looks snowy. Robert is in the middle of the shot but you can barely see him.
We were going to explore another trail we had spotted on the way in but our plans changed. There was a gorgeous rainbow on our way to the main road.
We made a stop in Cleator where I found out it’s a good thing I had my helmet on when I was spotting Robert as there were scrapes on the side of my helmet. I don’t think helmets are over rated at all.
Now for the last 13 miles back to the truck in a rainstorm. It was a fast cold run but another Great adventure for the books. As I am typing this I find that I do have a few sore placed but nothing bad.
