Desoto Mine Trail 12-03-06
We started out by planning a trail ride that had some challenges and asked the RUV crowd to join in so we could see how they did out on the trail. Several said they would make it but in the end it was 9 quads. We were not bashing RUV’s we just wanted to see how easy they did the trails. Oh well there loss as we had a fun day with a great group of riders.
We started off Bumble Bee Road at 8:05 AM. It was very windy and cold. Temp in my truck said it was 43. Brrrrrrrrr!!!! I decided to take a trail along Turkey Creek to get to the trail I call the back way to Cleator. This trail is a blast when the water running in the creek. We did find a couple of spots where there was some standing water for the guys to kick it up a little.
We met up with our trail head and headed to Cleator. We made a stop at some old stone houses down next to the creek. This is the spot I saw a large mountain lion on my last trip here. There is also an old grave site with an old headstone. I think it has the name Curly carved into the stone. The next stop was a mineshaft. After this stop we bee lined it to the Desoto Mine trail about 1 mile past Cleator.
The Desoto Mine trail has a bit of everything plus anyone that has ridden with us knows we can always find some bonus obstacles along the way. It starts off with some off camber (Azgolfer loves off camber) and heads right into some good decents and hill climbs. The scenery on this trail is hard to beat as you are on top of the mountains at times and can see for miles. The trail actually connects up to the Senator Hyw. but we run it from the desert up to the tree line and have lunch on the boulders and then turn around and run it backwards. It is much more fun doing it backwards than going to Crown King and riding the main road back.
We ride a bit different than most people in that we really stress if you are not comfortable with a spot let someone know and we will spot you. It doesn’t always work but our goal is to challenge yourself but be safe doing it.
On our way back we went to the top of the mountain right over Desoto Mine. The view is fantastic. There is a spot where Montana Jim went straight up a 4 foot rock face on one of our trips and Bone Daddy wanted to try to make it. It is not something I would even consider. Well he made an initial half way attempt and backed down and kept looking at it. That is when he should changed his mind. He didn't, and he was very luckily he was not seriously injured. He flew up the rock face and TSGreg and Redman were on each side to grab him but he was so high in the air all they could do was try to grab a tire. That didn't work because they were spinning so it threw their hands off. Done Daddy bailed at about 10' in the air and tried to get away from the quad. It came straight down on the rear bumper and went over backwards pounding him into the ground. It then continued over and landed on it's wheels and was about to pound him some more but I got there and held it off of him. It knocked the air out of him and pushed his lunch into his mouth. after he caught his breath we tried to see if anything was broken. Luckily nothing was but he could not raise his right arm because his shoulder hurt to bad and his back and groin hurt as well. The quad was hardly hurt at all. It just pushed the handlebars down which the crew fixed and bent the front rack. We fixed the rack by having 3 guys pull up on them. After all the fix up Bone Daddy said he could ride out with one arm. We had about 18 miles to go to make it to the trucks. Fortunately we were through all the hard spots.
It was a bit slow until we hit the Crown King road buy Bone Daddy was a trooper. I know he was in a lot of pain. I talked to him Monday and he sounded good. He said he was surprised he felt as good as he did. His shoulder back and groin hurt bad but not as bad as right after the crash. That's good news.
The lesson learned is know your limits. It is not worth getting hurt. I'm not saying don't try hard obstacles just use your head. It you have to think about a place for awhile maybe you shouldn't try it or use a rope or spotters. Just use common scene. Any of us can get hurt at any time.
I guess we will have to change Bone Daddy's name to CRASH DADDY!!!!!!
Read MoreWe started off Bumble Bee Road at 8:05 AM. It was very windy and cold. Temp in my truck said it was 43. Brrrrrrrrr!!!! I decided to take a trail along Turkey Creek to get to the trail I call the back way to Cleator. This trail is a blast when the water running in the creek. We did find a couple of spots where there was some standing water for the guys to kick it up a little.
We met up with our trail head and headed to Cleator. We made a stop at some old stone houses down next to the creek. This is the spot I saw a large mountain lion on my last trip here. There is also an old grave site with an old headstone. I think it has the name Curly carved into the stone. The next stop was a mineshaft. After this stop we bee lined it to the Desoto Mine trail about 1 mile past Cleator.
The Desoto Mine trail has a bit of everything plus anyone that has ridden with us knows we can always find some bonus obstacles along the way. It starts off with some off camber (Azgolfer loves off camber) and heads right into some good decents and hill climbs. The scenery on this trail is hard to beat as you are on top of the mountains at times and can see for miles. The trail actually connects up to the Senator Hyw. but we run it from the desert up to the tree line and have lunch on the boulders and then turn around and run it backwards. It is much more fun doing it backwards than going to Crown King and riding the main road back.
We ride a bit different than most people in that we really stress if you are not comfortable with a spot let someone know and we will spot you. It doesn’t always work but our goal is to challenge yourself but be safe doing it.
On our way back we went to the top of the mountain right over Desoto Mine. The view is fantastic. There is a spot where Montana Jim went straight up a 4 foot rock face on one of our trips and Bone Daddy wanted to try to make it. It is not something I would even consider. Well he made an initial half way attempt and backed down and kept looking at it. That is when he should changed his mind. He didn't, and he was very luckily he was not seriously injured. He flew up the rock face and TSGreg and Redman were on each side to grab him but he was so high in the air all they could do was try to grab a tire. That didn't work because they were spinning so it threw their hands off. Done Daddy bailed at about 10' in the air and tried to get away from the quad. It came straight down on the rear bumper and went over backwards pounding him into the ground. It then continued over and landed on it's wheels and was about to pound him some more but I got there and held it off of him. It knocked the air out of him and pushed his lunch into his mouth. after he caught his breath we tried to see if anything was broken. Luckily nothing was but he could not raise his right arm because his shoulder hurt to bad and his back and groin hurt as well. The quad was hardly hurt at all. It just pushed the handlebars down which the crew fixed and bent the front rack. We fixed the rack by having 3 guys pull up on them. After all the fix up Bone Daddy said he could ride out with one arm. We had about 18 miles to go to make it to the trucks. Fortunately we were through all the hard spots.
It was a bit slow until we hit the Crown King road buy Bone Daddy was a trooper. I know he was in a lot of pain. I talked to him Monday and he sounded good. He said he was surprised he felt as good as he did. His shoulder back and groin hurt bad but not as bad as right after the crash. That's good news.
The lesson learned is know your limits. It is not worth getting hurt. I'm not saying don't try hard obstacles just use your head. It you have to think about a place for awhile maybe you shouldn't try it or use a rope or spotters. Just use common scene. Any of us can get hurt at any time.
I guess we will have to change Bone Daddy's name to CRASH DADDY!!!!!!
