Dogskin mtn. ride 11/28 (pics)

[Yard Sale]

Click on pictures to link to 1600 x 1200 versions for the full desert experience.

We had a few hours of rain Wednesday afternoon and evening. I should have ridden yesterday but I didn't make it out until today. I still expected hero dirt but the thirsty desert had soaked up much of the new moisture yesterday. It was moist but not heroic.

Off to a good start:


No, too wide, I'm not going that way:




Up on a hill later I looked down on the trail in the first picture. It's in a valley and goes up hill. It gets pretty gnarly through the smaller, pale rocks:



Looking south(?):


Looking west:




Sweeeet...


Looking southeast (?):


Heading toward the Dogskin Mountain ridge I stopped to take this picture of one of the staging areas in the flats. Quadtards and Rhinos everywhere. There would be more trailers visible if I had used the panoramic feature:


I headed up the deep, sandy south hillclimb to Dogskin mountain. I was picture-happy today so I stopped and turned my gas off and took a long break. My YZ250 was puking coolant and smoking from the climb. No big deal, I topped off the radiator and expected some overflow. The smoke was from the WD-40 I sprayed on the pipe to prevent mud from clinging to it.

I looked south to the valley and took this picture of another staging area near the previously pictured one:


I was a thousand yards away and a thousand feet up from them but the noise was terrible. The bikes and quads were every bit as loud as the people shooting firearms below and to the west. People are riding vehicles as loud as f@$#ing guns! But it was much more annoying because a thumper fires many times per second. It was then that I took this self-portrait:


From the same spot I turned east toward Pyramid Lake. The glider air strip is visible in the valley:


Zoomed in to Pyramid Lake:


It was time to resume the climb up Dogskin. Close ahead was some gnarly stuff, rocks on a steep trail between switchbacks:


Right before I got on my bike I remembered people giving me a hard time for not having my bike in my pictures. ("You hiked up that hill," etc.)  So here you go:


I came around a tight right-hand turn and got my chin up over the triple clamp in anticipation of the nasty climb ahead. There was no hero dirt here, just kitty litter, which made things worse. I got the Michelin hooked up with a good drive and looked ahead for a path through these rocks, and right when I was most committed the bike bogged. As I said out loud, "What the f@$#?!" I knew what was wrong before I spit out the third word. The bike died at a critical spot because I forgot to turn on the gas.


With the fuel petcock in a position to deliver fuel to the carburetor, I continue to be amazed by my bike's ability to conquer technical terrain. This is a bike made to hammer whoops, slingshot out of berms, and clear triple jumps. I plonk along at three and a half RPMs like it's a (poorly ridden) trials bike, a gear too high, two gears too high even.

Past 6,000 feet, I rode along the top of Dogskin ridge, the spine of the dog as it were. Along the way I spied this little bit of awesomeness. I know I'm past 6,000 feet and I know that valley floor is 4,500 feet. This trail is 1,500 feet of vertical in such a short space you can't see it. Guaranteed seat-sucking downhill right there. Too bad I was alone; that one will have to wait for a wingman or two.


This rock looked like an eagle's head:


A wide, rock-free, easy portion of the trail on the ridge:


As I pulled over for another picture stop, three riders went by me and up the kitty litter hill climb:


It was here that I could have dropped off the ridge and gone west:




Because I was unsure where I was going to exit the ridge, I decided to follow them and maybe learn a new trail. At a choke point I came up on a KTM (200?) two stroker who introduced himself as Kyle. He said they might be dropping down to the east. That was news to me, as I thought there were no trails to the east, previously pictures steep downhill trailhead not withstanding. I had ridden the ridge as far north as possible before giving up and dropping west.

The choke point involved lifting my 220 pound bike over and around some boulders. This had me confused because I had ridden farther north without encountering this difficult obstacle. (Danger Will Robinson!) I figured it was due to soil erosion or I had used a bypass before.

My equipment started falling off my body armor and I had to make zip-tie repairs, so I fell a ways behind the other riders.

The trail was familiar for a while then became new to me when it went mostly sidehill on the east side of the ridge. In shadow, at altitude, I noticed the temperature drop. There were a few nasty spots but it the trail was rideable until this clusterf@$# of rocks:


Remember, it's sidehill. It's got rocks in front the front tire with a rock ledge in front of the rear tire, which is always a disaster for me. I worked up sweat for a while and all I accomplished was to get the bike's rear wheel downhill in the kitty litter. I had been down a long time with the first obstacle, my equipment repair, and this obstacle, so I expected Kyle and the guys to come looking for me. Well, maybe they wouldn't come to the rescue of someone they just met on the trail.

I couldn't see where the trail went. Below me there was a ravine with a few trails on it that may have linked to this trail. The ravine emptied out on to Winnemucca Ranch Road, but trailblazing the ravine looked difficult to impossible.


I heard bikes. Way out here in the boonies, it could only be Kyle and the guys I was following. I saw them having a hard time down in the ravine trails. The lead rider stopped, the second rider eventually joined him, and shouting ensued. I made out, "Don't come down this way" repeatedly. I told them I would try to go back.

Could I go back? Just how many difficult drop-offs and descents did I make? Could I go up them? Shjt. Some of them, no way, down-only, not up. Weren't there west exits? I thought so.

I had more immediate concerns. My bike was stuck. It was getting cold and dark and I was alone. Just another Yard Sale ride! Time to put on my big girl panties and deal with it. With much effort, I got my bike turned around (in less than its length) and back on the trail south.


As I rode sidehill near the top of the ridge, I could see the poor souls flailing in the ravine below me. At one point, they could have trailblazed their way up some easy desert to me. But revving the engine of my quiet bike didn't get their attention and that was the last I saw of them.

I came off the east sidehill on the ridge top and realized it wasn't really that late, the Dogskin mountain casts a big shadow. I found an exit trail west:




And just like that, it was fun again:


However, another bike-lifting rock obstacle presented itself. (No pictures.) At least this time I felt good about because I actually rode the bike after repositioning it.



I re-rode one of my personal singletracks in the opposite direction from the first time I rode it earlier in the day:




Whoops? No thanks. I found a different way back to my truck.


End

[JENX!!!]

Awsome pics man!!!

[crzydog]

Great pics and nice to see your bike!

[Justin]

if it looks steep in a picture, it's scary steep.  You're the real deal, Eric.

[MotoPutz]

Yeah, he's pretty studly but I kept up. Just had to keep it pinned in the hills.

[Yard Sale]

Putz and I didn't do anything nasty; he wasn't packing any survival gear. A few short hillclimbs were steep and loose.

Gotta go back with a wingman and hit some of those nasties.

[zipbyu]

Yardsale,  let me know when you go next time.  I am always down; in the dirt anyway.
myron

[A DRAGON]

Eric. Thanks real sweet.