October 7-9 2022
Okay, as of today, September 10, my planning has yielded these results;
Friday: Chico to Hayfork for gas/diesel. This on google maps is about 120 miles on the 36. With my offroad fun options, it's going to likely be closer to 170 miles. But the options are just that, options. I am not opposed to more paved than not, especially for Friday. I need a win! Friday has 5 tracks. 1 main one, and then the Hyampom track from the 36 and 3. The other 3 are just offroad connectiion/site seeing options. I don't want anything difficult on this trip! Damn it! I'm old and broken! Camp is at Big Slide Campground. The kid at the Hyampom General store said it's a good one. This could be a keeper! Who knows. He said there are other campgrounds too. I want to patronize the general store, so my plan is for us to hit that before 4. We can gas and diesel in Hayfork. Sadly, as of yesterday I don't think we need diesel. Our Jeep pal, Dorian, has double booked himself and he can no longer attend. If we like the campground, let's just stay both nights. On to Saturday now.
Saturday: I have two tracks. The first leaves camp and goes north to Willow Creek. We'll lunch there. There are several options but Raging Creek Pub seems to be right up our alley. Let's gas/diesel here. Then our second route heads south but a bit west of our north track. This will be a mix of pavement and dirt I think. Not sure of course, as always. I have this looping back to the Hyampom General store for supplies. Then back to camp to party.
Saturday 2 Willow Creek to Hyampom
Sunday: I figure it's dealer's choice on this one. A feller could just burn the 3 to 36 and reverse the track home. If the track is generally smooth sailing Friday, I'll likely just plan to ride it back to home. Get home early afternoon.
Pete's View of What Really Happened
Well, the ride is done. The plans were all made, and of course we didn't follow them. We got a fine start off Friday at 9:00, but what set us behind schedule is the very thing that should: we hung out several times and visited along the route. It was a blast. This led us to simply camping in the woods at a spot along a creek, right on the route, about 3 miles south of highway 36. The only trouble was if Jim tried to make it Friday night, he would not know where we were. But Alan drove up the 36, got cell service, and they texted. We ended up talking with Jim in the morning and he couldn't come anyway. But this leads us to this though: we should plan routes, but just be prepared to camp wherever. Therefore, we should haul food with that intention. We made due, and Alan woke his inner chef...we had spam, and refried beans and chips, and a bunch of snacks. We were just fine. Great camp spot. There were signs that said designated campfire area. I thought that was interesting, because it wasn't really a campground, just a place where people have camped. Kurt caught some fish....kept and ate one. I don't have a picture of that.
I'd happily go back to this place for sure. It lies on Friday Option 1, which is off the main Friday track. The ride there was great too, because it was just basic fire road. A little loamy and slippery in spots because it had just been graded, but overall good. We stopped at a great gathering place and had a beer. The thing is, to make our final destination, we could not do this stop, but see, this is some of the best stuff. Just hang out in the woods, share stories, get to know our new friend. So, we ended up behind schedule. Fine by me. We got all set up at camp, then joined Swen at his place...he shared some peanut butter whisky with me. Nice fellow. Then Alan brought over the margarita bottle. I had that next. Then Scott brought a camera full of tequila. So I floated that on my second margarita. Well, you can see where this is headed. I set my tent up now, because Jason wasn't there to do it with Alan for me if I'm stumbling drunk. We got to playing poker and had a fine night of it. Swen bought some new lantern holders, so this was an upgrade from other poker nights. Alan used his tubs as our table, and we sat around in our camp chairs, taking turns putting wood on the fire. Good times. Nobody fell down that I know of, but it could have easily happened I think. I had a good night's sleep. We did the usual casual pace of waking up and making coffee. Some fighting headaches of course. Andy brought peaches, and that was a heck of a fine way to balance breakfast. I forgot my cup noodles, but there is always plenty of snacky foods. The toasty cheese-its were just fine for morning too!
We get back to 36 and head west to the next track. It's the 36 to Hyampom track. So it starts of as dirt road, turns into deep rutted and narrow, overgrown road, then proceeds to start to cross the creek. 10 water crossings in all. Now mind you, I did NOT want anything challenging this weekend. It was supposed to be simple and Pete's Safety Pass Weekend. My wrist is not 100%. The rocks we were riding on really pounded it. No likey. But I was the sweep bike and the guys just kept on going. The jeeps were behind me. The water crossings weren't deep (at this point), but you know how it is. However, I came around a corner and heard/saw Swen revving his motor, like he was cleaning something out. It was steaming too. He said it stalled after that water crossing. The other side was a bit of a climb out, but I rolled in and then whoop, dropped into about a 2 foot deep hole. I just kept feathering the clutch and using first and climbed up and out. Unfortunately my right boot got filled with water. That's okay, I didn't fall! That about the 7th crossing. I was hoping there were no more...but there were, however they were shallow again...maybe a foot at most. We started coming to some houses, and the road turned to decent dirt, until it connected to the 3. Nobody fell down. Pepe didn't either! Andy was happy. This was some true four wheeling adventure for him and his beloved Pepe. The water was not deep enough to cover the batteries and electrocute him. That's good.
We rolled into Hayfork for gas and lunch. Kurt planned to have lunch and head home, he needed to get back Saturday night. We got gas and took the advice of a local to try the Pepto Bismol colored Mexican restaurant. And in fact, it was a great call. Super good, though I certainly over ate and naturally, we all got sleepy. Once again, we just hung around outside in the shade and enjoyed a beer. We were in no hurry. We said our goodbyes to Kurt and he took off. We then jumped on the paved route to Hyampom...and 24 mile fantastic paved twisty section. Fo and Swen were out front and I attempted to catch them, but knew that was likely impossible. But I was routing myself to the general store, as we all agreed to go there for supplies before camp. I arrived and there were two harley guys just leaving the tavern next door. So I pulled up and figured, well, I imagine they'll figure it out and come back soon enough. I decide to get a beer and kick back. Hence, this picture.
So they came back, and Scott arrived, then the Jeeps. We all had a drink at the tavern, and once again, kicked back and visited. This was a bit of a theme for this ride, and I was glad for it. We then went over to the store and got our supplies for the evening. This is the classic country town general store. It was great. Star was the attendant, Joe at the tavern told us to talk with her about the campground because she grew up here. We got all we needed and packed the coolers. Man, having our Jeep buddies is a frickin' game changer in terms of ease. It's so awesome to just toss stuff in coolers and not try to pack it all on the bikes. Plus, having paper towels and plates and whatever else car camping allows is just simply fabulous. I mean Alan brought Crown, Costco Anejo Tequila, Margarita bottle, and hauled the beer. Damn fine fellow. Doc had bought a case of beer in Hayfork, and our coolers were looking damn fine. Damn fine indeed. I did buy some fun stuff too, which included two big cans of michalada. These were important the next day.
So we roll about 7 miles to Big Slide campground. It's a peach along the river. Nobody there but us. Nice vault toilets, tables, fire rings and garbage. Good stuff. We got all set up and then it was cocktail hour. We then decided to take a stroll along the river. You can see Dakota being the happiest dog ever below.
I wasn't too hungry for dinner because of that lunch, but some guys made themselves their stuff. We got some snacks out for poker, including some garlic olives. There. That's healthy. Poker was fun again. Some breaks here and there, but Alan and Fo and I hung it out til late. We finished with 357. I made a tactical error with two 5s on the 3 hand at the end and Alan won the pot. It was really a pretty huge pot. But in all, we just had a darned good time.
Sunday morning was great. Again, a leisurely pace. We decide to try a road I saw off of this road that cut over to the 36 at Mad River. This turned out to be great actually. Pretty much the exact style of dirt roads we want to be riding these days. I'm impressed with my new Shinko 705s. They really performed well all weekend. At the top, where we hit pavement, we stopped and drank the michaladas. We shared and we all got a taste. Not Andy, he doesn't drink that alcohol stuff. Then Fo decided to throw a stick on Alan's Jeep. Wow. Nice.
We took off on the pavement and it was a sweet single style paved track to Mad River. Then we went to go get a burger there at the burger stand. Good stuff that. Scott bought. Nice that. Not necessary, but a fine gesture. Good burgers. We saw a dog on a car and a bunch of Canadians on sportbikes. See below.
It was time to get going Scott headed west and we headed east. Scott was going to camp another night and frankly, I was jealous. I got to thinking about retirement. It will be cool to say, "Should we just do another night?" So we said goodbye to our new MotosandJeeps member. Fine fellow that guy. It was good we didn't kill him. He and Fo met 18 years ago and the Strawberry Music Festival. He plays claw hammer banjo. Yes Scott, I was listening. I'm happy to report, as about an hour ago while I type this, Scott made it home to Alameda. Us eastward fellers stopped once more and then finished it all up. The ride home from that last stop was a grind for me. My arm had had enough and I was tired. But we got it done and waved goodbye.
It was a great weekend. Nobody on a bike fell over. Scott did really great. This is his first foray since getting back to motorcycles after 15 years I think he said. So that's rather impressive to do all these tracks on his newly loved vstrom 650. It is rather well set up, because the previous owner got all the goodies, then sold it to Scott at age 87. Yeah, you read that right. Another thing that Scott did that I personally complimented him on was stopping and waiting when he wasn't sure where to go. That's a big deal because we never lost anyone. When we do get separated it is always a pain in the ass. So good on ya Scott!
So, all in all, Pete's Safety Pass Weekend was a huge success. I don't really think I'd change a thing. I mean, I might not do the unprecedented 10 water crossing road, but we all made it and that's what matters. My arm is certainly sore today. But it worked and I had a blast. I guess I would have preferred being a little closer to home on Sunday, but sometimes you have to grind it out. I know Rig and Swen do that more than any of us, so I shouldn't complain. Next trip we will head their way, to make it more easily accessible for Swen and Scott, then one of these days in the future, Rig will be in one of the Jeeps too.
We did not solve the homeless problem. That blows. And in fact, I don't know that we solved any problems, but as always, we had great conversations about all topics. We talked of dogs a lot. I shared pictures of my beloved forever dog, Roxy. I sure do miss her. Dakota seems to know that, and gives me a little extra attention at times. Swen told me the amazing story of raising the foster puppies and hand feeding two of them from day 3. He adopted Ranger. He greeted him in his garage, and you can see him in the photos below. Doc shared a bunch of his puppy sisters. All good stuff. Made me a bit sad, but I shook it off. My Roxy had the best 19 month life that any dog could ever have had. She'll be my forever dog. Always, when I arrived home, she pokes her head through the cat door in the garage. It's hard to adjust to that not happening anymore. And I'm sure you understand. I've included a couple of my favorite pictures of her below.
Thanks for a great weekend everyone. Thanks for all your generosity with all the food and drink. Friends that count, don't keep count. No counting this weekend. Well, except for maybe poker chips. Until the next one, cheers!
