Sunday - 5/20: "We should be in Globe by noonish..."

While sleeping and dreaming of pleasant things, a loud bang intrudes into my peaceful slumber... I roll over and look at my cell phone... 5:00am What the...!? I stumble to the door and find Casey fully dressed and apparently ready to go riding. The sun has only barely begun to show its first feeble rays on the distant horizon. I ask him if he knows what time it is and he looks a little confuzzled for a moment... Then it dawns on him I head back to bed after things are sorted out but it is not long before he just can't stand it and is soon back to rapping on my door. Seeing that it is a lost cause, I dress and pack the bike. Already, at a little before 7:00am, sitting in the sun gets a little warm. This should be an interesting day!


We head out of town on one of the highways and soon find the entrance to the land of dual sporting bliss. It seems the military has a different vision of desert bliss, something to do with live fire exercises! The sign with the dates on it show that we should be fine, but there is that nagging issue of the pole with the red flag on it... We air down the tires in preparation for the ensuing ride in the dirt and head in to the unknown...


We head in and the road is nice, loose gravel and sand with some ruts and rocks in the mix. We ride for several miles before Casey stops in some shade, perhaps to check his route. I am in tourist mode for this trip. The planning has pretty much been in Casey's hands from day one. I don't even have the route loaded in the GPS, just all the local Topo and City Select maps for the area. Not having any clue where one is heading kind of makes things interesting.


Soon after our stop, the terrain starts to really get interesting! The hills get steeper and the road rougher. As always, the camera just cannot convey to reality of the terrain. Really... it IS steeper than it looks!!


John never stands unless he has too. So when I see him standing, it gets my attention! That is usually a sign of things to come With a few good hill climbs and descents behind us, we stop at the crest of a hill to take in the view and have a short break. Shoving the KLR up and down these hills is work. With all the added weight of luggage and the tall stock gearing, I am really exploring new territory in terms of mine and the KLR's abilities. I have never really done much serious technical dirt riding, just trips to Clayton, Big Bend and Arkansas (which had some hard stuff but of short duration). Gazing out over the land below, I can see that duration is going to be an issue today...


While we are hanging out, a guy in an "Off-Road 4X4" Ford pickup pulls up to chat. He's trying to get to the Coke Ovens. A little chat with Casey regarding directions and distance and then he takes off in a cloud of dust. We soon follow.

The ride is challenging but thrilling. The scenery is awesome. After riding for a while, we encounter the guy in the pickup backtracking. He informs us that he reached a ledge and some big rocks that he did not think his truck could handle but that we should have no problems on the bikes. Soon we enter a narrow box canyon, its floor lined with deep and loose sand and gravel. Large boulders are scattered about just to add to the fun. Normally I like riding in sand and loose stuff. However, with all the added weight of the luggage, the rear of the bike just wants to dig in and it makes it very hard to steer the bike. Fighting the loose stuff is exhausting work but the scenery makes it worth the effort!


Once all the SUV's and trucks are turned around and out of our way, we continue on our way down the canyon. It eventually widens out and the ground becomes very loose. However, with the extra room to maneuver, the riding is not so bad. Soon we are on a hard packed road that gently rises and falls over the terrain in big sweeping curves. It is a refreshing break from the hard stuff. About the time I am thinking many miles of this kind of riding is just what I like, Casey turns us around and informs us that we have missed a turn and have to go back up the canyon So off we go...

The run back to the canyon is fun but once we get back to the rocky stuff, I manage to hit ledges with both the front and back tires at the same time. This causes me to lose all forward momentum and just fall over to the side Normally, picking up the KLR is not a big deal for me. However, with the luggage on the bike, it is very difficult to get a grip on the rear of the bike for lifting. After a few tries, it becomes obvious to John that I am gonna need some help. He obliges and we are soon back on track chasing Casey. Somewhere between that drop and finding Casey I have numerous close calls that send huge amounts of adrenaline coursing through my veins. I rarely feel out of control when riding on the street. On the dirt, the opposite seems true and I rarely feel in control

We catch up to Casey as the spot where we were supposed to turn earlier. We are soon back to the steep climbs, loose rocks, ledges, and sharp prickly things lining the road!


Now on the way out here in the truck, Casey went into great detail about the pain and suffering associated with an encounter with the dreaded Cholla Cacti. Barbed spikes laced with poison that have to be pulled from your skin, each feeling like a bad wasp sting. The plant falls apart sending globs of spikes everywhere. Apparently, my brain did not absorb all of this during the wee hours of the morning of driving when he was going over these details. I must be checking out the scenery instead of watching where I am going because one moment all is fine, and in the next moment I am doing everything possible to avoid making contact with one of these abominations as my bike falls into one, taking me with it...

The end result is me standing WAY to close to this vicious attack cactus that is tossing big globs of spikes at me with every wiggle of my body. The problem is, I can't move!! My left leg is pinned under the bike. The seat is resting on the top of my boot at the calf and my boot is supporting the full weight of the bike. I am not in any pain but I am pinned with no way to lift the bike off my boot without leaning into the cactus that stands there taunting me. See my predicament, once again John comes to the rescue. After a few minutes of picking out needles and John looking me over real good to make sure we have not missed any, we get moving again. About this time I am starting to feel the cumulative affect of the heat and exertion. I sip some more from the Camel Bak and keep moving.


Soon the nice level sections become scarce. If we are not climbing some rough rocky hill, we are doing a dicey descent. With the tall gearing and extra weight on the back of the KLR, it is a chore keeping the front end on the ground. At times I am leaning so far forward I can almost kiss the fender. Nonetheless, too often the front tire is in the air and I am trying to keep the bike moving and balanced on one tire. When I stop on an ascent to keep from dropping the bike, getting restarted is a real chore and is physically punishing. Each hill just takes more and more out of me. Soon we reach a bit of nastiness with a sharp ninety degree turn about half way up with a ledge in the turn... It is more than I can handle and once again the bike is down. This time I did not jump fast enough and something is pulled in a place where guys are not fond of having pain... Time to have a sit...

I don't think I am seriously hurt, just a little tweaked. A few moments to catch my breath and to drink some more and I forget about the pulled/strained muscles. With the bike righted, John helps me get it up over the ledge and then I ride it up the rest of the way to where Casey is stopped. I park the bike and try to sit in what shade it provides. By now the sun is really beating down on us and there is NO shade to be had. It is not even noon yet so it is likely to only get hotter! While resting I try to get some pictures of John's attempt to make the climb.


The rest helps, but I can tell that I am fast approaching the point of having no strength or energy to continue this level of riding for much longer. We go a little further and then come to a steep descent. Here the road is basically just a sloping rock surface with lots of uneven areas and drops of a foot or more. We stop to decide what the best lines might be for the descent. John goes first and seems to get down pretty well. Casey goes next and stops to wait for me. I am at a nasty ledge and cannot back up to take a better line. Casey helps with a push back and then I reroute around the ledge. The worst behind us, we drop down into a wash to find John resting in some MUCH needed shade. At this point, I am feeling the early signs of heat exhaustion. I tell Casey and John the seriousness of the situation and we take a nice LONG break. I force myself to eat a few power bars even though they taste horrible to me right now. I continue drinking slowly but deliberately every few minutes to try to prevent dehydration. Looking at the faces of Casey and John, I don't think they are far behind me even though they don't seem to be struggling with their bikes like I have been.


While we are hanging out and resting, we start hearing motor noises. Soon we spot these guys cresting the hill we just descended and they start picking their way down with a few close calls!


The problem with getting over heated and exhausted is that it takes only a short time to reach that state, but it takes MUCH longer to recover from that state! After a good rest and some rehydration, I feel a whole lot better. We get back on the bikes and keep going. However, it is soon obvious to me that despite feeling better, I still simply lack the energy (caloric in nature), having burned through much of what I may have had at the start of the ride and the power bars just don't cut it. We are right back to the climbing and descending. It is not long before I reach my limit on a climb.

With the top in sight, maybe another 20 yards at most after probably a few hundred yards of steady rough climbing, I hit another ledge and just cannot keep the front of the bike down. It lifts, throwing me off balance and over I go. At this point, I can barely stand because my legs feel like rubber, so sit on the dirt next to the bike and ponder the situation. The bike is not going anywhere as I certainly cannot lift it. Even if I get it upright, I doubt I can get it moving on such a steep incline. I feel like vomiting... Sooo... I head for what meager shade I can find under a spindly cactus and lay down. As I suck on the Camel Bak tube I experience that dreaded "thwack" as the bladder registers empty Three liters gone shortly after noon. Casey comes back down the hill and John climbs up so we can take stock of things.

While I am laying down trying to cool off, John and Casey right the bike and John tries to ride it up. No dice. Then, in an almost instant answer to prayer, several jeeps round the bend below us. They stop to check on us and graciously offer some much needed assistance. I get the privilege of sitting in an air conditioned jeep while the others tow my bike the last bit to the top. Then John has to get his bike up. He seems to be doing okay until he reaches the ledge where I went down. He almost clears it, then loses his momentum and starts sliding backwards!! Fortunately, John has some seriously long legs and he is able to back peddle pretty fast to keep the bike upright. After a brief pause to catch his breath, he puts the Terraflex to work on the rock and sends the bike scrambling up the hill to the top. The jeep makes it seem so effortless that I have to wonder why I am torturing myself like this

Once at the top, we stop to regroup. I get some much needed ice cold Gatorade from one of the friendly jeepers. Even better, the guy whose jeep I am occupying fills my Camel Bak with ice and water. After a few more minutes I am feeling pretty good again. John on the other hand is baking in the sun and really itching to get moving. He has the routes in his GPS and so Casey tells him to go on ahead and we'll come along in a few minutes. As I am getting myself back in gear and on the bike, John disappears around the next bend in a swirl of dust.


[The climb up is about as long as that section seen above that descends from the back ground to the middle of the picture. However, because I am looking down the hill side, the bulk of the climb does not even show up in the picture. It is significantly steeper than the descent seen in the back ground and falls away sharply just beyond the edge of the road in the lower left portion of the image.]


The jeepers are really nice folks and genuinely concerned for our welfare. They offer to let us go ahead and they'll follow to make sure we make it to the river without any further problems. So Casey and I head after John, only to come up to a fork in the road within a few hundred yards... Which way did John go? While pondering this dilemma, the jeepers come up behind us and tell us, "That way is really tough, so go this way to get where you want to be." Hoping that John will have realized the same, we go the way they suggest. We are on a ridge and trying to reach a river. The obvious issue is that this means another descent. I steel myself for it because at this point, I WANT to get to the freaking river!!

Soon after the fork, we start descending. The road is rutted and strewn with large loose rocks. The front tire of the KLR is bouncing all over the place. I am trying to be very gentle with the rear brake as I pick my way down. In places it is so steep that the rear just locks up and tries to slide around to lead the way. I have to steer into the slide and just focus on keeping the bike upright until it comes to a stop on its own and I can start picking my way down again. This continues for several hundred yards as the road wraps around the side of the hill and down into the scrub trees that line the river valley. At this point the road turns to silt, that super fine powdery dust that seeks to penetrate every tiny crevice in my sinuses with each labored breath I take. The saving grace is that the road is like riding in a tunnel formed by the low hanging branches of the trees and the shade is a welcome relief from the searing sun. It does not last long...

The road pops out from under the trees, makes a sharp switch back and begins a loose rocky climb up a steep hill. Sitting near the top of the hill is a run down collapsed structure that looks like it might have been a home at one time. I make the next tight switch back and gun the bike for all it is worth. The back end is flying all over the place as I focus on keeping the front end planted. I am NOT going to drop this thing!! I reach the top and there is a sharp left onto a nice flat level area. I made it to the Coke Ovens... Where is John?


The jeepers finally take their leave after we assure them we'll be fine and thank them for all their help. This leaves Casey and I to kick back and take it all in. The scenery here is fantastic. I LOVE the desert, even when it kicks my backside! Getting here involved some serious and grueling riding compared to what I have ever attempted before now. I feel like crap and am totally wasted. How can this possibly be fun!? Nonetheless, I am having the time of my life, misery and all! Still... it would be nice if John would show up soon! And just then...


After much shouting and arm waving, John almost heading straight down the side of the hillside thinking that was what we told him to do, and then finally figuring out we were trying to tell him to circle around the backside of the hillside to find the road, he finally found his way to the right road and the way up to the ovens. What a relief!


It seems that John did make it to the river, but at the wrong place. He went down a REALLY nasty descent to reach the river. Then decided that once there a good dip in the cool water was in order. After about an hour it occurred to him that he might have gone the wrong way. So he geared back up and made the climb back to the top of the ridge. So by the time he got back to us, he had really gotten a serious workout!! We stay put at the ovens a little longer to let John rest before we set out for the river in the valley below.

With everyone rested, we start down into the river valley. The road soon turns back into silt. The road is lined with what look to be mesquite trees. There is a large rut on each side and a bug hump down the middle. So it is pretty smooth going under the trees for the most part. However, we do encounter a pretty nasty stretch of deep ruts left by jeeps when things were not quite so dry! Keeping the front tire from slipping down into the ruts demands my full attention. We soon reach the river... only to see it flowing fast and looking pretty deep. On the far side are the ATV guys we encountered earlier while resting in the wash. One of them is very animated about showing us the way across the river and decides to demonstrate...

This guy jumps on his ATV and just blasts right into the water under full throttle. He never lets up and eventually reaches our side, shoving a huge wave of water onto shore ahead of him. He spins around and charges right back into the river, chugging away. This time though, the current is working against him. The ATV starts drifting and he is trying to keep the front end pointed where he wants to go.


After watching the ATV crossing and also wading out into the river a ways, we decide to forgo the attempt at getting the bikes across. There are large rocks littering the bottom of the river bed. Standing in only knee deep water is difficult because of the strength of the current. If we were to drop one of the bikes, picking it up against the current would be a nightmare. Riding across would be very risky and walking them across not much better. None of us are really wild about the idea, but it seems that the better part of valor is to backtrack and ride out on the Battle Axe trail... if we can find it... It seems Casey forgot the trail map and description, having left it in the truck

We still have some daylight left and decide to start heading for the trail. We follow the road back along the river a bit and soon reach another hill climb. With no alternative, we start up. It is LONG and steep. There are large loose rocks everywhere. I try standing up and just muscling the KLR to the top non stop but the road has other plans for me. I don't go down, but I get high centered on a large rock. It is jammed into my center stand and I cannot get the bike over it. Finally, in desperation, I tilt the bike pretty far to one side while letting is slide backward. This rotates the rock enough that I can kick it out from under the bike. I still have to fight the tall gearing and the tendency of the clutch to want to either totally slip or totally engage, making it very difficult to control the bike. After what seems like an eternity, I finally reach the top, right back where we were several hours ago...

The sun is starting to get low and we have to make plans for spending the night in the desert. The only thing between us and the river is the nasty descent that John did earlier. Convinced that this is the eventual way out of here, we decide to head down to the river, make camp and call it a day.


Once again, I brace myself for what will no doubt be a grueling physical task. The road curves once or twice around the side of the hill and then plummets straight down into the valley below. John was not exaggerating earlier when he described the nastiness of this hill. Numerous times I start sliding as the rear of the bike tries to take the lead. I have to really take my time, stop where possible to reassess and catch my breath, then start sliding my way down some more. I finally make it to the bottom and the relative ease of riding in the silt. We soon make it to the river and set up camp.


Soon after we get our tents setup, the sun slips down behind the mountains and darkness soon follows. I brought an MRE with me that is a leftover from my trip down to Mexico back in March with Richard_ and a few other TWT folks. Chicken in Salsa... I eat the power bar, crackers, peanut butter and drink the energy drink. I just cannot stomach the Chicken goop. However, I do start feeling much better after eating. Exhausted, we knock off pretty early. Everyone is fairly well beat from the heat and physically punishing riding.

Laying in my tent waiting for the Alieve to work its magic, I ponder the day of riding. I feel like I am totally in over my head and out of my league in terms of skill, physical conditioning, and even the bike. Yet, I only dropped the bike four times. Given the terrain and my condition, I am actually quite surprised I did not drop it much more! Still, I am confident that I cannot continue this type of riding for days on end. Recovering from heat exhaustion takes time and rest, yet we still have to get out of here in the morning. What will tomorrow bring?

Sleep comes and goes in spurts. The stars shine brightly even through the material of my tent walls. The sound of the river a few yards away is soothing and relaxing... morning will come all too soon...