utah/nevada trip report

[Cdekmg@aol.com]

The bike and I made it back from a 10 day trip unscathed. It was long, beautiful and hot and dry. The first day I drove from Santa Cruz, CA to Carson City, NV. I got my scariest moment over with right away that day, when, during a high-speed pass of a big RV/trailer rig, the bike ran out of gas just when I was 2 bike lengths ahead of it while in the oncoming traffics lane. There was a bumper to bumper line of vehicles behind him, so my only choice was to instantaneously swerve across his bow and into the emergency lane, where it started right-up after switching to reserve. This was my fault, I underestimated the lesser mileage one gets with a full load, headwinds and 70 miles per hour. I never let my tank get too low after this! Going-over 8573 ft. Carson Pass via the 88 was gorgeous, with very large snow drifts piled-up on each side of the road. Leaving Carson City in the morning, I headed-out on the 50E. This was what I had been waiting for, huge open spaces, with mysterious looking mountain ranges in the distance. This is Basin and Range country, the ranges run North to South, and one passes through many of them moving across central Nevada. All of them had lots of snow on them, the Toiyabe's were especially impressive. I couldn't resist stopping at every BLM historic site, etc. and exploring the myriad of dirt roads running everywhere. Immediately, the schedule I had planned fell by the roadside. It took me all day to get to Austin, approx. in the middle of NV. I went to Bob Scott campground in the Humbolt/Toiyabe Nat'l forest, where I had camped in the past, but it was closed! Good thing I was on a dualsport, I blasted-up a dirt road on public land and pitched my tent. As far as I was concerned, I was the only person in the world at that time. This was near the "Top Gun" range, and that night, multiple formations of jet fighters screamed overhead at low altitude, even including manuvers where they were dropping chaff or flares which lit-up the ground like daylight. Very impressive, don't mess with America. The next day was another long, dreamy trek across the endless desert, where you feel like you are standing-still at 80 mph. I did plenty of exploring, including some very well preserved petroglyphs at the Grimes site. I made it to Ely, NV and called-it a day. In the morning I made the relatively short trek to Great Basin Nat'l Park, where I spent the day and camped in Lower Lehman Campground (the upper at 10,000 ft was closed for snow). The brought back great memories of living in Utah, where my Dad and I would come here and do the cave tour and climb Wheeler Peak (second highest in NV). The following day, I took-off down the 21 in West-Central Utah and headed SE towards Milford. Boy, talk about remote, the BLM reports that the Wah-Wah mountains have less than 150 visitors yearly, thats less then half a person per day! I hardly saw any other vehicles on the road, off-road there was nobody and the remoteness and lack of facilities were high in your mind as you cruised around by yourself. I left the pavement and explored the ghosttown of Frisco, claimed to be the best preserved one in Utah. This was a silver boomtown in the late 1800's for 10 years, where 23 saloons labored day and night to quench the thirst of the hardworking miners. Gunplay was a daily occurance in this rowdy town. One day, between shift changes, the foreman delayed sending the crews into the earth because he heard some strange noises, shortly afterwards, the main shafts collapsed with such fury that it broke windows 15 miles away in Milford. Nobody was killed because of the foremans foresight. It was creepy arriving there, you see the cemetary first, with headstones amazingly intact. Sadly, most of the graves were children. I didn't read anything about this, but I believe typhoid, diptherea, etc ravaged populations during this time period. How sad to watch your children pass away in such a remote and desolate place. Scary incident #2 occurred after this as I rounded a corner at 55 and a large, horned steer was standing in the other lane and shyed away from me violently. Only 20 minutes for my stomach to calm down here! From there, I went to Beaver, where I stayed in the worlds cheapest and sleazyest hotel. Sometimes it can be cleaner to just sleep in the dirt. At least the shower worked. Now I'm nearing canyon country! While I have done some exploring of the general Moab area parks, I had always whizzed right by the Bryce/Zion area. Red Canyon and Bryce were beautiful, and I had caught-it just before the hoards arrived. After spending the day exploring Bryce, I went to Kodachrome Basin State Park, where the campgrounds were incredibly clean with the most incredible location. Huge rock formations, with a high density of the type that will make a girl blush. There must be a vein of Viagra running beneath this park. I had a double size site with 2 bbq's, parking for a 30 ft rig and double picnic tables. I managed to fit the KLR and my tent into this space. There are these really cool and large birds called Chukar's cruising around, they were not afraid of people at all. In the morning, I explored part of the road which runs from Kodachrome between the 12 and the 89. It is a good, high-speed dirt road which leads to Grosvenor Arch and continues approx. 55 miles south to the 89. I'd like to do the whole length, next time. Then, I left my gear in the tent and drove unloaded to the Escalante/Boulder area and did some off-road exploring in the "Hole in the Wall" area. This area is fantastic and lesser knowen, endless dirt riding is availible. This was my slowest day, and I still did 125 miles. I spoke with an Escalante sheriff who gets to ride a DR350 on-duty, needless to say, he loved his job! At this point, it was time to turn around and start heading back (sniff). I headed back through Bryce on the 12, went South on the 89 and picked-up the 14 towards Ceder City. Now we are talking some snow. The summit is just about 10,000 ft, and there are huge meadows up there completely piled-up with snow. I felt like I was going on a ski trip by motorcycle. At the summit, there are incredible views of the cliffs of Zion in the distance. Cedar Breaks Nat'l Monument was closed. On the way out of Utah, I visited "Iron Town," a where raw ore was turned into iron. Most of the structures are still standing, including the beehive ovens where they burned local pinon and other wood into the charcoal needed to fire the furnaces. I headed for the Extraterrestial Highway and drove through Caliente, NV, but time was running short and I saved some distance by going South on the 93 where I stayed in Alamo, NV in a little hotel with a bunch of truckers and construction workers, a rough but very friendly group. The next morning, it was down through Vegas, where it was hot, dusty and very windy. As I approached the town on the 15, an absolutely huge dust devil (more like small tornado) appeared to my right and headed across the freeway at high speed. This was going to put me right in the middle, and I'm telling you, this thing was picking up pieces of wood, not just dust and paper. I had one choice, and savagely rotated the throttle to full stop. As I hit 95, it crossed behind me and I instantly lost 15-20 mph as it tryed to pull me back like a vacume, then I was free and screaming down the freeway. I only stopped in Vegas for gas, then headed for Death Valley. Here, on the 95, I encountered the worse cross winds that I have ever driven on a cycle. Just brutal, extended driving at a 45 degree angle. I saw Apache/Cobra helicopters performing manuvers off to my right, lots of military test areas around here. Death Valley was hot and beautiful. Afterwards, its tricky to get back into my area because of all the passes closed by snow. So I headed to Lone Pine (below Mammoth) which entailed a very twisty run through the mtns. getting out of Death Valley. I was very tired and going west directly into a setting-sun, at the time this part felt more like work then fun, but thats all part of the game. From there, I took the 395 So. to the 178 W to the 155 W via Lake Isabella. Beautiful area, with lots of off-road riding availible, including the BLM back-country byway "Chimney Peak." This area requires closer scrutiney. Afterwards, it was just long, hot, high-speed cruising via the 99 and I-5, I hate interstates, but time was running-out. I made it over Pacheco Pass just before sunset and did Heckor Pass in the dark. Back in moist and cool Santa Cruz, where it was raining lightly, a welcome change to my chapped and peeling skin. The KLR was steller, never once did it complain. It handled the extended freeway cruising, and was like a tractor in the dirt. I just about wore-out the stock rear tire (3700 total, 2300 from this trip) and was very happy with it. I think I'll replace it again with the stock Dunlop, the front is still in great shape. A great trip. It was hot and dry, and this is only in early April. Moab attendees, I would recommend using sunscreen _before_ you burn, a tinted visor might be a good idea also. I waited until I was already burnt, and it was very uncomfortable for the rest of the trip. An awesome trip, my first long-one on the KLR. Time to go back to work and save that Timebank for the next excursion. Happy Trails. Charles