Dirty LandBargin'...Post up your adventure and join the purveyors of the ill advised

[hercbr]

Originally Posted by viffergyrl

Santa Rita Road between Templeton and Old Creek Road....

Every time we go down Old Creek Rd, I look at that one and wonder.... Now I know!

Thanks!

[viffergyrl]

Yeah - one of my maps shows that road as paved; the other correctly shows it as graded dirt. Guess which map I was using?

We did it east to west and there is signage advising you that the road is subject to closure and flooding, so this is probably why the road became too hard to maintain as paved (I think it was paved at one time). There is an elevation change but it is gradual and not really an issue when dry. The road is well-graded, so I think the locals have either the means or the influence.

[hercbr]

Originally Posted by viffergyrl

Yeah - one of my maps shows that road as paved; the other correctly shows it as graded dirt. Guess which map I was using?

We did it east to west and there is signage advising you that the road is subject to closure and flooding, so this is probably why the road became too hard to maintain as paved (I think it was paved at one time). There is an elevation change but it is gradual and not really an issue when dry. The road is well-graded, so I think the locals have either the means or the influence.

Knowing the neighborhood, I think your last statement has a lot of validity!

[poach]

Awwwwww Yeeeaaaahhhhh!!!

[MoeToeBricker]

Regards.

[poach]

^^^Mmmmmagnificent....I want it. This coming winter, when the passes are closed and norcal is sketch.

Thx...

[Gojira]

Nice!

If Pashnit existed when I lived in California, it would have had a huge impact on me. I lived right by the ridge route and didn't even know about it. All the roads I knew of were the fully paved major canyon roads like the crest, San Fransisquito, etc.

[kdsmgb]

Rode the Ridge Road in 2005 on my '84 Sabre 1100... had to ride around a guard rail closing the road. My buddy on a similar V65 wouldn't follow as the road was chewed up and he was older, so it was an abbreviated ride of perhaps 10 miles. The alternating pavement colors and textures from many slide repairs were fascinating. Bested only by the old road house foundation ruins. If you kick around in the grass where you'd think a building once stood, you'll like find vintage bottles and a sign or few as I did. Left it all there but it was fun to check out! Bring a metal detector and a cooler full of food and drink and have a ball. Not sure if it's legal to take artifacts though....if it's park property or anything now....

[sanpedro]

One young man in a very spendy, lifted, supercharged 4wd made it a point to ask me my business in the area. Once he was satisfied I was just passing through he loosened up a little. Then, with an expansive sweep of his magnanimous hand...he in invited me to "enjoy our beautiful area" and floored the throttle kicking up a huge cloud of dust.


Sketchy...

Going back a bit, and only tangentally related to this thread, but reminded me of an incident the beginning of this last August.

I had dropped off hwy 80 down to Blue Canyon. Just as I was leaving the "town" area to go out on a dirt road, two 20 something guys in a wheeler pulled over to my side and stopped. Thinking I might be inadvertently entering on to private property (turned out I wasn't), I flipped up my visor. The driver adressed me in forceful tones, "You got to turn around right now dude, you're lost!" I can't really capture the inflection of his voice in a post, but it was pretty obvious something was up and he was really adamant about me not going up that (public, legal) dirt road.

I was traveling solo, out of cell range, and not carrying a weapon, so I defused the tension by acting clueless and telling him I was looking for another area road, Texas Hill road (I was heading there next anyhow), He gave me directions and then they pulled down the road and waited while I turned around, and watched to make sure I left.

I had them pegged for a couple of lunchmen that just made a supply drop to a grow hidden further up the road. That's one other potential hazard of backcountry travel in California, especially in late summer when the buds are getting fat and the growers are on edge.

[poach]

It's been my experience that the emerald triangle farmers(or any farmers for that matter) def don't want the kind of attention that shooting up a lone adventure rider would bring, and so far stern verbal warnings have been the norm. But tempting fate would surely be unwise...