Fall in the sierra is dirt biking weather

Post date: Sep 04, 2013 11:12:50 PM

Labor Day weekend officially kicks off dirt biking season in the Eastern Sierra. Heck, all summer is dirt biking season, you might say, but not so much for the working class. Now with the kids back in school and the huge visitor rush over, it's time to take care of the many riding opportunities.

Honorable mentions:

Ventura County MC Bishop dual sport

MammothMC Hawthorne ride

Dick Allen's Sierra Safari

LA-Barstow-2-Vegas

Which ones will you participate in?

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(forest blockade photo - stock footage)

An email call for action went out for ‘mammoth experiences’ for the new www.mammothtrails.org website. Immediately, we thought our experience of swearing at road closures could be showcased. After all, it is a common experience for locals and visitors alike.

Cussing at road closures: spring through fall

Experience by: Mammoth Motorcycle Club

Experience checklist: camera and lip protector, band-aids, MVUM map, toe covered foot wear, green summer of stewardship ball cap, long pants optional.

Location: anywhere and everywhere, the elusive road closure is found nesting among the fragrant pines and babbling spring fed brooks. Chickadees may mock your previous recollections of which roads connected to favorite dispersed camp spots and vistas. Watch for non-native barriers and modified game cameras.

Experience: kick forest slash off the trail, cuss at the system that created this mess, apply band-aid to minor scrapes associated to kicking sticks.

Advanced Experience: carefully re-arrange assorted boulders, scion plantings, logs, forest debris, etc, to create a hidden (or camouflaged) through trail.

Jaded Experience: do nothing but cuss and roost. Leave MVUM map inside of the Hartley Springs campground outhouse as toilet paper.

Trail length: about 900 miles of roads lost forest wide.

Trail surface: mixed, but about 98% of all motorized single track that could be identified/found

Duration: the fall wind whispers unsustainable

Below check out a legitimate experience submitted by Footloose Sports.

http://www.mammothtrails.org/experience/14/family-biking-the-horseshoe-lake-loop/#infoTab

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Dumbing down the Sand Canyon/Wheeler Ridge trail

Apparently some conservation groups (not mentioning any names) are doing everyone a big favor and 'fixing' up the trail leading up to the Wheeler Ridge trail and beyond. Countless hours were spent removing boulders from the trail and cutting maybe a hundred good sized trees from the trail. Who does this?

4x4 or jeep groups? Doubtful, the trees cut wouldn't bother a jeeper.

Motorcyclists? No, we like rocks (well some of us) and appreciate the puzzles they present.

Other ATV enthusiasts? Unlikely, but, we wouldn't put it past them.

USFS (the official land manager)? Probably not, don't think they have field workers anymore.

So what is going on under the watchful eyes of the inyo? Looks like the road is being prepped for the next round of access closures if that makes any sense. The first ground crews have been deployed to get the road smoothed out for the heavy equipment and vehicles that are to come next and mulch up your favorite campsites and vistas.

Or, it is just some VIP environmentalist who needs a gentler ride up to the pond at the end of the road via their subaru or escalade. It's no fun watching wildlife when your head keeps hitting the roof of your vehicle.

Next time up, you decide. All the boulders are just rolled to the side of the roadway. It wouldn't take too much effort to roll them back.

And a word of warning to this rogue trail maintenance crew - removing rock from the Wheeler Ridge Mine trail is one battle you won't win.

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Cameras on the Inyo

Surveillance is here! So far a couple cameras have been spotted, memory cards checked, and gps'd for troubleshooting. They aren't easy to spot and they don't look like our camera logo at the top of the page. These are simple game cameras that are motion activated and gummed-up/disguised with local dirt and debris. One was almost urinated on! Expect them at sensitive access locations. Later, we'd like to sponsor an OHV grant to supply extra cameras pointing at cameras, on and on in a snake (eating itself) loop. That would be something, until then smile and say cheese.