I Have A Dream: Pozo On The 610's

[WoodsChick]

Every year Eric and I celebrate the glory of Martin Luther King by going on a 3-day riding trip. Surprising, I know... This year we decided to do some trail riding down at Pozo in the Los Padres National Forest. Our friend Mark and his daughter Danielle joined us and were waiting for us when we got there. The drive in on Red Hill Road late Friday night was treacherous. We had no business being on that funky dirt road in our camper van with no ground clearance and trailer in tow. It was dicey! Anyway, we made it in one piece and woke up here bright and early on a beautiful and quiet Saturday morning...

We loaded up for a fun and easy day as this would be the maiden voyage for Mark's new XR650L and he'd have Danielle on the back. The 610 stalled in the first little puddle we came to. Great...I hope it's not going to be like this all day!

Mark was pretty happy with his bike...

Arroyo Grande was hopping on this nice day...

When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight...

Winters are a bitch in California, aren't they?

Heading out of Arroyo Grande we found ourselves on Upper Lopez Canyon Rd...

This road quickly became known as Trail of 1000 Creek Crossings, as this kind of stuff was just non-stop...

Hiking trails spelled the end for us motorized cretins...

Oh, goody! Now we get to go through all those water crossings again!

Due to the 10-photo limit I will be returning shortly with another post...

 

[WoodsChick]

Mark and Danielle were having a blast!

Should have been doing this right from the start...

We headed back to camp for fire and food. Mark wasn't feeling well and would be packing up in the morning.
Eric and I would be spending the day on the trails in Pozo


Day 2 coming up tomorrow!

 

[oregonsage]

Ooooooo
Another WC travelogue!
Most excellent.

 

[McKay]

Sniff sniff, that's my hometown. Ohh how I miss it there. To make you feel better I've done that road many many times, on my mountain bike! Quit yer whining and get a writing! Lol

 

[HuskyDude]

Wow Water crossing...plus!!! Great pictures
Hope your swing arm linkage has lots and lots of grease to keep all the water out. LOL
Looking forward to the rest of your adventure.

 

[WoodsChick]

Ok...sorry for the delay folks...been super busy!

Woke up to freezing temps. Literally. 32º. Had to go for my morning walk, though, because I'm really old and I need it. This trail was fun!

Found a nicely flowing spring...

Found this chain embedded in the dirt and sand at an abandoned campsite. Love is where you find it...

To say Navajo Campground is an actual campground would be a bit of a stretch. There was room for our van and Mark's trailer and truck and that's it. We had the place to ourselves...

Did I mention that it was cold?

Mark packed up and left, Eric and I packed up the bikes and hit the trails. We wanted to take Trail 8 to the dreaded Stair Steps from the west side, as we'd been to them from the east...

Eric zoomed in on me at the top of this downhill...

Standard disclaimers apply, here. You know, steeper than it looks, etc. I was sliding the rear and the front by the time I got to the bottom...

 

[WoodsChick]

Heading up onto Trail 8...

The trail followed a ridge and the views were pretty spectacular. This is looking down at Pozo Grade...

This trail reminded me a lot of the eastern side of Stonyford. It went on forever and there were some huge drops and climbs...fun!

Ahh...my first view of the lower Stair Steps...

Eric says "Ladies first!"

Hmm...time for a look-see...

I don't know, man...
More later!

 

[XLEnduroMan]

Dang, those stair steps look challenging up or down. I don't think I could have convinced Becky to tackle them. I wonder if you two did...?

 

[Coffee]

Looks like a lot of fun!

Not sure about you, but I am quite ready for the warmer weather to get here...

 

[WoodsChick]

Dang, those stair steps look challenging up or down. I don't think I could have convinced Becky to tackle them. I wonder if you two did...?

Nope. Not smart with just the two of us there.

 

[WoodsChick]

Hmm...

We decided we needed more than 2 people if we were going to attempt the Stair Steps, and also that it would be wiser to bring the 610's down rather than up for the first attempt. Would totally give it a go it on my 2-stroke, though. We bagged the idea, turned around, and burned tracks into Pozo for burgers and homemade lemonades at the Pozo Saloon...

We got a huge piece of homemade carrot cake to go and headed up the dirty and super-twisty fun Pozo Grade and dropped down down onto Trail 5...

An interesting place to stop and eat cake...

If you ever find yourself at the Pozo Saloon, Do Not pass up a piece of carrot cake. It was almost as good as mine!

The snow on the Sierra was clearly visible...

Carrot cake makes me feel like Wonder Woman...

My wi-fi just went down halfway through this post. Again. I finished it off using my tablet as a hot spot but that's not a long-term solution. More later if/when I figure this crap out. Maybe I need some carrot cake...

 

[dave lindsey]

Looks like a lot of fun!

Man o man...it does look like a lot of fun!! till you get to those large rocks in the trail...now all of a sudden things get serious...nice country

 

[XLEnduroMan]

The snow on the Sierra was clearly visible...

California is a beautiful State.

 

[Coffee]

Hold on there.... you make a good carrot cake?

 

[WoodsChick]

California is a beautiful State.

That it is.

Hold on there.... you make a good carrot cake?

So I've been told...

 

[WoodsChick]

Man, I hate going a day without posting to a ride report but my wi-fi at home has been really hit-and-miss. Don't know what's going on but I'm going to make hay while the sun shines so here we go...

After eating the cake on the ridge top we dropped down and found ourselves some more enjoyable trails...

We ended up down at the bottom and after what seemed like miles of sand whoops we emerged near a staging area. We headed up Trail 1 to see what Trail 2 was all about. I didn't get very far. I stopped, deciding that after 60 miles of dirt I didn't want to ride sand anymore, and when I went to take off I tipped over at .008 mph. Seriously. At least it gave me time to take a self portrait...

Eric came back, not surprised at all to see me still taking photos...

We hit the super giggle-fest pavement and had a slidey good time racing back to camp...

We had fire, food, wine and a nip of scotch to keep the cold at bay. We decided we'd hit the Carrizo Plain the next day just to see if it was green yet. Not likely.


More tomorrow if I have wi-fi.



WoodsChick

 

[ghte]

Thanks Woodsie, always a fun read.
Musta missed an installment, I thought Eric had a KTM 640, whats with the 610, and does he like it?

 

[WoodsChick]

Thanks Woodsie, always a fun read.
Musta missed an installment, I thought Eric had a KTM 640, whats with the 610, and does he like it?

Hah! Where have you been, man? He got the 610 a year or so ago, got a screamin' deal with only 600 or so miles on it. He loves it!
The 640 was a better street bike but the 610 is a better dirt bike. He just put a set of 17's and his MotoMaster caliper, master cylinder and rotor from the 640 on it, though, so he's double loving it now
Makes it nice being on the same bike, too. Only one set of spares needs to be carried

I'll finish this report tonight...I'm almost there...one more post, maybe?
I gotta get crackin' on the ride we did last week: 4 days in the eastern Sierra and a day through Death Valley

 

[Coffee]

...Due to the 10-photo limit I will be returning shortly with another post...

Finally fixed something (turned out to be my own personal computer, as opposed to what I thought it was - the server).

You want me to change that back to 20?

 

[WoodsChick]

Finally fixed something (turned out to be my own personal computer, as opposed to what I thought it was - the server).

You want me to change that back to 20?

I would love it if you would change it back! Only if it doesn't negatively affect the site here, though.