Grand statements of achievement

It was a whole lot colder than I expected last night – my water bottles were frozen when I tried to make a cup of coffee in the morning, as was some of the food I’d left out (for the bears). Despite that, I’d slept well and hadn’t felt it. I’ve said it before, but the tent, mattress and sleeping bag were really doing their job. There was a light frost and it was hard to do much until the sun hit the campsite – it was just too cold on the fingers. Thank goodness the valley was running east / west because, every 5 minutes, I’d have to stand in the sun to thaw out. I’m sure you’ve all had your phone shut down because it’s too hot (especially if you’ve left it on the dash in your car). Mine shut down because it was too cold!

I had breakfast and hit the road hoping to see antelope. There were a few, but no great numbers. Maybe they’d heard ‘Ray’ last night and had decided to spoil his fun? It turned out that the Ranger Station and the desert had been on a bit of a plateau, because the country dropped quite sharply, overlooking what I thought would be lakes (as per the map) but which were, in fact, huge grasslands. It obviously hadn’t rained properly for a long time – there was plenty of water, but not what was portrayed topographically.

I bumped into Bob and Butch at the bottom. They were on R1200GS’s and were going to the BMW rally at the Narrows. We had a good chat about things in general (that means motorcycles and road trips) – they were good guys out there on their bikes having fun, especially as they were soon to be on dirt roads and were riding with road tyres! Good work boys! I did pass quite a few BMW’s over the next few hours, obviously all heading the same way.

It’s getting colder – this country will be covered in deep snow in a month. I was also hitting a bit more bitumen – I may need to use more of this to gain some territory a little bit quicker.

I hit Lakeview a bit after lunch and got tied up with some work phone call’s and e-mails. It doesn’t go away but, to be fair, I’ve had an exceptional run. It was past 3.00 pm when I’d finished, so decided to call it a day and found some accomodation. Just the usual – it works!

As I was getting closer to California, things were starting to get a little more Hispanic. I had dinner at the El Aguila Real and it could’t have been more Mexican. The beer was an Estrella Jalisco, the corn chips were home made and the salsa nearly blew my head off. Unfortunately the menu didn’t mean a whole lot. So, I chose a combination of a taco, enchilada and a tamale – chicken and beef. The first 2 were particularly good although, as usual, it was enough for 3 people. The wait staff barely spoke English – I think I’m going to eat a lot of Mexican going forwards.

All the roads heading out of Lakeview were FSR – meaning washboard and gravel. I needed to cover a few km (and I was actually heading in the wrong direction – away from California) so, after turning off the main road where a sign suggested possible closures, I ended up on very minor bitumen / pavement for the first part of the morning. It tended to be single lane and wound through the forests. It was a bit of a treat really and lots of fun – twisty heaven. It got pretty rough halfway along, broken up and it was hard to see the black Angus cattle in the shaded parts of the road where they invariably camped.

As I got away from the roads that were marked Forestry Services (these had simply ceased to be fun) I ended up on nice tight double track dirt where I came across a couple heading the other way. He was on a KTM 990 and she was riding an F650GS. They were out for a week of riding and camping and had all the gear, including a camp oven. There were some treacherously deep sections of gravel in the area but the riding was generally very good.

I came up to the Sycan River which, for the very first time, didn’t have a bridge over it. The water was well over my knees and the bottom was loose gravel and quite mossy, with a few big submerged rocks to be negotiated, just to make it more interesting. It was obvious that the road wasn’t used much, for reasons I was to discover very soon. So, I did the smart thing and walked the crossing, carrying my tank bag with all my electronic ‘devices’. Arse up in the creek and I’d have regretted not doing this.

I bounced through pretty easily as it turned out – simple! Feeling pretty satisfied with both myself and the morning, I pulled up under a tree on the other side and had some lunch – tuna, sourdough (still respectable after a couple of days bouncing around on the back of the bike) a banana and a handful of gummies. Can’t beat it.

I’ve got to stop making these grand statements of achievement! Seriously. I followed the north west side of the river (it wasn’t really a road, although the GPS was directing me down it) for a couple of hundred metres until it ran into the water again. From there it wound around a number of big rocks and then curved up a steep, rocky jump up of at least a metre. I know that in the photo it doesn’t look too bad, but it was pretty bloody ordinary, I can tell you. Awkward, slippery, complicated and just plain nasty. I walked it and then the ‘road’ afterwards, which degenerated into ….. nothing at all. Finito! I was sure that there’d be barely a kilometre of this before I’d be back onto the track proper – so close, but so, so far. While there wasn’t a road on my paper map I had assumed something would link things up. It seemed a route that would have made sense for people to have been able to use. As I said, the GPS was fine with it!  There was no way that I could attempt this by myself under the circumstances and absolutely no point. So, nothing for it but a difficult 30 point turn and back I went. This wasn’t a U Turn by the way!

I re-crossed the creek and found what I thought was a reasonable alternative with only a couple of clicks of backtracking. Following dry, sandy tracks interspersed with red and brown clay, I was soon pretty well lost other than I was definitely heading in the right direction. The roads were degenerating quickly and I ended up on grassy wheel tracks with huge unexpected (and covered over) holes and ruts. I was reasonably comfortable I could find my back the way I’d come if need be, but it seemed a shame as I wasn’t far from where I wanted to end up. The road was just about non-existent by then and I really thought I was running out of options for going forwards. Fuel was also becoming a vague concern. I had 90 km in the tank and 25 km in spare fuel on the panniers, so I pushed on and, luckily, came onto formed roads reasonably quickly. By this time, I wouldn’t have had enough if I even wanted to turn back. The reddy brown clay was funny stuff. It was a huge relief initially, but it became very soft and loose and both wheels sank into it to the point that, a few times, I thought I had a flat. While heavy and sluggish, it was actually very stable and I was tempted to pick up the speed. In the back of my mind though, I was waiting for the bike to start bucking and the front wheel to move around all over the place, just like in sand. It didn’t happen. I have to say, the 1190 handles sand and loose stuff so well – it really is an exceptionally weighted bike. At a bit of a rise the road turned back to fast gravel and I exited the forest. I was able to look back over the country I’d come through. While it wasn’t steep or high like a lot of what I’d ridden in recent weeks, it was vast, covering a huge area. That one was a bit close on reflection. When I get under pressure, I sweat. I was drenched.

I was heading for Cradle Lake and fuelled up (both the bike and myself) at a big service centre by the turn off – 87 with ethanol and a couple of tacos. I had some food with me but not a lot – a decent feed would keep me going and I’d have something for the evening. I did have one very nasty experience just prior to getting to the servo. Daydreaming a little, I ended up taking a fairly high speed sweeper on the wrong side of the road. As I came through the very gravelly apex, I met a massive 4 x4 travelling at high speed. I had no choice but to let him pass on the right side with me in the table drain and still doing 80. There was no way I could get back onto my side of the road. Strewth, bet the poor bastard just about shat his pants. I know I did!

It was about 4.30 by this time and it was a perfect afternoon. The air was clear and still, it was a comfortable 25 degrees and the road was super good pavement. I stopped at a bit of a lookout and an older GS Adventure went past with the rider and pillion giving me a big wave. I caught them up at the fee station where the National Park entry was advertised as being $10 per motorbike. I was right behind them and after they took off, with another wave, I made to pay my fee and was told by the attendant ‘Your friends got it’. ‘You mean they paid for me?’. ‘Yep’. I was stunned – we hadn’t said a word and I guess that they saw my foreign plates and they decided to cover the cost of my entry. Welcome to the USA indeed. I didn’t catch them up unfortunately, I’d have loved to have said thanks. It gives me goose bumps writing this – people are kind and good. So is the brotherhood.

Crater Lake was simply indescribable. It’s an old volcano (which you could clearly see) and is now a huge expanse of bright blue water. I assume that the snow keeps it topped up – I wonder just what volume it holds? I loved the lines, where the water finished and the edge of the volcanic crater began. So clear and unambiguous. The road ran all the way around – close to 40 kilometres of it – that’s how big this thing was.

It had been a great ride coming up to the lake from the south east, but the ride out to the south west was even better. The pavement was brand new, formed perfectly and, without any traffic, was as close to racetrack quality as you could get. I had a bit of trouble finding campsites around Prospect that weren’t full and ended up having to backtrack to a more remote one. It was a little way off the road and deserted except for a bunch of blokes with a well set up RV, a couple of pickups and 3 or 4 trail bikes. I said g’day, but they weren’t the slightest bit interested, so I left them to it. The last thing I could see them enjoying as the sun went down was an axe throwing  competition. Bikes were started up pretty regularly throughout the evening, vehicles roared in and out – the boys were having fun. Good for them. I had a pretty light dinner and sourdough toast with chokeberry jam for breakfast. Thanks everyone from the Outdoor Inn.