You'd think living in a place for 45 of the last 50 years would be enough to
know where things are. Well, apparently not. For the last two years I've been
within 3 miles of some great dual sport trails that I didn't even know existed.
A couple of days ago I was working at the campground and saw the tell-tale smoke
rising from an arsonist-set forest fire somewhere south of the campground. Not
having anything better to do, I jumped on the ST1100 and followed the smoke to
its origin. It was coming from the middle of a huge tract of timber that had
been harvested a couple of years ago. Some goober had set some of the old brush
on fire. The Forest Service was there with a couple of bulldozers, getting a
line around the fire to contain it.
It probably burned about 5-10 acres of mostly scrub brush and dead limbs. No
real harm done and the dozers made a really neat trail while they were at it.
The trail to the fire led down a paved road and turned onto a gravel road. The
ST being no stranger to gravel, I kept going. 1/4 mile into this place and I
knew I was onto something big.
A few others had the same idea I had. One of them was on a late model 4wd ATV,
and there were a couple of kids, not over 12 years old, on some trap of a dirt
bike that was probably older than both of them. The rear wheel bearings were so
bad that the wheel was flopping from side to side. I don't see how they kept
the chain on. The back tire was worn slick with just some suggestion of knobs
on the edges. The straight-out exhaust pipe was held in place with a suggestion
of tie-wire and flopped in unison with the rear wheel. They didn't care, they
were kids on a motorcycle and they were as happy as a couple of clams.
I got some strange looks from them, since my bike had more cc displacement than
their two machines combined. But they told me that this place was open to
anybody to ride, and that there were 680 acres latticed with trails. That's not
a typo. I immediately took the ST home and got the dirt bike and came back.
I rode a few miles of the trails, which ranged from NBD to OMG. Today I went
back with the Bombardier 330 4wd ATV and rode the rest of the trails. I logged
over 8 miles without riding any of the trails more than once. Most of them are
not loops, you ride to the end and then turn back. But they're good trails. I
also found more trails rated OMG and at least two that are nothing less than
NFW. There are miles of simple fire roads and there are smaller trails that are
anywhere from tame to impossible.
Some of the roads and trails wind around an extinct volcano and the trail to the
top is littered with basketball size lava boulders, some set in the ground to
knock holes in the bottom of your engine, and some loose to give you some OMG
moments when they roll out from under you. I imagine dodging one of them coming
out from under the tire of the guy ahead of you would be interesting. I rate
this one OMG. Most would rate it NFW, especially the stretch where I needed to
winch myself over an otherwise impassible ledge. Coming back down was also
adventurous.
So if anybody wants to drag a dual sport over here for the Leaf Peeping in
October, Hunt's Lodge is only 3 miles from a good place to play. The novices
can stick to the dirt roads and the experts can test their skill on the trails
that branch off the sides.
We haven't had any significant rain here in a couple of months or more. The
dust there is ankle deep and powdery. If it rains, this place is going to be a
mudpit. Which makes it even better. ;-)
--
Jack Hunt IBA#12795, STOC 1870
'99 ST1100, FaST Forward
'95 Suzuki DR250SE
http://www.huntslodge.com
--
Jack
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