Failed attempt at Red Cone Pass Road and another displacement

Wednesday, July 15

Discovered this early this morning as I worked on getting ready for today's riding:

The pic shows what I had after removing the torn up TP rolls from the shelf you see in the cabinet under the bathroom sink.  Little sucker just dug through the two rolls, digging through, apparently looking for something?  Martha thinks it was taking away material for its nest.

Spent some time checking for evidence of rodents having taken up residence, couldn't find any.  Only opening I could find was where the 30 amp power cable went into the RV within the compartment where its stored when not in used.

My theory is one of the many small squirrels/varmints in the camp site had finally gotten brave enough to approach the URRV and enter it seeking whatever.  I'd been at this site seven nights you see, pretty long time for me.

So, I sealed up the hole through which the city power cable runs, and taped up the opening through which it is run when deployed.  I'm hoping that's how the varmint got in.  The bottom of the RV is pretty well sealed, where there's openings, the manufacturer filled in the cracks with some kind of hard rubber sealant.  I'll have to check for new openings I guess.

The above done, I geared up to try and ride up to Red Cone Pass about 20 miles away.  You access the entrance to this road via Park County Road 60 and then turning onto FR121.  I didn't get very far.  It had looked doable in the video link I published before; but that video didn't cover the first mile...holy crap!

The first mile or so is apparently a dirt trail heavily strewn with loose boulders and large gravel.  I didn't even get 1/4 of the way before hitting a boulder wrong and Yagi ending up on her left side agaisnt/up the left bank of the "trail".

After some dragging, I got her upright again and checked for damage, none evident so I continued hoping to see an end to the boulder field.  Nope.

As soon as I saw what was in front of me, I found a flat spot to stop:

This is a view of was behind me, lower down:

So I pivoted Yagi on her centerstand, allowing me to turn her 180 degrees and pointed downwards.  At this point two Jeeps showed up and blocked the way down so they stopped and we conversed.

The lead jeep's driver had been up Red Cone Pass before and he said the trail actually got much tougher just a bit further on; then it would turn easy until near the top when it became really steep and a lot of loose gravel and another boulder field.

Hearing this, my decision to turn around was confirmed for me.  The Jeeps moved to create a path for me to walk Yagi by them and I wished them a good day as I left.  Red Cone Pass will have to wait for me to come back in a more capable vehicle such as a Jeep or a Side by Side ATV!

Coming back down the 1/4 mile I had achieved wasn't pretty as I was a bit shaky.  Still, no more falls, and I got back onto the county road.  There I discovered I couldn't shift up from first gear, the pedal had gotten bent upwards in the fall.

I pulled over and using my booted foot, pushed down on the pedal enough to achieve clearance.  It had gotten bent a bit more and when I tried to up shift, it would contact the engine case before engaging the next gear.

Also noticed the left front turn signal mount was slightly bent as well, luckily, the light fixture itself was fine.

Once I could actually cycle through all the gears, I continued on back to US 285 and slowly made my way back to camp.  Yagi's performance really suffers at above 10,000 ft even though I've checked and she's got the larger jet in her carburetor.  She acts like the engine cuts out and immediately cuts back in, repeatedly, while trying to maintain speed.  I was lucky to make 45 mph going up towards Kenosha Pass.

The above behavior had been happening the least few days each time I tried to make highway speeds going to and from trail heads; so not part of the latest crash.

Got back to camp and noticed that the spot the next hill over from my camp site was open now, so I hurriedly packed things up and displaced to the new site.  Hoping the rodent who was brave enough to crawl into the URRV would be left behind in the old spot and the rodents in the new spot would take a few days to be brave enough to try and get in!

I unbent the clutch pedal a little more, and using a wrench, unbent the mounting bracket for the left front turn signal....all good.

I originally parked the URRV all the way to the left of the picture below, facing towards the path that led to the campsite.  After two separate camper rigs stopped and looked for way too long before moving on, I decided to make it more obvious that this site was full:

Does the site appear to be at full capacity?

A closer up view

At Martha's suggestion I also ended up dragging a log or two across the entry path, clearly showing a perimeter which I hoped wouldn't be challenged.  I'm not here to meet new friends through camping you see.  I'll see how it holds up as the next weekend's worth of campers shows up.

Yes, I've become quite the curmudgeon in my old age.  Perhaps I should have a sign made up to post at the entry to a camp site:  Disgruntled Vet, Leave Me Alone.

Slow Day then a Breakage Day

Monday, July 13

Pretty much a do nothing but hang about kind of day.

Did cruise the whole length of Rock Creek Hills Road in Yagi to count remaining occupied campsites and they’re down to 14. 

The day began chilly and overcast and the sun wouldn’t shine through till 11AM; I had lost all motivation to go riding by then.

Tomorrow is a ride to Fairplay about 16 miles away once I get on US 285 South. Need some lock washers and to fill up the spare gas cans for future riding.  The gas station in Jefferson which is much closer is closed for reasons unknown to me.

Tuesday, July 14

A gas run, and broken shock absorbers!
Rode Fiona to Fairplay to refill the spare gas cans and stopped for some lock washers for Fiona.

The errand went well and I decided on the way back to forego going back to camp to switch out motorcycles and kept going to the Kenosha East Campground location to check out the sites.

Within the campground they’re pretty small, suitable for truck and tent camping really.  The nearby dispersed camping area had a couple of nice sites but cellular signal was basically nonexistent!

Then I decided to explore County Road 126, Twin Cone Peak Road.   Big mistake, should have gone back for Yagi as originally planned.

The road was dirt and was quite nice at first, once you’re past the gate and past the private property access area, it got steadily rougher.

I should have turned around when I had to stop to let the clutch cool off.

The road had lots of big mounds of dirt, similar to speed bumps but much larger and steeper.  So Fiona was having to do a lot of diving on the other side of these speed bumps.

But I kept going like the stubborn optimist that I am.  Got about another mile up and then I started hearing/feeling loud metallic thumping noise from the front wheel area!  Dammit.

I kept going till I could find a flat stopping point as the noise started while Fiona was charging up yet another slope.

It was apparently one too many speed bumps for Fiona’s front shocks!

 Well that ain't right....you can see the main piston had broken apart

(rope-like object in foreground is the camera's lens cap leash....sorry)

And the view at this spot wasn't anything to write home about either!

Note how low the front fender sits without the shock absorbers in play.

I'm lucky the fender wasn't resting on top of the tire, rendering it immobile!

After cooling off a while, and basking in the result of my deviations from plans, I decided to of course turn around at this point.

I slowly made my way back down the mountain, trying to find the smoothest line for Fiona's front wheel and lessen the amount of impacts.  Eventually, we made it back to the Kenosha East Campground area, onto US285 and headed on back to the campsite.

Made it there with no issues, taking CR77 instead of CR56 since its paved whereas CR56 is heavily washboarded.  Got Fiona loaded up onto the URRV's trailer and made some lunch.

Working with ratchet straps, a small hydraulic jack, a BFH and some cursing, I got the springs unbent and the broken remnants of each shock absorber's piston re-inserted into the shock body's top cap.

You may notice the right side shock is more askew than the left side shock.  That's because the half moon shaped retaining clips on the top of the shock cap were missing completely on the right, and one remained in place on the left:

I figured they fell off as the shock absorbers were flopping about once the center piston broke and the rig was still moving.  Dammit.

So, after some debate, geared back up and rode Yagi back to the site of the incident.  Yagi of course had no issues riding up the same rocky road!  I found one of the clips before I got to the spot where I had parked Fiona.

Passing the spot, I decided to see how much further I could get with Yagi.  Turns out, about 1.6 more miles of steadily rougher and rockier trail.  Got to one point where I stalled her while trying to climb out of a steep depression in the trail, and down we went.

No injuries to neither myself or Yagi but that was where I decided to turn around.

Got back to the site where Fiona had been parked, and walked down perhaps a max of 1/4 mile, finding the other two missing clips!  Yay.

The worsening weather had not improved the view

Rode Yagi back down the mountain, to the sound of thunder claps that sounded really loud and close by!

Got home with no issues.  I won't be able to install the clips without the shock compression tool that is at home so Fiona is out of commission for now.  I do have two old style shock absorbers coming from Belarus which I was going to put on Scarlet's front end.  I'll then use Scarlett's old shocks for Fiona's front end until I can either get the shocks repaired or buy two more old style shocks.

Ah, the viccisitudes of the life of a Ural rider.  A Ural rider who now understands perhaps leave the mountain trails to Yagi and the city street riding to the Urals.

More Trail Riding with Yagi

Sunday, July 12

As I waited for the weekend crowds to go on back home and for the rolling RV and Boat Show on US 285 to reverse direction, I thought I'd do some more trail riding.  This time, I went north of Kenosha Pass via US285 (traffic was heavy) to explore these trails:

Martha clued me in a while ago about this app, very handy to find trails that allow motorcycles and finding your way around as it uses the phone's GPS to geo-locate you when you're not sure where you are.

I would end up riding all of FR811, most of FR123 and parts of FR810 as well.  These forest roads were accessed via Park County Roads 58 and 60.  Yagi could barely maintain 45 mph on the steep highway portions leading to/from Kenosha Pass, luckily traffic wasn't too heavy the times I was on the highway, mostly.

CR58 allowed access to FR811 from which I then turned onto FR811.A.  When exploring I always tend to make continuous right turns to try and cover most areas.  Eventually I turned right onto FR811.B, a narrow trail rutted deeply in spots which allowed me lots of practice at keeping the motorcycle going straight while riding on the side of a sloping trail!

Eventually, FR811.B meets up with FR123:

The pond I found feeds into nearby Lininger Lake

A bit further on, the road was submerged under water that came up to my knees.  How do I know that?  Because I decided not to proceed to where 811.B junctions with FR123 as I was riding alone.  I didn't want to drown the motorcycle you see.

I did take off my boots and put on my water/hiking shoes and then waded across, boy the water was cold!  After ascertaining the water was indeed right at knee level with a loose sandy/gravel bottom, I definitely decided not to chance it.  

As I walked through the water obstacle, I spotted this GoPro Hero camera underwater:

As you can see, it's been in the water a while, the lens is all scratched up and the casing is beat up.  I did recover a Micro SD card from it and soon as I can read it, I'll see if I can ID the owner who lost it probably doing a water crossing that didn't go well.

So I retraced my way back along FR811.B until I reached FR811.A, I turned right where it junctioned with FR810 which took me all the way back to the US 285 highway.  I wanted to check out FR123 regardless so I got on the slab and went further north until I could exit on CR60.

Took CR60 to this junction with FR123.

Before I turned off onto FR123, I had proceeded onwards for a few miles until I got to the entrance to Red Cone Pass Road.  Yagi hit reserve on its gas tank at this point and a combination of that and warning signs saying Red Cone Pass was for "experienced 4x4 drivers"; I decided to put off Red Cone Pass till I had done some more research.  Here's a video that shows the road pretty well:  Video Link

So, returning once again to the sign in the above pic, I rode the initially very technical FR123 (lots of big rocks and ruts) until finally reaching an area full of Jeeps and the drivers.  I continued onwards and eventually came to the portion where FR123 and FR811.B meet up.

By this point I had decided I'd walk Yagi across the submerged 50 ft or so of roadway.  I went to don my water/hiking shoes and one was missing!  Dammit!  I had placed both under the cargo netting behind me on the seat and apparently one worked itself free.

Losing the shoe wasn't a big deal, but the orthopedic insert inside was not inexpensive!

So, barefoot, I ferried my riding gear over first, then came back across (damn but the water was cold) and proceeded to push Yagi over to the other side.  About halfway there, my feet were hurting and I was getting tired as the loose sand/gravel on the bottom caused quite the drag on Yagi.

Looking down, I could see the water level not very close to the airbox so I fired up Yagi (had to pull the choke lever for some reason (engine got too cold perhaps?) but she finally caught and we slowly made our way to the other side.

I dried off and waited for feeling to return to my legs from the freezing water.  Then donned my riding gear and started retracing the route back to US285 that I'd done earlier, but this time much slower to be able to scan and look for the missing shoe!

No luck, got all the way to US 285 with no sign of the shoe.  I had to return to the campsite to get more gasoline for Yagi by this point.  So I delayed retracing the CR60 portion of the riding till after getting gasoline.

It started raining, off and on, as I rode back to camp.  Most of the campers were gone by the time I got to the URRV at 12:30PM.  So that was good news.  Got Yagi fueled up and rode back out.  I got off US 285 at the exit for CR60 and less than three miles later there it was!

17.4 miles from the campsite, there was my missing shoe!

As you can see, the skies weren't looking that great  so I turned around and rushed back to the campsite.  It started raining harder and the wind started blowing quite hard as I worked my way slowly on US 285 crawling up to the summit of Kenosha Pass and barely able to hold 50 mph on the way down due to the strong winds.

Finally turned off onto CR56 and away from the cager traffic.  The rest of the way was just rain, slick spots that looked dry but didn't offer the same traction as before.  Made it back to camp safely, oiled Yagi's chain due to all the water exposure today, and used the rest of the afternoon to recuperate.

The weather did improve once the storm clouds moved onwards.  By 4PM it was nice and sunny again with temperatures in the mid to high 60s!

Trail Riding with Yagi in the Pike National Forest

Saturday, July 11

Boy the place is filling up with campers!  I counted 25 sites, some with multiple vehicles and tents just in the northern half of the dispersed camping area I'm boondocking in!

Sunny and warm, but not too hot.  Just about right I would say for morning riding, and relaxing in the shade during the afternoon.

I decided to ride the trails to the south of Rock Creek Hills Road, the main road traversing the dispersed camping area.  Just wanted to see what I could see, find where I could go, and just basically doing some enjoyable pootling at slow speeds on my trusty goat of a motorcycle: Yagi.

I would end up riding a lot of the trails, nothing very technical and the one part I skipped was the part I knew was too much for me, as I'd biffed it when attempting it last time I was here with Yagi!

 Along FR823 and FR824

 Near the junction of FR130 and FR 392C

Part of FR 1301A, it dead ends at a fenceline

Basically, with the exception of FR130 which I didn't take all the way to South Park, these trails tend to end or originate along Rocky Creek Hills Road with the other end tending to dead-end along private property lines.  

The rest of the afternoon I spent resting and reading a book, waiting for what promised to be a nice and cloudy sunset: