Keyesville Snow Ride - 02/20/11

Five Good men reasonably well equipped and prepared ascended the Kern River Valley to attack the snowy beast on President's weekend and they were not disappointed. The snow conditions were as epic as the legendary Mag 5 snow ride from many years ago. Mother Nature had done her part dropping 1 to 2 feet of the fluffy white stuff a day earlier now we had to conquer it.

The day started with a 2 hour delay on the grapevine while authorities removed the carnage of a fatal accident near Pyramid Lake. While Tigert and Waynium languished in traffic Potter, Art and Pooher took the scenic route on Lake Hughes road the long way around. Finally at 12:30 the Mag 5 launched their assault on Black Gulch from the Corral. Within minutes we had reached the snow not much past Frewway Ridge. We decided on the most direct rout up the mountain attacking the beast from a westerly direction. Suprisingly the snow only slowed our progress and quickly we were on the trail to piston hill with Waynium leading the charge on a 450R and Tigert in close tow. Soon critical decisions would need to be made to prevent a directional mistake as the road had become difficult to recognize under the deep snow.

After chasing down Wayne a few times the decision was made to forego piston hill and instead take the sidehill trail to Browns Mill 4WD road. Unfortunately Wayne had an internal navigational error and charged off towards Saw Mill road with Tigert in close tow. Wayne bogged down in deep snow and Tigert took the high line off a large boulder and passed Waynium in mid air only to pile into a 4 foot snow drift, spectacular is the best way to describe it. After corraling the misgudied superheros we proceeded down Browns Mill. There were many pauses as all of us questioned whether we could make it back up the deep snow drifts with the answer most likely no, we were commited to going deeper into the mountain. 4 miles of the most epic snow riding ensued with numerous get-offs culminated with Tigert's on video slow speed endo, video at 11.

After Browns Mill terminated into Saw Mill the snow suddenly lessened and some good old flat tracking was in order until we reached the Borderline 4WD road toward Dutch Flat. Some riders were worried about darkness but that is what lights are for if you have them. Dutch Flat treated us to some good "Black Dirt" until we reached a good sized washout that required all 5 of us to get the bikes thru one at a time. Down Dutch Flat to the Keyesville campground it was time to race back to the Corral via the Keyesville Classic and Kern River trails. Pooher is too old to hold the young guns back and after a few lowsides it was time to release the hounds. Controlled Chaos is the best description I can think of.

Back at the Corral it was time to relive the days events over a cold Newcastle and an Early Times cocktail. Darkness soon set in and did not allow us to explore the Delonegha Hot Springs although we did locate them just 300 feet from the highway, next time we soak.

Pooher