The Ride of No Return

It is day two and I am still recovering from the 'ride of no return'. This isn't the first time that I have taken a unknown trail that turned out not to be what I thought it was, but this certainly topped them all.
First I have a confession to make to my friends John & Gary, I had been warned by a ATVer that this was a wicked trail. However, being the optimist that I am, another rider told me it wasn't that bad. Looking at his bike and gear should have been a clue that he was into gnarly rides! As I said on my website the ride up to Garns Mtn was a sweet ride, a bit of a challenge but not bad at all. It all went south (literally) when we headed down into the jungle Burns Canyon. I wasn't sure where it was exactly, but as I mentioned in my last blog I had figured out a way to upload from a track I put on Google Earth that seemed to show a faint trail. Actually the trail we went on did not follow the track I had on my GPS. The track was pretty much of a straight shot down Burns Creek.
First we headed down to Castle Lake by passing a hint of a trail to the right, but ended up on a dead end. We came back and decided after finding a sign nailed to a fallen tree that this was indeed Burns Creek Trail. Heck, what would it hurt to check it out? It started of a bit wet, but not too bad. Then it started a steep decent and I was thinking, 'I hope I don't have to come back up this way!' We had already riden about 3 1/2 hours or so I was feeling a bit fatigued. Then after crossing Burns Creek to find a fallen log that we had to literally drag our bikes under and up a muddy incline confirmed that issue! By then John and Gary were beginning to question my tour guiding abilities. I realized that we were only about 10% down the canyon. It was a gnarly ride up the other side, going under fallen trees, trying to get traction up a trail with water running down. It took help getting over one root. At one point I misjudged a tree and got pulled off the back of my bike. I was the first to the next junction and laid down just to catch my breath.
We had a decision to make at that point. Gary was concerned his KTM 400 was going to run out of gas and it was overheating. Like a good trail guide I had left the Forest Service Map I had made a special trip to the Forest Service office that morning to pick up, in the van! Gary decided to walk down Burns Creek Trail to see if it was passable because there wasn't any sign of recent use. He came back with a 'good luck getting through there' report. So John headed up Slide Rock Trail towards Piney Peak. I was so fatigued that the climb to the first plateau was about all I could handle. With all of the stalling and starting Gary's bike's battery was dead and John came back with the report of more steep climbing. Fortunately, Gary had a kick starter on his bike. Gary couldn't get his bike to start and by then we were seriously considering the possibility of leaving the bikes and walking out before it got dark. The thought of trying to walk 6-8 miles in motorcycle boots didn't seem real appealing to me, not to mention how we would ever get the bikes out. Seeing that we didn't know where Slide Rock Trail ended up and Gary's bike over heating and having a dead battery we decided to take our chances going down Burns Creek Trail.
I accidently hit the shut off on my bike and so when I went to start it I thought my battery was dead as well and mnie doesn't have a kick starter! I had to push it quite a ways through some muddy level areas to find a place dry enough and steep enough to start it, but to no avail. It was then I realized the kill switch was off!
From there it was a matter of lifting the bikes over numerous trees and down some harrowing rocks and roots with 12-18" drops. I would have paid good money for a collapsible bow saw about then. We finally came back to Burns Creek and I was trying to figure out the best place to cross. To the left were large round rocks that looked like a good opportunity to dump the bike and get real wet. To the right looked smoother so I went that way. It looked smoother because it was a hole which almost buried my front wheel. Fortunately I had just gotten new boots and I was able to stand in the 14" water and lift my front wheel to the place I could ride across without getting wet. My old boots would get me wet riding through a mud puddle!
By then we were all out of water. We had large 100 oz hydration packs but had sweat a couple gallons of water by then. Did I mention we hadn't brought any mosquito spray and they were having us for lunch everytime we pulled off our helmets to drain the sweat out when we stopped to lifted our bikes over the many obstacles.
Legs were cramping and the creek water was looking taster all the time!
After crossing the Burns Creek we met with a daunting climb out the other side. I made it to the first switch back and had to just stop and rest. John and Gary assumed I had come to another obstacle and were thinking, will this ever end! However from there it was just a matter of riding it out as the trail had improved remarkably. Finally we hit where Trail 068 came in and the trail was obviously well traveled. That bolstered our spirits as it seemed the end was insight, however the lack of drinking water was taking its toll. Gary decided to fill his hydration pack with creek water and take his chances with giardia! Three miles later and about 30 minutes we came to some campers and I begged for some water, which they graciously gave.
All I can say was I was glad that I was with the guys I was with. You really discover the character of people in stressful situations. These guys remained postive without a word of accusation to my guiding abilities. I wouldn't choose to do it again for love nor money, but its fun to have the memory. Thanks John & Gary for a great time.