Some of my riding friends decided to do Dusy Ershim trail. South to North. http://www.californiajeeper.com/dusy_ershim/review.htm We went together Moab and other places, so it didn't feel like that big of a deal riding that trail. Woodshick posted about this ride before and warned against riding south to north. The main problem is the elevation(9-10k), heat and just how many rocks this damn place has. It's about 33 miles. At the end it took 10 hours. Only 4 hours of actual riding. We knew we would have to ride up the Thompson Hill, but it didn't appear to be that bad. So last friday, we left one truck at the end of the trail. Saturday morning we drove to the south starting point. Early start, it takes one hour to get there from the motel. 4 guys, 4 ktms. Trail starts not far from here Then you get on top of the Chicken Rock Then things got mildly challenging. All the guys had trials tire, except me. I had to run 8 psi to get any kind of grip and bite . Is their way around 5 messages per post limit?
After about 11 miles of manageable rocks we got to the Thompson Hill. I just call it Clusterfuck Hill. Took us almost 2 hours to get to the top of it. I am just going to post bunch of pics, but non of them do any justice.
And finally we made it to the top. The problem is that we still had to go another 20 miles. And it was only few short sections, total may be a mile of easy stuff. I learnt so much about clutch control that day. here I am taking a short brake.We run out of water, fortunately there were some jeepers. No injuries, no mechanical problems. I had to rejet my bike, it was set to lean. I have about 300 more pics of rocks, rocks and rocks.
That looks brutal. Wonderful pictures Artyom. Sure is a scenic place. I wonder if you would have been better off on a much smaller dirtbike.
One of the guys had 250 converted to 350. It worked great for him. My 450 lowered 1" and Phill made it really plush and soft to deal with rough terrain. Smaller bike would be better, but longer legs would definitely help. I waisted tons of energy on first 10 miles until I finally decided to raise a needle by one and drop rear tire pressure from 11 to 8. Also we had to carry all kinds of gear, spares, tools, emergency stuff. My backpack was really heavy.Also we got up at 5:30, so I had only 4 hours of sleep. There are no bailouts and no place for rescue. It takes 3 days for jeeps to do this trail. At the Thompson hill first we tried to push bikes, but it was easier to ride up short sections, take a break, pick a good line and ride some more. Couple of guys would help to get started. Then we walked back to pick up gear. Eventually we were riding with no goggles to keep cool, we kept distance and pace was slow anyway.
Hardcore! A friend of mine did that trail a couple years ago and came home with a huge hematoma on his back.
I know that trail is tough on Jeeps! common place for broken axles, fans through the radiator ... etc. You guys must be in good shape.
oh wow! talking about "rockin' it out"! great photos! is all of it pretty much in the rocks or are there any forest/dirt sections? sorry, im not familiar with that trail
Ok. More pics. BTW. I am not that good off road. I had my 450 for less than 2 years and before that I tried to ride weestrom on a single track and it sucked. And I did have 640, and I did ride it offorad. That's about it. But I am getting better every time. Here is the Google earth view of the trail Here is me trying to concentrate Just bikes Holy cow! Meadow!!! No Rocks No Trees!!!!!!!!!!!!! Only couple of these you see whole day. Many bridges like these
