Trip Reports

Trip Reports
	3-4-06 Found Old Digger 31.4 Miles
Todays ride was the best ride I have had so far, mainly due to it being the first ride I have had in good weather. It was about 40 Degrees most of the day, and perfectly sunny. Still a good bit muddy though, as I found out the hard way. I was doing a bit of exploring in a lower valley, and had to pass through a fairly large mud hole. I made it through the first time with little trouble, but I found that they trail wasnt leading to quite the place I wanted to be. So I headed back out, and had to pass through that muddy section again. Well, this time wasnt so easy, I was trying to straddle the ruts, but got into a very mushy part, slid off the top of the ruts, and completely grounded out in the mud. I hopped off to take a look, and I couldnt even see the back axle at all. It was completely covered in mud, making the ATV high centered, so none of the wheels were making good contact with any firm ground. I spend a good 25 minute gathering logs and branches, wedging them up under the rear wheels. I finally managed to get enough grip to get it out. Now it was time for some more exploring, I found my way across the valley to the opposite hill. Today was the first time riding with my GPS attached to the handlebars of the ATV. This was really nice, at any given time I could tell exactly where I was, and exactly where I needed to be. There were a few trails I had seen a couple weeks ago, but had no idea where they went, having the GPS with me gave me the confidence to explore any trail I wanted, without fear of getting confused about where I was.

The trails actually ended up going to the location I expected to, and it made a really fun ride. But, I also had a rather nice surprise that I found at the end of the trail. An old backhoe type digging machine. Not sure what they are called really. But the bucket was pretty big, wide enough to actually drive the ATV up into about half way.

I rode about 13 miles, and then met up with one of my buddies. We rode another 18 miles of so. We explored a couple smaller trails that joined to a few other trails that we knew. The sun was starting to set, and we still had to wash off the ATVs, so we called it a day. We plan to take another ride tomorrow, as the weather is supposed to be nice then also.