When I had to re-create this report (due to Photobucket turning evil), I managed to lose a few photos from other riders that had originally been here.  Sorry.

This annual gathering of riders has traditionally been hosted by Fred at Arrowhead Motorsports, but he had other priorities this year and wasn't able to pull it off. Riders from KLRWorld.com took over and organized a smaller get-together instead.  It wasn't the full complement of Canyonlands Motor Classic riders, but several of those who showed up were already known to each other.

Three riders were meeting a few days early to do a camp/ride, so I joined them at the Canyonlands Campground on Tuesday.  I took about eight hours to ride from home to Moab, taking U.S. 24 west to Buena Vista and then over Cottonwood Pass.

I detoured through Crested Butte and then Kebler Pass.  There had been a lot of road construction south of Taylor Lake, and Kebler Pass also had work crews.  Back on pavement again, I zoomed to Gateway.

John Brown Canyon road was in the worst condition I have ever seen it.  Once across the border into Utah, the road nearly disintegrated into hard ruts, deep gravel, and deeper-than-usual silt.  Not nearly as easy as it usually was.

It was nearly sundown when I crested the south shoulder of the La Salles and bombed through Castle Valley.

Once I had pitched my tent in the campground and hooked up with the other riders, we had a relaxed evening.  A few other riders were around, but they had their own schedule and we didn't get a chance to hang out with them much.

On Wednesday morning, we loaded up and headed out.  Gordon was leading the two-day ride, and he started us north to I-70 for a bit of highway time, but then he got us off onto lesser roads.  Some of these roads are returning to the wild.

We had to explore a bit to find the roads we were looking for, but we weren't in a rush, so all was well.

Gordon's saddlebags pressed down on his bike's side panels enough that the exhaust eventually melted through everything and that lead to some roadside repairs.  Without saddlebag guards, he couldn't continue like that, so I strapped his bags onto my KLR and away we went.

Gordon knew about this riding area that had many of these kinds of ridges that riders had high-marked right up to the top edges.  Most of us were loaded too heavy, but Gordon (not only on the lightest bike, but now without most of his luggage) went to play on them for a few minutes.  Jim, who had ridden his KLR from upstate New York played around a bit, too.

We used paved roads to get west and south until we neared the Escalante area.

Most of the rest of the day was spent on dirt, gravel and deep sand and silt.  The harder sand/silt areas were hard to take photos in, so those hard-work areas are the least documented.

This is probably going to be paved at some point.

Jim, here on his tired KLR, was new to adventure riding, but he had lots of enthusiasm.  He'll need some better riding gear and some upgrades to the bike once he really gets hooked on this kind of stuff.

Often, the deep, soft sand was deceptive, because hard ruts under the sand can still bite you.  I really don't like deep sand and I have no knack for it.  Even when I understand the technique for riding in it, I struggle a lot.  I went down in a deep section when I had to slow suddenly behind Jim.

After an hour or more of struggle on washboard and sand, we saw some relief ahead.  That's the steep, zig-zag ascent up to the Burr Trail there on the hillside.

We stopped for photos at the top of the ascent.  Storm and Gordon in this photo.

Storm's KLR was nicely outfitted.  I think he'd benefit from a 685cc or 688cc piston upgrade, but he seems to like it the way it is.

The Burr Trail becomes paved before it passes through this section of steep-walled canyon through the rock.

We went south from Boulder and explored some nice roads before coming back for gas and something to drink in the campground.  I put a six-pack of beer in my tankbag.

The Hell's Backbone road toward our camping area was very dusty, but the ruts and washboard were minimal.

The scenery was nice, but you had to walk away from the road to see it well.

I happened to be in the lead (taking turns to avoid eating all the dust) when I came to an intersection the led to different camp areas.  While I waited for Gordon to catch up and lead us onward, a green KLR came down the road and I recognized it immediately.  Laura!  I knew she was going to join us in Moab, but I hadn't realized she was going to be camping with us.  She had gotten to this area a bit earlier and had been scouting the camping areas.

Laura led us to a nice camping area and we pitched out tents next to a creek.  Jim had only his sleeping bag, and intended to sleep on one of the picnic tables (that proved too hard, so he later moved to the ground).  Laura teased him a bit about being bear food, since there were signs warning of bear activity in the area.

I used the machete that I keep on the KLR to chop some small firewood, and we scavenged some better wood that had been left behind at one of the other sites.  Once the fire was going and food and beverages were being enjoyed, we were all pretty comfortable.  I had a couple of military MREs, so that was food for me and Jim. 

The next morning was more gravel and sand for an hour or more before we found breakfast in a small town (Loa, I think).  From there, we headed back into the woods.  These were mostly working farm and ranch roads, so they were pounded down pretty well.  Dust was the worst part.

We stopped to let some sheep slowly get out of the way.

On another paved section, we came upon a whole family of cowboys herding cattle along the road.  A couple of the riders were very young.  The cattle mostly seemed accustomed to traffic and to following the road, but a few of them got a bit skittish.

Our intended route (which I never really paid attention to, since I was happy to just follow along) wound back down from the higher ground into wide Cathedral Valley.  We'd spend the next few hours getting through this valley, which was very dry and dusty.   As a group, we had enough water, but we had to share.

The roads at the bottom of the valley were just wide ruts, and they captured all the sand and silt that water and wind could bring them.  Jim had the most difficulty, partly due to his tires, his lack of experience, and no training at this kind of stuff.  I went down twice because I'm a putz sometimes.

Coming around this sharp right turn (which isn't obvious in the next photo), both Jim and Storm biffed and each got banged up a bit.

Even with all the struggle to get through the valley, the views were worth it.

Sometimes the silt and dust were so deep, I felt like I was up to my axles in glue.  Gordon was having a pretty easy time of it, as was Laura.  She's a very good rider, and despite having an almost bald rear tire, she was schooling us on how to ride in the sand.

On this steep ascent from the valley on the San Rafael Swell, I raced ahead to get some photos of the other riders.  I bogged down in the deep sand along the side of the road and barely got out of there without assistance.  When Laura came up, her tire was skidding around a lot, but she still made it up a lot easier than I had done (although she did hit that rock that's right in front of her tire in this photo).

Storm's KLR went sideways while pulling up the hill.  He saved it and continued on up without further ado.

Jim went into the same rut that had grabbed me and he took a while to get it out of there.  Gordon followed us all on his peppier KLX.

I though we'd be out of the deep dust once out of the valley, but NO!  Probably another ten miles or more of the stuff.  Storm's hurt leg probably contributed to some of his difficulties, but at least the sleepy bike made a nice place to sit fer a spell.

Laura was still punking us out with her skilz.  Made it look strangely easy.

Once out of the sandy hell, we were all pretty pooped and parched.  We decided to slab it back to Moab, stopping along the way for food and drink in Green River.

My wife, Laurie, arrived in Moab late that evening.  I had already checked into our cabin, so we were all set.

On Friday morning, we did some bike maintenance and went to Fred's shop to do some more.  Jim needed a new chain and sprocket, and that took a while.  Jettin' Jim, Esther, and Alex arrived and met us at the shop.

After spending more time than we had planned at Fred's shop, we decided to ride up to Deadhorse Point and maybe elsewhere from there.  We hung out at the overlook for a while.

There were ten of us in the group at Deadhorse, and we then went to the upper part of Long Canyon road to walk out to the canyon edge.

Five of us decided to ride down Long Canyon, which I had never done before.  Very steep and deep powder at the hardest part.  Right at the steepest point, the road has a couple of ledges that can bounce you if you aren't careful.  Esther had a bad line and flopped over at the worst point, but otherwise she and everyone else got through okay.

The tight turns at the top were a good way to slow you down...

...because just ahead is where the road drops off.

Looking back up, as in this photo, you can't really appreciate how steep it is.  Or how deep and slippery that powder is.

Laura cruised down with ease, as usual.

Alex had gone ahead, but he and his camera were waiting for us in the shade of the iconic rock tunnel.

After getting back on pavement on the Potash road, we cruised until we got to a spot where we could cool off in the Colorado River.  Esther had worn a bikini under her riding gear, so she was all set.  The rest of us stripped down to whatever was comfortable and jumped in.  The depth of the river was hard to determine in places, so some scouting was done prior to going in blindly.  I dove off a lower shelf than this next photo shows.  Esther jumped down here without touching the bottom.  Plenty deep right there.

But Jettin' Jim moved a little further along the rock before doing a back-flop into what turned out to be about two feet of water.  After he went *sploosh* he stood up, dazed from having smacked into the muddy bottom.  Since he wasn't hurt, it was pretty funny.  Alex, still up on the rock, was laughing so hard I thought he might have a seizure.

Laura started to swim across the river but it was so shallow she and Esther mostly walked back and forth across it.

We dried off pretty quickly on the ride back into Moab.  Rock climbers were along the road, as usual.

Our group reunited back at the Canyonlands Campground and later in the evening we had a gathering that included some gift raffles and story-telling.  We also lamented the loss of Darin, who would have been here but had been killed recently in an accident.  We hoisted a few suds and poured out a bit for him and others who are no longer with us.

Fred and his wife Peggy came to join us for the evening, and we got to meet Terry and Robin, too.

Saturday morning had a lazy start.  After breakfast, most of us headed for Onion Creek, which is always a favorite.

The weather around Moab was overcast and cooler than normal--which felt wonderful.  A plan to first ride up Hurrah Pass got skipped because it looked stormy in that direction.  North, toward Onion Creek, looked cloudy but not storming.

Laura gave Jim a few tips for riding on loose dirt, and after he practiced a few loops in a camping area, we headed up the creek.

(My battered camera has a ding in the center of the lens, so that's what the recurring fuzzy spot is in many of my photos.  Sorry.)

When I could, I went ahead to get photos of the others as they went by.

Some knucklehead on an ATV almost forced me off the road and I later learned from Laura that the same guy later slid around another tight turn sideways.  He was a real menace.

At the top of the main creek ride, we stopped to rest and chat. 

Jim and Laurie.

Jettin' Jim and Laura.  When most of us started back down, Jettin' Jim decided to take the La Salle Loop back, but he was back in camp so quick that he might have taken the Castle Valley bail-out route.  If he did the whole loop back to Moab, he must have really been ripping!

This section of Onion Creek has changed a lot since the last time I was here.  It has now eroded out part of the road.

The views are great along the lower section of the creek.

Esther was taking it easy, but I waited to get a photo as she passed by.  I like Esther's royal blue KLR paint job.

Gordon was riding sweep, and it was he who told me not to wait for Jettin' Jim (who had taken the other route back to Moab).

A quick afternoon cruise back to town.  Relaxing and not so hot as usual.

Laura joined Laurie and me at the Blue Pig for BBQ and live music.  We hung out there for several hours, listening to the guitar player and completing a pretty difficult New York Times crossword puzzle.  Jettin' Jim, Alex, and Esther showed up later, too.  They will hang around Moab for a few more days, but we were done for the weekend.

We had a nice time riding and visiting with old and new friends.  We'll see everyone there again next time.