Gold Camp and Phantom Canyon Ride, July, 2006

This report was originated on ADVRider.com, and is imported here with minor editing for structure (due to the import process).  Typos, etc., have mostly been left as they are, fixed only for clarity in some cases.  Some characters have been identified by their user names on that website.  Martin is the report initiator and is identified here as SgtMarty.

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SgtMarty wrote:  A few of us intrepid explorers met at Garden of the Gods outside Colorado Springs. We cruised by the Broadmoor Hotel and up Old Stage Road, stopping at the end of pavement to air down the tires. Onward!
This was the view as we ascended behind NORAD.


Nick's new KLR. His leather was hot, baby.


Alan rode as tailgunner to start out, but I switched with him for my share of the dirt diet.


StrayDog (right) was having a new flux capacitor installed in his KLR, so he made do with the Honda Shadow. Gutsy.


Some shots of the old rail route, along Old Stage Road and more after joining Gold Camp Road. I had only recently been led onto these roads by GS Spirit (enrt to West Fest), so I was eager to refresh my memory.










Nick was zoomin' by!


We made our way to Victor, near Cripple Creek. They were celebrating Gold Rush Days, and the town was closed for a parade. We waited it out on the edge of town and read the historical signs. Still active gold mines there, too.


We had a slow (as in SLOOOOOOWWWW) lunch in town, and StrayDog bailed on us and headed home. Can't blame him.

Alan, Nick, and I decided on Phantom Canyon Road down to Florence, where Nick lives. Recent storms had caused a lot of rock fall onto the road, but not too bad. Another tunnel, some interesting bridges. Great scenery.








Nick invited us to his home for a break (and ice cream!). Great guy. Alan needed to blast back home, so we said our goodbyes there.
I decided to reverse course and do Phantom Canyon Road again, northward this time. Stopped for a few more pics.




I stopped in Cripple Creek and spent the evening throwing money at the Blackjack dealers, but I played for about 8 hours on $200. Beer was free. Stayed at the Imperial Hotel, a 100+-year old hotel with a quaint room for $45. Monday morning headed straight for home (or so I thought).

Back through Victor and Gold Camp Road.






I got a wild hair and decided to explore some of the technical trails in the area, so off the road I went.


The going was tough, but I managed. On a hard, sandy turn I had my first fall, and landed right on a softball-sized rock that punished my nerf bars and flexed the radiator bracket backwards. One of the bolts that holds the side shroud to the front of the radiator punched a hole in the radiator and coolant went everywhere. I puttered back down to a shady spot under the trees and next to a water crossing (to refill the radiator), and then I got busy. Dismantled the bike and removed the radiator.


That's the hit on the nerf bar. If not for this bar, the radiator would have been destroyed.


This is the front of the radiator. The top hole on the right is where the too-long bolt acted like a hole-punch.


I pinched the hole shut with pliers, crammed Quicksteel epoxy into and around the damage, and took a break. After it had hardened, I filled it in the stream and found no leaks. Mounted it back up and discovered that the bike had no electrics. WTF?
There's no explaining it; I did nothing to the electrics during repairs. For whatever reason, the bike was DOA. I stared at it for a while and touched various things with my fingers--in other words I did nothing useful.
After a while, I tried it again and the lights came on and it started right up. There's no explaining it.
I had spent a couple hours in the repairs. It was after noon, and getting hot. I don't know what possessed me, but I headed back up the mountain and thumbed my nose at the spot where I had crashed. The trail got steeper and with more loose rocks and I crashed (low speed tip-overs) several more times.
On the way back down, I decided to look for easier trail riding. I found the opposite. I took a trail marked 370C. Mark that trail in your memory and avoid it at all costs. Hard core off-road jeeps and trucks would need winches and jacks. Me, I decided to just crash my bike about 20 times descending back to Gold Camp Road.
Once I had committed to it, it was impossible (for me) to go back up. This was a typical bit.


This was also typical. As we all know, photos don't do justice to how steep a road is, or how soft the ground is. What looks like hard dirt here IS NOT. It's like brown flour.


There were places, like here (looking back up the trail) where there was a rideable line.


But that line goes away, even though it doesn't look it here.


I picked the bike up dozens of times. This was one of the worse ones. I had to spin the bike around on the rock it's laying on first.


I met a hiker with two dogs, and they were slogging their way up this trail. We chatted a while while he just looked at the bike saying nothing about it. Finally he asked, "So... with that big bike, huh?"
"Yeah," I muttered. "It's heavy."
He congratulated me on having the foresight to armor it up first. I told him about having to repair the radiator earlier, and that finally impressed him. "Good luck," he said as he headed onward. Even the dogs rolled their eyes at me. Really!
After about six hours getting down this trail, I could hear thunder in the distance, heading my way. Great. Still, I stopped and waded in a stream for a while. I really needed to cool down. Thank goodness for layers and clothes that come apart. The water was cold and standing in it felt great. I'm not much for self-photography (the reason is obvious...), but I needed this shot to remind me how good it felt to just stand in that water.


Finally, 370C led back down to Gold Camp Road at this flooded crossroads. After (mostly) skirting the water I stopped for this shot. It was too deep to cross directly, and the sand wash under it was deep, too. I'd still be there if I'd tried it.


It was dusk when I made it back to Colorado Springs and stopped to air my tires back up. The storm was at hand, so I rode a while and stopped for a couple hours at a restaurant for rehydration, food, and ice cream.
The storm blew by, and I headed home for the hot tub. Now, all wrinkly and bushed, I write my story. Hope you enjoyed.

Gadget Boy wrote:  Beautiful!   That KLR sure can take the punishment and keep on thumping.

Questor wrote:  I don't know which is made of tougher metal - the KLR or your testicles!
Although your trip may have been a "small one" your exploits are huge. Riding that kind of terrain solo...
A dozen drops in one trip. That's what I call a learning curve.
By the way, nice fix on the radiator.
I'm glad you made it home.
Q~

Eurobiker wrote:  Outstanding. A day like that should end at the Phantom Canyon Brewery.

Medicine Creek wrote:  very cool report, Marty. did the neduro class stuff help on the rocky trail?
How's your head where i let the tire iron whack ya? i still feel shitty about that. sorry...

SgtMarty wrote:  Ned's class helped a bit, but I learned how to crash my bike a long time ago, so I still have to overcome that habit.

Coming down that rock trail was no fun, and I was exhausted from picking the bike up at LEAST 20 times. It's steeper than it looks, and footing was as much a problem on all that loose dirt and decaying granite. Couldn't brake or stand worth a damn.

The head is fine. Just another scar to add to the collection. I've got to come up with a decent sex story to explain it, though. You know, where the new diesel sex toy went on the fritz or something.

klrno2 wrote:  uh..nice report, but I wish I had missed today's comments 

Hayduke wrote:  You are crazy, Marty!   I think I would have turned around right away. Nice report! And great McGiver job on the radiator!

Tramontana wrote:  Excellent report, although I feel conflicted currently? On one hand, I wish I had been able to join you on the ride, and on the other hand I'm certainly glad I didn't try to follow you on my Tiger. She's no fun to pick up, and certainly not 20 times in a day!!!

As Jim Hyde explained up in Leadville, it is the epic portions of our rides that we certainly remember the most. True Adventure Riding for you!!!

We picked up the new F-650 for "Fifi" and I'm going to share the first half of your report with her, and tempt her to go ride Phantom Canyon. I doubt I can safely show her the rest of your report, once you decided to leave the graded path.

Cheers to you mate!!

shanako wrote:  Dude,
Thanks for the report. Good job on the re-pair and the re-covery. You get a feather.  Although I don't get TOO wild her in the woods of North Carolina, I am beginning to think some JB weld might be a good addition to the tool kit.
Happy trails,
shanako

SgtMarty wrote:  Thanks, man. I was dog tired at the end of it all. I sat in Applebees in Colorado Springs for a couple hours just to recover (and to let the storm pass by). Much better now.  Planning on Pikes Peak next Sunday, the 23rd.

GS Spirit wrote:  Excellent! There is something very rewarding about self abuse I mean solo exploring in tough areas. I love this kind of stuff thanks for taking us along. Good job Marty lots of good pics of that area too.

judjonzz wrote:  Is it possible you were in Indian country, Marty? I have experienced mysterious, self-correcting electrical glitches on two occasions. One was at Blackhorse with Jeff Ecker. I had been warned about this place, said to be the birthplace of Sitting Bull, and regarded as a place of power by the Lakota. I scoffed, but in the few hours we were in there, my bike went dark, then restarted, the speedo quit working, then worked again, and my front tire went flat without a puncture.

The other time was in Sica Hollow, in the Couteau des Prairies in NE S. Dakota. Shelly's bike quit and went inexplicably dark, before recovering its composure after about ten minutes.

Was it a trick of the lighting, or are you a little thinner on top since the last time I saw you? (No need to belabor it, but I'm no thinner anywhere.)

Jud

SgtMarty wrote:  Hair is migrating from my scalp to my ass. It's just wrong.

No Indian land that I know of, but it's still a mystery. Maybe something rattled loose and my ET-style magic finger nudged something back into place. I'm mostly concerned that it might happen again and not magically repair itself.

RLK wrote:  Radiators are over-rated.  I pin-holed my right crank-case cover up there once on mt XR650L and JB-Weld came to the rescue. Sometimes its better to be lucky than good, or so i've heard.
A+ for effort. A for courage. A for self-sufficientcy

DeputyTom wrote:  Great report Sgt. I was planning a trip up there next month but it got cancelled. I had planned to ride that road through Phantom Canyon too. I looked it up on Google Earth. Last year I was at Colorado Springs for a week and went down Hwy 50 to Canon' City, the suspension bridge etc. went west up in the Mts. I don't know exactly where I went. Saw some Buffalo. Beautiful had a great time. Did Pikes Peak. If I didn't have roots here I would move there. Do you think I would have any problems on an R1150R on the canyon road? I rode on that type of gravel last year no prob.

SgtMarty wrote:  Phantom Canyon is just a dirt road, mostly. Some washboard and some potholes. There can be (and was) rock fall on the road for a few surprises. Some tight turns, but only a few. Any bike with decent tires and suspension can do it. It's more a matter of your comfort with the dirt.