Trip Report: Canyons and Craters - Day 3

Welcome to day 3 on my Nevada adventure motorcycling trip.

Titus Canyon

This is the daily log of six novice adventure riders who attempted the new #NVBDR route but have had to abandon it due to broken pegs and tougher-than-thought terrain. We are riding Honda Africa Twins and Kawasaki KLRs.

Crisp air welcomed tired bodies out of the hotel and Mel's Diner called our name.   No chance of a fresh barista made latte in Mel's Diner however the food was in abundance and the atmosphere made the occasion.

Titus Canyon

Our first destination for the day was Titus Canyon. The Canyon is a deep narrow gorge cut into the Grapevine Mountains of the Mojave Desert in California. The track through the canyon is one way for vehicle traffic and is known for its winding passes and steep gorge walls.

This route was made for adventure motorcycles as the track wound it way up and down hills before descending into the gorge.

Layers of rock scaled to the cliff heights as our ears hummed with the silence of the gorge.  Echoes of conversation would bounce off the walls.  Once again we were pondered how the early miners found routes through the barren hills.

My GPS tracked the kilometres traveled revealing the enjoyable pace we were traveling at.  The gale force winds continued to howl above us, as witnessed by the rolling clouds.  And then the peace and serenity ended as we exited the Canyon and rolled into Death Valley.

The riding was thoroughly enjoyable with enough wow moments to keep us entertained.  Standing on the pegs of the KLR650, I felt the bike was beautifully balanced as I manoeuvred the bike through the tight canyon turns and across the loose gravel.

Honda Africa Twin cockpit

Note: Titus Canyon is actually in California and is not part of the offical Nevada BDR.

Ubehebe Crater

Ubehebe Crater

The route through Titus Canyon ends along Death Valley and offers a natural route to the Ubehebe Crater.    The crater is roughly 1km wide and a few hundred metres deep.  It could potentially be as young as 800years old (or 2000 or 7000years old).   The ride to the crater rim is on sealed roads.

The bikes shook as the wind challenged the side stand whilst perched on the crater rim.  The wind made the time rather unpleasant as sand whipped our faces.  It was time to head back to Beatty and call it a day.

Arriving back in Beatty we noticed the nail sticking out of the Africa Twin rear tyre.  Thankfully we did not have to change the tube!

The Africa Twin is attracting some steel! Not quite what we wanted to do on a Saturday afternoon. #hondaafricatwin #puncture

A post shared by Martin Solms (@overland_live) on May 6, 2017 at 4:29pm PDT

Trip Stats:
Accommodation: Beatty (again)
Ride distance: 199km
Total trip time: 6hr 08min

Additional Reading:

• Pre-Trip Prep
• Day 1: Trail or Tracks
• Day 2: Broken Pegs & The Happy Burro
• Day 3: Canyons & Craters
• Day 4: Valleys & Peaks

Trip Report: Broken Pegs & the Happy Burro - Day 2

Welcome to day 2 on the Nevada Backcountry Discovery Route.

This is the daily log of six novice adventure riders tackling the new #NVBDR route. We are riding Honda Africa Twins and Kawasaki KLRs.

Broken Pegs & the Happy Burro

Our planned route for day 2 was completely on the NVBDR which meant lots of unsealed roads. Well, that's what we thought we had planned.

We rejoined the NVBDR after a restful night in the Primm Casino hotel and a quick breakfast at McDonalds.  We got a few good comments and questions: "Are you guys racers?" Haha, far from it!

Initially the track runs North, parallel to the I-15 highway, before turning to the North East and onto Pahrump.

Broken Pegs

20Km later and we had a broken foot peg on the Africa Twin.    The track had a number of sections damaged by flood water and as a result large boulders lay scattered on the track.  One of the Africa Twin riders followed the inside track on a left turn and had little room to maneuver to avoid a few large boulders.  The front tyre clipped a rock and milliseconds later the rider was on the floor.  The rider and bike were ok except for the right foot peg.

On small vital piece off the Africa Twin was crucial in changing plans... the NVBDR was over.   We needed to return to Las Vegas to repair the Honda AT and rethink our plans.

Making that call to GSMA... we needed help

Decision made... we would use the highway from Las Vegas to the old mining town of Rhyolite and onto Beatty for the evening.    Nevada also decided to change weather patterns and the 38Deg C heat wave turned into strong 60km gale force winds.  It was not a pleasant few hours as we fought the North Westerly winds towards Beatty.

Head down, we wobbled our way North West to Beatty.  A quick bite to eat at the Area51 Alien Center roadhouse before pushing onto Rhyolite, an old mining town.

Rhyolite was built around 1905 but quickly faded as miners moved to Beatty.  Infrastructure resources was pretty scarce so the town folk dismantled buildings and carted them to Beatty.

The Happy Burro

When you visit Beatty as part of the NVBDR, be sure to have a bowl of chili at the Happy Burro.   The food is good, the beer is cold and the atmosphere is outstanding.  We spent an enjoyable few hours detoxing from the gale force winds and talking through the broken peg incident and being thankful that no one was injured.

Happy Burro Chili & Beer in Beatty

No rest for those on international business trips... day 3 needed planning!

Trip Stats:
Accommodation: Atomic Inn, Beatty
Ride distance: 273Km
Riding time: 3hours 17min

The route below was our intended NVBDR track...

Additional Reading:

• Pre-Trip Prep
• Day 1: Trail or Tracks
• Day 2: Broken Pegs & The Happy Burro
• Day 3: Canyons & Craters
• Day 4: Valleys & Peaks