It’s Tuesday, November 29th, 2022 and it’s going to be a good day! We, (Mike T and I), are going to head out and ride as much of the Southern California Backcountry Discovery Route as we can.
I say, “as much as we can” because although I feel good, and the bike is doing well, the weather is currently conspiring against us in the Northern Sierras and Death Valley is supposedly closed. But we’re going to do our best and do what we can. It’s all part of the adventure.
The route actually starts out of state in Yuma, Az but quickly crosses the Colorado River into California. The route was launched in January 2019 and travels 850 miles North through the Mojave and Death Valley before finally ending just a little East of Mono Lake in Benton Springs.
It’s divided up into 8 different sections and the whole route usually takes 7 to 8 days to complete.
CABDR SECTION 1
Mike T had done much of it with another group before but was eager to do it again and catch the stuff they missed the last time. We were packed and on our bikes at 6:00 AM. First up was Coffee. That was easy as there’s a McD just a few blocks down the street. We’re there in seconds, park, remove helmets jackets all that stuff, go in and start ordering. The Mgr. comes out and says, “Just an FYI… we’re out of coffee!”.
So we pack everything back up, gloves helmets, jackets and zip over to Carl’s Jr. who’s also open for breakfast. They have coffee so we do that. and then finally we’re on the road to my first official BDR!
My tracking suggest that was somewhere around 6:30 AM. Just a few miles from the official start in northern Yuma, we hit dirt. We stopped to take a picture. Yeah, it’s just farmland, it’s just a gravel road and there’s nothing technical but it was kind of neat for me!
We head up Picacho Rd and the farmland gives way to the desert. It’s still a simple gravel road but getting just a little more involved. The sun is up and we’re both feeling great!
Soon our route catches back up to the Colorado River again in Picacho State Park. I keep seeing horse plops here and there on the trail but no sign of horses or riders. We stopped for a view in the State Park and that’s when we saw our first Donkeys!
The two were just hanging out by the river. Can you see them? I cropped it so they are dead center of the frame on the hill.
As we went by, they cut in front of us and ran for a while down the road. Both of us tried in vain to get our GoPros working but it was just a moment in time not to be captured. I heard that all of these donkeys are descendants of the old gold rush miners. How cool is that?
Everyone and their Mother will tell you what comes after Picacho. It’s Indian Pass Rd. and it’s the deepest sand/gravel you’ll find on any BDR. It’s reportedly only 8 miles long but people will intentionally skip this part of Section 1.
It’s the main reason why the CA BDR is rated as the hardest of all.
As a matter of fact, when Mike T had attempted Indian Pass Rd with a few other friends, they were exhausted and camped near the end. Indian Pass Road beat them.
That was not the case for us. Maybe it was a combination of skill and bikes and maybe the gravel was just a little bit easier. Mike said it seemed easier for us. It was 8:24 AM. The sun was shining and we started down this awful tale of woe.
I’m not one to brag, but in 25 minutes we had covered the famed Indian Pass Rd gravel pit and were standing where Mike and his buds had given up just months before. We stopped and I snapped a picture of him so he could show them.
From here it was a climb out of the gravel up to what I think was Indian Pass. We went down a dirt road for miles until we hit a paved road and then more gravel and more road and so on into Blythe.
Blythe was the end of Section 1 and I guess if you had a hard time in the gravel this would also be the end of your day too. Not for us. It was only noon. We stopped for gas, and stopped for lunch in a Subways.
CA BDR SECTION 2:
Heading north out of Blythe we got to our first really cool landmark. It’s called the Blythe Intaglios and it’s where ancient people scratched figures into the scorched earth kind of like the Naca Lines in Peru. They are now protected by a fence perimeter and probably look amazing when viewed from the air.
We took our time and walked around to each of them. The BDR isn’t a race. We wanted to stop and take in everything.
From here we set back out on the official route which took us deeper into the hills. We climbed up a cool ridge line and then it turned back and headed down a hill towards a river wash. No water here just all of the boulders, rocks and sand.
Somewhere we missed a little turn and we were both in the wash. We could see where we were on the map and we could see how the trail was just a little bit parallel to the wash but on nice gravel.
The blue line is my tracking while the red line is where we should have been.
While we were seemingly spared the horrors of Indian Pass Rd. we were now dealing with Hard Enduro conditions in the wash. We couldn’t get up and out of it as the banks were impassibly steep so the decision was to tough it out. This was one of the nicer parts I took a picture of.
Mike managed to turn on his GoPro for a little bit of it. He caught himself hitting a rock he told himself NOT to hit. Target Fixation is real kids!
It was hot in the wash. So hot at one time I decided to take off my protective pads and jacket. I had fallen at least once in the wash, but it was a slow speed drop. It’s not so much that, it’s the plants that you have to worry about. Everything in the desert is out to get you!
We managed to get out of the wash and get back to the Hwy and a short time later it back on the dirt of Old Blythe-Vidal Rd. Plenty of rocks and gravel and things to ride here. Even though it wasn’t technical, you always had to be on guard. There was a few unexpected dirt naps along the way.
We were zipping along paved Hwy 62 when we passed the “Shoe Station”. It’s an old gas station that like in the spirit of Tea Kettle Junction, people have decorated with old shoes. We stopped and took a few pictures. If you could see the shoes I’ve strapped onto my saddle bags you might think I grabbed them from here.
The sun was getting low and as we hit dirt towards Sahara Oasis (the end of Section 2.) we knew that we weren’t going to make it too much further. The idea was to ride until the sun was about to set and make camp.
We were traveling down a gravel mining road along side railroad tracks. We were 15 miles into the desert from the highway when we stopped.
It was flat desert sand. I pulled off the road maybe 30 yards or so looking for a nice spot. I saw the remnants of a someone’s old fire and stopped there. It was 4:35 PM and we were done with Section 1 and most of Section 2.
Amazingly I had good cell reception and called the wife. Told her we were camping here for the night. We set up our tents and watched the sun set behind the Iron Mountains to the west.
Mike T likes a good fire and the previous campers had left a couple of good sized branches. Looking around you could tell the old firewood was trucked in as there was no trees for miles. We used that and gathered some dead old scrub roots and branches and Mike managed to create a pretty good fire!
We both had our camp chairs (such a luxury) and the wind had picked up a little. Mike was doing something and I was doing my best rotisserie chicken imitation in front of the fire when I heard his chair. He had been sitting upwind when he stood up, and with the stiff gusts guess where his chair went – yup! Here it is in the morning.
NOTE: I was worried a bit about it being cooler weather. I know the desert gets cold at night. This was the first night in my Nemo Disco Down 15 degree bag and I can say while it wasn’t down to 15 degrees, I was warm all night.
SCORECARD: Started at 6:00 AM and finished at 4:35 PM – but Yuma is also in a different time zone so I’m going to call it 9 1/2 hours on the bike. How many miles? I honestly should have made note of that but didn’t. We covered 1 3/4 sections in the first day!
He's an avid hockey fan, rides a mountain bike, sometimes rides a road bike, has a few motorcycles (he had a really fast one, had a big cool orange one, rode a really slow one, and is currently building a perfect "BDR Weapon"). If that isn't enough, he makes cheese and sourdough bread, loves strong beer and good red wine, and poorly plays the Mandolin.
- My Pre Nor Cal BDR Settings - September 15, 2024
- New Pump, No Pressure, What Did I Do? - September 9, 2024
- Studs > Bolts for the Rear Rack - September 5, 2024