East Fort Rock OHV

[pdedse]

From the advrider site, an online acquaintance who also has a Suzuki DR650 sent out a general invite on the DR650 forum to meet up this weekend at East Fort Rock OHV, about 45 minutes SE of Bend, OR.  I left 8am yesterday Friday, and made it to camp area, near 2510 in the photo below:


Decided to have lunch only 20 mintures from the camp area as I didn't want to arrive hungry.  


By the time I arrived, met a few of the guys and then set up my tent, it was already 2pm, but still time enough to ride.  I went alone as most guys were either done for the day or were still out there somewhere.  I explored the area around the campsite.
 
There's plenty of single track, ranging from easy to difficult.  I stayed on the easy trails and had some fun in the loose dirt. 

But I'm not an accomplished single track rider so I go slow, about 10-25mph, mainly first and second gear through the above.  Some sandy / loose dirt spots about 3" deep.  Then I left the forested area and went to the desert flats where there were lots of wide open spaces...I like views.




Made it back around 5pm and daylight was vanishing quickly.  But the guys had a big bonfire going and that lasted well into the evening


Spent a nippy night in the tent as the temperature fell to 28f, but still slept about 6 hours which is pretty good for me tent camping.

This morning 9 of us took off at 10am to do a loop around Paulina Peak and the surrounding lakes.  The guys like to ride and all of them were much faster than me.  Most were on 350-500cc KTMS, or Husqvarnas.  My DR650 was the largest, heaviest bike of the group, but a good rider would still be able to keep their pace.  There was one guy on at Triumph Tiger 800, and he didn't have any problems.  I could keep up with them on the forest service roads, but once we hit the single lane sections it was a challenge.  But they're good guys...one rider would always stop at forks in the road so that I and another guy could see which way the group went. 


And they told me to just relax, go at my own pace.  So not many photos because we kept moving pretty good.  There was a 3 mile section of 1-2" of snow and going down was kindy dicey.  But keeping bike in first / second and I felt more or less "in control".  Actually, I am very happy I didn't go down.  We did about 65 miles total, about 55 of that was on dirt, 10 of which was snow-rock-dirt-mud mix.  

After lunch, I went back out by myself to the deserty area and enjoyed the late afternoon sun.  It's fun riding with the others, but I feel the constant pressure to keep up.  
 
The above trail became thick with 5" sand, not my favorite.  But I got to experience how the DR does, and I how I do sand.  And...it wasn't pretty.  No falls, but I was using my feet as paddles quite a bit.
 
I prefer the less challenging roads, particularly when I was tired from the 3.5 hour mornning ride.


It was time to head back to the campsite


I had enough food, gas to stay another night, but the thought of the freezing temperatures shooed me the 3.5 hours home and I made back by 9:30pm.  As I've been getting out more on single track, I think about buying a lighter bike.  The Kawasaki KLX300 looks really nice.  

https://www.kawasaki.com/en-us/motorcycl...ort/klx300


I'm going to see a "used" one tomorrow...it has 1 mile on it.  A guy bought it, put a seat and skid plate on it and aftermarket exhaust...and never rode it.  Sounds suspicious, but we'll see.