TAILS FROM THE TRAILS FOREST LAKES

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Wow, what a trip. We did a guys trip to Forest Lakes early Friday morning to get out of the heat. Jeff (azgolfer) went up Thrusday to secure the spot for up. Actually I think he just wanted to take his 2 hour nap in the cool pines. Me and Bob showed up early Friday to find Robert and his son Adam (aka larry) there as well. They came up Thursday as well.
I had a new Fuller helmet out for it’s 1st ride but was hoping not to test it against any rocks. I have to say it was very light and had lots of vents throughout to keep your head cool. All this and it is Snell and DOT rated.
After setting up (which took all of 5 minutes) we went for a ride. It was a beautiful day with temps around 70. Sure beat the 115 in Phoenix. Most of the day it was cloudy with rain threatening. It did sprinkle a few times but not enough to knock down the dust.
Bob started the tone of the trip off by having a leak in his flat pack fuel tank. Jeff had some JB weld that fixed the leak. Next Bob showed us how he could climb over some monster boulders with his Polaris 800. He had it stood straight up in the air. Robert gave him a hand to keep it upright and with a little help from Robert and Jeff he made it up and over.
From here we went to look at the lakes and just some trail hunting. We did come across a few elk that crossed in front of us but they were camera shy so I didn’t get a photo of them. It sprinkled on us a few times but nothing much. We even had lunch at the power lines where we could here thunder.

After getting back to camp the heavens opened up. It poured for about an hour. The temperature dropped to about 60 and I needed to get a sweat shirt. Awesome. It was fun watching Larry running around in the rain.
As the rain let up I went to get my rain gear. Jeff asked me what I was doing. I said just trying on my rain gear. He knew better and soon I took off for a ride in the rain. I love riding in the forest in the rain. I did a quick through some tight twisty trails to the 99 road and back. When I got back I found out Terren, Bob’s friend arrived and they went to the store. I wanted to show Terren a fun trail so I went back to the 99 road and waited for them. They didn’t show for a while so I called Bob and found them at the restaurant. I met up with them and we did a fast paced trail through the woods. What a blast.
The next day Wayne (Jeff’s neighbor) and Rich (a new guy) showed up for a day of riding. As it turned out it was a day filled with challenges.
We headed off to the Chevron lake trail on the east side of the canyon. Chevron Lake is in the bottom of a large canyon. All was going well. I was next to last in line and when I came around the corner Bob had a boat that had been washed down the spillway and down the creek hooked to the back of his quad. His plan was to pull it back to the lake. As he took off in the river rock his left front ball joint bolt broke and he almost rolled. After some ingenuity ( JB weld and a strap) we headed to the lake . He left his quad to let the JB cure. At the lake Bob found another boat in the spill way. He climbed in the boat and Terren pushed him to the bottom of the spillway.
Bob headed back to get his quad and we were off on our adventure. Jeff took another trail to an overlook of the lake but as Bob went over a hump the front let go again, but this time he rolled his quad onto it’s side. Fortunately he was not under it. After another attempt to fix it we decided to take the smooth forest service roads back to camp. This was not to be as well as it came apart again but this time Bob held on. At this point we knew he could not continue. We got Bob’s quad over to the side of the road and he was going to wait here for Terren to go back to camp and get his PU to bring Bob and his quad back to camp.
We split into 2 groups to get back to camp so we could see which way was faster. Me, Wayne and Rich were going to back track the rougher trail that we had come in on. While Jeff, Terren and Robert were going the long way around on the FS roads.

We were off. Wayne was leading the way at a fast pace on the rough terrain. This sure was fun but you better be paying attention or you could go off the trail. We made it to the main road in record time and Wayne gave me the lead. I was having lots of problems keeping my Polaris on the road. It was like I was driving on ice. I kept trying to looking at my rear tires because I thought I had a flat but I didn’t want to stop until we got to camp. I just slowed down so I could control my machine. When we arrived 1st back at camp I did notice my rear tire was flat. It took 2 plugs in the sidewall.
At least we were 1st.
As we were waiting for Bob and Terren to get back we went for a ride. There were some huge mud puddles in the trail near camp. We just had to stop and play for awhile. It was hard to say who won the contest as everyone got wet but Wayne was soaked so bad he had to take his shirt off and wring it out.
Next we planned to head to some hills to play on. I took off fast with Wayne in hot pursuit. I actually missed a turn as I was going a bit too fast but made it around a tree and back on the trail. I found out later Wayne saw me and thought he better slow down but also missed the corner worse than me. He got back to the trail and hit the throttle hard. Not a good move as he missed the next corner as well. He thought he could go between a couple of small trees and get back on track but he was wrong. He hit the 1st tree with his right rear wheel that threw him into a large tree with his left rear wheel. This tree snapped his rear hub as he deflected into another smaller tree that bent his handlebars. Rich couldn’t believe he stayed on his quad. Rich also said he should get a helmet cam as this happened right in front of his as well as Bob’s roll over. Thankfully Wayne was not hurt. He went back to the camp for his truck as his quad was not rideable.
Back at camp Rich said he wanted a photo of his muddy quad for a new screensaver. I mentioned he should pull it into the sun. He did but also pulled it up on some rocks. His King Quad got stuck on the rocks. He got off and was trying to push it backwards when he fell to the ground screaming. He said he dislocated his knee. Ouch. We helped get his quad off the rocks and loaded into the back of his truck after he put some ice on his knee.
At this point I said I am done riding for this day as we have caused enough mayhem for one day.
Score for this trip. One rear sway bar bushing (Polaris). One Koplin leaking fuel tank. One broken Polaris ball joint. One flat. One rear broken hub on a Kawasaki Brute Force. And one dislocated knee (Rich). I won’t even go into all the broken stuff on Jeff’s camper.
I have to thank Bob (ball bearing) for letting me ride to Forest lakes and back and Jeff for letting me stay in his camper. My only contribution was the ribs which Jeff cooked for us and having an absolute ball.
All and all just another fun adventure. Remember never ride faster than your Guardian Angel can fly.
Photography and Words Don McNeilly
for more of Dons adventures click here