Columbus day weekend/ Lets turn it into a 4 day weekend, Head up to Maine Friday Morning
The KLX goes in the back of the truck, we put 5 quads on the trailer, plan for my brother-in-law to show up tonite after my nephews football game. He has 3 bikes, another buddy with his and his sons dirtbike, and another buddy with his dirtbike and his sons quad. Gonna be a lot of riders, 7 bikes, 7 quads




The weather has been beautiful, cool nights, warm-ish days, all the trees are changing. Yup, fall in New England is pretty





We are staying in Byron, Maine this time. Cool little campground at Coos Canyon. Its isolated, but right on the ATV trail network in the Wwestern Maine Mountains. Real nice area. Very OHV friendly usually. The trails are really Heavy Duty ATV trails. Rugged, rocky, roots, ruts, big mud bogs. A real fun area to ride.

We rent a couple campers for the weekend. Way easier then bringing up our stuff. Plus the heat works great and is included



We never seem to have time to ride on friday nights, but thats OK, plenty of preparations to be done, plenty of beer to be consumed, magaritas to make and plenty of Brauts to be eaten



Saturday morning gets there pretty early after a late night of farting around (love the brauts and beer mix now!) We make a quick breakfast and try to get going. Sheet, we dont hurry, lotta guys to get ready.







We finally get going, access to the trails is right out of the campground. Sweet



"Stay in control" ?? Like its that EASY ???!!!???



We got about an hour of riding in, and the first casultie was announced. One of the quads had a flat. We aired it up and sent him back to camp to get it fixed. Cell service is spotty, but he will find us later, we have maps and a planned route
( hint: I am the good looking guy in orange)



The trails over here are good. Some mountain side climbing, some open access roads, ( lots of snowmobile trails around here) some mud, some tight twin track with ruts and mud, good riding. I use to ride these trails on a quad. WOW. Its so different on the KLX.





We got some good trail riding in, I usually take point, as I have a GPS, a lot of maps, and photographic memory, plus, I just know where the heck I'm going. Never seem to be lost.



Another hour into it, another flat tire. GGGrrrrr. But at least this time we have a spare tube and irons ! Yea, ya can teach an old dog new. . . new. . . new things to remember to pack !!



So we get the 2nd flat dealt with, get some more trail riding in. Did I mention how good the trails are yet? Nothing to technical, but hey, the ATV's tackle some serious sheet out here, and ya gotta go, so I gotta went. I should have take more pictures, but I was pretty tuned into riding. We got to a gravel pit, and decided to cut loose and have some fun tearing it up.
No pictures of me here yet, still waiting for the other guys photos to appear. Of course until then, you have to belive me. Big air, huge jumps, all kinds of tricks. So many I cant name them, standing on the seat, flying upside down, all kinds of stuff that cant be held against me in a court of law !! J/K. I am not crazy.



The hill climbing is fun



Most of the time

 

We have a good time playing in the gravel pit. What a great way to blow off steam.
Of course its all fun and games



Till somebody breaks a hand. Then its hilarious !! NOT



He knew it was bad. Poor kid. No barkbusters on the CRF 250, wacked a tree in the brush around the pit. Not even a big tree, dont take much.

He could still ride a quad, So we decided to all wheel back to camp. Figured we could send him off to the hospital for an x-ray and splint. We turned it up for the ride back. Figured get him out, then head off in a different direction till dark



This guy followed us into camp, rut-roo



Deputy Dawg decided to hand out a few performance awards.



Well theres a buzz kill. At least we were able to confuse him a bit and get the kid with the broken hand and the hardened criminals out of there.
He was reasonable actually, and we encouraged hin to be lenient with us silly flatlanders who had never been to this here neck of the woods before here.

We got out without to many awards, and I think the 12pack of silver bullets we left in the back of his truck ("didnt wanna litter of course"), mighta help our case.
Nevertheless, it sucked

Danny wasnt to thrilled



Dave wasnt either



Joe wasnt either



But at least we could smile afterwards! (we had lots of beer waiting)



Evening rolled around and we had a new arrival, and one more still on the way, riding in on a bike, late, in 30 degree weather.



We didnt cover much ground today





This is the valley we were in



We rode in over Old Turk Mountain, the crossed the side of Dunham Mountain, and was down around Andover when we were in the gravel pit

Time to put the KLX away for the night, hide the camera, and find the beer



Ok so I didnt hide the camera until I had a few 'ritas.



Dam it was cold

Quick, wake me up before I fall asleep in front of the fire

 

Bro, That was Cool.
Thx For Sharing. Good Times

 

I'll get the rest up tommorrow

 

great times

 

AHHHH, i hate reading these. ok, maybe im just jelous, havent dont a trip in a few months. next month ill get my fix. good ride report by the way, sucks they all got tickets (did you and what they get them for, no spark arrestors?)

 

Sunday morning always arrives a bit to early for me, and it was cold out there. 30 degrees and a lite layer of frost. Bbrr. I dont mind cold, but when your camping, well. . . .



Lets fire up that coffe maker boys. MMmm, I LOVE strong coffee on a cold morning before a good day of riding



The KLX is looking a bit defenseless surounded by all the 4 wheelers. And thats one redneck looking rig there. 86 Honda 4 Trax, with a remte fuel tank and battery. Doesnt look like a safe place to me in the event of calamite, but I digress



Oh yea, yesterdays stats



Not many miles, not much actual moving time. Those broken hand situations have a way of slowing things down on ya

The rest of the guys on bikes decided to call it quits and head home. Andys broken hand was a real problem this morning, and the performance awards had discouraged some of them, so they decided to load up and go home.



I was suprised, the site was paid for, the food was here, the beer was cold. . . .

So we geared up and got moving without them scare-dee cats





I decided to ride sweep today, as we all know this trail real well. Its a real kick to ride. When you see the elevation map you will see how awesome the climb is on this mountain(whaleback mountain). What a warm up for the day. Its about a 3 mile run up, elevation climb of 1000 feet. Its steep. I should stop for a few pictures before we got to the top, but had no time, I was working. I have done this run on the ATV probably a dozen times, but this was only the second time on the KLX



Once you get up top its wet and rocky, lots of roots, and deep ruts. They were all pisin around in the log bogs, I motored around and took some pictures of them.



The descent is even more intense, looking at the GPS track, I would say its 1000 foot drop in 1.5 miles. Yea, thats steep, and rocky and lots of water runoffs. Way cool

After a few miles of twin track, it opens up to a back road, good gravel to turn it up a bit on. You need the rest after the previous few miles.



We stop less now, not as many riders, its easier, and a lot of fun. The weather cleared up, its sunny but cool, the foliage is beautiful, the company is great. Can you guess I am finally having fun !

The signage really helps. NOT



But its cool, I know this trail well. It has a real good rythym to it, some rugged twin track, some easy twin track, some real technical steep twin track, some open gravel road, some snowmobile trails, its fun



Sheet, I am in the minority today. The only guy on two wheels. Yesterday there was 7 of us


(Hint: I am the good looking guy in Orange next to the KLX)

This is where the trail came out.
I took a good Biff here, if my buddy gets his pictures up, I suspect there might be some evidence.



Its tricky in the logs, on the ATV you can just rip through them. I was trying on the KLX, but at one point the front tire came down and caught a few logs pointing off trail and took me for a ride. No harm, no foul.

We were having a great ride. Couldnt get any better
Then He ends up in a ditch. cant really remember why, but we laughed a lot while we dug him out. 6'6",260 lb on a little Honda TRX 250. A bit overmatched



Then it happens again



WTF is it with the flat tires. Aint no way we are seating the bead on the trail with a little 12volt pump and a can of Slime.



This is gonna ruin another day. Do you leave him near a road until we get back to the camp in a couple hours? Nah, the dude with the plates gets elected to go ahead and find a place to ditch him and the atv so we can go get a truck.

Its still a ways until we are near a recovery point, so we keep cruising. I am really feeling like I am getting my balance center on the KLX, some good powersliding on these trails really builds confidence.



Its at least 10 more miles till we can get to a safe drop place

 

This is my " sick of flat tires" look, recognize it from yesterday?



This sums it up. I hate when stuff like this happens. Seems like we have been bitten hard this year with tire/tube failures. Shheeesh



The trails do not disappoint me though, its great riding. Everything you can ask for. its so different for me still, all the years on the ATV in here, now I am on two wheels and really loving it



I think alot about whats better, the ATV or the KLX. Its a difficult choice. You can do a lot of things on the ATV that I am not willing/stupid enough to do on the KLX. Its a toss up. Next year I will do one tripwith the ATV, one with the KLX, maybe.

We got to the point we planned to drop the flat tired machine, and found an abandoned concrete pad about 80 feet in diameter. It was a great place to blow off some steam. Again not enough pictures without my buddys contributions



There really ripping in there, tire smoke and everything



Finally I head off to get the truck



The ride up the valley is beautiful today



Thats it for the day, only 32 miles



I still dont want to be done riding



But we need provisions for dinner, and the tequilla was running low



I went and picked up the wounded ATV, got some dinner stuff, and more beer
Then loaded up the KLX, weekend is almost over already. Dam it



Day two





Look at the climb right off the start, it was awesome

This is the topo of the area we were riding. Right at the top is where that first climb was, Whaleback mountain. GREAT STUFF



Kept the fire turned up, it was cold and damp in the valley







What a great place to nap




Monday rolls around way to early, and we have to load up



Sneak a peek behind the campground at the river



Wasnt sure if there was a smatster in the back?



It was a Great weekend even if we had tire troubles. 4 days away from the office, no cell phones. good riding, great freinds, great scenery. Yea, I cant wait to go again

 

Hell Ya Great Times!!!

 

What did you guys get the tickets for?