Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Attempt to reach Mineral Basin

I have heard that you can ride from Tibble Fork in American Fork Canyon all the way to Mineral Basin that is part of Snowbird ski resort.  I hear you can ride right up to the bottom of the ski lifts.  Last year my brother and I rode up towards that direction, but went off on a side road and never made it.  So we decided to try again.  This time I looked it up on Google Maps and then routed the trip on my new GPS app on my iphone.  I recently downloaded the TomTom app and so far it has worked really well.
A couple of weeks ago when we went riding, my brother broke his pedal off his bike.  He was kick starting it and it snapped right off.  Luckly his father in law was able to help him weld it back on.  Here is he is installing his pedal before our ride.


 Right by the entrace to American Fork canyon we looked off to our left and we saw a Ram and some other mountain Sheep.  I tried to snap a picture real fast as it was starting to run away.  It was pretty cool to see so close to the city.

Hopefully in the next couple of years I will get a truck.  But for now this is how we carry the bikes around.  Luckily the bikes and the trailer aren't that heavy.  Hopefully it isn't hurting the transmission too bad.

When we were unloading and getting the bikes ready, a guy pulled up and got his 4-wheeler out.  He came over to us and was talking to us for a minute.  He asked where we were headed and asked if he might tag along for awhile.  We agreed and he ended up riding with us all day.

We started up the trail about 8:45 and it was really cold.  I guess it is October.  We just kept hoping the sun would come up soon.  The trail also was pretty rocky.  Some parts were smooth and enjoyable but a large portion were just rocks. 

The route from Tibble Fork to Mineral Basin on the GPS said it was 9 miles.  The first 4 miles or so are somewhat rocky.  Also it was freezing cold so we did have to stop a few times.  When we got within 2.5 miles from Mineral Basin we came to this.  Huge rocks.  We probably could have made it but I really wasn't in the mood.  So we decided to head back and go the direction it was pointing to Midway.


Going towards Midway was a great idea.  This section of the trail from here to Pole Line pass was incredible.  It was really smooth with some great hills and curves.  We went up it pretty fast.

We didn't quite make it to Midway as we had to get back.  But it was a fun ride.  By the time we got back to the car our hands were hurting really bad because of all the rocks.  It was a fun ride though.  I'm glad we got to go.  I think in all we did about 30 miles.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Reason for Starting Blog

I have always been interested in motorcycles. Two years ago I finally bought my first dirt bike. It has been a lot of fun going riding, and I have been able to see some amazing things. I have always wanted a street motorycle and recently discovered adventure touring. This combines motorcycle road trips with off road riding as well. I found a website, advrider.com where people can post ride reports of their trips. I have been very fascinated by the reports and the images of the places they have gone. Some day, hopefully sooner than later, I will get a dual purpose motorcycle to start participating in these adventures.

I plan to use this blog to post my ride reports as well as any other outdoor adventure that I do. I'm sure this will include a variety of activites. I am excited to see where life will take me.