Newsletter0915 by Paul Kastle

The Rooster

September 2015

THE ROOSTER A monthly update from the Inland Empire Offroad Association

Whats New The summer is moving right along, but despite the heat it won’t be long until we are headed back to the dunes.

Flagstaff Cinders Trip Jim Kastle, the Fords, Walt, Ray, and Janice are planning a trip to explore the cinders in Flagstaff September 25-29. Read more on page 10.

Another RZR 1000 Mike Bacon found an interesting solution to a four seat RZR, he picked up a second 1000! Check it out on page 8.

Utah Wanderings Coral Pink 2015 by Mike Bacon & Paula Espolt! We have been excited about this trip since President’s Day when Walt sold us his spot in the group site. Not that we wouldn’t be going anyway, but this was my first ?me in the group site, and Paula’s first ?me at Coral Pink, so an?cipa?on was high. At the last minute circumstances allowed us to include Paula’s grandson, Mykel, in our trip so I had to make some very last minute prepara?ons to the RZR so he could ride with us. Everything was finished up on ?me and we pulled out early Tuesday morning headed for Mesquite. We enjoyed the pool for a while, then had a great dinner with the group at Pizza Hut. The next morning while geNng ready for the day I slipped and fell in the hotel room shower wedging myself between the wall and water spout. I had to pound on the wall to get Paula’s aOen?on and she had to come in and help me get out. I was sore and bruised, but no major injuries. I just hoped it wasn’t a sign of things to come! We had a great breakfast at the hotel café and PJ, Melissa, and Allie arrived as we were finishing up so it wasn’t long before we were off and headed for Coral Pink. As we proceeded through the Virgin River Gorge we no?ced a lot of clouds in the sky. I hoped that wasn’t a sign, but it turned out to be as once we arrived at the turnoff to Cane Beds Road it started to rain with lightning and thunder. Paula seemed a liOle nervous, but I chalked it up to her never being here before, plus she was hanging out the window taking pictures the whole ?me. More on that later.

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September 2015

Upcoming Events • September 18-20: Sand Sports Super Show at the Orange County Fairgrounds • September 25-29: pre-season trip to the Cinders in Flagstaff. • October 23-25: 4th annual Mona Bacon Memorial Spook Run and Hot Dog Wheenie Roast at Salton City. • October 30-November 1st: Halloween at Glamis

September, 2015 S

October, 2015 S

We arrived at the campground and unloaded the RZR, as we couldn’t do that once in the campsite. Paula used it to go use the bathroom, first ?me she had driven the RZR! Naturally the minute the radio crackled telling me I could come and get in the campsite the sky opened up with rain and the occasional lightning and thunder! I was soaked, but got everything in place and set up in about 30 minutes. By that ?me most everyone was set up so we all sat under the pa?o cover talking as the rain came and went. The lightning and thunder seemed to be geNng closer and with one big BOOM Paula announced she didn’t like lightning and thunder AT ALL and ran for the trailer! Mykel and I followed her in a few minutes later. While we were siNng in the trailer I would see the flash of lightning and tell her to hang on and a few seconds later the thunder would crack. She was doing OK un?l one ?me I saw the flash and before I could open my mouth a HUGE BOOM hit and rocked the trailer! It must have been right over our heads. She freaked out and Mykel and I had to sit next to her and hold her un?l she calmed down. I really felt for her, and we were lucky as the storm moved on preOy quickly. We got a good night’s rest and were up and ready to ride the next morning. Our first ride of the trip was to the dinosaur tracks. Lots of mud from the rains the day before, but we didn’t mind. Paula was very excited about the dinosaur tracks and ran all over taking pictures. We worked our way back to find the slot canyon at the south end of park. We found it all right, but a year of water flow had taken its toll. We couldn’t get back in to our normal spot, and when Jim and I walked back in we found the slot canyon was blocked by a large rock and there was a tree that had fallen down over the canyon. Too bad, it was always one of my favorite spots, but Mother Nature likes to keep things changing. That a_ernoon in camp we heard a lot of yelling coming from the pa?o cover area. At first I thought someone was having a very loud argument, then I found I was right! Kris, Doug, Don, and Shirley were playing a 2

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September 2015

game of Mexican Train dominos and boy was the trash talking in full swing!

The next morning we decided to go up on the mountain above the dunes. We had discovered this trail two years ago and it leads to Shirley’s Drop Off, a nice waterfall (when there’s water). PJ and I had both been studying Google Earth and we found an offshoot of the original trail that lead to another scenic overlook. We also found the trail on the map. PJ rode with Jim that day, so a_er stopping to oversee the dunes we headed for the new trail. It was worth it! Very beau?ful overlook, and as a bonus we could see parts of Shirley’s Drop Off canyon from the road in. We then con?nued on to Shirley’s Drop Off where she demonstrated her fearlessness by going out and siNng right on the edge! Don was not happy! We were standing back, about 30 feet from the edge, when Mykel started hiNng the ground with his hand. It had a funny sound to it so Shirley started hiNng it too. It sounded hollow. We all decided maybe we should back up a liOle more before the en?re edge broke off and fell in to the canyon! Once back in camp a bunch of us went in to town for lunch. On the way back Paula, Mykel and I visited the Moqui Cave and enjoyed the displays.

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September 2015

The next day we woke up to a thunder storm. It blew through before breakfast though and we had our ﬁrst freezer bag omelet breakfast at Coral Pink. It was a hit for those who had never had them before. We looked over the map again and decided to try a trail to The Barracks. We didn’t know what that was, but it looked interes?ng. This trail took us out to an overlook of Rock 4

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September 2015

Canyon where we could see the river ﬂowing through. Very scenic and a fun ride. Once back at camp I went for a dune ride with Jim, PJ, and Don while Paula relaxed in camp.

Don & Shirley weren’t feeling well the next day so they kindly oﬀered their RZR to PJ and Allie. We rode up through the dunes to The Meadow, where we crossed the highway and con?nued on in to the outback. We eventually turned south and found a great trail that allowed us a number of great views of Rock Canyon. We eventually came back out to the valley and went over to the Beehive where we took a break. Allie and Mykel really enjoyed playing on the Beehive structures. We then headed back to camp arriving on the south end of the park having made a big loop of the area.

! We decided to skip riding the next day and go to Bryce Canyon. Paula had never been there and was anxious to see it. We hit all the turnouts and took lots of pictures. We saw a couple of antelope, and a deer, and some wild turkey on the way back. We got back to camp to ﬁnd Walt had arrived.

The Rooster

September 2015

The next day we decided on a long ride up through Rock Canyon to Mt. Carmel Junc?on for lunch. The rangers had said this was an interes?ng ride, and they were right! We drove about 45 minutes across the valley which is a nice ride, but not outstanding on the scenic side. I was beginning to wonder how we were going to get over the mountains to Mt. Carmel when we started descending in to the canyon. We arrived at our first water crossing and took a break. While there we heard some voices and an engine coming our way. It turned out to be a back country tour guide and his people in a four seat Ranger and a Can Am. We talked for a couple minutes then they proceeded up the trail. We con?nued on through an absolutely gorgeous canyon crossing the river mul?ple ?mes un?l we came across some kind of forestry training camp. Very nice place, plus the road in was manicured nicely. We followed the road out un?l we hit Hwy 89, then crossing the river again, paralleled the road to the Thunderbird Restaurant where we had lunch. We had to skirt the golf course to get to the restaurant, actually driving on the edge of the golf course, and all I could think about was coming all this way to get hit by a golf ball! We had lunch and received a 10% discount for being in off road vehicles, another useful ?p from the rangers! A_er lunch we decided to try a different route back to camp and the trusty map came in handy again. We followed trails that paralleled

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September 2015

Hwy 89 back down to where it met with Hancock Road. I wanted to do some quick exploring for a future ride so we followed a trail that led is to a place we could cross Hwy 89 to access some other areas. Once we knew we could cross the hwy we turned around and headed back to camp. We all took off the next morning to the Thunderbird for breakfast where Shirley won the last-‐to-‐be-‐served pool. $13! Wow! Once back at camp we stayed a liOle closer to home by riding up through the dunes and down the sand canyon. Did a liOle exploring around the lower corral then back to camp. We just sort of vegged in the a_ernoon. It appeared to be the hoOest day of the trip, but that may just have been due to not having the wind in our faces for miles at a ?me! The last riding day of the trip was to be our longest, but not before more freezer bag omelets. We went north through the dunes to the upper corral then out to cross Hancock Road and work our way over to Hwy 89 where we crossed to the Peek-‐A-‐ Boo Canyon kiosk. This was another sugges?on from the Rangers, and they had told me of a couple of slot canyons back off Peek-‐A-‐Boo Canyon. A_er a break we proceeded in. We followed a very sandy road un?l it broke off in to a wash, then followed that as it became a red rock canyon. We came around a corner and were stopped by a rock wall with a slot canyon in it! It was beau?ful! We spent a lot of ?me exploring the canyon and taking pictures. We then had a map reading session and decided to find our way back up to Mt. Carmel Junc?on to take Don & Shirley through Rock Canyon to make our way back to camp through the canyon and valley. While at Mt. Carmel Junc?on we visited the Thunderbird again where Jim twisted my arm behind my back and made me eat a piece of apple pie, WITH ICE CREAM for lunch! You’ve got to watch that guy! We got our off road vehicle 10% discount too! We then con?nued on through the canyon and eventually made it back to camp, taking the last couple of miles on the paved road because we were so ?red. In the end it was over 70 miles of sheer beauty!

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September 2015

The next day we awoke, had a light breakfast and started packing up. We le_ about 10am for Mesquite, but not before I went in and thanked the rangers for all their sugges?ons. Every place they suggested worked out perfectly! We arrived in Mesquite, a_er fixing Walt’s blown ?re in St. George, and went down to enjoy the pool for a while. Back at the room Paula turned on the TV to find there was a huge fire on the Cajon Pass, and it was headed right for her house in Phelan. We didn’t know if we could get home or not. We went and had a great dinner with everyone, and got up early in the morning to head out. As it turned out the pass was open and we only had a short bit of traffic, and the fire didn’t get to Paula’s house so it all worked out. We had an absolutely wonderful ?me! Great friends, great riding, and great weather, what more could you ask for. We are ready to go back right now!

Mike’s Latest RZR

Apparently a few weeks after Coral Pink Paula left Mike unattended for a weekend and this followed him home. It is a 2015 RZR 1000 with only 500 hours on it. (That’s just a couple of rides for Mike, so it is like new!) It also has some fun goodies like an LED light bar and a bluetooth stereo. The coolest thing about it is that it will be a second RZR for Mike and Paula, showing just how much Mike didn’t want a single four seat RZR. Mike has already taken it out for some trail riding. Look for details of its maiden voyage in next month’s newsletter.

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September 2015

We will try for a unique course this year covering many areas we have never been to before. It will be fun and challenging! Prizes will be awarded to the best, and worst poker hands, as well as many others! We have many unique, interesting prizes! We are going back to awarded prizes, however prize donations are very welcome! Saturday night will be a pot-luck Hot Dog Wheenie Roast. Hot Dogs and Buns will be supplied. Please bring your favorite side dishes to share! Salton City Golf Course is located approximately 1 mile west of Hwy 86 off the Borrego Salton Seaway/ Hwy S-22. From Hwy 86 turn west on to Borrego Salton Seaway/S-22 at the AM-PM Truck Stop. Go approximately 1 mile to Sunrise Drive and turn Left. Follow Sunrise Drive 1/2 mile to the end and turn right on Saundra St. Follow Saundra St. 1/4 mile to Desiree St and turn Right. Go 100 yards on Desiree St to Laura St and turn Left. Follow Laura St down the hill about 1/4 mile to the end. At the turn continue going straight up on to the dirt. Camp will be straight ahead about 50 yards, next to the trees. For you GPS freaks, the coordinates are: 33 15.942’ N—115 59.371’ W. People will start arriving on Friday morning. Hope to see you there! Any questions please call Mike Bacon at 951-315-7351.

The Rooster

September 2015

Cinders OHV area Flagstaff, Arizona Trip Preview by Jim Kastle! We have a trip here planned for the weekend of September 25-29th, so plan on coming out for some unique riding and nice weather and scenery. P.J. and I were there about 20 years ago with the sandrails. We had a good time, but didn’t go back. Those cinders, small bits of volcanic rock, were hard on paddles and paint. Nancy and I recently stopped by while on a road trip through northern Arizona and I think it would be great for RZRs. A lot of trails, camping in the pines in what the Forrest Service calls “dispersed camping,” much like we do at Glamis. No campgrounds or facilities, and NO FEES. It is about 7000 feet in elevation, so it should be quite cool, maybe cold, in September. We’ll camp about 20 miles from Downtown Flagstaﬀ. Flagstaﬀ has all the conveniences of any modern city. Lots of restaurants, shopping, tourist traps, just about any thing you’d want on a vacation. #

Our trip will be an experiment, but I’m pretty confident we’ll have a good time. Some of the terrain has been described as diﬃcult, and both P.J. and I recall going down hills we thought we couldn’t climb, but we obviously found a way back. I think 4 wheel low in the RZR’s will climb just about anything we find.# A Google search will turn up lots of info. A couple of sites I found:#

http://www.duneguide.com/sand_dune_guide_cinder_hills.htm http://www.riderplanet-usa.com/atv/trails/info/arizona_09581/ride_4b82.htm

This month we’d like to thank Mike Bacon and Jim Kastle for writing articles. It is a lot of fun to read about fun trips, especially from diﬀerent perspectives. We’re looking forward to hearing what everyone is up to so we’ll have interesting content for the newsletter all year long. Have a great rest of your summer, and the sand season will be here before you know it. -Paul, Melissa, and Allie.