Once upon a time there was this Dirt Bike rider who due to circumstances beyond his control found his trusty steeds saddened and neglected collecting dust and rust for three weeks. This was cruel and unusual punishment for both the steeds and their throttle jockey. Feeling caged and thirsting for the freedom, which could only be found on two wheels with an internal combustion engine between his legs. The jockey longed for the feel of acceleration brought on by a twist of his right wrist. The smell of sage and dust and the feeling of perfect balance as bike and rider become one twisting through a winding trail at the bottom of a long ravine. When this throttle jockey could no longer live with himself because of the neglect his mounts were suffering. When he could no longer endure the withdrawals of rider deprivation. In desperation he posted a thread on ThumperTalk seeking fellow riders suffering the same withdrawal symptoms.

Yes, it was December and the weather had turned cold. Snows had only one week earlier painted the country side white. But a warm wind had melted the snows and brought clear skies. He leaped by an act of faith seeking fellow riders to meet him in the cold deserts of Eastern Washington on Saturday, 12/8/2007. Four brave riders answered his desperate post. Two from Seattle 525Rider (Frank) and the_eel (Eric). And two from the TriCities Rick525 (Rick) and Craig. Frank is riding a YZF450 these days and Eric was on a GasGas 250. Rick was riding a KTM 525EXC and Craig was on a Honda CRF450. I was riding my KTM 525EXC.

The weather predictions for Saturday were cold with clear skies. When I woke up Saturday morning the skies were blue and it was hovering right around 29 degrees in Quincy. It was absolutely beautiful out.

I pulled into the staging area right behind Frank and Eric who had carpooled from Seattle. Before long Rick showed up and said that Craig was on route and should be there soon. We talked, started our bikes and put on our riding gear as we waited for Craig. It was now about 10:45. The temperatures in Mattawa were slightly warmer than in Quincy being in the 30's. By the end of the day it would get a bit over 40 degrees out. In the morning hours there was a bit of a wind, which could chill your bones if you stayed still too long.

Here is my bike off the truck while I am finishing getting my gear on:


Ricks truck and bike:


Eric standing next to the truck that he and Frank pooled in:


And here is Frank warming up before the ride:


Craig finally showed up and Frank, Eric and I took off to ride the farthest east ravine to warm up. Rick stayed with Craig while he finished putting his gear on. Rick and Craig have ridden the area before and knew exactly, which ravine we were heading to. Frank, Eric and myself had finished riding up the ravine and were heading back down it to meet up with Rick and Craig. We didn't even get half way down and we ran into them coming up so we all rode back up the ravine and stopped at the top for guy talk.

We then headed cross country through the sage to ride through the deep ruts caused by flash flooding last year. These are cool ruts which are taller than the bikes in some spots and barely wide enough for your handlebars to clear in places. From here we rode cross country to the cabin.





Now part of the reason we love riding so much is because you can get away from the rat race. Freedom in the wide open spaces. No waiting at a red light hoping that traffic gets moving fast enough for you to make it through when it turns green. Not having to deal with the crowds pressing in on you. Not having to wait in long line at the grocery store. You think you have escaped all this and then what happens?

Lines, long lines and hoping you can hold it with out wetting your self. Hey buddy hurry up in there! Your not the only person here you know! Hurry it up!
:banghead:


After dealing with the pressures that nature forced upon us we headed up to the towers to look down on the Beverly Dunes. What a beautiful day. Too bad that so many of our biker brothers and sisters are stuck at home in front of the boob tube. We really feel sorry for them - not! :excuseme:





From the Tower Look Out we rode cross country over to the most western ravine. I suggested that we ride down this ravine first since it sometimes ices up on the rock formations at the bottom making them impassable when trying to ride up them. As it turned out there was only a small amount of ice which didn't slow us down at all. Once we rode it to the bottom the plan was to ride the ravine back up. But before we did the guys wanted to do some hill climbing.

Here are the guys waiting to ride back up the ravine after they had climbed the hill right behind them. The second picture is of Frank coming back down.


http://oldmantime.sm...230688738-L.jpg

I told the guys to give me a bit of a head start so I could position myself somewhere up the ravine and take some pictures of them:

Frank was the first and he bobbled it on a step up and killed his bike. Most likely the only mistake he made all day long. But I was there with my camera to catch the action:
http://oldmantime.sm...230689281-L.jpg
http://oldmantime.sm...230689627-L.jpg
No Frank there is nothing wrong with the bike :bonk: :
http://oldmantime.sm...230689990-L.jpg
Wait a minute, what this? Traffic? Someone honking there horn behind you. I thought we got away from all that.
http://oldmantime.sm...230690341-L.jpg

Now it is Craigs turn:


Careful Rick:


Bye guys, hey wait for me:


We eventually looped back to the trucks and ate a snake before going out for a second loop. When we arrived back at the truck we had 17 miles into the ride. At the end of the day we had done 39 miles of riding. We rode through four different ravines full of great technical rock formations. We chased each other around cross country dipping down into small ravines and blasting across the sage making our own trails. We never rode down to the sand dunes so there was more to do.

On a side note. Many of you may remember that last year I lost my camera at Mattawa about this same time. I had put it on the roof of my truck and drove off. A fellow named Paul found it and posted on TT that he had found a camera at Mattawa. I called him and described my camera and he told me that was the one he found. Well he was there when we came in from the first half of the ride. He and a friend of his were getting ready to put in some practice time since he is about to head on down to Baja. He is the one holding the CRF450X up in the picture. You can't see his face:


One of these days I am going to photo document all of the fun technical stuff at Mattawa. I really didn't take many pictures of what we did this time. I sure had a good time and I hope everyone else enjoyed the ride too. :thumbsup:

Wow sounds like you guys had a nice time there.:ride:
And snake for lunch, that is hardcore :crazy:






:busted:

old-school said:

Yep, thats what happens when you haven't ridden for 3 weeks. You turn into a carnivorous animal. It slithered down nicely.

My New Year's resolution for '08 - Work 1 or 2 less weekends so I can go on one of OMT's killer rides. Sure looked like fun guys.

I wish I could have made it, I went to Othello and picked up my bike but was running to late to meet up with you guys, so I headed to the Dunes in Mosses Lake, and while slowing down to make the turn off highway 17, BOOM! Hit from the rear by a car full of Russians, our truck spun across the highway, there car was totaled and we got whiplash, Bikes were ok. Truck was not, but still drivable. Wish I could have made it, maybe next time.

Navy509 said:

Wow, Hot Off The Press - Rider Down - Russians Pull Sneak Attack
So the cold war never really ended. Suicide car attack. Wow, glad every one survived but sorry to hear about the whip lash. I was out of work for 3 weeks due to whip lash from a rear end job back in the 70s. Hit from behind by my brother in law who was day dreaming when I stopped for the stop sign and he did not. :bonk:

You guys :lol:

Nice story line :applause:

Sweet ride report OMT!

I knew there was something fun up on Saddle Mtn. I have looked at that hill countless times when I did the trek back and forth across Highway 26 to Pullman.

Looks like a great place!

Snake? sounds like it would be chewy!

Looks like a fun ride, the scenery is GREAT

WOW! Great ride!



You always have the best ride reports.

Wow. Wish we could have been there. We rode Walker and everything was icy. That dry ground (with plenty of traction) looks worth the extra miles to get there. Nice report old man time.

Bill

Was up there Sunday. Great riding. Snow at first then was nice for the rest of the day.

Old_Man_Time said:

Well done biker brother. I too have been hearing the cry of my Bella. But company's coming for the holidays and I've been working a lot of 13 hour days . So there's no time to ride. Hopefully we'll get to go this coming weekend if the weather holds. We haven't ridden since our Thanksgiving weekend trip to Moab.:cry:

were is the cabin? I have never seen it all the times I have been there?

hallasstrom said:

I love this question:busted:

TONY

hayshaker said:

I was there yesterday in the fog and asked myself the same question.:excuseme:

taneum jct said:

Did you look for the yellow brick road? The cabin can only be found after you cross over into OZ. :prof:

Maybe you should seek the Tin Man as a guide.

Old_Man_Time said:

Kind of like the Island of Midas....

I will find it during my winter break, thats for sure

Another great ride report. Thanks Nick!