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Rock Springs June '05 http://pilotodyssey.com/PO/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1429 |
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Author: | Drakman [ Wed Jun 22, 2005 7:36 pm ] | |||||||||||||
Post subject: | Rock Springs June '05 | |||||||||||||
I just got finished unloading from the big trip to Wyoming. For those of you who have never been there, it is huge and deserted!! Over 10,000 acres to ride. There is lots of wildlife, a fair amount of cattle and horses and nearly no people. I think we passed more gas/oil wells on the dunes than people. The parking/camping area is about the size of a small shopping center, and at the maximum sunday afternoon, there were just over a dozen tow vehicles and a couple cars. I would say that the human count never got near a hundred, maybe half that, and only for a few hours on sunday. Other than that afternoon, I don't think there were a dozen people there. The only facilities are an outhouse and a dumpster, it is about 30 miles north of Rock Springs. The riding was fantastic, lots of easy dunes, some very difficult dunes, open flats, water, hills, and mountain trails. Daily highs were in the low 80's and the nights got down in the high 50's. No rain, we had wind off and on, but it is hard to complain about that when it is the wind that makes the dunes. The only problems I had were a sticky clutch that needed swapped out, and once I tried to drown myself, caught a wheel when racing around one of the small ponds and drowned the Engine. Fortunately Hoser had a slick little bottle, that he uses as a primer, that he used to suck the water out of the fuel injector. Lucky for me, there was no real damage.
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Author: | hoser [ Thu Jun 23, 2005 8:38 am ] | ||
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Here is a screen capture of the GPS track map, the areas we covered make the ride area 8.5 miles wide and over 3 miles deep?
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Author: | hoser [ Thu Jun 23, 2005 2:00 pm ] | |||
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Thursday we went to rock springs, its a long drive up a dirt/gravel road you will want to give the guy in front of you a mile or two head start so you don't eat dust for 22 miles, looks like this road could be nasty after a big rain, there are plenty bumps, ripples and washboards if you make the trip I would plan on driving the 22 miles at 15-20 mph in case it was real rough we got lucky and it was pretty smooth I drove 55 mph+ most of the way, I suggest you stop after the first 5 miles and check your load to see what has fell over, shifted or bounced off your trailer or inside your RV.
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Author: | hoser [ Thu Jun 23, 2005 2:02 pm ] | |||||
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Sign you see as you turn onto the dirt road.
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Author: | hoser [ Thu Jun 23, 2005 2:13 pm ] | ||
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Some of the sand you see as you pull into the parking area
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Author: | hoser [ Thu Jun 23, 2005 2:14 pm ] | ||
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One of the many oil wells and pumping houses you will find.
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Author: | hoser [ Thu Jun 23, 2005 2:14 pm ] | |||
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A few signs you see as you enter the parking area.
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Author: | hoser [ Thu Jun 23, 2005 2:18 pm ] | ||
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Jerry parking the rig
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Author: | hoser [ Thu Jun 23, 2005 2:20 pm ] | ||||||
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Here are some pics on the dunes
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Author: | hoser [ Thu Jun 23, 2005 2:21 pm ] |
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Killpecker is HUGE at least 8 miles wide ? the sign says only 10500 acres? we only seen a few small areas with whoops and they were the trails that go from the dunes to the parking area there is plenty of access routs so you can avoid the whoops and consider the whole area whoop free, bring plenty of everything its 30 miles back to town, they only have one outhouse NO WATER NO POWER NO PHONE,NO FOOD you get hurt here kiss that first golden hour away you will spend that getting off the dunes and on your way to town. If you own a RV bring it you don't want to tent or truck camp, bring it with empty holding tanks and all the water you can haul, you might consider filling up 20 or so gallon jugs and bringing them along just in case you stay longer than planned or need an extra shower you can get a 20-50 gallon fresh water tank at camping world.I am thinking of bringing a plastic 55 gallon drum I have then fill it at a gas station in rock springs so only have to haul the weight 30 miles or so and will have plenty of extra water for my rig. It was hot and dry when we went I would figure on a gallon water per person per day for drinking water heck bring more of everything you can always take left overs home. The sand sucks up the gas bring more than you have taken to places like little Sahara don't forget extra gas for a generator or some for your buddys generator if your tapping into his power supply again the place is primitive! If you have a generator bring it in case someone else breaks down, if your is LOUD most are unless you spend the big bux bring some extra cords so you can locate it away from camp, also bring 3 way adapters so you can plug more stuff in. When we were there Wednesday the winds were moderate and we got a few showers, its cool being in big sky country you can see rain coming miles away and have plenty of time to cover things up, after the rain it dries up quick and your riding again, thu the winds were real strong, the sand blasting type, sux to be a tent camper... plan on sand in everything and places you don't want, I duct taped my exhaust and check in the air box for accumulation. The elevation is 7100 to 7800' if you ride at 500' to 1500' most of the time like I do plan on re-jetting you will be FAT my seat of the pants guess is plan on dropping the pilot and main jet 1 size if your Engine is real FAT you might have to go 2-3 sizes smaller, this is just a guess you wont know for sure until you get there and do a plug chop, you can also use the owners manual jetting info as a guide as to what you might need for extra jets. I noticed quite a bit of power loss from the elevation change seat of the pants guess is 10-15% power loss, bottom end and throttle response was FLAT and WEAK once rolling look out that 440 pulls like a freight train up them dunes but I think I will have a spare head rechambered for 8000' my Engine ran great on 85 octane at 8000' and the stock head, TURBO Jerry and his TURBO GEO Engine didnt seem to mind the extra elevation. The sand has dry soft spots the first time you hit one you will think there is something wrong like you lost power or threw out the anchor or something, its a strange feeling, I thought oh shit the first time it happen to me the soft spots seem random too its not like the ones you normally see on the back side of a dune you find them on the front sides, when your riding if you watch the front tire you will see it normally riding on top of the sand then when you hit one of these you look and your front tires are plowing a rut 4-6"deep the stuff is a great brake just let off the gas Out on the dunes you see all kinds of small diameter pipe lines and what looks like pumping stations be smart stay away form them they are privately owned, you would not want someone going inside your rig while your out riding would you? On Sunday we counted about 13 tow rigs with bikes quads etc. the place does not get crowded each day we would see a few day riders come and go, unload ride a while then pack up and leave. GPS make sure to take a GPS if you have with extra batterys. Plan on staying at least 7 days I feel like we missed something. This place is clean I only seen one bottle the whole time It was there nice to see there was only one jackass that felt the need to bring glass to a riding area then just throw it on the ground, I walked our camping area over a few times before we left to ensure we didnt leave anything behind I did this because at Little Sahara the camp sites look like the city dump littered with stuff like bad spark plugs and thousands of used ty-wraps duct tape, cans candy wrappers of every kind etc. they have a trash trailer by the one and only out house we made sure to use it we also hauled a few bags of trash back to town with us since the trash trailer was getting full, I dumped my bags at the first gas station I filled up at or was it the first rest area? Killpecker dunes is a great place to ride, its my NEW summer riding area to ride when it is too HOT to ride any place else its quite a drive but IMO well worth the trip and the time, the next trip there I will schedule more time into the trip so I can check out Little Sahara in Utah its only another 400 miles to get there... |
Author: | hoser [ Fri Jun 24, 2005 5:53 am ] | ||
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Here is a boundry marker we found at the far west end by the power lines, its the wildlife study area.
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Author: | hoser [ Fri Jun 24, 2005 5:54 am ] | ||
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This is what the open riding area signs look like.
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Author: | hoser [ Fri Jun 24, 2005 6:02 am ] | |||
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Here is the sign in front of the house, why is there always some jackass with a gun shooting a sign? is it out of flustration of not being able to hit game? no doubt he is the envy of all his friends taking down that big sign like elmer fud , hard telling how many other signs he has bagged, wonder how many got away? You think he is the first to bitch about gun and ammo laws? I wonder what he would say if I came to his house with my guns and shot his welcome mat to show him how powerful my gun is LMAO
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Author: | hoser [ Fri Jun 24, 2005 6:12 am ] | ||
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If you ride the dunes all the way to the north west you will find a trail that goes up the big hill (7700') there once to the top you will see in the distance MORE SAND (white arrows) about as far as the eye can see, this will be explored on the quads next trip..
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Author: | hoser [ Fri Jun 24, 2005 6:21 am ] | ||
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The next series of pictures was taken from the higest point on the dunes 7800'on the east end looking west and south towards the camp grounds 7100 feet in the distance.
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Author: | hoser [ Fri Jun 24, 2005 6:21 am ] | |||||||
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More
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Author: | PilotNut [ Fri Jun 24, 2005 10:13 am ] |
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That looks like a saaaaweet place to ride. By the way, what was the story with those bones you found in the sand? I din't quite understand the implications of it being a coyote versus a wolf?? |
Author: | Drakman [ Fri Jun 24, 2005 11:14 am ] |
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PilotNut wrote: That looks like a saaaaweet place to ride. By the way, what was the story with those bones you found in the sand? I din't quite understand the implications of it being a coyote versus a wolf??
Coyotes in the part of the country are a dime a dozen, and it is common to find one that has been killed by a rancher, hunter, etc.. However, the wolves were transplanted from way up north, Yukon/Canada to Yellowstone National Park which is only a couple hundred miles north of Rock Springs a few years ago. Now, the wolves have already migrated to well south of this area. Being a protected species, had this been a wolf, the sheriff said the fed's would have to be contacted. They would then proceed to close the area while they did an investigation into the death of the wolf. This was a pretty large animal, I've seen many coyotes, and this seemed bigger. In the back of my mind, I kinda wondered if this was something that the sheriff just wanted to "sweep under the rug" so he wouldn't have to deal with the fed's. The other thing that didn't add in my mind, was that it seemed to have been hidden in the dunes. The sheriff thought that it had been wrapped in the blanket and plastic bag. It would appear that someone had dumped it out there, as this was a mile or so into the dunes. I don't know of any reason that someone would hide a coyote. When Hoser first spotted this, seeing the blanket, etc., we were concerned that maybe it had been a rider/hiker who had been out on the dunes with his dog and had perished. Since there were no active missing person's reports, the sherrif said he had no interest in digging around to see if there was more to it than what was on the surface. The whole thing was just kinda weird, didn't seem to add up. If a person is into conspiracy, you could come up with all sorts of ideas. |
Author: | PilotNut [ Fri Jun 24, 2005 12:04 pm ] |
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Interesting stuff - thanks for clarifying. |
Author: | Turbotexas [ Wed Sep 26, 2007 1:21 am ] |
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hoser wrote: Here is a screen capture of the GPS track map, the areas we covered make the ride area
8.5 miles wide and over 3 miles deep? What kind of GPS are you using here??? I want one that I can attach to the top of the steering wheel, for visability... |
Author: | hoser [ Wed Sep 26, 2007 6:26 am ] |
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Turbotexas wrote: hoser wrote: Here is a screen capture of the GPS track map, the areas we covered make the ride area 8.5 miles wide and over 3 miles deep? What kind of GPS are you using here??? I want one that I can attach to the top of the steering wheel, for visability... That capture was off the computer screen not the GPS itself but I was using a Magellan GPS, go to a store and look them over find something you like then post the model number here I am sure guys like Massody can help guide you. |
Author: | Turbotexas [ Wed Sep 26, 2007 4:27 pm ] |
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I'm looking at this one... http://www.loves.com/Default.aspx?tabid=62 it's on a flyer... I just don't like the display of the streets??? and wonder how the offroad map would appear??? I like the fact that yours downloads to pc!!! for trip reports!!! |
Author: | Turbotexas [ Wed Sep 26, 2007 5:37 pm ] |
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http://www.lowrance.com/Products/Automo ... ja540c.asp What I want in a smaller package... So I can mount on TOP of my steering wheel... |
Author: | hoser [ Wed Sep 26, 2007 5:52 pm ] |
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Turbotexas wrote: http://www.lowrance.com/Products/Automotive/GMBaja540c.asp
What I want in a smaller package... So I can mount on TOP of my steering wheel... Mine is a hand held GPS |
Author: | Turbotexas [ Wed Sep 26, 2007 10:59 pm ] |
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The one I have now is also a hand held... I have it mounted on the long center panel of the steering wheel, and with the my neck brace it is to hard to see, with out stopping... I am thinking a 3.5 inch screen would be way better...at least for an old guy like me... |
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