The Desert Experience

THE DESERT EXPERIENCE

IF KIT CARSON HAD BEEN BORN 150 YEARS LATER, HE surely would have ridden off-road bikes in the vast deserts of America’s West. How else would he have helped satisfy his need to roam freely over wild, unpopulated country.

California alone has over 12 million acres of public desert land. And with the exception of a few regions that have been designated wilderness areas in which any type of motorized vehicle is prohibited, the deserts are an offroad explorer’s paradise. Large chunks of land are considered “open areas’’ where off-roaders can ride virtually in any direction until they either tire of it or run low on gasoline.

To the uninitiated, the idea of blasting across what appears to be a flat, smooth nothingness of desert may not sound like much fun. But despite popular belief, the deserts aren’t flat, and smooth areas are rare. Most of America’s deserts contain every imaginable type of terrain: rocky or sandy trails, old mining roads, sandwashes, steep mountain climbs, breathtaking rocky downhills, lava flows, and perhaps the most fun of all, blow-sand hills.

When straying from the “open areas,’’ a rider has to use more restraint: The largest portion of the desert’s public land restricts travel to riding on existing roads and trails because of sensitive soils, unique historical value, precious resources or exceptional natural beauty. Even so, this

Riding the Last Frontier

RON GRIEWE

THE DESERT EXPERIENCE

poses no real problem; the desert can still can be fully enjoyed on a motorcycle. There are thousands of miles of legal, unimproved desert trails and dirt roads that twist their way across beautiful, huge, desert valleys, wind over ancient rock mountain ranges and across eerie dry lakebeds, some as large as a medium-size city.

If this isn’t enough to whet any off-road rider’s appetite, think about nosing around some abandoned mining operation or ghost town that the desert is slowly reclaiming. There are hundreds of such long-forgotten towns and mines in the deserts.

Early spring—particularly April or May—is an especially neat time to explore the desert. The normally dry, drabcolored landscape explodes into a sea of red, blue, yellow, white and gold as the wildflowers make their brief appearances after the winter rains and snows.

Experienced desert riders who, perhaps having a little of Kit Carson’s wandering blood throbbing in their veins, might want to tackle a multi-day loop through the desert.

Naturally, the guide for such a group must be a thoroughly experienced desert rider with a good sense of direction, and he will need an assortment of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) maps for directional assistance and legality of riding areas. Such an excursion also requires a fourwheel-drive back-up vehicle to carry water, food, camping gear and gasoline. And the four-wheel-drive also can provide a way out should a rider get hurt or a bike suffer a terminal breakdown.

Leaving the comfort, convenience and security of home and city to ride a motorcycle in the desert, an area that appears to be an inhospitable wasteland when viewed from most paved roads that cross through it, may not make much sense to your family and friends. But the desert rider knows the truth: The really beautiful sections of desert

can’t be seen from the paved roads.

And then there is the absolute quiet of the desert; there’s the black night sky with a million twinkling stars unobstructed by city lights and smog; the camaraderie on the trail and around the campfire; the unforgettable feeling of freedom that only the desert offers; the total lack of the stress and pressure that’s a normal part of city living.

Without question, deserts are among the most magnificent places on Earth if the traveler takes the time to explore and understand it. And riding through areas with vivid names like Painted Rock Wash, Old Woman Mountains, Hole in the Wall, Scanion Gulch, Rattlesnake Canyon, Skeleton Pass, Wild Horse Mesa, Fort Piute, Camp Cady and Stagecoach Spring, the modern-day motorcycle explorer can almost believe he is KitCarson. ga