Laughlin 2003
By Lee Rogers
Participants: Ron Ihrke (520 KTM), Jim Jean (XR600), Paul Rini (XR600),
Ray Babish (WR426), Dennis Ladner (XR650), Frank Bock (DRZ400E), Jim
Vukovich (XR600), Lee (DRZ400E) & Karen Rogers
Thursday - February 27, 2003
Ron, Jim J. & Paul left Michigan at 3:00 AM EST with truck and
trailer
Friday - February 28, 2003
Ron, Jim J. and Paul arrived in Laughlin, with the truck, trailer
and eight bikes, about 10:00AM PST (34 hours). Lots of snow near
Flagstaff.
The eastbound freeway was closed west of flagstaff due to an accident
and trucks not being able to start uphill after stopping.
Ray, Dennis, Lee & Karen flew into Vegas and arrived in Laughlin
about 2:30PM PST. We unloaded the bikes, checked them out and were
ready to go riding the next morning. Frank arrived in Laughlin
at 6:00 PM.
Jim took the red eye flight and arrived after midnight.
Saturday - March 1, 2003 Arizona side, 101 miles
We rode to the Laughlin lookout, near Davis Dam, then over the
dam and up the telephone line trail on the north side of Hwy. 68.
Recent
rain
provided us with perfect riding conditions (no dust). We went west
on the first major gravel road, then off to the right looking for
the “Whistle
While You Work” gold mine. There were many dead ends at other
mines but no luck finding the WWYW mine. We rode by some house
trailers with
a pack of dogs. About 3-4 miles later we came to another dead end
with an abandoned gold mine. Within a few minutes five dogs caught
up with
us. Leaving the mine, the dogs roosted us as we followed them down
the trail.
While looking for the mine Lee stopped to ask directions from some
guys in a pickup truck. One of the guys was mad as hell. We were
on his road.
He claimed to own the mine we were looking for. Lee didn’t get
any directions except where to go….
Leaving the miner to cool down, we rode the telephone line trail
to the highway. After following the telephone line road on the
south side we
left it when it crossed back to the north side. We rode the highway
west about 8 miles to gas. After the gas stop we followed the powerline
trail
to Powerline Pass. On the east side of the pass we kept running
roads to the right until we found the one that continues to Coal
Slurry
Pass. I think the third road to the right was the correct one.
From Coal Slurry Pass we rode the coal slurry wash to Cross Mountain
Freeway. We rode the Cross Mountain Freeway to the south keeping
Wilderness signs on our left. We finally came to a gate and sign.
It looked like
we could get to the road by going down in a wash and go around
the signed area. Jim and Ron had to manhandle their bikes through
some
rocks to
get down to the wash. We asked them to make sure there was a
way out before the rest of us came down into the wash. Ron said we
aren’t
coming back up here. Five minutes later they came back and had to come
up where they went down. The wash went to a house with many signs that
the owner didn’t want visitors. We had to push/pull the bikes back
out of the wash. Thank God for electric start on Ron’s bike. Later,
in Oatman, we learned that “Sandy, the owner, greets visitors with
a gun”.
We rode back to a traveled wash. Lee fell when his front wheel
hit a rock and knocked the front end out from under him. He landed
in
a sand/gravel
area surrounded by rocks. We rode down this wash until it tied
into Silver Creek Wash. We rode up Silver Creek Wash to Silver
Creek road.
We had
lunch in Oatman then rode Route 66 to Sitzgrave Pass. Dennis
won the dead engine race down the east side. He even made it
over the
flat area
to another downhill. Dennis may have been able to coast all the
way to Golden Valley.
Jim V. and I raced all the way back to Silver Creek Rd. at high
speed. Jim’s front brake seemed real strong. After stopping
we noticed that he had a flat front tire. This could have had disastrous
results
along this section of Route 66. He rode on to Laughlin on the flat.
Ron and Lee made a high speed run down Silver Creed Rd. Coming
into a sharp left in fourth gear Lee’s front end washed out under heavy
braking. He slid 120 feet on his left side. Road rash on Lee’s
helmet and a bent the clutch lever was the only damage to the bike.
Lee broke two ribs and had a sore thigh but was not seriously injured.
With heavy rain to the north, we took the road back toward Laughlin.
It started raining on us in Bullhead City so we stopped at
a gas station near the airport and waited until the rain slowed
down
before crossing
the bridge to Laughlin.
Frank’s Journal
Saturday, March 1st: I am heading out this morning with a slight bit
of apprehension because I re-shimmed the vales on my bike late last
fall, and I have only ridden it a mile or two since. The DRZ is running
fine. But 15 minutes into the ride I got whacked in the nose by a rock
that someone’s rear tire lofted 15 feet into the air. S--t, these
flying rocks are nothing to mess with. I had better not follow other
riders as closely as I normally do, and that is really not all that
close. The weather man has blessed us with ideal riding conditions:
comfortable temps, no dust due to recent rains. This is some great
riding out here. The front of my bike is a bit squirrelly in the washes
due to the higher than normal tire pressures. I don’t have a
clue were we are, but that pack of dogs sure followed us an awful long
way. On the way out I had to pass a couple of the dogs that were following
the leaders in our group…..this was cool cause the dogs were
actually roosting up some fine gravel as I went by. Lots of great scenery
out here, and I even got to see a Wild Burro. We made it to the town
of Oatman, Arizona for lunch. This is the closest thing to a real western
town that I have ever been to………they even had some
Burros strolling around in the street. We ate a so-so lunch at a unique
place in town. What a blast racing along Route 66.
Rider dismount summary: (quan.) / cause / result
Dennis: (1) / Gravity too strong at base of hill / Sore shoulder
Lee: (2) / Grapefruit sized rocks / OK
/ Bermuda triangle overlapped part of the road / 120’ skid, tattered
jacket, scuffed helmet, bent clutch lever, bruised side, and some days
later learned of two broken ribs
Flat tires: (1) / Jim V. / Front / after Route 66 moto
Sunday - March 2, 2003 Nevada side 104 miles
We ran the powerline to the water retention dike. The section behind
the hotel to the mountain was all whooped out from an earlier SCORE race.
We ran the powerline south to the first main trail to the west. This
trail brought us into the back side of Camel Corp area. Just west of
Camel Corp we picked up the powerline road on the north side of highway
168. We rode this west and north to Christmas Tree Pass Rd. The left
(west) side of the powerline was smooth and fast. We had lunch in CalNevAri.
At the restaurant we met four riders from Bullhead City, including Bruce
Felker. Lee rode with Bruce a few years earlier. Later four more riders
from Las Vegas showed up. At one time sixteen dirt biker riders were
eating lunch at CalNevAri. One of the riders mentioned that they would
fly over the area, in an airplane, to find and mark single tracks with
their GPS, then return later to ride the trails. 
After lunch we rode to the gas station at Hwy. 163 & US 95 and paid
$2.19 for premium. On Christmas Tree Pass road, a mile or so after the
telephone line, we picked up the Cross Mountain “Freeway” Nevada
side and rode south. The first main gravel road heads to the towers.
At the towers we could see both sides of the mountain range. Laughlin
was on the east side and CalNevAri was to the west. We had a dead engine
race down from the towers. It was fast and unlike the Route 66 "coast" race,
brakes were required.
We backtracked to Christmas Tree Pass Rd. Jim J. fell after going straight
on a corner. He broke the case of some video tapes but no other damage.
Ray won the coast race down Christmas Tree Pass. Once we got to the paved
highway we followed a trail along the north side of Hwy. 163 to Telephone
Cove Rd. We rode a road/wash to a dead end with a 10’ drop off.
Then we rode back and north on Red Hill Rd. until we came to a scenic
bay and the other end of the drop off. We backtracked to the highway
and home.
Frank’s Journal
Sunday, March 2nd: AWESOME day! Nice twisty trails getting away from
town. Rode in a fantastic play area called the Camel Corps. Glad that
Dennis did not fall onto that Barrel Cactus after leaving the Camel
Corps area. Really cool roller coaster section along the power lines
heading
to our lunch stop. CalNevAri…….good food, good service, good
price……nice place to stop. Going up the mountain to the radio
towers was a FANTASTIC ride. Great views from on top. Nice effort by
Lee taking an engines off race corner just a little too tight and a little
too fast. Very scenic road back towards Laughlin. It was a sweet ride
down some washes to Lake Mojave. My maximum speed today was 83.7 mph.
Dismount summary: (quan.) / cause / result
Ron: (1) / Needed to rest in the corner / OK
Dennis: (1) / Engine died before reaching top of hill / Lucky not to
have barrel cactus up his ass.
JJ: (2) / Slowly lost front end in gravel / Great video
/ Lost his line at a turn in the road / Broken video tape cases
Lee: (1) / Engine off…too fast…too tight / Nice try for a pass
Flat tires: (1) / JJ / Rear / In BIG whoops right before reaching home
Monday
- March 3, 2003 Nevada side – 122 miles
We gassed up in Laughlin. Lee and Paul carried an extra gallon in antifreeze
jugs. Both Jims and Ron had oversized gas tanks. We rode to the pile of rocks
along the river where the Mojave Road starts, then back to the highway. We
rode the fiber optic road until it crossed the Mojave Road. Note: The Mojave
Road crosses the Needles Highway between the 1 mile marker and the California
state line (past the entrance to Avi).
We rode the Mojave Road to Piss Rock then west toward Fort Piaute.
By this time everyone had been topped off with gas and the jugs were
empty. When
we got to US 95 Lee decided we didn’t need to make the 6+ mile (each way)
run to get more gas. From Fort Piaute we ran a small section of a closed wash
to the north/south powerline until we picked up the main part of the Mojave
Road. The road jogs south along the powerline before heading west. At the top
of this range we left the Mojave Road and headed north to the back side of
Fort Piaute and Joshua trees.
We went past a right turn about _ mile beyond the cattle corral and rode
several miles until we saw a mining operation. Lee didn’t remember seeing this
so we backtracked and picked up a trail just after the cattle corral. (Note:
After checking the map at the hotel, we should have taken another right about
two miles from the corral). Lee lost the trail (the trail ended) shortly after
the nasty rocky downhill section. He was following a faint two track. It would
disappear and reappear until it was gone for good.
Ray missed the tracks of the lead group. He and two others went out of
sight. Jim V. played Billy Goat and climbed a range looking for a way out.
Jim could
see both groups and we could see CalNevAri over the ridge 7.5 miles to
the east (GPS). The gas station at US 95 & 163 was over 9 miles to the southwest.
Paul’s gas tank was on reserve. Jim V. gave Paul _ gallon from his 5+
gallon tank. Jim J. wanted to go back and find the missing trail. Lee was concerned
that the return, and if found, northern route would be too risky for gas. 
We had a fairly wide valley to our right that opened up many miles away.
We assumed the valley emptied onto the flat land below well past the gas
station
on the highway. Using two-way radios Jim was able to direct one group to
the other. The news from the top of the range was not good. There was a
least one
more range of mountains between us and the low land with a deep valley
in between. Frank stated that, if necessary, he could walk the 7.5 miles
(as
the crow flies)
to CalNevAri. We decided to follow the wash with gravel and sand towards
the opening of the valley. If we came to a drop off or the wash was blocked
with
boulders, we would get out of the wash and try to find another one. There
were lots of bowling ball sized and larger rocks in the washes. The sand
and gravel
was extremely loose and it was difficult to keep control of the bike, but
we were able to keep moving forward. We had a little over two hours of
daylight left when Ron and Jim V. found a jeep trail. Now Frank wouldn’t have
to walk out and Jim J. wouldn’t need to use his emergency blanket to
keep warm. The jeep trail took us over the range to the east and eventually
to the highway and gas. Paul was on reserve again and Dennis coasted the last
_ mile with an empty tank. We bought 18 gallons for $38 and had all of our
gas tanks full again.
After lunch/dinner in CalNevAri it was cold and getting dark as we took
Christmas Tree Pass back to the parking lot at the Colorado Belle. Lee
and Paul’s
headlights were not working and a cop followed some of us down highway 163.
He must have been looking for license plates because he never stopped us.
Lesson learned: Don’t Pass Gas when riding in the desert!
Frank’s Journal
Monday, March 3rd: It was nice to see a couple of local balcony pigeons
walk into our room this morning to say hello. I opted not to carry
an extra one
gallon jug of gas because the route was advertised to be roughly 90 miles.
Good thing for the extra air in our tires…..the Mojave Trail was VERY
rocky. How the settlers made it through is beyond me. Fun riding over some
undulating hard humpy trail. Fort Pah-ute: what a place to build a stopping
post…..I wouldn’t want to stay there for long either. Cool twisty
trails through the scrub beyond the fort. We lost the trail a short while later
and ended up in the “Wash from Hell” with everyone starting to
run low on gas. The group became separated for a while due to the very rough
and rocky terrain. Not to mention that while you are down in a wash you can
not see anything around you. This was a big challenge for everyone. I thought
that it was an awesome adventure, except for the part about not knowing if
we had enough gas to make it back to civilization. We finally found a two track
trail leading out. This was very good news, but we were all still milking our
gas mileage to the max. Never was so happy to pay $2.19 per gallon of gas in
my life ! Now we got to eat lunch at 4:00 PM --- Hurray. It was a chilly ride
back to Laughlin over Christmas Tree Pass. Got a few small blisters on my hands
today…….. I’m sure they were caused by the ride through the “Wash
from Hell”.
Dismount summary: (quan.) / cause / result
Multiple tips by many in that Nasty Wash / Denny knocked his headlight
loose, Ray tweaked his handlebars
Flat tires: None
Tuesday - March 4, 2003 Arizona side – 93 miles
Lee was not able to ride today due to severe rib pain. A cough the
night before made deep breathing a painful experience. He made a map
of the
Arizona side with directions to Narrows Canyon. As the group topped
off their gas tanks in Bullhead City, Lee drove up Silver Creek Rd.
and met
them at the powerline. Ron led the group to Narrows Canyon. They met
two guys from Michigan in a Tracker at the end of Narrows Canyon. This
was on the main branch. The waterfall is at the end of the left branch
of the canyon. Returning to the powerline and Silver Creek Rd. they
rode to Oatman for lunch. There were several gun fights on the main
street
of Oatman as the group ate lunch. After lunch they found a two-track
trail at the intersection of Silver Creek Rd. and Route 66 heading
south. This trail eventually took them to the powerline and back to
Bullhead
City. A policeman stopped Dennis and Paul where the powerline ended
at a housing development. The officer informed them that the powerline
was
in the city limits and therefore off limits for off road riding.
Lee drove to Camel Corp. area to get a picture of the sign explaining
how the Army trained with camels in this area, for several years,
starting in 1855. Returning to Laughlin he saw a Bighorn Desert Sheep
on an
outcropping next to the highway. Lee and Karen had lunch in CalNevAri
and drove the
rental car through Christmas Tree Pass on the way back to Laughlin.
After diner Jim V. drove his rental car to Las Vegas and took the “Red-Eye” back
to Detroit.
Frank’s Journal
Tuesday, March 4th: We were short one rider today; it was our tour
guide, Lee. A map is sketched out and Ron takes over as captain.
The first priority
was to go see the “Narrows Canyon” area. It certainly was
some very unique riding through there. We went back to Oatman for some
more of that good food. The owners were very happy to see us come back
again. Some of us watched a real live imitation gun fight on main street.
Just had a nice time farting around all afternoon making our way back
to Bullhead City.
Dismount summary:
None to speak of / Dennis got some cactus needles stuck in his hand
and one in his upper lip.
Flat tires: None
Wednesday - March 5, 2003 Nevada Side – 135 miles
Frank took the Tri-State shuttle to Las Vegas and flew back to Detroit.
The rest of us gassed up our bikes and rode the pavement to the pipeline
south of town. Riding west we picked up the powerline to the southwest
and followed it to US 95. There is a three-foot high berm just before
US 95 that obstructs the view of the pavement. Crossing vehicles was
the only indication that a major road intersected the powerline. We
rode down the wash, east of the highway, until we picked up the railroad
tracks. After crossing the highway at the railroad trestle, Lee used
a call box to verify the location of Goffs road. It was about 3 miles
to the north. We rode up Goffs wash and gathered at the first road
crossing. There is a fence between this road and the powerline. At
the powerline we went to the highway and west to the town of Goffs.
Goffs’ store (the only store) was closed so we had to ride another
ten miles of pavement to Fenner for $2.59/gal. gas. $17.75 got us 6.8
gallons of gas.
On the way back we rode to some towers south of Goffs. The road was steep & nasty.
We had to ride around a gate to make the last two turns. From the top we could
see a pipeline road to the east, parallel to Goffs road. In the future, we
can ride this pipeline road towards Fenner. I assume it will cross Goffs Rd. & the
railroad tracks and eliminate some of the pavement we rode. We took this road
east over a range of mountains to the powerline. Riding north on the powerline
we picked up the head of the wash just before the Goffs Rd. We rode the wash
down to the highway (US 95), then under the trestle. 
Riding the wash along US 95 Lee and Ron ran across three strands of barbed
wire in a narrow wash. Lee made it through OK but the wire grabbed Ron’s
rear wheel. Ron was slammed to the ground and the bike landed on his legs.
No serious injuries but Ron had a couple of dandy bruises.
We gathered at the powerline. Ray was missing for a while. We were concerned
he was down somewhere in the wash. As Jim J. began to ride a ridge along the
highway looking for him, Ray came riding up US 95. He had to stop to answer
the call of nature. We decided that, in the future, we should all have two
way radios. It’s next to impossible to stay together, and in sight, while
riding large washes. If one of us were to crash and not get up, an airplane
or helicopter may be required to find us.
We followed the powerline towards Laughlin and picked up the Mojave Road shortly
after the state line. We rode down the Mojave Road, past the highway, then
north on another powerline until we picked up the road back to Laughlin. Paul
and Dennis were on reserve before we crossed the highway. Ray took an excursion
off the Mojave Road and followed some of the SCORE racecourse. He was amazed
how soft the sand was and how deep the whoops were.
Back at the parking lot we loaded the bikes and gear for the return trip home.
Frank’s
Journal
Wednesday, March 5th:
I WISH THAT I DID NOT HAVE TO GO HOME TODAY.
Thursday - March 6, 2003
Ron, Jim J. and Paul left Laughlin about 5:00am PST with the truck, trailer
and bikes. Lee, Karen, Dennis and Ray left Laughlin at 7:00am in the
rental car to catch flights from Las Vegas to home.
Friday – March 7, 2003
Ron, Jim J. and Paul arrived at Ron’s house about 5:30 EST in 33
_ hours averaging over 65 mph. They had clear skies until Indianapolis,
Indiana.
Bike Problems:
