double moo
09-02-2006, 04:04 PM
Rolled out of Draper about 7:00 this morning and headed south on the slab. Went east up Spanish Fork Canyon to the Diamond Fork turn off. As we took the turn off a Golden Eagle came off the mountain side to our left and cruised 10' off the deck in the left lane next to my riding buddy for a hundred yards! I was fumbling to unzip the tank bag for a camera but missed it. Buddy never saw it at all! - maybe 15 feet to his left and 5 feet above him... absolutely beautiful!
So the Diamond Fork road is a blast - in great shape at the moment - but do watch out for cattle... we came to a near stop 3 or 4 times waiting for cows to mosey out of the road. You can really cook on these twisties - keep it in control as there are lots of blind corners! Temps got as low as 44 degrees - yikes - a bit colder than planned on. About 15-16 miles up the road turns to dirt at a snowmobile parking area.
At the parking area up top we headed S.E. towards the Strawberry / highway 6 direction. This is a 4 lane gravel road - a little squirrely for a 500 lb GS. After about 6 miles we hit asphalt - not what we expected - so we turned back to the north on another dirt road. This only goes about 1/2 mile until dead ending - back to the asphalt where we talked to a hunter on a quad. He noted that there is a dirt track a few miles back that cuts north to Strawberry but the road is pretty rutted and wasn't convinced our big bikes could make it. Just the challenge we needed... unfortunately had time constraints so we hit the oiled road towards highway 6.
Around 5-6 miles further along there was another road heading left - N - that had a sign noting rough road and that Strawberry was 19 miles. No wanting to go back to highway 6 we took this one - good choice. This was a 20' wide dirt road with plenty of traction. A few corners had some soft stuff on top... but mostly good purchase for the Distanzias. This road has a few rough sections, some rutted up areas, and a bit of gravel - but mostly beautiful in the trees speed run. Its a bit deceiving on the Big Trailies as to your speed on the dirt - seemed like we were just putting along when I started noticing we were going faster than I thought... making 45-50 most of the time - a little slower in the corners - a little quicker on long straights.
The road leads back to the South end of strawberry - roughly 17 miles from highway 40. Nice twisties and good speed made this a great section also! Stopped at Daniels summit for a drink and to warm up for a moment in the sun - then back through Heber to I-80 and home down Parleys - 11:20 in the Garage!!
Beautiful day... nice twisties... minimal traffic, minimal slab... great morning it was.
So the Diamond Fork road is a blast - in great shape at the moment - but do watch out for cattle... we came to a near stop 3 or 4 times waiting for cows to mosey out of the road. You can really cook on these twisties - keep it in control as there are lots of blind corners! Temps got as low as 44 degrees - yikes - a bit colder than planned on. About 15-16 miles up the road turns to dirt at a snowmobile parking area.
At the parking area up top we headed S.E. towards the Strawberry / highway 6 direction. This is a 4 lane gravel road - a little squirrely for a 500 lb GS. After about 6 miles we hit asphalt - not what we expected - so we turned back to the north on another dirt road. This only goes about 1/2 mile until dead ending - back to the asphalt where we talked to a hunter on a quad. He noted that there is a dirt track a few miles back that cuts north to Strawberry but the road is pretty rutted and wasn't convinced our big bikes could make it. Just the challenge we needed... unfortunately had time constraints so we hit the oiled road towards highway 6.
Around 5-6 miles further along there was another road heading left - N - that had a sign noting rough road and that Strawberry was 19 miles. No wanting to go back to highway 6 we took this one - good choice. This was a 20' wide dirt road with plenty of traction. A few corners had some soft stuff on top... but mostly good purchase for the Distanzias. This road has a few rough sections, some rutted up areas, and a bit of gravel - but mostly beautiful in the trees speed run. Its a bit deceiving on the Big Trailies as to your speed on the dirt - seemed like we were just putting along when I started noticing we were going faster than I thought... making 45-50 most of the time - a little slower in the corners - a little quicker on long straights.
The road leads back to the South end of strawberry - roughly 17 miles from highway 40. Nice twisties and good speed made this a great section also! Stopped at Daniels summit for a drink and to warm up for a moment in the sun - then back through Heber to I-80 and home down Parleys - 11:20 in the Garage!!
Beautiful day... nice twisties... minimal traffic, minimal slab... great morning it was.