Trip Report Devils Racetrack--San Rafael Swell--March 10, 2012

Devils Racetrack--San Rafael Swell--March 10, 2012

Revised with photo explanations--thanks Udink.

My neighbor Dusty rounded up a pretty good sized group last Saturday to go to one of my favorite places to have fun.

We met at the Fresh Market in Sp. Fork at 6am and after a few last minute details were taken care of, we convoyed to Ferron to meet the rest of our group that resides in Carbon County. The sun had just come up in the East and in no time we realized that it was going to be a glorious day. The temp at 8am was about 41 degrees and starting to climb.

Soon after, we were headed down the dusty road to the Coal Wash staging area to ready our machines and saddle up. I had brought a heavy coat, but soon realized that a sweatshirt and jacket was going to be plenty.

We rode up Coal wash to the confluence and took the South Fork to the beginning of the Eva Conover trail. From the Eva Conover trail, we rode up Eagle Canyon, under I70 and stopped at Swasey's Cabin. After a short rest, we rode the county road to the culvert under I70 and stopped at Dutchman Arch. We took some photos and then began the Devils Racetrack. The Devils Racetrack is an awesome trail that is dotted with mild challenges and one 100 yd section being the toughest of all. Boulders, off camber drops (for machines wider than ATV), and a few ledges make for a very fun and exciting challenge. Especially for those that have never ridden anything like that before. We rode down the mesa to the North Fork of Coal Wash where we high tailed it back to the staging area.

The group we rode with are responsible stewards of our land. We stayed on designated trails, picked up others trash and were courteous to others.

What a gorgeous day of warm weather, sunshine, sightseeing, camaraderie and riding.

Kim (cowboy hat) topping off his tank and Troy being careful not to scratch his brand new toy with 1.3 miles on it.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-U...c/s640/098.JPG

Suns up, temps rising and ready to ride.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-t...c/s640/101.JPG

Dusty (red shirt) and Daughter (blue hoodie) packing their lunch, boyfriend (black and white) watching.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-o...Y/s640/103.JPG

We're off--pretty large group. Lots of people choosing to wear helmets some not.

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My wife, Nancy in background and Dusty and wife Summer on camo CanAm headed up Coal Wash.

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Tail end of group. I was tailgunner for most of the trail.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-x...Q/s640/108.JPG

Me having a great time.

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Veiw off towards Cedar Mtn. (NE) after climbing out of wash bottom. Not a cloud in the sky.

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Lunch stop at end/beginning of Eva Conover trail. I 70 is about 200 yds behind me.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-M...Y/s640/114.JPG

Faded trail sign. Must be budget cuts.

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One of my favorite parts of the trail--under the bridges in Eagle Canyon.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-T...c/s640/116.JPG

We skipped the Ice Box but did stop at Swasey's Cabin for a short break. If only the walls could talk, bet there would be some very interesting stories...

Then off to Dutchman's Arch.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-z...s/s640/120.JPG

Sign at beginning/end of Devils Racetrack. I guess it's just a "s Study Area" now. :haha:

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Most of the Devils Racetrack is going up and down small ledges. Just enough to keep things interesting. No 4X4 needed.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-S...c/s640/125.JPG

Dusty had to try to get the front end off the ground.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-X...8/s640/126.JPG

Coming up on only challenging section. This spot is easy for ATV's to squeeze through, but anything wider has to take a different line which got a wheel or two off the ground. People lined up to make sure that no more than that came off.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-O...U/s640/128.JPG

Me going up the hardest part. A series of 3 ledges about 18" high and 8' apart. Since I didn't have my helmet, I shifted it into 4 wheel drive and crept up. Plenty of people to assist if I should happen to get a tire off the ground.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-P...A/s640/132.JPG

I did give it a little gas at the top. Very fun.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-b...M/s640/133.JPG

Short video of challenging spot on trail.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m8Yj...7fAUAAAAAAAAAA

Typical seen from Devils Racetrack trail.

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My wife coming down some ledges and having a great time.

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My wife coming down a little wedge section with Dusty assisting. Tire placement was perfect and rode down easily.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-d...c/s640/144.JPG

My Longhorn fan...

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-7...Y/s640/145.JPG

Golden Gate Arch.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-j...U/s640/146.JPG

Nice light with the arch in background.

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Joe and His Dog.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-E...k/s640/149.JPG

Dropping down into NorthFork of Coal Wash was this tippy spot. The rest of the ride down Coal Wash was a great ending to an awesome day. Thanks to all those who made it happen!

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-H...E/s640/151.JPG

Nice! I just had a group of ~20+ out there a few weeks ago. Why did almost nobody have a helmet on? There are some rough patches out there..

Quote:

Originally Posted by BruteForce

Why did almost nobody have a helmet on?

Didn't you see the part where he said many of them were from Carbon County? :lol8: I don't think I've worn my helmet in years.

Nice trip report, though! :nod: That's the same route I took with my wife and kids two years ago, and I liked it much better than the Cane Wash/Fix-It Pass route. Looks like everybody had a good time.

Thanks Brute and Udink.

Could one of you two veteran posters tell me how to put text under each photo? I tried to follow the tutorial about uploading photos but it looks different.

I'm not sure how to do it when the photos appear inside the attachment box like in your post. When I've attached photos in the past, they've always showed up when I was composing the post like this:

Code:

<ATTACH>52148</ATTACH>

(Except replace the angle brackets with square brackets--when I previewed this post it was actually creating a link to the attachment instead of displaying the code.) Then I could just put whatever text before or after the "ATTACH" tags and it would show up before or after the photo.

Revised TR with photo explanations.

Looks like a great time. Excellent report! :2thumbs:

Yes, great trip report. I wish I were there to keep that one dirtbike company :haha:.
Thanks for the write-up and pictures:2thumbs:

Thanks acca and fourtycal.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fourtycal

I wish I were there to keep that one dirtbike company :haha:.

I think he was wishing he had someone to ride with, Kim wasn't used to puttin' around--infact he overheated his bike on one section we were going so slow. Don't let the white hair fool ya though, he gets 30 years younger when he climbs on that bike. He is one incredible rider.

I'll let you know next time. :cool2:

Looks like an awesome ride...soon I will make one of these trips :cool2:

Looks like a fun trip. I beat the crap out of my Raptor out there... my rear brake rotor came off, about 20 mins into the ride, and spent the whole trip without a back brake.