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LowTech | all galleries >> World Views >> Dirt Track Travels >> Riding the Draggin' > My camp outside of Parker
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03-NOV-2010

My camp outside of Parker

As the day got later I headed back to the main track I had been following. I ran this for several miles before it dropped me into a wash canyon. I carefully pushed on and found that it exited off to the side after a short distance. Back on the hard stuff I intersected the power-line road before to long. At this point I checked my paper copies and was ready to find a track south and out to the pavement. If I followed the power-line road I would end up too far north.
I picked what looked like a good track and urged the "little Draggin' " forward. This would probably be the one of the more challenging parts of today's travels.
The track I'm on was made by jeeps & quads, things with less than a 6' wheel base . . . and much lighter.

It followed the ridges mostly, every so often dropping down into a wash and up the other side. Most of these descents into the washes were from 90deg turns off a ridge, down into the wash and up again. My wheel base did not really fit the track lines. I would have my outside front wheel (often the passenger side) up on the berm, the inside front down in one of the ruts, and be turning down hill, steep down hill. It made for some pretty interesting moves.

It does seem that whomever has been using this track either has loads of trouble climbing up to these ridges from the wash, or . . . rooting up the whole climb is just part of the culture. Not once climbing into, or out of the washes, did I even slip a wheel.
This went smooth for awhile . . . then one of those "drops into the wash" did not come out the other side!

I run the wash downhill at a good speed, I've only been in soft sand w/ the Draggin' once before . . . and I'm nervous. If I get it sunk it will take some real work to get it out! I know that I've got crappy tires for this . . . and they're NOT EVEN AIRED DOWN!

After some time, which seemed WAY longer than it was, I see a track up out of the wash, . . . I take it! As soon as it climbs out of the wash it turns and heads back the way I came . . . Damn!
Now I, w/ no room to turn around, will have to back into the wash and come to a dead stop before starting forward again.

It works and I follow quad tracks all the way to pavement. Climbing over the berm, left by the mechs that clear the road after the it rains enough to make this wash run over the pavement, I feel something solid under the wheels, yeah!

A short run on the pavement finds me a place to pull off for the night overlooking the river town.


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