North Main Divide to Santiago Peak

[russell_bynum]

This afternoon/evening, I took the DRZ out on my first real dualsport ride. I started out at home, and rode about 9 miles to the base of Ortega Highway. From there, I went up the hill and took a right on North Main Divide road.

 

I had no idea where it went, but I've always wanted to go see. (That's why I got this bike...for stuff like this.)

 

North Main Divide is paved and acually a pretty fun sporty road for a few miles, then it turns to dirt. At first, it's really hard-packed dirt and rocks. Then it goes to sand. The road winds around and up the ridge past many great scenic views of Riverside county, and eventually comes to the top of Santiago Peak at 5688ft. Air quality was pretty bad today, so the vista wasn't what it could be, but it was still pretty neat. You could look down on South Orange County, Lake Mission Viejo, Irvine Lake, etc. If you looked north a bit you could see the sun reflecting off the pacific...though you couldn't really see the Ocean itself in any meaningful way. Catalina Island was just barely visible peaking out above the haze and smog. You could see Newport Harbor, and the hills up north of Long Beach/Los Angeles Harbor at Portuguese Bend.

 

The sun was getting a bit low in the sky, so I turned around and headed back home. I wound up putting about 60 miles on the bike, 20 of that was street, the rest was dirt.

 

What a riot. This was all pretty easy "GS roads", which I know isn't even begining to test the bike's capability, but it was pretty much perfect for where my pathetic skills are right now.

 

Here's a few pics I snapped.

 

Here's a shot from partway up the hill looking south at Lake Elsinore.

 

Here's one looking north. That's I-15 and Lee Lake in the middle, and Lake Mathews in the distance. I believe that's Telegraph Peak (8700ft) on Mount Baldy just barely poking through the haze on the left.

 

My trusty mount.

 

Here's the road. this was shortly after it turned to sand.

 

Here's Lee Lake and Lake Mathews again.

 

And here we are on top of Santiago Peak looking down on Orange county. That's Upper Oso Reservoir in Rancho Santa Margarita in the foreground and Lake Mission Viejo a little ways away. If it was more clear, you could see the Pacific.

 

And here we are looking the other way at Riverside County. That's San Jacinto Peak (10,700) off to the right side of the pic.

 

Here's a few of the Antennaes on top of Santiago Peak.

 

I was hoping to get back down to the bottom of the hill in time to get a picture of the sun setting behind the mountain, but didn't quite make it. Oh well...at least I got to test the bike's headlight.

[Firefight911]

Awesome!!!

 

Did you happen to notice your overall fuel consumption off this trip?? Looks like we may need to have an idea for Torrey!!

[russell_bynum]

Awesome!!!

 

Did you happen to notice your overall fuel consumption off this trip?? Looks like we may need to have an idea for Torrey!!

 

I haven't filled up yet, but I started with a full tank, and the gas is about 1/3 of the way down now with 60 miles on this tank. I'm not sure how much of that is usable, but I have to assume that I could go at least another 60 miles without any problems. When I fill up next, I'll know exactly how much I used and what my mpg is.

[leikam]

Sounds like a lot of fun. I was up in the mountains this past weekend wondering where a few of the dirt roads went.

[russell_bynum]

Sounds like a lot of fun. I was up in the mountains this past weekend wondering where a few of the dirt roads went.

 

Yeah, it was a blast. I'm always amazed at how different things are within a few miles. one minute, the road is hard-packed dirt and rocks. Then, almost instantly, it changed to sand. It was like they just started using sand instead of rock to make the road...only "they" was God/Mother Nature/etc. Very dramatic change. Also...depending on what side of the ridge you were on, and if you were in a deep valley, or out exposed...things changed a bunch. One minute, I'm dodging huge pinecones in the road, and the next minute the road is overgrown with Live Oaks. I need to go to REI and get one of those "Forest Adventure Passes" so I can park along the road and do some hiking next time as well.

 

Also, playing with the maps it looks like I can take the road I was on all the way across the ridge and then down Silverado Canyon. From there, it would be a quick jaunt past Cook's Corner and back across Ortega Highway to home. I'm thinking a Camelback full of water, an MRE for lunch, and hiking boots instead of MX boots, and we could spend a full day riding/hiking those mountains....probably without ever scratching the surface of what's there.

 

And that's just the stuff that's 10 miles away. There's more down south around Palomar, Anza Borrego, etc. Or North to Big Bear. Or....

 

The possibilities are almost endless. And since I'm street legal, I don't have to play the "green sticker" game or worry about some yahoo BLM Cop giving me a ticket for riding on a "street legal only" road.

 

I hardly saw anyone else up there, too. With all the hustle and bustle of Southern California, I saw probably a half-dozen other vehicles/people in that 40 miles of dirt roads. There were two joggers, a lady on a mountain bike, a couple of KTM's I passed going the other way, and two pickups stopped up on Santiago Peak. Very cool.

[Whip]

16871 posts.......hmmmmmm.....is this your first non trackday Ride Tale???????????????

 

Well done....I would love to go ride around in the dirt....but I have a Coffee Grinder instead.

 

 

Thanks for the pix

 

Whip

[russell_bynum]

16871 posts.......hmmmmmm.....is this your first non trackday Ride Tale???????????????

 

LOL!

 

I don't care who you are, that's funny!

 

 

Well done....I would love to go ride around in the dirt....but I have a Coffee Grinder instead.

 

That really sucks about your GSA. I don't know why BMW went to a hydraulic clutch on the newer bikes. It seems to be more of a pain to maintain, has more parts to fail, and when it does fail, it generally destroys the whole clutch in the process. With the old setup, you can replace the entire cable/throwout bearing/pushrod in a couple of hours, and you can even ride home after it has failed.

 

FWIW, the hydraulic clutch on the Tuono sucks too. It turns the fluid brown very quickly, and when it does that, the release point starts to get iffy. It's a real pain trying to control all that Italian V-twin torque when you don't know where the clutch is going to engage. (apparently that's a TADT with that bike)

 

OTOH, Hydraulic clutch in the car is pretty straightforward and reliable. My 325 munched a slave cylinder at 300K miles, and I replaced it in less than an hour, and it didn't foul the clutch.

 

CBR, FZR, DRZ, DR, and R11RS all have cable clutches and I like that far better than the Tuono's hydraulic clutch.

[dhb]

Nice tale and pix. Yours is one of the few I can see with the pix at work--apparently IT is now blocking smugmug etc. Anyway, I fully realize how much I miss the pix and what they add to a tale. Double thanks for taking the time AND posting pix so I can see 'em

Dave

[russell_bynum]

Nice tale and pix. Yours is one of the few I can see with the pix at work--apparently IT is now blocking smugmug etc. Anyway, I fully realize how much I miss the pix and what they add to a tale. Double thanks for taking the time AND posting pix so I can see 'em

Dave

 

Thanks Dave!

 

I just wish the air was a bit cleaner on Sunday so you could see better.

[SteveW]

Oh man...

 

What did I start - years ago sitting on an 1100RT in the showroom at Irv Seavers - and said to the guy next to me... "there's a web site about these bikes..."

 

Hiya Russell !!

 

BTW - There's a KLR650 next to the RT in my garage - and occasional rides around the same roads you mentioned...

 

 

Steve W

[russell_bynum]

 

Good to hear from you, Steve.

 

A KLR would be fun. I was very seriously considering one, but decided I wanted to go a little more dirt and a little less street. It's a great bike, though.

[Bud]

Sounds like you had a great time.

 

? What is all that brown stuff in the air? Is it there every day? If so, are you constantly breathing it?

 

Nothing like we see in S. Illinois.

[russell_bynum]

Sounds like you had a great time.

 

? What is all that brown stuff in the air? Is it there every day? If so, are you constantly breathing it?

 

Nothing like we see in S. Illinois.

 

There were a couple of fires burning, and the wind was pretty much keeping all the crap in the basin.

 

SoCal's not exactly known for crystal-clear air, but this was abnormally bad.

[Bud]

Sounds like you had a great time.

 

? What is all that brown stuff in the air? Is it there every day? If so, are you constantly breathing it?

 

Nothing like we see in S. Illinois.

 

There were a couple of fires burning, and the wind was pretty much keeping all the crap in the basin.

 

SoCal's not exactly known for crystal-clear air, but this was abnormally bad.

 

Darn, hope it wasn't the fire set by a couple of Illinois teenagers I heard about on the news.

[russell_bynum]

As long as it wasn't Illinois Nazi's.

 

[ESokoloff]

Pretty neat Russell.

Brings back memories of my XL-250.

Of course after 30 years I've blocked out the bad ones

[russell_bynum]

Pretty neat Russell.

Brings back memories of my XL-250.

Of course after 30 years I've blocked out the bad ones

 

My last dirt bike was a mid-80's XL200.